I spent most of last week at the cabin building a deck and enjoying some picture perfect weather. I will never complain about sunshine, highs in the mid 70’s, lows in the 50’s and a nice breeze. The weather was great and the deck turned out great, considering it was built by some old guy.
After about three days the birds finally returned to my feeders. On my last visit it only took a couple of hours before they had returned. I can always depend on the humming birds showing up the same day, which is great because they are always fun to watch.
Because of some road construction just south of the cabin, I have to drive north before heading south. I just tell myself that it is the scenic route. The other morning, I needed some materials for the deck and, as I headed out to get in the vehicle, I startled two fawns that were close by and they headed down the driveway with their white tails raised high as they scampered down the driveway. This is what makes being up here so special. On my way to town I spotted a pair of deer alongside the road and they seemed in no hurry to move. One of the deer was a young buck and he was sporting a set of antlers. On the way back I came across another young buck feeding alongside the road. It looks to be a good year for deer numbers, if you go by how many I’ve seen up in this neck of the woods.
I am not a deer hunter, but, like any wildlife, I love seeing animals in the wild. Although I am not a deer hunter, I always get a little chill of excitement whenever I encounter one close up.
I am getting kind of amped up for fishing in mid to late August and, of course, fall, which is my favorite time of the year to be on the water. I often look back and reflect on the fun times that I have had fishing in the fall. My first visit to Spider Lake was in the fall of ’76 with a co-worker at the time, Charlie Thompson. We did a lot of fishing together while we worked together at the Tribune.
On our first visit to Spider we had some good crappie fishing, caught some bass and northern and I got to witness, first hand, how to catch muskies. A guy staying at the resort was a diehard musky guy. He used the boat that came with the cabin and put a lawn chair in the back and put on a giant Red Eyed Wiggler and commenced to troll the shore line. That week Charlie and I witnessed him boating three musky, all were in the 15-18 lb. range. They were not giants by today’s standards, but they were nice fish nonetheless.
The musky fishing, in itself, wasn’t what hooked me on this lake. Number one was the beauty of this lake which has not changed much in all these years. Probably the thing that is imprinted in my mind the most was a guy and his wife were crappie fishing in the same area as Charlie and I when we could see that he had hooked something big. It was a big northern and he had it to the boat twice and after the second time yelled at us and asked if we had a net. Charlie said “not one big enough for that fish” because when it rolled by his boat it’s fins looked like oak leaves in my eyes. The fish made another run and then came straight up out of the water and danced on its tail while spitting out the guy’s jig. The fisherman and his wife sat there stunned and then he said to us “I don’t care if I got him in the boat or not because that experience alone was priceless.” To this day I still have the picture of that 20 plus lb. northern dancing on its tail permanently etched in my memory.
I have fished Spider regularly in the years since that day and I’ve caught plenty of fish of many different species including musky, but I have never caught one close to as big as that monster that I witnessed on my first trip to Spider with my friend Charlie. I still fish Spider two or three times a year. In my mind I have visions of that giant fish and any time that I am fishing Spider I anticipate that the next strike could be a fish that big. That is why fishermen fish we’re always looking for that elusive lunker and it brings out the “little kid” in all of us.
Until next time: There is still plenty of summer left to do some camping, enjoy the outdoors and do a little fishing. August is upon us and that is actually one of my favorite months to wet a line. Just being on the water in the fall has a certain magic about it that’s hard to explain.
Please take a few moments also to honor those who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms that we enjoy today. Also take a little extra time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who have served and those troops that are serving today.