After performing their church related duties on Sunday, January 1, four AARP-aged men left for Leech Lake. Bob Goetz was the organist at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Austin. Paul Proft was the music man at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Owatonna. Ray Thompson was the chair of the call committee for a new pastor in Frederic, WI. Bob Hanson was the greeter at Central Freeborn Lutheran Church in rural Albert Lea. It was a slam dunk decision to perform our duties before our pilgrimage to walk on water!
We arrived in Walker, MN about 8 p.m. Sunday night, staying overnight at the amusement center motel named Northern Lights Casino.
After early morning breakfast, we stopped at the bait ship located in the Amoco gas station for minnows. Amoco is a huge corporation so everything has a barcode and must be scanned before you can buy it. It got to be ridiculous when the young lady had to scan the barcode on each minnow that we bought. After we paid, I looked at the receipt she gave us. There were 144 charges of 3¢ per minnow plus tax for a total of $4.75 for the minnows.
We finally arrived at Brindley’s Resort where we stayed for two nights and fished for two days on Leech Lake. We were taken by vehicle out on the lake to our fish house. The first thing all four of us checked was to be sure we could walk on water. We succeeded! With all of the morning happenings, we managed to be fishing by 9:30 a.m.
Fishing was very bad for the fish. We kept 60 perch, six northerns and one walleye. The daily limit is 20 perch per person so once again we proved that we are very good perch fishermen.
The accommodations at Brindley’s were great. We stayed in a house with a fireplace on each of the two floors, a dishwasher, TV on both floors, a washer and dryer, three bedrooms with three baths and showers. Wow!
The service on the lake was also great. We were driven to and from the fish house. The eight fishing holes were open; the heat was on. All we had to do was let them know when we wanted to go and come back from the fish house. They even cleaned and packaged the fish we caught.
Each morning started out with a Continental breakfast in the lodge, which included a no-hurry atmosphere with a lot of questionable fact or fiction stories.
Brindley’s is a family run resort on Leech Lake about 10 miles east of highway 371 coming from Brainerd. Jean and Paris (mom and dad) are the semi-retired parents with their main responsibility being a supplemental monthly deposit in their checking account, plus a monthly Social Security check into the same account to keep track of.
Sons Greg and Tim are the workhorses who keep things running smoothly on shore. Their voices sound alike; their personality is the greatest with excellent customer treatment. One of the brothers said in the eyes of the ladies he was the best looking. The only difference I could tell was one wore glasses.
Employees Pat and Mike take care of the customers on the lake. There were four groups fishing while we were there, all receiving excellent service. For example, Paul hooked a huge northern that he tried to pull up through the hole. In the process, the huge northern swam into his other line and managed to pull the pole down the hole just as the huge northern broke the line he bit on. (We each fish with two lines.) Net result: no huge northern, a busted line, a pole down 16 feet on the bottom of the lake. The next morning, Pat used an underwater camera to see the pole on the bottom while using his pole and line to snag and retrieve Paul’s pole. This is a “true” fishing saga.
Brindley’s even has a greeter named Arrow. He is what they call a “stick man.” He greets every customer with a two to three foot stick. Arrow is a well-trained young employee of the canine family.
For year-around reservations, call Brindley’s at (888) 547-5477. Mention this article and they will give you the same excellent service for one daily rate and “no” sales tax added on. This includes the possibility of walking on water!
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. This will be the Hansons' 37th summer at Beaver Lake. They leave the lake in mid-October to go south — to Albert Lea — and return in April. Bob says if you enjoy his article, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of Wisdom: There is always room for God.