2014 NW MN fishing league

[child23]

So after talking with my brother i came up with may 31st as the first day for the league this year. I think we should kick off with the first event on the river here in town. I'm thinking we should try do like 8 to noon or 8 to 2 for a timeframe. Who is all interested in competing this year. I have put up a couple of posters here at work but there hasn't been a whole lot of interest expressed but maybe I will throw it out again once it starts getting nicer outside. I'm thinking of putting up one day a month for a tourney day from May probably through September.

[child23]

I should probably also mention if there is enough interest I will have to limit the entries to 25 boats so let me know if you want to be in for the first tourney.

[CANOPY SAM]

I'll probably throw my hat in the ring again.

[child23]

Sounds good to me. Hopefully we get some good turnouts this year.

[CANOPY SAM]

Just keep spreading the word Travis, and folks will show up.

Starting to look like our river ice will go out below the dam real soon. Water has climbed up quite a bit, and ice is starting to blow up here and there.

Gotta wonder though how long it will take to get the ice out above the dam, and on our area lakes?

[Starman73]

Just wondering if maybe targeting different fish for each location would get a better turnout this year. Last year year our Sportsmans club had just a Bullhead Derby and had 30 people enter. Some people may normally not fish Bass and Northern and seemed that was the targeted fish last year. just a thought.

[CANOPY SAM]

You make a good point Starman. I think we should probably consider some species specific tourneys. Although I'm not so sure bullheads would be part of my target species list!

I could definitely see making the Red Lake River, above the dam, strictly a pike event.

Maybe straight smallmouth bass or walleyes below the dam in TRF? Or we could do a straight up catfish tourney below the dam as well?

Could do largemouth only on Union Lake?

Maybe panfish or pike only on Maple Lake?

I'd still like to see us add Balm Lake, south of Lower Red, as one of our league destinations. It's only 1 hr and 15 minutes from TRF, and it's a terrific fishing lake for big largemouths, nice pike, great panfish, and there's pretty good walleye fishing there as well! There are also several other good lakes in that area.

Lake Bronson might be another option we should look at. I know there are pretty good pike, bass, and some panfish in there.

Clearwater Lake is another good option, and there are a few other lakes in that area that would be worth a look see.

It's kind of a bummer, but because of our lack of lakes in NW MN we really gotta stretch our boundaries out a little bit.

I agree that we should look at some different options to spice up the league this summer. Would be fun to pick a specific lake, a specific species, and say artificial bait fishing only, and see how folks do? Or maybe straight bait fishing only?

Anybody walking the fence on whether to participate in this league you should know, none of us are amazing "pro" anglers. Whoever shows up, we usually just throw $10 per person into a kitty and divide up the winnings accordingly between the top 3 finishers. These are primarily just fun get-togethers. We share tips and techniques that work, and just enjoy a day on a local lake or river. Anyone can join in.

[fiskyknut]

You guys could maybe fish the Roseau river iffin it's 'in range'. A trib of the Red it's got Wally's, Pike, and Catfish in there as well as a ton of rough fish. LM Bass and Sunfish show up as well now and then.

[CANOPY SAM]

The Roseau River is a tributary of the Red? Really? I didn't know that. Now that I'm looking at a topo map I see that you're right!!! I also didn't realize there were cats and bass in that river! Thanks for the tip Fisky!

I've fished the Roseau River a couple times in the past, but couldn't figure out anything that would keep the hoards of hammer handle pike off my baits! I know there are some big pike in there as well, but good gracious there's lots of little guys. I've spent days on that river where we'd catch pike on every cast, and I'm not exaggerating.

That might be an interesting destination Fisky! If we do schedule something there I want you in my boat!

I don't think it's too far away at all, but it's not my call. I think we should set the perimeter about 1 1/2 hours from TRF. That way we can pull in Lake of the Woods, and Upper Red Lake, and several of the little lakes south of Lower Red as well. There's just not enough to fish around here. We gotta stretch our boundaries.

[fiskyknut]

Ya man the river here dumps into the Red in Canada eh !!

2 Lowheads N of the border. Iffin we have high water for a good while in April and May it seems we get a fresh flush of fishes that make it up over or around those dams and the fishing cam be way good May and June. Tougher mid-summer, come September it'll pick up again.

The few LMB's and Sunfish that get caught must come outta Hayes Lake. They must slide out over the spillway and into the river maybe ??

Seems every 3-4 years we get a mass quantity of baby Pike and they're hard to keep off the lures. Now if you were fishing up near the spillway off the Roseau river wma lakes those Pike are thick there all the time every year.. So many thru there that you can't catch anything else.

5 miles west of Roseau on 11, then 5 miles N on gravel is an access to an area of the river thats good and fishable for all species from small boats. Decent ramp and a little park area for shore fishing. We call that 'Stoeys bridge'. From there you can motor up or down for a few miles in either direction dodging trees and deadheads !!

