Fish Stories

[Bobby Bass]

Well now that fishing is winding down for some I thought that this would be a good place to post a few fish stories. So let's hear your stories... I myself was going to just post a picture of the fish I caught my last trip out but just the picture itself weighs 4 pounds. and there was some message about bandwidth....

[Jeremy airjer W]

I didn't realize we were talking about those stories.

[FOOT]

Bobby Bass, every year I open the season at Winnie. This was he first year I had to start my big motor (140hp Evinrude) while trolling. I couldn't figure it out but my little 9.9 hp just would not gain any ground (water actually).

We were trolling the North shore and having some pretty good luck but noticed I had to keep increasing the throttle on the 9.9. The wind and wave action was not bad, just a mild 5-10 mph. When I finally had the 9.9 at full throttle I figured out the problem.

The walleye we had in the live well were so darm big. They were swimming in the opposite direction from the way we were backtrolling and out performing the 9.9.

A simple re-adjustment of the fish so the would swim the other way allowed me to shut off both motors but I still had to deploy 2 drift socks to slow us down enough for a good trolling speed.

[Dan Thiem]

Very funny stuff Foot!

[Keith_MN]

Twice this summer on the river my fishing partner and I were catching so many smallies in one spot that we finally had to pull up anchor and move. Honest.

[Tyler Holm]

I need to get one of those cameras that have the "super zoom out" feature. Seems most every fish I catch cannot fit in the picture.

[Bobby Bass]

Foot..That reminds me of the time I went up North fishin. We took one of them there fly in fishing trips. Well I was pretty new to fishin up north so I bought some new lures. I had this one lure that was touted as being great for those small mouth bass. Well I started to use it right off the dock and boom I got me a 3 pounder, tossed it again and another 3 pounder. Well my friends were all cracking some of that imported beer that we had up there in Canada I think it was Hamms and just stood and watched me catch fish all afternoon. We never even got the sleeping bags into the cabin. So after maybe a hundred fish or so I said to my buddy " yup, this one catches fish" and I took it out of the box..... A few days later the float plane came back to pick us up and I got myself in trouble. We loaded the plane up and made our run across the lake, there was sweat pouring down the pilots face as he was pulling back on the yoke but nothing was happening. He killed the engine and we coasted to a stop just short of the far shoreline. He turned to us and said we had a problem, he could not get the plane up! Then I remembered, I had tied my stringer to the float...

[FOOT]

Similar situation where we were on a fly-in as well. There was a bad storm a comin' so the pilot came in 2 days early to get us out our we'd have to stay another week.

The pilot told us to load all the fish first and then he'd come back for us and our gear.

Trouble was we hadn't caught many fish but the ones we caught were fairly good size.

We loaded the fish and off he went. But try as he might he could not get enough speed up to clear the fur trees surrounding the lake. Finally after his 7th try he had an idea. He tied a big rope around the tail of the plane and the other end of the rope around a tree.

He then told us to take the ax and when he gave us the sign we were to cut the rope.

He rev'd the engine almost full throttle until the little plane suttered and shook. He waved his hand (the sign) and we chopped the rope. Off he went just barely clearing the trees. He was back to pick us up about 6 hours later and we loaded up and took off still trailing the length of rope.

As we got close to the landing strip we expected to see our pile of fish sitting in the grass. Instead there was a herd of happy Brown Bear picking their teeth with fish bones. Yup everything was eaten and we didn't even have a photo to prove our catch.

[Bobby Bass]

Those fly in fishing trips can be something I remember one time when we were caught with a summer storm storm. It was coming down so thick and heavy that you could not even see your breath. O I thought was going to buy it right there but then I remembered an old trick. I was catching trout that day and I had one that I was going to keep for a shore lunch. I quickly slit open it's belly and crawled inside. My buddy was fishless so I let him and his dog come in with me. After we started the fire and set up camp we were fine till the storm let up

[Hibbing]

As I type this I am actuaaly in my......Boat on LOW! I've had this sturgeon on now for almost 4 hours! Biggest fish I've ever seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pulled my partner and I around the bay for at least 2 miles. Feel like a character from a Hemingway novel............. Being pulled through the gap as I speak... man what a fish..............partner threw the anchor over board a while back but still hasn't slowed this monster down.............must be 3 maybe 400 lbs........................... Send help!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and a cold beer) Will report back if we can make it to.....................................................

[Dan Thiem]

These stories are really good! Keep them coming.

[FOOT]

Hibbing, hope you get this post before something dire happens. I had a similar situation with a muskie on Leech.

