Lake of the Woods

I went fishing with my friend Todd at the Lake of the Woods over the weekend.  This was my first fishing experience at the Lake of the Woods.  I had so much fun.  We went in at Adrians resort, and drove 11 miles past the island.  We really didn't know where to fish, we just picked a spot 30 or so yards off of the plowed road.


The first thing we did was drill a hole to check the water depth, 34 feet.  We decided to try the spot, so I put a tip up in the hole I just drilled.  We popped a couple more in, and got the two man fish house out.  We fished for about 1/2 hour, and I saw that the flag was up on the tip up.  I ran out to find the top of the tip up spinning like mad.  I set the hook, and boy did I have a fight.  I pulled up a 24.5" Walleye.  What a great way to start the fishing trip. 

We caught a couple of more 11-15" Walleye/Saugers on the first night (Friday).  Todd and I decided to have Walleye for dinner.  Todd fileted the Larger walleye he caught.  We used flower, salt, pepper and Lays potato chips as batter, fried the Walleye up on a skillet with cooking oil.  It was the best tasting Walleye ever.  Yum!  Friday night was wicked cold, -20 degrees to be exact.  We slept in a suitcase style fish house.  The fish house was heated well, however I could not sleep because my feet were so cold.


Saturday morning started off well.  We made some scrambled eggs using a conventional cooking method.  We cut up tomatoes, onions, sausages; placed them into a plastic bag along with three eggs.  We boiled the bags for 10-15 minutes.  What a great way to eat eggs without making a big mess.  It was delicious.

The fishing was excellent on Saturday.  The Saugers and walleyes bit steadily.  We had our limit by 4pm.  We also caught two White Fish.  We decided to pack up the truck, drive back to Brainerd and sleep at Todd's cabin.  What a great decision.  I slept like a baby, and it was warm.


On Sunday we fished on Nissiwa Lake near Brainerd.  Todd caught a lot of bluegills and I caught one northern.  It was a good way to end our trip, and we stayed some place warm to boot.  All and all, the fishing trip was a success.  I have four bags of Walleye in my freezer and I will be ready to go back next year.

Trial Run

Today I decided it was time.  Time to take the boys ice fishing for the first time this season.  One of my coworkers informed me that a slough just south of Fergus Falls was producing some nice Walleyes.  I thought it would be fun to get on top of some.  I knew that I would not catch any myself, as I was bringing my two inexperienced, impatient, clumsy and mischievous fishing buddings along.  You got it, Brody and Weston.

Brody and Weston couldn't be more excited for this fishing trip.  Brody was dancing around the house, as Weston followed me around stating repeatedly: "Me daddy, me go fishing too?"  The weather couldn't be any nicer.  Approximately 34 degrees, partly cloudy day the wind was 5-10.  

We made the trek out to Fergus Falls.  My coworker instructed me to take "the sunken highway," County Highway 1, out of Fergus and look for the slough that has all of the fish houses on it.  She pointed to the approximate place on the map.  Not willing to shy away from adventure, off we went.  We came upon many sloughs on "the sunken highway," however none with fish houses on it.  We also came upon a lake just outside of Otter tail County.  Nobody was fishing.  The ice looked dark, just like it does during the Spring thaw.  The kids asked, "are we going fishing daddy?"

Not wanting to disappoint the boys, I came up with a backup plan.  After driving endlessly around in search for the Walleye producing slough, I made the trek back to Fergus Falls to Pebble Lake.  To my surprise, there were a couple of people out fishing.  Perhaps the boys will get their lines wet after all. 

We ventured out onto Pebble Lake at around 2:30.  The boys enjoyed a bumpy ride on the one man fish house that my brother gave me a few years back.  Armed with two ice fishing rods and a dozen grubs, we poked a couple of holes into the ice with my Jiffy Ice Auger (she purred like a kitten).  I taught the kids how to use the Vexlar, and set the depth with slip bobbers. 

The bite was tough, however we were able to catch one trophy shiner, chad, or sucker (I am not sure what it is).  Brody and Weston couldn't be more proud.  Both helped me real this pig in.  Not wanting to offset the ecology of the lake, we released this fine specimen so that it can produce more offspring for us to catch in the future. 

I will say that the first ever Resemius boy ice fishing trip was a smashing success.  There were very little tears, no fighting, and everybody had fun.  We didn't catch our limit of walleyes, however I am certain that my boys will be wanting some more angling action soon.

As for catching walleyes, my buddy Todd and I are planning a trip to Lake of the Woods during the second weekend of February.  The kids are staying home, so I expect that we will be doing some hard core fishing.  Hopefully I will have some limits to report then, that is, if my fingers don't freeze off.

I titled this post Trial Run because I had no expectations for this trip.  My desire is for the boys to have fun so that they will come to enjoy fishing, just as I do.

North Dakota Fishing, Not!

As many know, I recently moved three hours Northwest of Minneapolis.  I now reside in Wahpeton, North Dakota.  I often ask myself, why did I move?  After all, there are not many lakes in ND.  Luckily I still have a MN fishing license.  After hearing from a co-worker that the Walleyes are biting on Swan Lake, I headed home to do some research.  I learned that Swan Lake is just outside of Fergus Falls, MN and that is only 25 miles away from me.

When I woke up this morning, it was -4 degrees, and the wind was 16 mph.  A bit too cold for fishing, but my itch to explore a new lake prevailed.  After spending time with the family, I pulled up some handy DNR maps of Swan Lake, and mapped out where I thought the Walleyes would be.  After lunch, I loaded up the truck and headed to Swan.  I was on the ice by 1:30 pm.  Luckily someone plowed a nice little road on the ice.  The road led to the exact location that I thought the Walleyes would be.

 There were less than 10 permanent houses on the lake.  The gas auger fired right up and I was able to find a good place to set up the one-man Clam.  The wind was a major factor, and it was blistering cold.  I had a small heater that, at first, was able to keep my holes from freezing over.  After about an hour, the Vexliar showed a fish near the bottom and my bobber disappeared.  I pulled up my first fish, a hammer handle (small Northern Pike).   After another hour, I pulled up a small perch.  After a few more hours, another small perch.

By 4:30, my body was so cold that I decided to call it.  This was a tough decision for me because I know that Walleyes bite best just after dark.  The Clam was great for an hour or two, however it got to be so windy and cold that my holes began to freeze over.  I also lost feeling in my toes and the Clam was vibrating from my shivering which (no doubt) scared the Walleyes away.

After I packed up my gear, I decided to go over to the adjacent fish house and offer my minnows to some fellow anglers.  They had the nicest, coziest set up.  They invited me in, and I was able to enjoy the Packer/Bear playoff game on a flat screen LCD in HD.  As we socialized, I learned that Swan Lake is indeed a good place to fish.   Walleyes beware!  I will venture out to Swan again after it warms up a bit and the wind dies down.