Fall Trip Part 2

I was up making coffee before the sun rose on Saturday morning. Rainy Lake looked like it was going for the spectacular mode. I enjoy taking pictures maybe even more than guiding.  I grabbed a cup of coffee and  my camera and hopped onto the beach and it was oh my god!

A deer had walked down the beach during the night; the colors were absolutely breathtaking, making Idle Hour Bay seem like something out of a fantasy book. Rainy Lake was flat calm without a ripple. The beach, water and peaking colors sent this photographer’s adrenalin on the rise. Breakfast was going to be delayed.  It looked like we were going to have one of the most beautiful days anyone could ask for.

The girls gave a shout “time for breakfast!” After breakfast we went fishing on a walleye fisherman’s dream -  flat calm water.  Who cares! The mood was set, Rainy Lake providing beautiful vistas, the shorelines flaming with colors and temperatures around 70 degrees in the morning. Throw in a few walleyes and a great morning was complete.

We pulled back into the Lady of the Lake where Cathie and Pat were lounging in the hot tub on the roof. A call down of  “how does a Bloody Mary sound?" was met with s unanimous "yes" from our boat.

Sitting on the roof enjoying our libation brought back memories of a houseboat trip on Labor Day weekend  in 1978 or 1979 with Guy, his wife Linda, Gary and Julie Hockin, myself and friend Cress Masseth.  We had sunny weather but it got windy for a couple of days. Back then I was fishing with a S-18 Lund Boat, not the fancy boats of today.

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We wanted a walleye dinner so I told the gang I had a secret spot that only big walleyes roamed. I would go try it but it was too windy for them to come along.  I did not tell them I was going to Loren Erickson’s: a commercial fisherman who lived south of Rabbit Island.  My grandparents purchased walleyes from Loren to serve at their world famous Kettle Falls Hotel. The walleyes he caught were usually from 19-21 inches long. Loren would catch the odd really big ones, but restaurants and commercial fish buyers would not buy these. I asked Loren if he had any freshly caught big ones.  He had four from 6-9 lbs. that I got as I told him what I was up to. Loren was laughing as I put them on a stringer, tied them to my boat and put them in the water. The fish were cold from being on ice so I had to warm them up to make it believable that I had caught them.

It took me a while to get back to the houseboat. When the crew saw the fish they went nuts. It was still very windy and I said it was too rough to go out. I will cook them tonight and if the wind is down we will go to the spot in the morning. Guess what the wind was down in the morning.  Guy was ready to go. I was worried 6-9 pounders just don’t grow on trees. We went to a reef and dropped down our jigs and minnows. We were not there ten minutes and Guy says I got one. It looked like a good fish, I thought northern for sure.  I get the net, Guy gets the fish close to the surface and I scoop it up. I can’t believe it Guy has at least a seven pound walleye. He was so tickled. He put the jig down and gets another good fish on. It was the same kind of battle as the last one, fish digging for the bottom and taking line. Up comes a six pound walleye, I net the walleye.   I cannot believe what has happened. I said to Guy  “we have to leave this spot; it is secret and I don’t want anybody to see us here."

The day turned out beautiful. We started back and stopped at Wind Mill rock and jigged by the green marker buoy. The walleyes were snapping, we caught two limits while barbecuing.   I did not tell Guy about the trip to Loren Erickson’s until just a few years ago. We had a good laugh.

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After lunch and stories we went back out for more fishing. It got hot, close to eighty, no wind, but the fish did bite.  We had dinner and looked over the tree line to the east and a full moon was on the rise.  Time to go up top and hot tub and enjoy the spectacular setting . The night could not have been more beautiful.