The Minnesota fishing opener is once again in the books and thanks to my grandson, Trevor, I was able to be on the water for the opener. Trevor contacted me the week before and asked if I would like to go fishing with him on the opener. I didn’t hesitate one bit in saying yes. Although we didn’t have the luck that we were hoping for, we did catch a few fish; however, only one of them was a walleye. We did see a few nice northern caught on Fountain Lake that morning. As we were fishing near Hatch Bridge we spotted a young father and his son fishing nearby. When we first got there the dad waved to us and then proceeded to tell us how his young son had caught a 26-inch northern and you could tell by the dad’s ear-to-ear smile that he was really proud. I told Trevor that it was a perfect example of how a dad (or grandpa in my case) feels when they take a kid fishing and they catch fish. I have caught my share of fish over the years, so whenever I took my sons and their sons fishing I would always get excited when one of them would catch a fish. To be honest, that feeling never goes away.
All four of my grandsons like to fish and two of them, Trevor and Dylan, are a little more into it. Trevor has raised the bar for the whole family and I don’t mind bragging about that; he is indeed a very good fisherman. My grandkids have all been taught to follow the rules, keep enough fish for a meal and practice catch and release and this makes me very proud.
When my sons were young we would go fishing on many of the lakes in our area and we’d usually have pretty good luck. On holidays we would camp with some of our friends and their kids and those were always good times. I would bring my boat whenever it was feasible and when I didn’t bring the boat I would always have a couple of fishing poles in the camper; never leave home without them.
My favorite vacation place to camp was Spider Lake, north of Grand Rapids. We could camp there for a very reasonable $9.00 a night which included electricity. If you didn’t need electricity, like with a tent, it was $8.00. It cost $2.00 for a wheelbarrow full of campfire wood and a coffee can of birch bark for starting the fire. A couple of years ago I came across an old itemized bill and the grand total was a whopping $119.00 for a week and this included boat gas, bait and a few goodies from the store in the lodge. They always had a couple of loaves of bread in the freezer if you needed and they always had shelves stocked with a few things a person might have forgotten. Great memories of those times spent at a beautiful lake, staying at a resort where the owners treated us like we were staying in their most expensive cabin. Over the years we became good friends with the owners, good folks whom we will always remember fondly.
Once we had bought the land for us to build our cabin, Spider Shores was just a memory. We still visit Spider and fish it at least a couple of times each season. About two years before we bought the land for our cabin, we found out that the resort had been sold. A couple of years ago I had gone for a drive and decided to stop in at the resort just to see how much it had changed. When I drove in the driveway I was greeted by the new owner. I told him about my history with the place and that I was just taking a trip down memory lane. He told me to make myself at home and feel free to look around the place. I found out that they no longer allow overnight camping, just seasonal. The owner said that he did this to eliminate some of the problems that they had encountered with some folks. This was understandable and, in all reality, there was getting to be less and less room for weekly campers as the seasonal ones started to grow. Like they say, “Change is inevitable.”
I know that by now we are all tired of hearing and reading about Covid-19, so I am not going to dwell on it. I will say that I am now pretty much finding out what it is like to be fully retired. I try to wear my facemask that was given to me by my niece, Michelle, whenever I visit a store. I do think that, although not mandatory, we will be wearing masks for some time. Quite often we hear and see the saying that, “we are all in this together,” and it’s true, but there are always the negative folks out there who try to make this political. Really? We all want the small businesses to get back on their feet and for our community to become viable. When local businesses do open up we should frequent them and show our support for our neighbors.
Until next time: A big thank you goes out to the health care workers, EMT’s, law enforcement and those who are working and making our lives as normal as possible. Now is a good time to get out and go for a walk, whether it is around the lake, at the State Park or just around your neighborhood. There is nothing like taking an early morning walk and breathing in some fresh air. Stay safe!
Please take a few moments to also 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 who are serving today.