Favorit e Memories Of The Arrowhead

[reinhard1]

here are a couple of more eye's that came from that lake and are still in there. my buddy and i had a double on one pass. both were released. this lake is stained and we always have a good day bite. by 4pm it realy slow's down. this lake also has good crappies with most in the 9 to 12 inch range.

only use two baits on this lake. 90% of the time i jig with a Lindy fuzzy grub in the 1/8th oz weight. the only color i have used in this lake with this jig in over 30 years has been a pink head with a white body and pink feathers on the end. i tip this with a fathead and both the crappies and the eye's hit this bait. there are times i use a slip bobber and fathead but not often. i fish in anywhere from 5 to 12 feet of water.

there are pike here also but small generaly. they sure love to bite off my jigs so i bring plenty of jig heads and the Lindy bodies along. good times. good luck.

[TruthWalleyes]

Excellent thread Reinhard! Thanks for sharing your history and photos!

[reinhard1]

thanks. when i look back i wish i would have taken more pictures, but i realy wasn't a picture taking kind of person. we are so blessed to have an area like the Arrowhead. good luck.

[reinhard1]

there are some islands up in the arrowhead you can camp on and even has a fire pit, picnic table, and a pit toilet. this one is on Dumbell Lake near Isabella.

even our two dogs, Butch and Babes [both have passed on and lived to be 15 years], loved the outdoors and went to many, many trips with us in all types of conditions. i think when given much love and care, dogs seem to live just a little longer.

yes Dumbell is a good place to camp with walleye's, smallmouth, and even some musky's roaming around. i've seen a few moose near the lake or swim accross the lake over the years. good luck.

[reinhard1]

Bearhead Lake can have a gold sunset.

and also can mix it up a bit in colors in the sunset. good luck.

[DTro]

Your "hidden" walleye lake reminded me of all the good times I had as a kid on Low Lake near Ely. Not only was it an adventure to get back there, when we did the fishing was phenomenal.

Also the picture of the big washout in the road reminded me of "partridge" hunting near the old Anderson School somewhere near Kinney. I can't believe we went down some of the roads we did. The winch was always getting used.

Sure wish I or someone else would have taken more pictures...

[reinhard1]

actualy the "hidden" lake is not that hidden at all realy. right next to a gravel road but just a back in gravel open spot to land the boat. i get my 1850 Chrestliner in there no problem . it just gets bypassed by people. always something better down the road i guess. i wish i had some pics of some of the lakes we portaged into over the years. always busy portaging, fishing, cooking, looking for firewood ect. but i got enough for some sort of a story anyway. it's kind of theraputic just going over some of these pics for me. digging around looking for more. good luck.

[reinhard1]

lots of small inland stream trout lakes in the Arrowhead. this one we go to while we stay at Bearhead State Park.

so what better way to relax among the big pines than to sit near shore while your waiting for a trout to take your blown crawler. good luck.

[Bobby Bass]

Keep em coming! Sure are triggering a lot of memories of heading into the BWCA back in the seventies. For the better part of fifteen years a buddy who I still fish with would spend our vacation time in the boundary waters. Ten days in early summer and another ten in the fall. Running a 12' Jon boat dragging a canoe loaded like we were mountain men setting up a winter camp we would go in off Mcfarland Lake and set up a base camp. From there we would jump off and portage or paddle into a mess of water that back then no one paddled or fished. I have written some stories about the adventures but with all your pictures I could have been sitting right next to you in the same camp. Nice job Reinhard!

[reinhard1]

thanks Bobby. sure helps that i figured out how to post pics with the help of some on HSO. most of these pics i'm scanning from my printer since most are already developed and date back some years while others are fairly current. my brother and i prior to joining the Army in the late 60's stayed in the Arrowhead for an entire month. my dad dropped us off and away we went with a two man tent, and Army mess kit, some spices and fishing gear and some extra cloths. no camera though on that trip. the Arrowhead has a very special place in my heart and always will till i meet my maker. good luck.

[reinhard1]

wonder how many people have sat on this walleye? this was from the 60's. good luck.

[reinhard1]

in the old days we fished off shore a lot for lake trout as i stated earlier. typicly with dead smelt. places like this point with the drop off usualy didn't dissapoint us when conditions were right.

this happened to be a good day for us. not always that way but it does happen. good luck.

[reinhard1]

i remember this day even though it was awhile ago. we were on Hogback Lake and it was a few degrees below zero. dont know how much, but why does it matter right. still cold. we caught nice rainbows like this before the perch took over a few trout lakes in the area. eventualy the DNR poisened the lakes with the perch take over and now they are back producing trout and splake once more. i cant remember what type of rainbow we had back then [donaldsons i think, could be wrong] but they grew fairly good size at the time. this lake also had grayling in it at one time. my dad caught 14 one day. no longer stocked so they are history but great memories. good luck.

