Jim's Fishing Minnesota Page

Fishing in Minnesota!

This page is about the fishing adventures I've been able to enjoy. I'm not in to fishing for "trophy" fish, rather, I like to eat fish. Not that I'm against catching a good sized Northern, Walleye or Bass, but rather...

The really big fish (weight) are females, and they are fishing's future. They need to be returned to the water. Give me a mess of sunfish or crappies, a limit of 2-3 pound Northern's or Walleye's - then heat up the frying pan. No better eating than a peice of bread and butter with some hot fillets. YUM!

Ven Two Minnesootins Meet Oop Nort On Da Lake Fichen!

This is the conversation of a couple of Minnesotan's out on the lake....

"Haydair."
"Lobuddy"
"Benearlong?"
"Coplhours."
"Crieps, cetchenenny?"
"Yepgoddafew"
"Vairdaybittn?"
"Oberdair"
"Kindarday?"
"Valleyeennordern."
"Ennysiztooum?"
"Cuplapowns."
"Oofda, bittenard?"
"yanohowdeyar."
"Vahchaoozin? Dalindyrik?"
"Ohyeahdonchano."
"Fichenondaboddum?"
"Rydoopneardaboddum."
"Howdeeperya?"
"Bouttvenyfeet."
"Oh, Vachadrinkin?"
"Hadacouplabeers."
"Velligoddago."
"Tubad."
"Seeyaround."
"Yeahtakideeze."
"Guluk."
"Yoobetcha."

Da Ent!!!

IF YOU WERE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THIS YOU ARE A TRUE MINNESOTAN! Click for a translation

I confess that I did not write this, but I wish I had. I do not know who the original author is, it was emailed to me without that bit of data. But if the original author should see this and contact me, I will give him or her credit for their work.

Pictures of myself, family members, and friends - by year

2002

September 3

We did something a bit unusual (for us) in early September. It was the first day of school. We ate an early supper, then hitched up the boat and went over to our closest lake, Beaver in Steele County. This trip was really a "does it still work" trip - just to check out the boat, as it had not been used in close to six weeks at that point, and I was heading to Wisconsin the following day for another Internet inspired trip.

My wife and son Alex came along. My wife read a book, and Alex and I took rods along - might as well make a few casts. The motor fired up, we headed down the lake to some structure I was aware of - a rock pile marked by a buoy, and a close by lily pad bed. While this was good, deep water was close at hand. A spot for predators to lie at ambush for certain.

Alex put a firetiger Rapala Skitter Pop on his rod, while I rigged a blue plastic worm Texas style on my rod. It was a quiet evening, just us and one other boat on the water - and a slight breeze - just enough to keep the bugs away.

Alex made a couple of casts, and then placed one cast near the edge of the weeds. He let the Skitter Pop sit for a moment, then twitched it. The water boiled - Fish On! He had a good time with this fish - especially when the fish wrapped him around the cable of the buoy. Steady pressure on the line however caused the fish to unwind, and soon it was in our landing net. A nice 17" LM Bass. This picture was taken after we got off the water, as the camera didn't get in the boat.

My first cast also hit paydirt. I cast my worm into a small pocket on the edge of the lilys, and began hopping the worm along the bottom. One or two hops, and it felt funny. I set the hook - Fish On! My fish was smaller, a 13" LM Bass. At this point, I had high hopes for our evening.

Then a disaster occured. Another boat, with 3 young men - in their late teens or early twentys, with more gonads than brains, decided to go water ski-ing - and ran their boat and skier right thru our weed bed, and passing within 30 feet of our boat. Idiots! Needless to say - we didn't get another fish that evening.

June/July

I didn't get out in the boat much during this time period. I had heard a rumor of Northern Pike in a roadside pool of a local creek, and one Saturday morning, I got up early, and checked out the creek. Surprised I was! I floated a 3-4" sucker minnow 3 foot under a bobber for about 20 minutes, trying various areas of the pool. I cast near the corner of the far side from me - my bobber had no more than settled down, and the bobber started moving - then went under. I counted to 10, and set the hook - fish on! My prize was a nice 27" Northern Pike. I rebaited - threw to the same spot, and lightening struck again - fish on! This one ultimately got away, as I lost it at the shoreline when trying to bring it in.

This scenario repeated itself several times during June and early July. I learned a great deal about fishing live bait for pike. None of the fish we got (me and my son Alex) were big, but they were sure fun to catch, and excellant on the table.