Fishing for walleye and my 10 year old son lock into a heck of a snap. Turns out the snag wasn't a snag after all, it was a giant muskie.

Bottom line Hibbing if some guy comes along and offers you a 30/30 DON'T take it, cut your line and your losses.

He pulled us all over the lake creating quite a stir amongst the other fishermen. Soon there were up to 100 boats milling around as my son kept the pressure on. Which was pretty good considering he was using 6lb test Stren. I shouldn't have worried though, after all I taught him how to fish.

Anyway, we were fising out a friends boat since mine was in for repairs. The boat was a 25 footer and had a winch on it as he used it for lowering and raising a metal cage when he went scuba diving int he ocean.

Finally the muskie was getting tired and we were able to jam the winch line in his top jam and winched him on board.

As soon as I dropped him on the deck all h--- broke loose. He started jumpin and flippin adn we all headed for the upper cockpit area. One of the close boats had a 30/30 and threw it to me. I started pulgging away but the darn thing was floppin so much I missed him with every shot. Problem was the bottom of the boat took the shells quite nicely.

The boat soon filled up with water and teh darn muskie was able to swim away.

End of the story, we lost the fish, the boat sank, the guys 30/30 was also lost, my son - daughter - wife and myself all got soaking wet. My wife and daughter won't go fishing with me again but my son was ready to go the next day.

[Bobby Bass]

I'll tell ya a muskie story. We were fishing a lake near my uncle's farm back a few years ago. It was close to the end of October and we were told that a huge muskie was on the bite and the thing had a handkering for mush mellons. Well we loaded up a few of them mellons in the old wood row boat and a really nice pumpkin. Out in the lake me and my buddy went, we took turns trolling, one holding the rod while the other rowed. After a while I got a tad bored and when it was my turn to troll I would hold the rod between my legs and I started to work on that pumpkin. I carved her out and then tossed the guts over the side just like they did in that JAWS movie. Well it must have worked cuz just as the sun when down my line started to scream out the reel, Well to make a long story short we got the monster in the boat. It was getting dark and a fog was rolling in so we put a match to the candle we found in the tackle box and stuck it in the jack-o-lantern so we could see what we caught..I put it on the bow and I got to tell you it was kind of erie with that lite shinning down into the boat and the long body of that Muskie with it's one eye just looking at us. We were catching our breath and keeping our hands and feet away from this monster when suddenly it came alive and start to trash the boat! With a swing of his tail the tackle box went flying over the side and with the return my buddy was swept overboard. Backing towards the stern the muskie followed me swinging his tail from side to side. As he hit the sides of the old boat the boards started to come apart and water was pouring in. Running out of room and seeing my buddy needed help I jumped overboard and swam to his side. We treaded water and watched as the old wood boat moved away from us, slowing sinking into the lake with the gleaming jack-o-lantern on her bow as she disappeared into the fog...they still say she is out there, at least that is the story I hear at the camp fire.....

[FOOT]

BB, nice muskie story. But have you ever gone Squirrel Fishing ?

Last year during the first week of Minnesota's squirrel season hunters from all over MN grabbed their gear and set out to hunt the mighty game.

On the local scene a well known squirrel guide was preparing to do battle himself. Yes folks, Bobby Joe Jim, aka "The Squirrel Rat" was booked solid for his world famous Squirrel Fishing Charters! And here's how it all went down:

His first charter was a local "Massage Queen" who was new to the sport. After a thorough briefing at Squirrel-Rat Headquarters , the two set out in search of the elusive squirrel. The first stop was one of the Squirrel-Rat's secret hunting grounds code-named "Silver lake Park". Unlike many squirrel hunters, the Squirrel-Rat prefers to use heavy muskie rods with 100 pound test wind-on leaders instead of the usual .22 rifle or 12 gauge shotgun. The Squirrel-Rat also uses a secret bait known only as "HEADS & MIDDLES".

