Arvid’s Fishing Report

It’s MEA weekend and the area has fishermen and bird hunters all over the place. It’s the busiest that I’ve seen the river in a long time.

On Friday, Willard and I went for a ride and a walk in the woods. The weather was good and it’s a great time of the year to be out in the woods. There doesn’t seem to be that many grouse; we only saw three and got two of them. We talked to a couple other parties and that seems to be what they were doing, also.

We got back to Willard’s late in the afternoon; added a little clothing and went fishing for a couple hours. Willard and I caught and kept three nice walleye and released a number of little ones. I had fished the river Thursday evening up by Hattie’s and brought nothing home. That’s not very good for this time of the year and I haven’t observed anybody else catching much of anything the past couple of days either.

Willard with a nice 19″ walleye

Two ruffed grouse

Fall colors in the forest; Tamarack ready to drop their needles

The second weekend of deer season has come and gone. I had hunted most mornings and evenings after the first weekend without seeing a deer. Wally and Terry were here for the weekend and both saw deer on Saturday. Then on Sunday afternoon Wally got the deer he’s been waiting for, a beautiful ten-pointer.

While Wally was doing his thing on Sunday afternoon, Terry and I went fishing. We should have stayed hunting, because fishing was not good. We fished the river by the airport. Terry’s only bite produced a 20-1/4″ walleye; I caught two 16″ walleyes and lost a couple others. There were two other boats fishing near us; one didn’t catch a fish, the other only caught a perch. That’s not good for this time of the year.

Wally with his ten-pointer

Terry with a deer season walleye

It was a good weekend for the deer season opener. The weather was great and deer numbers are good. Saturday morning we did a good job towards filling the bonus antlerless tags we have. Terry got two, Wally got two and I got one. Eric didn’t see any and Gerry didn’t hunt that morning, he was holding down the cabin. Sunday, Eric made a great free standing shot on a forkhorn in excess of 250 yards. Terry saw deer, but none he wanted to shoot. Wally and I didn’t see a deer on Sunday. Monday, it was just Wally and I hunting. Wally didn’t see any deer. I saw seven; three had horns, but I wasn’t ready to take another one yet, so I tried taking pictures and that didn’t go very well.

Terry and I didn’t hunt on Saturday afternoon; we went fishing and fishing was a little slow. Terry caught three nice walleyes to keep and I caught a 27-1/2″ walleye. It was a nice fish; no camera, forgot it at the house.

Reports are that the fish bite was really good on Sunday, both on the river and at the Lighthouse and Morris Point Gaps. That seems to be the way it’s been all fall, good one day and not so good the next.

Eric with his Forkhorn

Terry with two nice deer season walleyes

It has taken the entire month of October, but we finally got two days of mostly sunshine, warm temperatures and very little wind. Most of the local folks were busy with fall chores, enjoying the weather and many were getting in a little fishing.

Diane and I have wanted to take a walk in the woods for weeks and we finally did it yesterday. She had the camera and I carried the single shot .410. She got a number of pictures of a spruce hen before it flew up in a tall spruce tree. We don’t care to eat those so we leave them be. We were looking for a ruffed grouse and they seem to be a little more scarce this fall because of the cool, wet spring that hurt nesting conditions. We were lucky and got three during our walk, so it turned out to be a successful day in the woods.

After we returned home, we decided to join what seemed to be the rest of Baudette, on the river for an hour of fishing. Fishing has been pretty good. The river has cleaned up some, although the current is still strong. Several reports have people fishing with spinners, using three-quarter to one ounce sinkers and fishing in 10-13 feet of water. We fished by the airport and caught numerous small walleye and sauger that we released. We did, however, get five nice walleye to take home.

Spruce Grouse - also called a Spruce Hen

Jonathan, Allison and granddaughter, Rachel, were home for the weekend. On Friday morning Jonathan and I went to the woods and walked a couple of trails with thoughts of finding a ruffed grouse. We saw no grouse, but it was a great morning for a walk. There is still a lot of cover for the birds. A highlight of the morning was a walk into a cabin owned by a gentleman named Martin. He happened to be there and we had a nice visit. Martin has some birds that are comfortable around him and a Gray Jay came by for a handout. It flew down and sat on his and Jonathan’s hand for a treat.

Friday afternoon we fished the river for a while. It was breezy, but a nice afternoon to be on the water. Jonathan caught his limit; four walleyes and two sauger. Allison caught a nice walleye. I guess that Rachel and I were along for moral support.

The Cabin

A Whiskey-Jack sitting on Jonathan’s hand

Jonathan & Rachel with a nice 17-1/2″ walleye

Allison with a nice fall walleye

Opening weekend was good. Saturday morning Wally got his buck, a very nice eight pointer. Eric shot a fawn buck. Sunday morning was good to me. I shot three deer, a nice doe with my rifle and two nice bucks, both about six pointers with my camera. I also missed an opportunity for a picture of a very large buck, but while fumbling with my camera he walked off the trail. That all happened in a period of about one hour.

On Saturday, Terry, Wally and I tried fishing the middle of the day for better than an hour and caught nothing. Friday evening I fished for an hour and caught five walleyes. I kept my four and released one 24″
Wally with his son, Nolan and his eight point buck

A nice buck standing in a trail