The other day I had decided to take a drive and visit a few of the lakes that I had fished as a kid and then later on as an adult. I mainly wanted to check out these lakes and snap a few pictures. I had mapped out a plan in my head and headed out for the day, which turned out to be our best day yet in 2020.
I had decided to visit Beaver Lake first and when I arrived I parked in the lot and walked through the tunnel that goes under the road and leads to the lake side. Beaver Lake has a nice fishing pier and a swimming beach that you can get to. The public access is by the beach and both are a short walk from the pier.
I am nostalgic in that I am always thinking back and remembering the fun times that I had at this lake as a kid. One of my favorite memories is when my Mom and Dad’s friends, Elmer and Mary, would make plans to go fishing with my Mom and Dad. Both my Dad and Elmer worked at the Community Oil Company in Albert Lea. They would rent two boats from the Boathouse on Beaver lake; my folks and I would get in one boat and Elmer and Mary the other. They would tie our anchor rope to the back of their boat and would tow us with Elmer’s green 5 hp Johnson outboard motor. It actually wasn’t all that far to the crappie “hot spot.” Once we were there we would drop anchor and commence to fish. My Mother was always finding out about different ways to catch crappies. One of her favorite ones was to use a minnow and a bobber with a couple of split shots and a pre-made leader that had a fairly small hook, beads and a small spinner blade. Her trick was to cast the bait out and reel it in slowly. This was almost foolproof and, when you would get a bite, the fish would pretty much hook itself because you always had tension on the line. I actually learned an awful lot about fishing from my Mother. We would usually start fishing around 6 o’clock in the evening, but the crappies wouldn’t start biting steady until the cool of the night started to make itself known.
If I close my eyes I can almost feel the damp of the evening as the cool air met the warmer water forming a little bit of an evening mist. The smell of the evening air is forever one of the most unforgettable feelings that I have experienced. Once the crappies started to bite, it was non-stop for about 45 minutes and, as a young future outdoorsman, I couldn’t think of any experience that could possibly be better.
When I was in my early teens I was really into fishing and, on our usual Sunday afternoon drive, we would go to small towns around the area that had a bar that sold 3.2 beer. This was where my folks could go and socialize with friends. My dad was working 6 days a week and every other Sunday, so he didn’t have a lot of down time.
A couple of friends of theirs, Buzzy and Minnie Lerum had opened up a little establishment on top of the hill on the north side of Beaver Lake. They called it the “Chicken Shack” and they had all of the good stuff like chicken, burgers and fries. I was more interested in the pop and snack stuff. They had a dock down below their place and they would let me go down and fish off of it. I would spend all of my time fishing and my mom would occasionally come down and check on me to see if I was doing okay or needed something.
On one particular Sunday afternoon, we stayed at the Chicken Shack until they closed because Minnie and Buzzy had invited us over to their cabin on the south side of the lake. The adults sat on the porch and socialized while I fished off of their sandy shore. I was in my glory because I was catching small walleyes in the 8-10-inch range, which was a far cry from the bullheads I’d usually catch in Fountain Lake. I got to practice my catch and release program at an early age. It was all about the catching and not about the keeping.
Please take a few moments also to honor those who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms that we enjoy today. Also take a little extra time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who have served and those troops that are serving today.