Winter Fishing Trip

Nikolai and his big catch on Lake of the Woods

Winter Fishing

By Allan Olson

For the first time all season and possibly the first time in two years, I was finally able to get in some hard water fishing and the result was poor – but still fun.

Thanks to my wife’s sister we were able to spend the day on Saturday on Lake of the Woods jigging our lines in hopes of something big and fine. Instead, we ended up with only wet, tangled lines and three small fish for our efforts.

We started packing and loading the vehicle on Friday evening and since I prefer to travel mostly by light rather than night – we hit the road shortly after 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning our destination – eight miles north of any land and about 11 miles on the ice roads total. We were making good time on the mostly deserted stretch of highway until we hit the big town of Waskish – where the roads were slick with ice and the wind was threatening to push us off the road even in 4WD if I kept my speeds up – so, I slowed down to a speed that was comfortable for the road conditions as they didn’t improve for the next 50 miles.

Our first stop as at my mother-in-law’s apartment where we dropped Abigail and Marcus since they didn’t want to fish, then we hit the road toward the lake only to have to bypass the railroad crossing arms due to a phantom train. Once we cleared that obstacle we checked in at the resort with the road access pass, grabbed some bait, made a couple other stops and finally hit the road on the lake. It took us a little bit to reach our destination due to the distance and the need for someone (me) to stop and take a few photos along the stretch of road.

We arrived at our destination a nice warm house and holes ready for us to dip our lines in – just like a resort guest – would experience. The four of us started unpacking a few supplies – fishing poles, bait, tackle and some munchies. In addition, we also grabbed some water, two vexilars we borrowed (which I had no idea and still don’t know how to use) and my wife started getting the poles ready while I decided to get the vehicle facing out – instead of in – just in case, since there was no road past us. Nikolai got is line and while he was getting himself ready I held the pole – I was certain there was something there teasing the line right away but it didn’t bite – literally. I handed the pole back to Nikolai and worked on getting myself ready and then the fish decided to bite and he made quick work of reeling it in – a perfect sized eater. I was excited –briefly. I was really hoping that if the fish were biting this quick than it was going to be a fun morning of catching fish –instead of just fishing. However, it wasn’t long before the reality set in and discovered that it was going to be a very slow day of fishing – just like we were informed it probably would be. So instead of catching our limit we got four – kept three, but in reality, only two were legitimate keepers and one was iffy. The third one forced our hand as it took a fancy to the hook and wanted to swallow the whole thing – so it ended up in the bucket as well.

Saturday evening – we played cards with family before settling in for some reading before hitting the sack. Sunday afternoon we headed to my wife’s brothers home where we dined and played cards again before heading home. We had some thoughts of going to visit my wife’s grandpa  - but one of the cousins our kids had been playing was sick on Sunday and we decided it best that we didn’t go for a visit and since Alivia was sick on Monday – it was probably a good decision.

Plans for this weekend – the Cass Lake Chamber of Commerce Winter Fishing tournament. I will once again be walking the ice looking for people with their big catch so if you see me out there – hold up the big catch and I will be sure to “catch” you with my camera.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.