As the night rolled in, the Squirrel-Rat and the "Massage Queen" set up camp under a mammoth Oak tree (one of the squirrel's favorite hiding places). The Squirrel-Rat then casted the mysterious "Heads & Middles" (chunks of fresh sucker) into the nearby river using the heavy muskie rods. As time passed by the anticipation was nearly paralyzing. The Squirrel-Rat and Massage queen seemed to be focused on the river instead of the ficus tree. (Only now do I realize that this was only a diversion to mesmerize the evil squirrel)

All of a sudden one of the rods shuddered and the clicker began to scream as line was peeling from the reel. It was a massive catfish who had devoured the sucker head for sure! As the catfish was screaming down the river, the Squirrel-Rat and Massage Queen ran to the rod and reel and began to fight over it. It was unlike any tactical strategy I have ever witnessed. Squirrel-Rat finally wrestled the rod from the "Massage Queen" and did whats known among elite squirrel hunters as the "Hammerhead HOOKSET". This allowed the Squirrel-Rat to "whiff", and shake off the pesky catfish. The force of the "whiff" then carried the line upwards, and the line then was able to catch a low hanging Oak tree branch. This maneuver was truly unbelievable. I saw the look in the Squirrel-Rats eyes, and I knew that the hunt was just heating up!

The Squirrel-Rat then began to pump his fishing rod causing the Oak branch to shake violentl! Only then did I fully understand the Squirrel-Rats secret method. He was trying to shake that ole' tree in order to cause the squirrels to fall out of it and onto the ground. Squirrel-Rat put forth a valiant effort as the "Massage Queen" looked on with great anticipation. However, on this particular night the mighty squirrel would remain elusive. My last image of this night was the Squirrel-Rat standing on his cooler trying to free his fishing line from the Oak tree as the "Massage Queen" looked on with obvious disappointment.

[Bobby Bass]

guess you had to be there to undedstand that story

[Dan Thiem]

This one time back in band camp.....

I was fishing in a back bay and it was a very nice and sunny afternoon. As I watched my softball size bobber suspending a 10" sucker minnow I noticed a squirrel hanging over the lake reaching for a walnut that fell out the tree and landed on a rock that was sticking out of the water.

That squirrel really wanted that nut bad. He reached and stretched but just couldn't reach it. Well he finally decided to just let go of the branch, pick up the nut, and swim back to shore with it in his mouth.

With only about three feet to make it back to shore a HUGE 50+" muskie leaped out of the water and inhaled that squirrel. Amazing sight!

Well about a half hour later I noticed that same muskie pushing another walnut back on top of that rock.

[icehousebob]

This story is about my grandfather as told to me by my uncle, the used glockenspiel salesman. The story must be true because my uncle called himself Honest Otto.

My grandfather came over from Germany during the Great Pickled Herring Famine. The herring crop failed that year and to top it off, the saurkraut migration was very poor that fall. Grandpa came to Minnesota with only his fishing net and a box holding his Swiss bank account books. The first lake he fished was a small spring-fed lake with an outlet creek. He anchored one end of the net to shore and swam in a half circle with the other end. When he got back to shore, he pulled in a net full of fish. He had netted so many fish that the lake level dropped. In fact, it dropped so far that the outlet creek ran backwards for almost an hour.

[Bobby Bass]

With hard water coming it reminds me of a story that I was a part of. We were out fishing a few years ago on a small little lake north of Daluth. Ice fishing that is, I am not much of an ice fishermen always thought it was to much trouble getting the chainsaw out to make a hole in the ice to put the boat in and then of course if you were trolling then you had to cut out even more. Casting was bad enough, making that big fan cut so you could work the area just right. Well anyway we were just going to fish funny like and just make a few holes and drop down some minnows and jigs. Well my uncle was with and he said there was some good size perch in this lake so we decided we needed some stout rods for jigging. So we dropped a few 40' jack pines and trimmed off the branches. Packing snow and slush around the base we then secured some of that dacron light #500 line and tossed the jig into the hole. It was kind of slow so we decide to make a fire to keep warm, good thing we were close to the rail spur and there was a mess of them ties soaked in that black stuff. They burn just fine as long as you can split a few for kindling. Well we were there for a few hours when we got a bite! Using the four wheeler we managed to get a perch up and out of the hole but that is when the trouble started. When we pulled the perch up it left a big air bubble under the ice and the with a big whoosh all the air went up out of the hole like one of them gushers. Well it started a chain reaction as fish started to pop up on to the ice and the lake sank deeper till with a large crack the whole ice on top of the lake just fell. Well now we were in trouble cuz we could see that new warden heading our way across the bridge and we could not get up the bank cuz now it was 10' over our head and fish were flopping all over the place and my uncle was yelling that the second line had just gone down! What to do what to do....That is when my buddy said out loud to no one special that he could not find his fishing license..

[FOOT]

HOW A FISH KILLED COUSIN MILLIE.

