Under the Lowry Bridge

When the county closed the Lowry Avenue Bridge, they may have inconvenienced some people. For river anglers, though, it's made for much quieter and more peaceful fishing.

Even on a slow night--and I've had a few lately--you can usually fool a smallie or two there.

August skies

Dog meets catfish

Last night, Daisy was intrigued by Hesler's channel cat. We caught a handful off John's dock.

Yup, another chicken liver caper successfully perpetrated on the mighty river.

For the first time in a couple of years

I kept and ate fish I caught on the Mississippi. I thought the meal turned out pretty tasty but Hesler, my fishing companion on the outing, only sampled it.

Can't say for certain if that was due to my cooking or his concern about eating fish from polluted waters or some combination thereof.

Fortunately, River John, who did not share those worries, stopped over and split the feasting duties with me.

RIP, big walleye

Lily and Lucy conduct a burial service for a big, freshly dead walleye that washed ashore at the Hines place August 7.

Camping

J and I camped for two days in late July. We tramped around a good stretch of northeast Minnesota.

The first night we stayed on the St. Louis River, just north of Floodwood. The next day, we fished a small rapids under a nearby bridge. I kept two smallies and a walleye, which we cooked that night after a mighty search for another suitable camp spot. In the end, we found a pretty little wilderness lake in the Chippewa, Cottonwood Lake. We had the place to ourselves.

We managed to stay dry despite a wild late night thunderstorm. The next morning, we zig-zagged our way to Cass Lake, mainly on Forest Service roads. I shot the lillypads on a little trout lake on the road from Blackduck.