This particular creek, due to its location, gave me many fishing oppurtunities I otherwise wouldn't have had, simply because it was close to home.

June 7

I took a co-worker of mine, Sara, and her husband Pat to Cedar Lake in Rice County. Pat had never fished freshwater, and for Sara, it had been years since she had fished fresh water. While I was able to locate some fish for them, it wasn't the trip I had in mind. But they got enough fish for a nice meal, and we had a good day on the water.

May 24

My first soft-water trip of the year was arranged via the Internet - I participate on the forums of the website FishingMinnesota.Com, and one morning in mid-May, spotted a post by a poster known as JimW. He had arranged a trip with a Mississippi River guide by the name of Jim Holst, who runs the Moving Waters Guide Service, and was looking for another party to join. As it turned out - that was me!

This trip was the first meeting for the 3 of us - none of us had met previously. The fact that our names were all "Jim" became the joke of the day - as in:

Q) Who did that? (what ever "that" was - burping, farting, missing a fish, etc)

A) "Jim did!"

Our trip took place on Friday, May 24 - fishing just "feels" better when you cut a day of work. We arrived at the landing near Red Wing Mn, and launched Jim Holst's boat. We started down river toward the beginning of Lake Pepin, near Bay City. We trolled in shallow flat, about 5-8' deep, which had some creek channels for structure. We trolled assorted colors of Rapala Shad Raps - among them Fire Tiger, Crawfish, Chartruse and others. The walleyes were home! There weren't alot of them, but we did get several strikes in the area. The first went to JimW - a nice 21" fish.

This fish was released.

Shortly after this, Jim H. had a strike from a much heavier fish, then we all got in to the act, catching both walleye and sauger. I got 2 fish in this area, my largest was a nice 17" sauger.One of the Walleyes I got - not big, but a nice "eater".

At about 9.30, we moved to another location, and resumed trolling in a backwaters channel. Each time we trolled over a break in the current in this particular channel - fish on! Some fish went in the live well, many went back in the river.

It was in this backwater channel that we got our biggest and smallest walleyes, both caught by our guide, Jim Holst.

This fish measured 22 inches and was released. .

The picture on the right shows Jim with a picture you probally won't find on his sites picture pages, but he took the ribbing we gave him like a true gentleman.

After lunch, we resumed fishing. We resumed trolling for walleye, this time on the Wisconsin side of the channel. We had a few hits, but nothing like the morning. .

JimW caught his biggest white bass of the day, while at nearly the same instant, I got a strike from what I hoped was a trophy walleye. The fish put up a nice fight, and while it was the largest fish of the day weight-wise , it wasn't a walleye. I had caught a 5 lb. plus "Sheepie" - or Sheepshead, also known as the Freshwater Drum.

My big fish (weight) of the day.

It was getting to be 1.30 by this point, so we changed our focus to the "Bronzebacks", otherwise known as Smallmouth Bass. We traveled south on Lake Pepin several miles, until we were on the Minnesota side, south of Lake City, fishing the rip-rap. We threw plastic worms rigged with split shot for weight. Not exactly long range casting. JimW once again nailed the first fish, a 15" smallie. Then we all got in to the act. Some of the fish hammered the worms, others would barely strike.

JimW with his largest smallie of the day - this fish measured 16 inches. All of the bass we caught were released.

One the SM I got, this paricular fish went about 14 inches long. Notice the coloring differance from the fish Jim W is holding.

One of the many Mississipi River tows.....This is the Towboat Bonnie.

We ended our day at dusk (about 8.00). We had 11 sauger and walleye in the live well, and caught many more, both walleye and smallmouth. Fish for the frying pan. Nothing big, but a great day on the water.

2001

July

My son Alex joined an uncle and some of his cousins this summer, working at a summer camp for disadvantaged youth. The camp was located in northern Minnesota, near the town of Bemidji. While he worked at the camp, Alex was also able to use the facilities, such as the swim beach, activity center, and was able to go fishing.

Alex with a chunky sunfish he caught early one morning.

Alex had set himself a goal this summer of catching his first Northern Pike. He suceeded while at the camp with this fish, which weighed about 2.5 pounds. Not a lunker, but we have to start somewhere......

Alex got this picture of our state bird (The Loon) one morning.

