First smallmouth of the year

She was caught on the shoal upstream of the Burlington-Northern bridge (that's downtown Minneapolis in the background) and detained briefly for a glamor shoot.

Faces of Death, Mississippi River Edition

Death flows downstream.

Full moon + four dead fatheads = one long, skinny cat

I had a good feeling about the conditions last night. It was unseasonably warm and still. Better yet, a full moon lit up the waters that practically shouted: the cats are on the prowl!

This is one of the skinnier big cats I've ever caught.

It's alive!

The Mississippi River, that is.

On an afternoon cruise above the Falls, I came across all manner of critters and critter sign: a deer by the water works (click on the pic for a clearer view), a fully re-colonized Heron rookery north of the Camden Bridge, and a little island where the beaver has been wreaking havoc.

There is a great variety waterfowl on the river now. It's not just the usual suspects--the mobs of mallards and Canada geese--but also some entertaining transients.

Over the last week, I've seen quite a few bufflehead, a bunch of golden eye, a pair of wood ducks, two loons and approximately one zillion coots. The buffleheads, which are very flashy, seem to be the shiest of the bunch. This is regrettable because it makes it hard for an amateur photographer such as me to get a decent image.

Weird boat, weird weather

I checked out neighbor Mike's strange new craft. It is an old Sea Scow sailboat (made in Minnetonka) that has been modified in a number of cool ways.

The scow now has a wooden cabin (I shot the storm picture through one of the portals). It is powered by an ill-tempered Honda 10 h.p. four-stroke outboard. You steer the vessel with an extra-long, rudder.

It's a fun, Dr. Suess-ish (Suessian?) boat. You ride close to the water, which makes for a canoe-like experience.

We cruised from just south of the Lowry Bridge to the vicinity of the Camden. As you can see from the images, the weather was strange, blustery and wet one moment, beautiful and blue the next.

A mild surprise

This is the first northern I've landed since last fall.

It's not huge but still chunkier than the hammer handles I typically catch on this stretch of the river.

Fool for snow

I woke up on April 1 to the aftermath of a fairly spectacular spring snow storm. Instead of fishing (I didn't feel like shoveling snow out of the boat first thing in the morning), I tromped around the river in Northeast, camera in hand.

Most of the images are from Gluek park, which recently re-opened after a nearly endless asbestos abatement project.

Channel cat fever

The March bite has been good, especially at night.

I am still waiting for a lunker, but the fish illuminated by campfire was pretty respectable. Maybe four pounds or so.