Wally usually wants to wait until the end of the season to shoot his deer, but this year he wasn’t going to be quite so fussy as he hadn’t seen much for deer, much less one with horns. He was hunting alone on Monday morning when along comes this doe being followed by a really nice buck. He might have got excited, but he didn’t miss. The only problem was that there was no one there to take a picture and too much horns to do a selfie.
Wally’s 10 pointer, a really nice deer
Posted in Hunting
We haven’t had as much winter with snow as some places, but it’s cold enough to make some ice and it looks like it’ll stay that way for a while.
We are four days into deer season and it’s a mixed bag; we are two for five. Wally and Dave were able to hunt only Saturday and Sunday and didn’t see any deer. Terry had three days to hunt and hasn’t seen any. Gerry had a chance at a spike buck, but it didn’t quite work out. I’ve hunted three days and have seen four deer. Two of them were bucks; a small six and a nice eight; pretty lucky.
A nice buck
Posted in Hunting
I thought it was a little special when I saw a young bobcat feeding on a road killed deer a couple of years ago, but was clearly outdone when Jodi sent a picture of one in her back yard. Here they are in a nice suburban community in a city of six million people and they get this wildlife that we don’t see much of; coyotes, quail and now a bobcat. Won’t mention some of the other critters.
It’s been a disappointing Fall for the river fishermen. The fish are not in the river in any great numbers and if we don’t get another shiner run they may stay in the lake. The river is down several feet since mid-summer and there’s not much current to encourage the fish to come in. There could be a run just before freeze-up; I hope so or it could be slow winter fishing on the river.
Next up is deer season that starts this coming weekend and it’s not very encouraging. Antlerless permits were cut nearly in half for our area and our group didn’t get any. The trail cameras showed a couple nice bucks earlier, but lately we haven’t had much. The past couple of winters haven’t been easy on the deer. We’ll have to see what the season brings.
Not your normal house cat. Had no trouble clearing the block wall.
You might say that we are having a little Indian Summer; the past couple of days have been very nice. Conditions are just right for a drive in through the forest to look at some colors. Many of the poplar trees still have their leaves and the tamarack have turned a beautiful gold and when mixed in with black spruce they make for some great pictures. Wednesday, Diane and I went for a drive and walk in the woods. She had her camera and I had the trusty, single shot .410 with hopes of seeing a ruffed grouse. We enjoyed a couple of short walks and she got some nice pictures. We got a bonus; seeing three grouse and getting all of them.
When we returned home, I planted the garlic; had an early supper; hooked up the boat and Jeff and I fished the river for the last hour or so before dark. There have been a lot of people fishing the past few days with the nice weather, but not many good reports. The fish still haven’t moved into the river in any great numbers. We anchored up in 15′ of water. It was a little breezy out of the south to start, but the wind died to nothing as the sun set. We had some action; mostly little saugers. We ended up keeping 2 small saugers and 2 walleyes. We each caught and released a 24″ walleye. It wasn’t bad, but not what you’d expect for the middle of October.
Tamarack in full color
Bonus – Ruffed Grouse
Jeff with a nice Fall Walleye
We have had a run of miserable weather this past week. It’s been cloudy, cold and lots of wind. Most fishing has been confined to the river and I haven’t had many good reports. A few charter boats from the resort area have come up as far as town looking for a quite place to fish. Fishing on this end of the lake was good until the recent change in weather and it’ll take a few days to settle down once the winds quits. The fish have not moved into the river in good numbers even though there was a shiner run a couple weeks ago.
Scott’s Fall school break is this week; he and Steve are here for a visit. We haven’t been able to do much because of the weather. We went looking for a partridge on Tuesday; saw one and Scott got some feathers, but no bird. Scott and I fished the river on Wednesday for a short time. We couldn’t get the anchor to hold so we gave up on that and trolled back and forth on the bay for a little while. We caught and released six small pike, but no walleyes. They leave today for their place in Wisconsin and the youth deer hunt this week end and then back home for more school and golf. It was good to have them here.