[reinhard1]

why just portage to lakes with portages? heck once you get to one you never know what's on the other side of the hill that doesn't have a portage. looked at some maps way back when and noticed a couple of small "ponds" were near a lake we went into. so we went through the woods, rods in hand with just a few spoons. this "pond" we found had pike and big perch in there. many beaver dams also. the perch would follow the spoons into shore with only a few brave enough to take on the spoon. good luck.

[reinhard1]

some realy weird and beautiful clouds form in the evening.

i think some of us that are blessed to live up there see this here and there. even then it's very special. along with the brilliant stars at night later in the evening and this preview of the evening of the north, you stay and remain in the north and some like me cant wait to get back up there. good luck.

[reinhard1]

Dont drive up the North Shore without stopping and enjoying the shoreline.

good luck.

[tacklejunkie]

wonder how many people have sat on this walleye? this was from the 60's. good luck.

Love that pic!!! I remember as a kid going to I Falls to visit relatives and would always pass that walleye

[tacklejunkie]

All those pics remind me of my childhood and camping and fishing with my family.

The one event, amongst many, was when I first started grouse hunting.I was 14 years old and got my first shotgun. Well, my cousins and uncle came down on an Oct. Fri evening and the plan was my dad, uncle, cousins, and brother and myself were going to go out on Sat. and drive around and hunt birds. Sat. AM came and it was pouring rain . Thankfully, the rain stopped before noon and we ended up going out in the afternoon. The birds!!!! Every road we drove down, every stop we made had grouse. Granted, seeing and getting were two different things but just the number of birds we flushed and saw that were trying to dry out was incredible. Lot's of 20 gauge rounds were fired that day. And we got birds but nothing like the numbers we saw. After it was all over, my dad and uncle made a stop to eat and we filled up and cheeseburgers, fries, and cokes.

Well, my brother and uncle have passed but that memory lives forever.

[reinhard1]

sorry for your losses Tackle. wish i had taken some pics of partridge hunting myself. who knows going through my stuff some may show up. one event i remember is because i only went hunting after sharptails once. this was near Cotton Mn. . i think my dad got permission to hunt these open fields with clumps of brush and some forest edges. these sharptails were a little bigger than grouse and you didn't just flush one but between 5 and 10 at a time at times.

i had a 410 single shot shotgun and was and still am a poor shot at things flying. my dad shot a "red" partridge that day according to a taxidermist who hunted with us [also a cop]. so he wanted that one and traded my dad a sharptail for it. dont know if sharptails are still around in that area but it was a thrill that day with all the birds seen. good luck.

[Bobby Bass]

These old pictures are pretty "Neat" to use a word that dates us older guys. To have old pictures is something special since it took a lot of effort back then to take a picture and have to pay for them sight unseen. Now with camera phones and the ease of digital cameras there is not a real good excuse to not have lot s of photos to share and pass on to others. I wish I had a digital camera "Back in the days" so many memories that should have been capture with pictures. I have some old photos here and I was looking to post them but I am having problems with my scanner, but see you got me looking back and thinking about the "Good Ole Days" nice thread you started.

Living up here we kind of take for granted the big lake and the wildlife.

[reinhard1]

the scanner is working great for that. the one i have is a Cannon and i think we payed under 70 bucks for it. we haven't had it that long. works great though. yes, having lived up there and spent a lot of time in the Arrowhead i appreciate every second i have there regardless of the weather. good luck.

[reinhard1]

Remember when Steelhead were the kings of the north shore? we had some good runs back a few years. here are some that my brother and his friend caught back in the 70's.

one of the senior folks that fished with us for steelhead in the past Erik the Finlander holding up some we got that day.

some more of the great steelhead fishing we had.

my brother with a nice steelhead when he still had black hair.

finaly a pic of my mother, myself [holding a steelhead] that i caught on the Knife River back in the 60's. we stood on shore with fiberglass rods throwing black and white daredevile spoons with a single hook. we fished under the railroad bridge near the mouth of the Knife. back then we though spoons would get anything [guess they did]. my mother is holding a 7 pounder and the one i'm holding i think went 4 pounds.

wonder how many people use black and white daredevils now for steelhead in the northshore streams? bet nobody. wasn't longer after that we went to orange yarn and then spawn bags with a touch of yarn. good luck.

[tacklejunkie]

We all now know what a baby RH1 looked like

Good thread....I like those old style photos

[reinhard1]

ya, i had that Mr. Rogers sweater thing going for the longest time . good luck.

[Leaky]

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood..............Once again, great pics.