It was just a few days ago that I returned from spending almost a week in northern Minnesota. This time my grandson, Dylan, went with his grandma Jean and me. The weather was less than perfect, but we made the best of it and in the end enjoyed a good week.

Dylan and I fished our lake the first evening and caught quite a few panfish. The largest was a 9 1/2-inch bluegill. We caught quite a few smaller ones and some crappies that were eating size. Panfish are always fun to catch and when the crappie and bluegills are descent size it makes it even better. We never use live bait on our lake and manage to catch more than enough fish to keep us happy.

The next day we headed to a nearby lake to try our luck and weren’t disappointed. We caught quite a few northern, some nice bass and crappies and there were more than enough rock bass that were willing to hit our jigs. On this day we tried minnows but ultimately caught the majority of the fish on artificial bait. Although it was windy and the weather was threatening rain, it only sprinkled on us a couple of times as the rain held off. Dylan’s grandma caught a nice fat northern that was just itchin’ to be part of a fish fry.

That night Dylan took his grandma out on our lake for a little crappie and sunny fishing. She actually outfished him that night but I told him that the “guide” has to tend to the passenger and can’t always concentrate on fishing. That’s the excuse I’ve used from time to time, but I don’t really think anyone ever really buys into it.

The next day was windy and cloudy with a threat of rain looming and the weather forecast was for rain and clearing the day after. For some reason I decided that we should try this little lake just a couple of miles away that is easy to access. It is a small enough that the wind doesn’t affect it too bad. When we launched the boat the anchor rope had fallen out and wrapped around one of the rollers on the trailer. After some maneuvering it was finally freed and the boat was in the water.

This is where things seemed to get even worse. After the skipper had boarded the vessel and was sitting in his chair in the rear of the boat we tried launching it. After much pushing and shoving it was finally launched. At the time I felt that we had made too much work out of the boat launch and under my breath I uttered the unthinkable “What else can go wrong?” and it didn’t take long to find out.

When I turned on the depth finder it came on for about 5 seconds and then went dead. Just then a little light bulb went on above my head flashing the one word that I didn’t think of “plug!” That’s when I thought of it – when the wire connecting the locator gets wet it shuts it off automatically. When I removed the transom cover to check it the water was almost to the top of the transom. The motor was already running so I gunned it hoping to get enough speed up to draw the water out. By now Dylan and his grandma were wondering what I was doing, and I suppose panic was starting to set in. After realizing that this plan wasn’t working and the water starting to creep up the floorboard I thought of the bilge pump which I didn’t think still worked. After hitting the switch it actually started pumping and eventually pumped out enough water for me to pick up more speed so I could plane the boat off and draw out the remaining water and finally insert the plug. It almost seems like whenever I go fishing it just never seems to be a totally smooth experience. On this occasion there were a few laughs to be had (at grandpa’s expense) but that’s what makes it all fun

After all that had happened I began to think that fishing on this day was probably going to be as bad as the day had started out but that was not to be the case. We started catching plenty of pike with Dylan catching the first one. He wanted to catch a “keeper” northern because he said he hadn’t caught one in quite some time. We caught plenty of fish that day and Jean had a “hawg” bass on that came out of the water and danced on its tail before spitting the hook. Dylan said “grandma that was just like you see on TV.”

It started to rain hard but the fish were really active and before we decided to call it a day Dylan finally got his “keeper” northern. So, even after all that had happened — life was good.

We ate fish the next day, and I don’t think that I’ve ever seen Dylan eat as much fish as he did at that meal. Jean fixed all three of the pike that we had kept so we ate a nice meal, and Dylan asked if he could take the leftover fish home to share. I think he already knew the answer to that.

It kept raining steady for the next day and the new and not-so-improved forecast said rain for the rest of the week so we decided to cut it short by a day and head home. Even with the weather it was a great time, and I’m sure glad I decided to fish that little lake when we did so Dylan could catch his fish and have a trip to remember.

To me this is what it’s all about, enjoying the outdoors with family having a few laughs and making good memories that will last a lifetime.

Since I last wrote about area fishing I’ve heard that the walleye bite has slowed a little and although spotty there are still “eyes” to be had. The northern fishing has been picking up in Fountain Lake, and of course there are plenty of catfish in the lake just waiting to be caught. You never know what will be on the other end of your line when fishing these area lakes. This is what makes fishing fun, so get out and wet a line in one of our area lakes. I plan on helping my grandson, Trevor, launch the old Blue Fin in the next couple of days. He can be the skipper for a change and take grandpa fishing.

Until next time, make a few memories of your own and do a little fishing while you enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors!

Remember our brothers and sisters who are proudly serving our country so that we can keep enjoying the freedoms that we have today.