Although I have always enjoyed attending the Governor’s Fishing Opener each year, I may not be attending this year, but I’ll see how it goes.
When I look back at some openers before I started attending the Governor’s Opener, I always took one or both of my sons with me. Fishing was usually fruitful, and we always caught a few fish. Those were fun days making fond memories of fishing with my two sons. Fishing with my sons or any of my grandkids was (is) always way different than fishing with a few friends. Whenever I am fishing with my kids or grandkids, I am always pulling for them to be the ones catching fish. While fishing with friends, it is more likely a competition where you definitely want to catch fish.
When I was a kid, my Uncle Ben would sometimes take me fishing with him. As we grew older, I tried to repay the favor a few times. We went to Reed’s Lake on a couple of different occasions. Reeds is just southeast of Elysian. My son Brian would go along with us, part of it might have been because Uncle Ben would want to stop for lunch at the Dairy Queen in Waseca. We caught fish on Reeds, whether it be bass, northern, crappie or an occasional walleye. I still have fond memories of those times and we did not have the electronics that we have today. We had to store the memories in our mind where we could play them over and over again whenever we needed them. My depth finder was the anchor rope marked off in 10-foot sections by electrical tape.
In many ways, I still like what I like to call “old school fishing” a lot better than using the depth finder or locator. Over the years I had gotten particularly good at reading a flasher, but my last one met its demise when the squirrels chewed the end off of the transducer when the boat was parked in the backyard. I could not find a new one because they had discontinued that model. Probably because it was not “squirrel proof” enough.
I still like fishing “old school” by trolling the shoreline, making sure to keep my distance from the weed edges. On most of the northern lakes that I fish, you can see the weeds clearly because the lakes are so clear. I do like my Hummingbird fish finder, primarily because it lets you know what lies ahead, as far as structure.
I love being on the lake in early morning trolling the shoreline for bass, walleye, or pike. You do not have to get up at dawn to catch pike because they seem to sleep in a little later, like some fishermen.
Whatever species you are seeking, being on the lake or sitting on the shore in early morning is always enjoyable.
Until next time: It looks like the weather has taken a turn for the better. It may just be that we can now call our weather spring like.
Please show your support for our troops who are deployed. These service men and women are making that sacrifice, so that we may have the many freedoms that we enjoy today.