A good river for float trips too.

[child23]

So I broke down the points a little farther on the perch panfish and crappie divisions. I also picked out two more dates for future tournament days. Those days are June 14th and July 26th. Locations at this point have not been chosen. Any certain lakes that anyone would like to fish for either of those two dates? Do we want to try a species specific day for one of those? August as of right now is not really looking to good for me to have a weekend tournament because of my weekends are pretty well booked that month. We could possibly do a weekday night tournament if there is enough interest. I would also like to try 1 or two fall tournaments if there is enough interest for those also. Anyone have any more thoughts on any of this? Whose looking forward to getting out on the water for some fishing?

[ArneRantanenJr]

Id be in for a few but id have to tag with canopy sam as i sold my boat

[CANOPY SAM]

You're in Arne, but weren't you saying you were looking for another boat this spring? I could sell you my smaller rig. It needs a little cosmetic work, but it's a solid boat, motor and trailer. Only issue it's the same size as the rig you sold.

Sounds good Travis. I've made several suggestions in earlier posts on lakes and rivers we could fish.

You pick, and they will come!

[ArneRantanenJr]

I bought an atv and a camper so that took my boat money. I would like to find a canoe however

[CANOPY SAM]

A canoe is an excellent way to fish our river. Just drive around town and take note of who has a canoe laying around. Offer em' a couple hundred bucks and you'll be all set. Seems like a lot of people have canoes they never use.

You're more then welcome to jump in my boat whenever you can.

Travis, did you say earlier that you wanted to have our first event on the weekend after opener here in town, or was it on the last weekend of the month?

Doggone rain doesn't look to quit anytime soon. This will be great for the river, lakes and groundwater levels, but it's really starting to get soggy, and I'm guessing our water clarity isn't going to be great for a while.

[River Rat (dan)]

i'm going to play with a float tube I found last fall.

[child23]

The plan is to have the first event the 31st of May. I'm thinking start at 8:30 and go until 4 unless everyone thinks that would be to long.

[child23]

So I found out over the weekend that July 26th will not work out for me to have an event. I will look into having another event in the month of July though.

[CANOPY SAM]

Travis, with all due respect buddy, you gotta lay out a schedule and let it ride. If you can't show up it's kinda tough on everyone else who can, that have already penciled it into their schedule.

If you want me to, I'll take the reigns for you. Turns out I was wrong with my dates overall. My eldest son's grad event is the weekend before this scheduled event. So I can plan to be there at the gate when we take off.

Hope no one gets too worked up if I win it though! Har har har!!!

[child23]

Hey Sam do you just want to run it for that event or take over for the year. I apologize for putting the event on then having to back out. My summer schedule is getting more booked every minute it seems. If you want to run the event that would be awesome. I was fairly confident on my dates that I had set and even knowing my good friend was getting married I didn't think it was going to be around that time. I'm definitely looking forward to this summers events.

[CANOPY SAM]

Travis, just let me know what you want me to do. I'm happy to help out. These events are so laid back I don't think anyone is going to get too worked up if they turn out to be nothing more then an excuse to go out and fish. After all, that's what a league is about. Not big money contests. Just fun gatherings to hold on different waters.

Please don't apologize for your changing schedule. It happens. No big deal. Again, if I can, I'll certainly help out wherever I can.

In June I'm taking my wife to New York City to see our eldest son perform at Lincoln Center. Then, the day after we fly home, we quickly wash clothes and re-pack and head to Omaha, NB for the National Legion Baseball tourneys.

I'm also working on a fairly complex clinical laboratory expansion project in Milwaukee this summer, so this will pull me away from home for a few large blocks of time.

Wherever, and whenever I can, I plan to get my boat in the water, but our whole family is really busy, and fishing is typically the last thing that gets penciled in on our calendar. That being said, I intend to attend everyone of the league's scheduled events I am able to. Just let me know Travis, and I'll help coordinate whatever I can, and again, please don't apologize for having a busy schedule. I'd honestly be surprised to see anyone with a busier schedule then my own, but that's life with 4 kids, 2 in college, one getting married, running two businesses, and living on a hobby farm! It's all good!

[CANOPY SAM]

Travis, if you can, could you post a schedule for the summer? Dates, times, and locations for each planned event? Just put it together, and don't worry about making everyone's schedules fit. It will never happen.

Just make up a schedule so we can all get the dates on our calendars. Then at least we know ahead of time whether we can make it or not.

Again, we'll never be able to accommodate everyone's schedules, including mine and yours. But if we can know several months in advance what to expect, we have a much better chance of getting more people at each event.

Thanks buddy.

[child23]

So here is what I have for a schedule so far.

This Saturday May 31st red lake and thief rivers 8:30 takeoff. Meet up again at 4 for score tallying

June 14th Union lake 6pm until 11pm

I will pick the July 26th time and place after this weekend

I will also have at least one fall event to put on the schedule after this weekend also

Canopy if you wouldn't mind running the July 26th event that would be great.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions please mention them and will respond asap

I'm looking forward to this Saturday to get out and do some fishing being I have hardly been out at all this year.