June

I learned from a co-worker that the local newspaper carried a fishing report. The report included Lake Pepin, a long, wide spot on the Mississippi River. The walleyes were reported to be biting off the Lake City fishing pier. The technique was slip bobbers and leeches. That was good enough for us.

On Sunday morning the 3rd, Alex and I jumped in the car and headed for Lake City. The day was overcast and cool, about 65F, and a slight west wind, which put a chop on the water. My first cast in to the lake barely had touched the water, and the slip bobber began to go under. I set the hook, and felt a nice tug. The fish fought my ultra light rod and 6# line, but I brought the fish in, only to loose it at shore (large rocks - riprap for the pier). Note to self: Self - next time bring your landing net. Bring a stringer too. Baler twine is a poor substitute. DAMHIKT!

The fishing wasn't fast, but soon I caught another fish, then Alex did.

Alex and his first walleye.

We saw a number of sights on the river that we don't see on inland lakes, such as this "tow" - a string of barges and the tow boat.

We ended up with 2 walleyes, 2 SM bass, and a 9" bluegill. The fish stopped biting about 10.30 when the sun came out.

May:

I got invited to fish in Missouri by my friends Melmac and David. The Ozarks are extremely pretty this time of year, and the fishing is spectacular. I would have liked to have gone sooner, but my schedule was full, preventing an earlier departure, so the 18th of May, I left for the Warsaw/Truman Lake area. We fished the 19th and 20th, but were prevented from fishing on the 21st by weather. I have many pictures and details of the trip located here. Just to hold you over, and get you curious....take a peak at a pic of me and "Mo".

"Mo" is a 56 pound, 49" Flathead catfish that Melmac and I teamed up to catch. This picture (117K) was taken about 7.15am, the morning of the 20th. We caught her on a trotline, and it took both of us to pull her in. This picture was taken by Wayne, the owner of the Trailside Store, the closest store and baitshop to BerryBend State Park, where I was camped for the weekend.

2000

August

My son Aaron and 16" LM Bass (about 2.5 pounds) he caught while canoeing with my daughter, Amy, on a lake in central MN. Aaron caught this fish on a buzz bait.

July 13

My son Alex, and daughter Amy joined me for a late afternoon jaunt to Lake Zumbro, in SE MN. When we arrived, we found the lake had a total "no wake" zone in effect, due to the heavy rains our region has recieved. This ban limited the amount of area we could run - basicly idle speed is all that we could do on the water.

We tryed fishing the same areas as on the previous (July 2) trip, but the fish were not co-operating. Alex got one bite from a bluegill, but didn't get it in the boat. After 2.5 hrs of not much activity, we started to troll, until we would locate fish on the sonar, then we casted crank baits.

Alex, once again, saved the family honor. Using a Shad Rap in blue and orange, he caught a LM Bass that was 14" long. Using the the tape measure method of weighing the fish, it was about 1.5#. It hit his Shad Rap right beside the boat, totally surprising him. It gave him several good tugs before he brought it in.

The Shad Rap he was using was a promotion lure from an area Conoco station, which I picked up for each of the kids years ago - it has the words "Conoco, hotest brand going" on the side of the lure. Amy and I were skunked - not a bite. Still, a nice evening, warm, a breeze, no bugs, Sure beats watching TV.

Alex and the bass he got.

July 2

My son Aaron, myself and our neighbor Glenn, tryed a differant lake, Lake Zumbro, which is 10-12 miles N. of Rochester, MN. Zumbro is an impoundment, so it is long, narrow, and deep. We ended up with 25 nice sunfish - some honest 1/2# slabs, one sunfish that went 9.25" long and 3/4# (these we weighed at home, prior to cleaning), and 2 SM Bass. We also released a number of other bass to grow some more. All of the fish were caught on Night Crawlers or Leeches - we had no sucess with artificials.

June 18

The boys and I got out again (Fathers Day). We went to a Faribault area lake. We didn't fish real hard - did some exploring of the lake (really just an excuse to run the motor), but ended up with a limit of sunfish between the 3 of us, 2 crappies, a walleye (about 1 - 1.5#), and 1/2-3/4# bullhead caught by Alex.

We got the fish on worms and Beetle Spins (orange/brown seemed to be the favorite colors), also a few on some crappie minnows. The temp was in the mid 70's, and the wind was from the south west, the lake was choppy, but not terribly rough.

Aaron and one of his crappies, this one went about 8.5 - 9" long, which is average size for the lake we were on.

