Much as been written about the trout in Minnesota’s iron ore pits, and they deserve it.  These revamped mines may be the biggest Cinderella story in Minnesota fishing history.  But iron ore pits are not the only lakes with stream trout in them.  There are many natural lakes in our state managed for trout as well. Fishing for trout in lakes can be excellent. Read More of the Story…

The time of year is upon us, finally, the Minnesota fishing opener for ’10! The walleye, sauger and northern pike in the lakes and rivers won’t know what hit them. The fishing opener in the state of Minnesota is truly a state holiday. Anglers cherish this time of year and are filled with excitement as they hit the water in hopes of landing a trophy.  The guys here at Davis J. Hennes, the parent company of the Rod & Rifle Rag, wish all anglers a successful and safe fishing opener. Read More of the Story…

August has come and gone and thanks to some loyal posters we have some more stories to read and judge!

What has me most excited, however, is that nights are getting cooler, the days a little shorter and hunting season is just around the corner.  Not to mention that September is a great month for Walleye!  I feel like it has been a long summer and am itching for fall in the outdoors.  I’ve read how many hunters are setting up their deer stands, checking their field cameras and getting everything ready for another great season.

We want to encourage all to hunt and fish safely.  Remember that coming home is important, but not as important as coming home with some great stories!  Think about your experience in the field while you are out there this season.  Take an extra look around.  Breath deeply.  Be thankful for the world God has given us and the freedoms we have to enjoy it.  Be open to the inspiration that comes with isolation and communion with nature.  We encourage all of you to take a pencil and some paper and write down your thoughts.  Not only for yourself, but for your posterity.

Those of us who have parents and grandparents who enjoyed the outdoors knows what it’s like to sit around and swap the tails of the trail and hear about hunting in times gone by.  Now is a good time to start preserving your own memories!

Good & Safe Hunting
The Partners at Rod and Rifle Rag

For a period of time I was a youth leader for young men in our local church congregation. One of our favorite activities was camping and getting into the outdoors. So, as often as was possible, we would pack up kids and cars and head up into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

On one particular trip we had 4 adult leaders and several kids crammed into 2 Suburbans and we were headed up the mountains to do a little spelunking. Like on most trips, a few of the kids, and one particular leader, had brought their fishing rods in the hopes of catching that nights dinner.

I was driving the trailing vehicle as we wound up a narrow, dirt, mountain road that had a cascading creek running beside it. After driving on this road for about 45 minutes, the truck in front suddenly came to a stop on the side of the road, our adult angler jumped out, grabbed is rod from the back and hopped down the bank to the creek.

Confused, I stopped the car, and went to talk to the driver of the first vehicle. As it turns out, for the previous hour our fishing buddy had been talking up his fishing skills with outlandish claims. No one in the car was buying his stories and were giving him a hard time. Finally, in frustration, our friend told the driver to “stop right now, and I will catch a brook trout in that stream running along the road in 5 casts or less.” So, without any hesitation, they stopped.

We looked down into the creek in time to see him make his first cast. To our amazement, he reeled in what was probably about an 8″ brooky. Thankfully, as he lifted it out of the water, it fell off the line. We insisted that it didn’t count and he had 4 casts left. On his fifth cast he brought in a slightly smaller, but good looking brook trout. He let it go, threw his rod in the truck, and continued to boast all the way to the campsite without anyone else saying another word.

( Average: 4.00 out of 5)
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This post was submitted by Doug.

During the summer, we drive up to Seattle and visit my parents on Whidbey Island. We usually stay for a week or so, enjoying their beach house.

My wife and kids (two boys 10 and 13) wanted to go Salmon fishing, as there was a Coho window open in front of the beach. My dad came and we took the boat north, around Bush Point, then close to the beach and anchored up.

It was a late afternoon trip, more to enjoy the scenery than anything else. We had two salmon rods and two trout rods fishing with “buzz bombs” aka Pt. townsend darts. Nice. Sunny. Warm. Took the trout rods ’cause they were in the boat, and figuring they would be a nice match for the small resident coho.

Well, a school of Chinook swam through the darts, inhaling two of them. My wife had one on a Salmon rod, and my 10 year old had one on a trout rod. I didn’t know who to help first…..wife who had never caught anything larger than a trout in her life, or my son, who loves to fish.

My son reeled the Chinook to the boat….a lot of times these fish swim up to the boat, take a look, then take off….and this is exactly what happened. He was holding the rod up, had the drag cranked down, but the fish was swimming away like a train. I tried to apply additional pressure to the fish by pinching the line between my fingers, but as soon as I had done that, and was starting to mention to my dad that we better chase this fish, the line reached the bottom of the spool and “PINK” (this was the sound of the line breaking at the knot attaching the line to the spool). My son had this shocked look on his face, and I thought he was going to cry. I said “I’ll be right back….

Went over to my wife that was fighting the Chinook salmon on the salmon rod, she was doing a great job with my did helping with instructions. Several time she said “it’s gone…” but you could see the line getting closer to the boat, and we’d shout “reel! reel faster!”. After a bit, my wife was getting tired, but she brought the fish to the boat and my dad netted it. The fish was about 18 lbs, a nice fish, but the season for Chinooks was closed, so we couldn’t keep it. I looked at my dad….and we read each others minds….should we keep it? Is anyone looking?…but then made the decision to let the fish go. I gently removed the hook from the mouth of the fish, kept it in the net for a minute, took the picture in my mind, and let the fish go. She (it was a hen) swam away healthy.

Gave my wife a hug and said congratulations on her first salmon, then remembered I still had a job to do with my son. I went over to him, and said that it was a privelige to hook one of these fish, and an honor to be spooled by one. There will be more.

To this day, we still laugh about the fish that got away.

( Average: 3.50 out of 5)
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This post was submitted by rick stallbaum.