[child23]

The weather looks like some rain but the event is still on. Me and my brother are launching as we speak but if anyone decides to fish in the first event I have scoresheets hanging from the passenger side mirror of my white ford ranger at the 3rd st bridge If u do participate and decide to leave early just put your number on the scoresheet and I will let u know how u finished

[CANOPY SAM]

I'm out Travis. One of our church families needs help moving, so our family is going to switch gears and head over to their place now.

Hope you guys catch a ton of big fish, and the rain isn't a factor at all!

Have a safe, great day of fishing!

[CANOPY SAM]

So how did it go guys? Any fish? How many boats showed up?

Looks like it was a good thing that the event was held yesterday. Sometime last night we got pounded by heavy rain. The river has come up at least a foot since yesterday, and it's really churned up and muddy again.

Just got off the phone with my son-in-law and he says we've got a bunch more rain coming our way as well. He said they're getting slammed in Grand Forks right now.

Anyway, hope the league event went well. Anxious to hear how everyone did, and looking forward to finally getting my own boat in the water! We're finally passed all the grad parties, church gatherings, and senior parties! Now I'll just have to run the mowers in between the heavy rains.

[child23]

We'll there wasn't much of an event. No one else showed up so me my daughter and my brother just decided to go fishing anyways. We went up the thief river all the way to the golf course and we ended up catching one little hammer handle pike. We did see one around 30" jump but we couldn't get it to bite. At about noon being no one was around we decided to load the boat and drive over to the dam and try to fish just behind it. Wow what a change that was. We ended up catching around 30 fish within a couple of hours. We caught a couple walleyes the biggest being my brothers 26 inch. We also probably caught about 15 catfish and a few sheephead, a sucker, and a bunch of super fat rock bass. So even though the weather was crappy the fishing turned out alright. I'm thinking next year maybe start out with the first event on a lake instead of the river being it seems it's getting harder to find fish above the dam. I'm hoping we have a good turnout for the next event on the 14th on union lake. I really had fun with the night event last year so I wanted to try an evening / night event again this year on another good area lake.

[CANOPY SAM]

Actually Travis, I've been hinting at an event below the dam in TRF for a while now. There are fish above the dam, but the fishing below the dam can be fantastic in comparison.

I'd love to see us put together an event where we fished below the dam say down to the cemetery on Hwy 32 south, or even just down to my place. We're about 1 1/2 - 2 hours south of the dam, by river.

I'd love to see this event be just for walleyes, and/or smallmouth bass. Or just for catfish. Either way, just make it species specific, so it levels the playing field for everyone.

Once the water starts to settle down in a few weeks, hopefully, I'm pretty sure we're going to find LOTS of bass, walleyes, cats, and whatever, all over in this river system. I haven't seen the water stay consistently this high up in 5+ years, and it should allow LOTS of fish to move up river.

This river (below the dam) is truly one of the best fisheries I've found anywhere. With a canoe, kayak, small boat, or even a raft or tube, one can easily fish terrific water filled with numerous species of gamefish, and as you and your brother found, there are some real DANDY'S in there!

Sorry nobody showed up on Sat. I was kinda wondering how it would turn out with no responses to the invite. The weather forecast looked pretty sketchy too, so maybe that kept a few boats away? Anyway, glad you made lemonade out of a lemon!

[child23]

Canopy,

I actually think that would be an awesome idea. Me and my brother were talking an we were thinking about using my dads canoe and float and paddle a bit if needed from hartz park to st hilare. Ive heard it can take up to 6 hours to canoe that stretch but i think it would be some awesome fishing. Do you think a fall tournament would work? Maybe that could be the september one. I wish i had more free weekends this summer because i would like to have more tournaments but with resheeting, residing, and putting new windows in our house along with all the weddings and other events going on this summer its hard to find a free weekend. I'm hoping that the 14th will be good weather and that the fish will be biting on Union. My brother has finally got his new boat set up so it will be fun to see how it is to fish out of on a lake. Its also fun to get my daughter out too. She had a bunch of fun just running the trolling motor on the boat when we were on the river and had an absolute blast when we were fishing below the dam.

[CANOPY SAM]

Everything would depend on water depth below the dam in late fall. Without consistent rain fall it's gotten really, really low in the fall. Almost to the point of not being navigable with a water craft.

Just my two cents, but I'd think the next event (in July) should be held on the river, and a fall event would be better on Union. The water levels below the dam should still be really solid in mid-July, and the fishing should be terrific for virtually everything.

Bass and Pike fishing would likely be better on Union Lake in Sept or Oct.

Just something to think about....

Somehow we've gotta find a way to advertise these events better. It kinda seems like a lot of our participants from last year have disappeared?