Mission Accomplished...sort of

Well, back to the grind this week after a relaxing weekend fishing Lake of The Woods. We were greeted Thursday evening with less than desirable snow conditions, and we weren't able to get the house pulled to my brother's preferred location. So, we chose to set up where we could and gave it the best shot we had.

Afternoon snooze...

We trudged through three slow days of fish activity, and although theVexilar showed a fair amount of activity below the holes, there were way more lookers than takers. The majority of our keepers were caught on just a plain hook and minnow setup. All those expensive jigs, spoons, darters, and whatchamacallits weren't a match for old school flair.
As normal, there were a few missed fish along the way, if we could have added the missed fish to the overall total it would have been a more gratifying number!
Listening to other people who were up there over the weekend, it did sound like other spots on the lake were more productive.

Pout Pride

The good news from the weekend: I partially fulfilled the "Burbout Quest", and he was delicious!. The bad news: I was 6" short of reaching my 30" goal. I ended up pulling in a chunky 24" Pout at 6:00pm Friday evening.There is always next trip!

One note: We ran into a guy at the Springsteel Bar who pulled in the biggest Eel Pout I have ever heard of, or seen. He had a picture on his smart phone and reluctantly let us take a peek. Cell phone camera's aren't the best and perspective in a photo can be questionable, but I would conservatively say the fish was 40" long, and probably topped the scale about 25-30 pounds. Easily the new MN state record...and he put it back down the hole! He wouldn't send the picture to anyone because he didn't want it plastered all of the web, but when it does start floating around (and it will), you can say you heard of it first on The Rack Pack!

Rock's 1st L.O.W Walleye

After it was said and done, it was another great trip that was filled with a lot of laughs, a little bit of adventure (who knew tailer lights on a fish house weren't optional?!), and a few bags of fish in the freezer. Thanks go to my brother Mike for making it all happen, my lovely wife for letting me go, and to Rock and Skeimer for spending time on the ice with me. If things shake out, maybe I can resurrect the 30" Burbout Quest one more time this year...


~Swany