Scott with a small pike
Posted in Fishing
It has turned into sweat shirt and jacket weather up here in northern Minnesota. After what seemed like a very short summer, Fall is here and we are busy scrambling to get the garden and other projects done before we have to dig out the snow pants.
River fishing has picked up, although the cold front that came through a few days ago has slowed the bite. I’ve heard some minnows have been in the river for a week and the fish should be right behind them.
Baudette has just completed a broadband project thanks to a Blandin Foundation grant and there were some Blandin folks here on Tuesday to help celebrate the projects that were done. Karl, a Blandin consultant, came a little early for a morning of fishing. He would have liked to put a tag on one like he did last summer having to fish for only two hours to do it. It didn’t quite work that way this time, but he did catch one 42″ and fought another for awhile before it broke his line. Getting one between 45″ and 50″ can be a little difficult. Ralph and I were fishing for walleyes and caught nothing to keep. It’ll get better.
Karl & Ralph with a 42″ sturgeon
Posted in Fishing
Gordon and I were able to fish two of the three days they were here. Sunday was not very nice, so it was a day of visiting and playing cards. Monday, we went back to the Clementson area still looking for a sturgeon. The first two hours got us a few walleyes; two eaters, a nice 26″ slot fish and three or four little ones. It was breezy and the wind kept moving the boat around, so we moved closer to the landing where it was a little more protected and it wasn’t long before we teamed up on a really nice sturgeon. We pulled the anchors and after close to a half hour, the fish was in the net. The fish had pulled us to within 100 feet of the dock, so rather than try and lift it in the boat, we pulled up to the dock to a group of onlookers. We measured the fish; a lady took pictures and we slid it back into the river for some fisherman to enjoy a fight another day. We went back out and fished another hour or so with not much happening so we decided that two nice fish made for a good day and we went home. The sturgeon was 61 inches. The chart would have the fish at about 60+ lbs and 34 years old. Quite a fish.
A 61 inch sturgeon
Gordon with a nice 26″ walleye
Posted in Fishing
Karen, Gordon and Grandma Ida are here for the Labor Day weekend. Weather wise, Saturday may have been the best of the weekend and Gordon and I spent a good portion of it on the river. We were targeting sturgeon and I was hoping that Gordon would tie into a good one, but that wasn’t meant to be; we never caught any. We did, however, catch quite a few walleyes; brought home a limit and released a 20″ and 24″ and several little ones. Gordon has some really good walleye fishing on Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota, but he indicated he was happy catching walleyes here. Nick and Danielle were close by in the afternoon and Nick caught a nice sturgeon; one of three we saw caught. If the weather permits, we’ll try again before they have to go home.
Gordon with 19″ walleye
Nick with a 51″ sturgeon
A nice 24″ walleye
Posted in Fishing
Some of the gates in the dam at International Falls have been closed this past week and the water level on the river is going down. Along with that the current has eased considerably. The dock at the Peace Park was fixed on Friday and that’s getting things somewhat back to normal.
Willard and I spent most of Saturday on the water. We took no live or dead bait along, just plugs. There was a pretty good breeze out of the NE that had a few whitecaps here and there. Fishing was great, but the catching was a little slow. Smallmouth bass seemed to be the most active; we caught five or six and Willard caught two that were 17″ & 18″; nice fish. We caught about eight walleyes and saugers; kept three nice walleyes; release a 21″ slot fish and four little ones. We also caught and released two small pike. You noticed that I’ve said “we”, but it was Willard that did most of the catching. That happens quite often when you go with Willard.
It was a cold, wet and late spring, but the garden has done surprisingly well. We’ve been busy putting things away for winter and patiently waiting for tomatoes to ripen. They are green as grass, but, oh! how they are growing.
Willard with a nice 17″ smallmouth
Tomato plants over my head
Posted in Fishing
Between four and five inches of rain last night (my rain gauge had 4.2″) has the water up again and will put a stop on some fair river fishing. The river must be up a foot in the last eight hours and sure to get higher. We didn’t need this.
Fishing Pier at the VFW
Posted in Fishing
Arvid's Fishing Report 
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