Monday, I spent the morning on Bete Grise and Lac La belle with special ed school teacher Don, and his 6 year old fisherman Oliver from Sebeka Mn. When little “O” boarded my boat, full of energy and enthusiasm, he saw my spinning rods and immediately told me “I know how to use these rods and reels!”
“Yeah right, I bet”, I thought to myself. I’ve had many people on my boats with varying degrees of skill and experience, but never a 6 year old who knows how to use an open face reel. He surprised me later on when we fished for small mouth and pike and he handled them much better than MOST of my customers. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to take any level of skill or beginners any time, but this kid impressed me. Even after fishing on the lakes for 4 hours, he immediately fished from my dock while we cleaned fish.
Anyway, we caught 5 coho salmon on Lake Superior before going in to Lac La Belle and caught a couple small mouth bass. No Northern Pike this time. You can see the FinnAction Lure on one of the coho here.
The next two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, we fished with retired school teacher and antique dealer, grandpa Jim and his English teacher wife and their family. I took six out each day with limited success for coho and lake trout with a total of 10 Lakers and 2 coho. At least everyone caught a fish, though and they have some pretty nice fish to eat. The littlest boy, Max, landed the maximum size fish, a 6 lb Lakers with an 18 inch herring sticking out of his mouth. It’s surprisingly how a Lakers will still be feeding when his belly is full already!
Thursday, a family from Middleton, WI, staying at Small Traverse, came up and had a somewhat slow day with 1 coho and 3 lake trout landed, with a miss or two.
Friday, today, we spent only about an hour on rough water before coming in with 1 lake trout after losing one to a broken line when being hoisted out of the water… never try that, wait for the net. I’m sure fisherman Paul knew that, since he has fished a lot, but in the heat of the moment, and with the bouncing of the boat, it just happened so quick. We soon changed plans and went in to fish with my little Harbercraft for small mouth and pike. Paul scored again with a 13 inch smally, while I caught 2 perch for pike bait.
Brian Helminen
Oliver had such a blast and we heard about it all week long, every time he stopped playing and sauna/swimming for more than a minute, he wished he was fishing. The fish was delish and there’s more here in our freezer for later! Thanks for taking him!