A few years ago, up by Mora Minnesota, my cousin Millie Peterson bought a cabin so she could live out the rest of her life close to water. Her husband of 13 years had just pasted away from a unintentional Expresso coffee pot explosion, but that's another story. Anyway's Millie had always loved the water and with her husbands insurance money she decided to quit her job on Hormel's hog kill line and move to the great North.

Now Mora isn't that far North but the I have it on good authority from some freinds who live there that Mora is a nice town and full of freindly people. And God knows Millie sure is a freindly person. Just ask her old high school footbal and basketball teams. She was always sayin hello to them and in fact she was so freindly she was able to ride the team bus to "away" games, but then agian that's another story as well.

So anyway Millie finds a nice cabin on Lake Nimble by Mora and decides to buy it. Now the lake is not too deep but that doesn't bother Millie. She likes to go for morning swims and the shallower the lake the better.

Anyway Millie moves in lock, stock and barrel and is having a great summer and fall. Her daily swims are refreshing and she has met several neighbors, mostly men, and is getting really freindly with them as well, but then again that,s another story.

A early winter storm hits and drives a huge flock of mallard ducks into the only water available, yup you guessed it, Lake Nimble. Overnight the temperature drops so fast and so far that the entire lake is frozen solid right around those mallard's feet locking them in a huge block of ice.

Well in the morning Millie driving home from a male freinds house, seems he was feeling poorly and with his wife out of town it fell to MIllie to nurse him back to health, but that's another story.

Anyway as Millie pulls in her driveway she sees what has happened and gets out of her car and walks down to the lake to look at the spectical. As she nears the lake the mallards get nervous and start to flop their wings. Well with all that flopping wouldn't you know the flock takes off with the ice still around their feet. Millie is dumb founded. There never was much water in the lake but now there is none.

An hour later the sun is out and shinning bright. The mallards can't get very far with that ice block around them and it's starting to melt.

Millie hears there is another neighbor who is feeling poorly and who's wife is out of town so she decides to go bring him some of her famous Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. She opens the can, heats the soup, put it in a bowl and she's off on her good will mission.

As she is driving along it all off a sudden start to rain walleye, norhtern, bullheads, carp, suckers, sunnies, crappie, bass you name it if the fish swam in Lake Nimble it was now fallin out of the sky.

Well the fish fallin on the road make the darn thing so slippery with fish slime that Millie's car skids off the road into a ditch and poor cousin Millie is pronounced dead at the crash site.

Well my wife and kids go to Millie's funeral, she wanted to be buried in Mora. What a surprise to see the entire church filled with her freinds. My wife couldn't understand why they were all men but I told her Millie was a kind soul who nursed a lot of them back to health with her Campbells.

As we viewed Millie in her coffin she had the strangest smile on her face, in fact so did the undertaker, but that's another story.

Anyway, that's how poor Cousin Millie was killed by a fish.

[Bobby Bass]

The family vacation-When I was a young lad we used to go to a lake about an hour drive from home for the family vacation. My step father didn't have a clue what fishing was all about so we were left to ourselves. We always made a trip to the local hardware store to buy a 4.00 rod and reel and maybe a handful of 10 cent lures this along with the nightcrawers we picked were going to be our entertainment for the next week. After the drive that seemed like it took forever we arrived at the lake, found our "quant" cabin and moved in. If you were 9 years old it was pretty much down hill from there. Allowance money was gone the first day in the Resort Store, my first experence with supply and demand. But we did learn that we could make money by selling frogs to the resort owner. One day we set out to a point where we spent the day running down frogs perhaps as many as 50 or so. We placed them in a plastic potato sack tied to the stern of an old 12' cabin rowboat. As my brother and I came to tie up to the dock I turned to pull up our prize catch only to find a empty bag with a hole. Just about then the screaming started from the small sand beach where some girls were sunbathing. We watched as Normandy was recreated, the frogs hit the beach and took no prisoners as they went through, over, around the sunbathing girls. With heads down we watched our money head for the grass. My brother who was 5 years older took some glee in this, I was a few years away from knowing the pleasure of watching teenage girls in two piece bathing suits running around. The highlight of our family vacation was rowing out to the middle of the lake and watching the small fireworks display. That year I got to row out a 14 footer all by myself and my brother took the cabin's 12 footer. Of course it was not till later that I found out that my brother had "borrowed" the 14' for me to use. But he had a plan.. As the fireworks came to an end and I started to row back to shore I heard a whistling sound and looked up just in time to see my older brother shooting a bottle rocket at me. It was soon clear as to why I had gotten the 14' boat and he the 12' a few cherry bombs headed in my direction and now I thought I was in one of them John Wayne movies. In the dark I pulled as hard as I could heading back to the resort, I could hear yelling and clapping and I thought they were cheering for me!! Heck no they thought my brothers attack was just part of the fireworks as he saved the best for last. Roman candles started heading my way and a few bounced off my back!...and we still had 4 more days of vacation.

