Sunday Drive to Brimson and Beyond

Last weekend seemed like a great time to take a Sunday drive. My brother-in-law Ryan was up from the cities and we were both looking for a good excuse to get outside. With the lakes in limbo around here, and the woods still wet from rain, we opted for a little Sunday drive- well, actually a Saturday drive. This rabbit thought that he was a little more camouflaged than he was, but I can't really blame him, considering there should still be snow on the ground. After Ryan took a few photos through the brush, I decided to push my luck and went in a ways, finally taking this shot from about 15 feet away.

I couldn't resist putting in this photo of another rabbit that Ryan spotted.  They were sticking out like sore thumbs!  We saw five on one short stretch of road.  This one was hanging on to a little bit more of his winter coloring than the first one that we saw.  Great photo Ryan!

The eagle's nest at the Indian Lake boat landing was occupied.  There seemed to be only one eagle so far.  I'm not sure when eagle eggs usually hatch, but I heard a news story this morning that said eagle chicks had just hatched somewhere in Iowa.  I know that there was a nesting pair in this nest last spring, maybe during this visit the other one was sitting tight on the nest while we were there and never raised its head.

One more eagle picture for good measure.  What a majestic animal- and to think that the national bird was almost the turkey!

BWCA Trip Planning 2012

This photo, of me tending a fire on Fourtown Lake, was taken on a cool September night when mother nature was cooperating- light breeze, very few mosquitos, and enough moisture throughout the summer that there was not a fire ban.

Well, I recently started a new job, and today I noticed a reproduction of a portage marker sign in a co-workers office.  The sign was a great conversation piece and it also got my imagination going regarding the coming paddling and fishing seasons.  Will there be a BWCA fire ban in 2012?  Will water levels be so low that some river travel is difficult?  Will the water temperatures warming earlier push lake trout out deeper than normal in early May?  Part of what makes a BW trip so mentally refreshing for me is that no matter how much you plan, or how much you think that you are in control of your trip, mother nature always has the final word.

This photo was taken on Lac LaCroix around the Fourth of July, 2009, on a day when mother nature had dealt us a royal flush.  Two years later, I found myself wind-bound on the shores of the same lake, looking across at the same camp site, with no way to get there.  We had paddled from Iron Lake and made the portage, then the wind picked up to over 40 mph sustained.  I would estimate the wave height at 6 to 8 feet- we were on the east shore, and the wind was barreling down the big lake from the west.  After one brief attempt, which ranks in my top 3 most frightening canoe experiences, it was back to the portage landing, which was in a protected bay.  We sat and watched the lake for at least 10 hours before we could finally paddle just before dusk.  We made the paddle to this 5-star site and by the time we got there, the lake was glass, just like in this photo.

Spring Fever

Spring is in the air today and I started thinking about some of wildlife that I've encountered in the past.  In recent years, I've started keeping my camera accessible as much as possible when I'm outdoors.  I've got to give my brother Tom credit for snapping this photo of a ruffed grouse a couple of years ago.  We were both snapping photos, but Tom had the best vantage point and captured this photo.

Snapping turtles can provide great photo ops.  This turtle has probably been photographed by hundreds of BWCA visitors during his life, which has likely spanned several decades.  I'm sure that he's eaten his share of walleyes from unattended stringers during those years.

During an early June trip last year, I was on a large island on Crooked Lake when I heard something rustling around in the woods just behind camp.  To my surprise, I saw a hen mallard rambling through the woods, which had just come off of this nest.  The nest was several feet above water level and approximately 50 feet back in the woods.  The eggs looked like they could have come out of an egg carton.

Lake of the Woods - March 2012- Twin Rivers Resort

Well, it was up Twin River Resort on Lake of the Woods last weekend.  This is Jason Clusiau with one of the larger fish of the trip.  L.O.W. has a generous slot for walleye, with 19.5" being the lower end, compared as low as 17" on some lakes.  In addition, the lake has a good sauger population (no slot), with a limit of 8 combined, not more of 4 of which may be walleye.  This was the third year in a row that I've stayed and fished with Twin River on the same weekend of March.  The ice road was great, but the fishing was a little slow- at least by L.O.W. standards.  We started fishing around 9:00 a.m. on Friday and fished full days on both Friday and Saturday.  We ended up keeping around 35 or 40 fish all weekend, releasing roughly 15 that were in the slot, and releasing many more that were trying to eat minnows 1/3 if their size.  That's not terrible, but that's not what you expect at Lake of the Woods.

Here is my new friend Pat taking the hook out of my largest fish of the weekend, which measured around 25.5".  This fish let go of the hook well below the top of the hole.  Luckily, after spitting the hook, it decided to give two good shakes of the tail before turning around, pushing it into "death grip" range.  Pat was at the ready all weekend and grabbed several fish.

My largest walleye of the weekend- 25.5".  Between the six of us, I would say that we averaged about 2 or 3 slot-sized fish per person over the two days that we were here.  There was at least one other in the 26" range, but nothing larger than that.