The Weather & The Walleye Both Fail To Cooperate

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the Minnesota Fishing Opener over the years it’s that the weather in mid-May tends to challenge you about as much as the fish do that you’re pursuing.   And this year was no exception…on both accounts.

My fishing group kicked off the 2005 Minnesota Fishing Season (commonly referred to as “The Opener”) by convening at the Finn ‘n Feather Resort on Beautiful Lake Andrusia.   This year our camp numbers were down a few participants from past seasons, but we still managed to wrangle about 14 walleye-crazed individuals who were anxious to fish, eat and play Texas Hold ‘em Poker (with priorities not necessarily in that order).

For most of us it was a 5 hour trip northward to a lake near Bemidji…and almost the entire journey to the lake greeted us with cold, rainy weather.   Little did we realize at the time, this weather would hang with us not only for Friday…but also all day on Saturday when the fishing began.   There’s something about intermittent rain showers in 30 and 40 degree weather that distracts from the fun…but as hearty anglers…we all fished on.   Typically we would stay out on the lake until you could no longer tie a knot on your line…mostly because the cold fingers would slowly lose feeling and the nimble ability to fashion such otherwise simple maneuvers would escape you.

All in all I know the measure of success for many is quantified in terms of how many fish were caught.   I think for our group we caught about 5 walleye and several more northern.   In terms of numbers, yea…those are pretty pathetic.   But all considering we were out fishing and getting the cobwebs out of our equipment and angling technique.   The fact we all spent time at the lake enjoying this annual event is what keeps bringing people back year after year.   Therefore, I contend that success is simply annually gathering up a group of fun folks willing to share in the excitement of this classic Minnesota sporting event.

Actually, as far as the weekend went, Sunday eventually turned out to be quite nice with more moderate temperatures in the afternoon and the amazing absence of rain.   That didn’t necessarily change the result, however.   The walleye, or so it seems, simply had other ideas to spoil our weekend fun.

Personally, I will confess that I was not able to boat a single walleye…I could see them on the graph, but their lock-jawed tendencies proved to be disappointing for this angler.   Still, there’s just something special about being part of this annual sportsman’s event no matter what the results show in the livewell.   You can’t spend time on the lakes of northern Minnesota and not feel the connection with generations of fishermen gone-by who have also enjoyed their time on the water.   The beauty of the North Country simply needs to be experienced at least once each year…if not more often.

So, yet another year comes to an end for our Fish Camp 2005.   Here’s just a few pictures from the event to better chronicle the fun that was shared by everyone in our camp.

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.