[Bobby Bass]

Day 6 of the family vacation brought freedom from the cabin as I lost a day due to the borrowing of the 14' rowboat. Brother was no where to be seen as he had "hooked " up with the teenage girls from the beach. Having no bait as that was sold by my brother on the 2nd day after we arrived. I was down at the dock casting my 25 cent spoon. After spending the morning catching nothing my mother came down and suggested that we go out in the boat and fish. Well since I had been ordered out of the boats by the resort owner I told her that I could not go. She ordered me in the boat and said that some rules are ment to be broken. I trace that as my beginning to civil unrest. Anyway we quickly rowed around the point and out of site of the resort. Fishing was no better here. With the cooler empty and my stomach making noises like a fish call we decide to pull up the anchor and head back. That is when it happen, I had left my lure tangling over the side when the granddad of all northerns hit the 25 cents lure and started to take off with my rod over the side of the boat. With a quick grab I grabbed the line as the rod slid over board. Pulling line hand over hand and fighting the fish at the same time I got the rod back in the boat and continued to fight the fish. After what seemed like an hour I got the fish to the side of the boat where it quivered in the water looking at me and ma. That is when we realized we had no net and no way was I going to stick my hand by the monsters head. Acting like only mothers can my ma had the answer to the problem. As I watched the northern my mother stood up in the boat and with one quick move smashed the northern in the head with the oar! bring the oar back for a 2nd shot she lost her balance and her and the oar hit the water on the other side of the boat. Who do I save? thrashing fish or thrashing mother? It was mother and she about tipped the boat over climbing back in, she wanted no part of being in the water with the fish. I swear she was out and back in so quick her hair did not get wet. We set off for the resort with northern in tow. As we arrived a small crowd gathered at the dock. My mother told of the fight and how I landed it. Nothing was mentioned of the oar, just a wink from my ma

[FOOT]

Similar thing happened while on a trip to Northern Canada. Eddie was a good friend of all us guys but he was a pain in the you know what. Not only did he always forget something like rain gear, licenses, money and such he ALWAYS fell in the water.

It didn't matter if we were stream fishing for trout, trolling for walleye or casting for northern - he was going to get wet.

We had booked a guided trip to Flin Flon Manitoba for a week of fishing and good company. It was now day 5 and hopes were high that Eddie was not going to fall in. The "Eddie" pool (everyone thru in $5 and picked a day and time as to when he would fall in) was over 2 days ago, no one thought he'd last that long. Talk was of getting another pool going but he was beating the odds and no one wanted to jinks him.

We started out that morning to catch some Lake Trout. There was a guide and 2 fishermen in each boat. Our guide, Bill, had come in early while we were cooking pancakes. Eddie was a good cook and handled most of those chores. He had plenty of batter left over that morning so he asked Bill if he wanted some. Bill thought that would be nice and asked for one large pancake.

By the time the pancake was doen it measured about 16" across. Bill just layered on some grape jelly, rolled it up and slid it in his fishing jacket pocket. THe rest of the morning he would pull it out, take a bite and slip it back into the pocket. I've often wondered what the inside of that pocket looked like.

Anyway about 10am it was time for us to stop fishing Lake trout and try something else. We reeled in, Eddie stood up to stretch, Bill pulled out his pancake, the pancake saw it's chance to escape and slipped out of bill's hand, Eddie stepped on the jelly covered pancake and went backwards out of the boat and into the water.

Both Bill and I sat motionless for a split second and then leaned over the gunnel to see what happened to Eddie. While we were intent on finding Eddie he came up from under the boat on the opposite side and in one motion pulled himself into the boat and sat in the middle seat.

Bill and I were so shocked we almost jumped out of the boat. As we turned to see Eddie sitting there shivering he said "man that water is cold".

True to form Eddie had fallen in the water and survived. Still to this day anyone that fishes with Eddie takes along an extra towel and a camera, he is great fun to watch and has kept his streak in tact for 30 plus years.

