""Every year, after I put away the boat for the winter, I start making plans and begin to fantasize about the trips I will make next season. I am pretty confident that I am not alone in these thoughts. Virtually every fishermen I know goes through these same thought processes. It helps getting us through the long winter months and gives us something to look forward to. 2004 wasn't any different for me than other years. I was contemplating the 2005 season which included a week at Pipestone in May, followed by a two
Events didn't quite work out as I had earlier fantasized as I was downsized
in January. I did make the Pipestone trip even though I still didn't
have a job, but I was forced to cancel all of my other vacations completely. After
I returned from Pipestone, I found a good job; I negotiated a six day non-paid
vacation for the later part of September. It was a few weeks earlier
than I would have liked, but you take what you can get. The resort
owner wanted to close up for winter by October 15th and my wife would have difficulty
getting off from work later as others had already put in for mid-October. Once
again, I fantasized about muskies and pike! People think it is real
strange that a guy can be out of work, but doesn't have time to go fishing!
The truth of the matter is that looking for work is literally the
hardest work you will do. It is stressful and keeps your mind occupied
24 hours a day. If I wasn't actively working up a resume or working
on finding an opening, I felt guilty. At any rate, my Pipestone
outing was the only fishing I got to do all summer, so I was really looking
forward to this September trip. When guys would be putting their
boats up for the year, I would be first taking mine out.
, The crappie fishing was excellent
The time finally arrived and we were on our way. We spent the
first night in Fort Francis after crossing the border. We were only
a short one hour drive from the resort. We woke up in the morning
to rain and it continued through most of the day. On the way to the
resort we stopped at a local bait shop to buy our fishing licenses, I asked how
the musky/pike fishing was on LOTW? They told me, "Don't know,
nobody is fishing for musky on Lake of the Woods". I later ran into
a couple of guides I knew at the boat launch. They told me that nobody
had been fishing musky or pike as the lake was in the process of turning over
and nobody was moving anything, but the crappie and walleye fishing were picking
up as the water was getting colder. Those were the words I didn't want
to hear!! I got the boat launched and checked the temperature gauge,
it was 61 so the turnover was just starting I figured. I was able
to fish for a few hours before night fall and just caught one small pike
for my efforts. That occurred about 15 minutes into fishing that day,
but nothing for the remainder of the day.
, One of Pat's
Walleyes
The following four days were virtually carbon copies of each other, the wind would pick up to 20 - 40 mph by 9:00 A.M. Literally, you could almost set your watch by it. These conditions made it extremely difficult to fish where I wanted to fish. I initially figured that the fish would be pulling back to the first drop-offs, so I concentrated on main lake points, islands, and reef edges. I only saw a few following fish, but there may have been more. It was extremely difficult to see following fish as wind created large waves and there had been a tremendous algae bloom on the lake due to very hot weather. I decided that I would try shallower and would hit the weed beds and weed/rock combinations. Again, nothing. I fully admit that I am a caster, and don't really engage in trolling. Well, I even tried trolling for several hours in both the drop-off spots as well as in the shallower areas. Nothing!!
Normally, I would have followed my own advice on fishing
the turnover, which is to find another lake that has either finished turning
over or hadn't started, but I just wanted to relax. I was on vacation!! I
recalled the old antidote, "When life serves you up lemons, make lemon aid". My
wife absolutely loves crappie and walleye fishing, so I would fish for Esox
in the mornings and late afternoons, and we would walleye and crappie fish in
between. As Bill Lemke stated in his article awhile back called "Going
With The Ebb and the Flow", you can have a fabulous time taking advantage
of what the lake and the outdoors offers you.
, Bald Eagles are enjoyable anytime
In addition to the fishing, you just truly have to love the outdoors. The trees were turning color, the eagles were everywhere, and the sunsets were out of this world. Literally everyday the sunset got better. It was like Mother Nature was trying to outdo herself everyday.
I know this is an Esox fishing site, but it is more importantly a website that promotes fun in fishing. While this trip didn't provide me with any bragging fish, it was just what the doctor ordered for my wife and I after a less than spectacular year. Besides, that is why God creates next year and the dreams that go with those trips.
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Last updated on ... October 8, 2005
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