7.23.08
Paddling pics.
Here's some pictures of Jo and I paddling on Hungry Jack. Its never too early to get your kids out on the water!
7.05.08
Red sky in morning, sailors take warning...
I woke up extra early this morning to catch some fish and was treated to this amazing sunrise over Hungry Jack Lake. It was a great way to start the day. Thankfully, the maritime adage about an early morning red sky did not hold true on this occassion. The day was clear and warm and beautiful!
6.29.08
Lupines in bloom.
We are having a spectacular season of wildflowers. The meadows and roadsides are covered in stunning blankets of daisies, hawkweed and lupine.
Lupine close up.
6.28.08
Berries are ALMOST ready.
I strolled some trails near our cabin this morning to monitor the berry crop. The wild strawberries are just about ripe. These tiny beauties are loaded with flavor. Any day now they should be ready to pick... (if we get to them before the bears.)
June 23, 2008
Smallmouthed Fever. Catch it.
We headed up the Gunflint Trail this morning to paddle and fish gorgeous Seagull Lake. It was our first time on this lake after last year's devastating Ham Lake fire. It was tough to see how much of the lake's shoreline had burned. However, the burn exposed large patches of Canadian shield ledgerock which gives the lake and its many islands and peninsulas an entirely new type of beauty.
The fire didn't seem to affect the fish one bit. We were on the water for about 90 seconds when Joey had a 17 inch smallmouthed bass on her Scooby Doo rod. At first, Barb and I were convinced it was a snag but an epic struggle soon ensued and eventually the huge red-eyed beauty was hoisted into the boat.
The weather was perfect. Upper 60s with a gentle breeze. After fishing all morning, we pulled over to a small island and had a picnic lunch. With sandwiches in our bellies we explored the perimeter of the island and discovered several promising blueberry patches with large blooms. Blueberry bushes are also a wonderful side-effect of forest fires. They tend to pop-up almost instantly after these types of burns. We will be sure to swing back to this island in another month or so with our buckets!
June 2, 2008
Tom Sega, President of Duluth Pack stopped by our shop with Todd and Teri L. of Kansas who recently purchased a pair of Whiskeyjacks. They had just returned from a BWCA trip where they used our canoe paddles (a Whiskey Jill and a Double Whiskey...) and wanted to take a look around the shop and meet the crew. Its always nice to take a break and visit with paddlers.
From left to right. Teri, Todd, Tyson, Danny and Tom Sega.
May 18, 2008
Faux Fishing Opener.
Our annual fishing opener event at our cabin occurred a week later than usual this spring. This year we were in Florida sunning our buns during the actual opener weekend. As fate would have it, doing it a week later turned out to be a great move since all of the area lakes were still frozen solid on opening weekend.
This year's group of five braved less than ideal conditions in an attempt to pull in one of the monster lake trout that inhabit the deeps of some of the surrounding BWCA lakes. High winds, cold weather and occasional rain made fishing from canoes and lake crossings a challenge. Nonetheless, we pulled in our share of fish and had a ton of laughs along the way. It was a great way to start off the Minnesota fishing season. All of the major species of fish (walleye, small-mouthed bass, trout, northern pike) found their way into our canoes -but the trophy lakers eluded us.
Mike S. and a Hungry Jack walleye.
Paul a.k.a. Philly McSweetDreams with a hog smallie.
Tim and his 17 tackle boxes. Now dubbed "The Festival of Lures"
John R. recieving the Mike Stowman Poor Sportmanship award.
May 12, 2008
Fun in the Sun.
April is far and away our busiest month in the shop so we've been working our tails off getting orders filled for the upcoming paddling season. It works out perfect for us since April in Northern Minnesota is the worst month for outdoor activities (in my opinion.) There's not enough snow to ski and the trails are too sloggy to hike. The lakes
are still frozen -so no paddling or fishing. Oh yeah, and its usually about 38 degrees and windy and rainy... So we hunker down in our cozy shop and do some serious wood working for most of the month.
At the end of the month, we treated ourselves to some time off in warm, sunny Florida. After 6 months of winter, the intense 95 degree heat and powerful sun was a shock to our arctic metabolisms. But after a day or two we adjusted and ended up having a great trip.
We spent some time lazing on the beach and swimming in the surf and also got out for some salt water fishing. The fishing was great with nearly non-stop action in the rivers and lagoons that flow inland from the ocean. We had a chance to catch a variety of species that we had never caught before. The highlight for me was catching my first salt water trout. Awesome.
Dan and his first Speckled Trout.
Joey and a Puffer Fish.
Barb pulling up a Silver Snapper.
April 1, 2008
Spring is here!!!
April Fools... The Winter that wouldn't end continues so why not enjoy another weekend of Winter bliss? We all headed up to the cabin on Hungry Jack this weekend for some snow-shoeing and ice fishing. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the snow was fluffly and wet. Jo, Barb and I got out each morning for some awesome hikes and a few snow ball fights.
Jo on her shoes.
Barb and Jo on Hungry Jack.
We forgot a shovel so I had to resort to using one of our paddles to clear the front steps!
It worked like a charm...
Ultra-light, hand-crafted SHOVEL...
My brother-in-law Steve and I hiked over to Daniels Lake for some end of season ice fishing. The fish didn't cooperate but we didn't mind one bit. Sitting on buckets in the middle of this stunning, pristine lake was a great way to spend an afternoon.
Steve (a.k.a. The Fish Repeller) drilling a hole.
March 21, 2008
Canoe spotted!
The surest sign of spring is when the canoes begin to emerge from the many feet of Northern Minnesota snow. The snow is melting at a steady pace but there is still at least another month until the ice is out on the lakes up here...
March 17, 2008
Copia Pics.
I finally got a chance to look at our photos from Canoecopia. We had an awesome show and our booth was filled with paddlers pretty much the entire time. Many of our models were completely sold out by noon on Saturday!
Spring Fever was definetely running rampant at the show. Being surrounded by so many canoes and paddling gear was getting us all extremely anxious for ice out. This year I actually got a chance to see some of the lectures, which I enjoyed tremendously. I saw one on BWCA fishing techniques (somebody always knows more...) and another on a paddling expedition on the Yukon River in Canada. Both were great. Barb was able to check out a presentation about paddling in Provence. She said it looked like a MUCH different way to paddle than our usual BWCA/Quetico trips...
As always, thanks to all of the amazing staff at Rutabaga!
Dan talking paddling with some new Whiskey customers.
Barb is the hostess with the mostess...
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