[Bobby Bass]

My best fishing partner who now lives on the east coast has hit the water a few times while we have been out. The first time was when he was fishing with my wife and me three to a boat. We were casting for bass and the wife was having a hard time getting a good hook set. Having aready been married for a few years I knew it was no good to explain to her the proper form. Chuck told her she had to really get in to it. On her next set she reared back and hit Chuck in the face with her rod tip, Chuck went over the back of the boat. Another time soon after I got the new tracker boat Chuck was leaning over to lip a bass, I hit the foot pedal of the trolling motor and it was pointed at a right angle to the boat. Chuck did a nose dive into the lake. And I think the best one Chuck did was sitting on a Coleman cooler on the bow on my old 12' Jon boat as we were floating down the St.Louis River we were going through a stretch of rapids and I told him to get down. He said "heck you have shot these rapids enough that I'll be fine". He was till we made it all the way through and then we hit a rock square that I could not see. Well it ws like the launching of a ship. I heard a ting as the cooler lid top released and went skyward. Chuck looked at me and the slid off the top of the cooler over the bow and into the river. He popped up a few seconds later at the stern. No more sitting on the cooler after that.

[FOOT]

Now this happened when I was just a little squirt and some of you might find this hard to believe but I'm here to tell you everything I'm about to write is 100% solid gold for sure truth.

Back towards the end of the depression my father was lucky enough to get a job and we thought out problem were over. Unfortunately, the job he got was a dangerous one and wouldn't you know he was injured after 2 months work and was going to be out of work for a couple of weeks. Since he had just got the job we had not been able to save much money so we were in trouble again very soon.

With very little to eat in the house and no money it fell to me to try and secure our meals.

My father had an old 30.06, which was too big for me as I was only 12. My mother gave me 3 cents and told me to go to town and buy as many shells for the 06 as I could. Back then 3 cents went a lot father then is does now but I still could only buy one old crusty shell.

Arriving home my mother handed me the 06 and said don't come back until you can bring some wild game home to eat.

So off I went. We lived in Northern MN and it was not unusual to see deer, moose and other creatures.

Walking along a creek I soon saw a nice buck deer on the other side and got ready to shoot. About the time I'm ready to fire a moose steps out of the woods offering a perfect shot. What to do, what to do ? The deer will carry us for several weeks but the moose would carry us for a month or more. Then an idea came to my small mind.

Directly in front of me on the bend of the creek was a stump of a big oak tree. I took out my hunting knife, stuck it in the stump with the blade facing me and took aim.

My idea was to shoot the bullet at the blade, striking the blade and cutting the bullet in 2 equal pieces thereby sending 1/2 into the deer and 1/2 into the moose.

Now, I had never shot my father's 06 before and was unaware of the kick I was about to receive. I pulled the trigger and WHAM the 06 slapped back against my shoulder with such power it knocked me off the back, down 5 feet into the stream and sending the 06 flying into a buckthorn bush nearby. As I hit the the creek bed with such force my copper jacket buttons popped and flew up into the air. A passing flock of Canada Geese was passing overhead at the same time and the 4 buttons brought down 3 of the biggest geese I had ever seen. As I pulled myself up out of the water I was aware of something wiggling in my pockets and discovered 2 very nice trout, one in each front pocket.

I looked over at where the deer and moose were and sure enough both were dead as a door nail.

I pulled myself up the bank and went looking for dad's 06.

Sure enough it was in the bush and five dead rabbits lay next to it. The 06 must have slapped them hard enough to kill all five.

Well, it took me all afternoon but I gutted the deer and moose and quartered them and carried them back to the house along with the trout, geese and rabbits.

Please don't think that it only took me one trip to get all that game back to mom, remember I told you this was a true story. I worked well into the evening making several trips carrying the quarters and the other game.

Needless to say we had enough to eat until my father could heal and get back to work.

I often think back to that time and wonder about how good life was. Food right out your front door and you had the ability to retreive it.

[mnsnowdaboy]

Best fishing story this year for me was the canoe fishing trip on Canyon River. Every canoer passing us by would say that there's no fish in this river because it's just too low (about knee high only). Boy are they wrong, there's thousands of walleyes, smallies, and some carp, white bass, sheapheads, and shiners too.

I guarantee if you use the #5 shad rap (blue/white) one you'll catch as much walleyes as you'd ever catch in you life. Just gotta hit the right spot, right where the fast current and calm area meet. I don't know what it's called but yeah fishes love to stay there and wait for food.

Only problem is if you looking for giants then that's not the place for you. The fishes are relatively small but it's about the action. Our group, I can honestly say, caught over 100 walleyes, but we had 9 people. I think that's still good though. Let go of 75% incase your wondering.