Alex and the bullhead he caught. A bullhead is a cousin of the catfish - body size is similar, but does not get as large, nor is the coloring of the fish the same. This picture is not the greatest, as I had a dark colored fish on the dark background of Alex's life vest.

On the last couple of trips, I've been trying to teach Alex how to tie his own lures, snap swivels on his line etc. I must not have been very good at it, cause he was having trouble until I dug out a picture I had in my tackle box of how to tie the given knot (a King Sling). Well, that picture was worth a thousand words, and he got the technique down, but in the process we lost my picture. I did some surfing this morning, and I found a new source of knot pictures here, at the Fishing Pal web site.

Took this picture on one of our trips. This is a tree on one of the islands of a Faribault area lake. The island had a number of bird colonies (cormorants?), and this is one of their roost trees. The white area is the portion of the tree stained by the birds droppings.

June 11

My son Alex and I took the "new" boat out for our first trip of the season. We went to Lake St.Olaf, which is a small (51 acre) body of water in Waseca County. We got a few fish, namely 4 sunfish and a 14.5" LM Bass, which probally weighed a little under 1.5#, according to the tape measure method of weighing a fish. We were fishing in about 5 ft. of water, and using nightcrawers and bobbers.

Alex and the bass.

1999

My son Aaron with a (small) walleye he caught. This picture was taken in the evening in late August. We were fishing for sunfish, and had anchored off a peninsula. The water started shallow and deepened to about 15 feet of water. We caught several walleye, some bass and sunfish in this spot. Nothing big (walleye and bass), but they felt good on ultra-light tackle.

1996

Aaron & fish we got while at a resort. We were in Northern Minnesota on a late summer vacation. We didn't catch alot of fish, but did get enough to eat a time or two.

These fish are a pair of nice (14") crappie and a good sized yellow bullhead. For those of you from down south, a bullhead is a cousin of the catfish.

The crappie were caught under the resorts swimming raft. Another fisherman told us about it. Each day we would go there, catch one or two fish, and you'd be done on that spot for the day. It didn't seem to matter as to what you used for bait either - we tryed jigs, minnows, Beetle Spins, etc.

This is a view of the lake and surrounding area from a DNR fire tower. We were up to the very Northern fringe of the deciduos forest, in to the start of the northern pine forests. We were on Big Sandy lake, near McGregor.

1991

We were building on to our house this particular summer, so we didn't have alot of time for the "important" things, but did manage to take off a weekend in July.

Aaron and I went to a lake near the in-laws, and went fishing for sunfish. The spawn was over, yet we found some really nice sunfish in the lillie-pads and cat-tails, in about 6 feet of water. We used night-crawlers for bait.

Aaron & a sunfish he just caught. You will have to look hard, but the fish is near the bottom of the photo, in front of the left side of his life vest.

One of the fish we caught.

Myself with a fish. I really enjoy catching these fish on ultra-light tackle. We never weighed these fish, but I am guessing they went about a 1/2 pound, maybe a little better.

August, 1985

I was digging thru our archives a while back, and stumbled across the pictures which follow. We used to vacation at a resort on Lake Ida, in Douglas County, near the Alexandria.

These pictures where taken on one such trip. Lake Ida is a big lake, with alot of structure. We concentrated on the panfish, but I also caught some bass and northern pike as well.

Aaron at age 6 with his first Northern Pike. This picture was taken in the evening after we came in from working the sunfish in the wild rice canes.

Amy at age 4 with a nice Yellow Perch she caught.

Aaron and Amy with a nice Northern Pike I caught while fishing alone in the morning. I had come in for breaskfast about 8.30, and this picture was taken at that time. The pike weighed about 4 pounds, and was caught on a green Lazy Ike while casting in to the weed beds. I had lost a larger fish at the boat that same morning.

1975

I caught this fish while fishing from my future in-laws dock, on June 1. It weighed 1# 4oz. 6 days later, my girl friend was my wife.

1967

Opening day 1967 Northern Pike! Can you believe this is me in May of 1967? I was in 7th grade at the time this was taken. I got this picture from my mother recently, as the result of digging thru her archives. I joined a friend from school on the fishing opener, on a small lake near the Twin Cities. He and I did better than the guys my step-dad worked with - all of them went "Oop Nort'" for the opener, and got skunked. We went back a couple of evenings later and got some more too. These fish aren't big - maybe 2-3#, but my folks were pleased (me too!).

More pictures will be coming....

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