New Lake - Cedar Lake

Time to try a new nearby lake, this time Cedar Lake. We did a bit of our traditional shoreline tour, but so we had enough time to fish before sunset, we only toured part of the lake. We had looked up the lake chart before we left home, so we knew it was a rather shallow lake, so we headed to where we thought was the deepest area.

And we did catch some fish on this latest lake.

And the sunset from the lake, sure did not disappoint.

We caught a few keepers. Added to the few we brought back from our Blanche Lake vacation, we had a great fish fry!

Lake Stats: 793 acres, 13 feet maximum depth, Scott County
Fish Count: ?
Keeper Count: ?

New Blue and Old Blue

Our last day of vacation. We were determined to go fishing one more time. It was a bit windy, and Kevin was quite the trooper…

The spray gave Kevin a refreshing ride...

And it proved to be our best fishing yet on Blanche Lake. Not necessarily the biggest fish though.

Noah's Big Catch

We all got some little ones

But there were a few keepers in the bunch. And lots of fun as we all pulled in so many fish. Well, at least most of us did, Kevin got a bit more wet than he caught fish today.

Enough keepers for a fish fry…

Lake Stats: 1268 acres, 64 feet maximum depth, Otter Tail County
Fish Count: 25 (Kevin 2, Terri 6, Jesse 8, Noah 9)
Keeper Count: 7

Lake Number Seven - Ottertail Lake

Another day, another lake. This time Ottertail lake. Our biggest lake to date. We didn’t catch many fish – but Mama caught a big fish. A Walleye! And boy was Papa jealous!

My Walleye

The boys had more fun eating their picnic lunch sitting protected in the bow of the boat.

The boys' hiding place

But the highlight of the day was definitely docking at Zubaz, for food, drinks and games. Fun!

Docked at Zorbaz

Which Way Home? Oh, Who Cares!

Back at Blanche Lake later that evening we took Gramma for a ride in Old Blue…

Gramma's Back in Old Blue

Lake Stats: 13,725 acres, 120 feet maximum depth, Otter Tail County
Fish Count: 5 (Kevin 3, Terri 1, Jesse 1, Noah 0)
Keeper Count: 1

Lake Number 6 - Battle Lake

Off to a new lake. Second lake of our vacation: Battle Lake. We spent the evening fishing, and did we have fun!

Noah's Big Catch

The fish were really biting, we pulled in fish after fish. The winner tonight was Jesse with 10 fish caught! But we think Mama had the monster fish – it took 2 hook and the line – but we never did get a look at it. A real fishing trip!!

Battle Lake Launch

Lake Stats: 5624 acres, 113 feet maximum depth, Otter Tail County
Fish Count: 27 (Kevin 9, Terri 3, Jesse 10, Noah 5)
Keeper Count: 9

Blanche Lake on Vacation Day 3

Full day of fishing, goal today – 2 lakes. And Mama gets a fish. So we spend the morning and afternoon on Blanche Lake. And guess what, I caught a fish. Technically.

Technically if you catch Bait, it's a Fish.

It counts, even though its bait size, I caught it. But Kevin was king of the day, catching 6 fish, 2 of which were keepers! Then we went to Madsen’s Store to rent kayaks for the boys to ride.

Destination Madsen's Store

Docked at Madsen's Store

And wouldn’t you know it, Kevin caught 3 more fish while trolling behind the boys on their kayaks. It was HIS day. So far.

Kayaks and Old Blue

Kevin's Keeper Bass

Lake Stats: 1268 acres, 64 feet maximum depth, Otter Tail County
Fish Count: 10 (Kevin 9, Terri 1, Jesse 0, Noah 0)
Keeper Count: 2

Old Blue's New Mercury Motor

Kevin and I relaunched him on Blanche Lake, and brought him to Gramma’s dock, much to everyone’s delight. Old Blue was back in action, and on Blanche Lake! Yeah!!

Old Blue Returns to his Home Dock

We’re thinking maybe we will finally breaking our streak of getting skunked. So eagerly we head out to sea (or to lake…).

Facing Gramma's Lake Cabin

AND WE WERE RIGHT! Noah broke the streak, and caught the first fish from Old Blue since his inagural launch with the Knox family exactly one year ago today – a Northern Pike.

Noah's Northern - First Fish!!

Jesse caught 2 sunfish, and 1 was a keeper! And Papa caught 2 sunfish. And Mama – still skunked.

Lake Stats: 1,268 acres, 64 feet maximum depth, Otter Tail County
Fish Count: 5 (Kevin 2, Terri 0, Jesse 2, Noah 1)
Keeper Count: 1
Motor Count: 3

Our first mission – buy a motor! The goal – 9.9 or 15 hp, 2 stroke, short shaft. The boys fished off the dock while we made LOTS of phone calls. Finally sounded like we had some luck – off to Battle Lake, to see Jason at Heinee’s Marine and his 15 hp Mariner motor. Jason wasn’t there when we arrived, so we went to Ben’s Bait Shop to get worms and minnows. We also asked for ideas on where to get a motor – one of the employees said his dad had one but wasn’t sure if he wanted to sell it, but he would put in a call. Back to Heinee’s, looked at the motor, and asked to test it before we bought it – good thing since it turns out it needed work and Jason couldn’t get to it until next week. Too late for us. Back to Ben’s Bait – the guy’s dad wasn’t sure that he wanted to sell it, but after a couple phone calls, agreed to rent to own: $10 a day, $300 if we liked it and wanted to keep it. We agreed to pick it up at 6:30.

Evinrude 9.5 Motor

Back to the cabin until then – and off on New Blue (Gramma’s speed boat) for some fishing. New Blue knows how to find fish – we had so much fun pulling in fish that we called Gramma to postpone dinner. We fished until the last possible second, before heading back to Ben’s Bait to pick up our new motor! 

Picked up the motor, exchanged names and numbers, and decided to launch Old Blue on Blanche Lake and surprise Gramma and the boys by driving him up to Gramma’s dock.

We were so excited. Old Blue back home on Blanche Lake! Backed him in, released him on his home water, took lots of pictures, and started the motor.

Old Blue Ready To Launch On Blanche Lake

Got Kevin headed in the right direction, and he yells back that it looks like it’s leaking gas. Maybe it’s from just hooking up the fuel line, maybe it’s just flooded. So off he goes – with smoke trailing behind him. The bow is WAY in the air. I’m getting ready to drive the truck back to the cabin, but stop to watch the progress. He’s not moving too fast. And then Kevin turns around. The motor’s a dog. Old Blue goes back on the trailer. No sale. Day 1 is done, 1 lake down (for about 5 minutes). Start over…

Old Blue Heading Out

Old Blue Coming Back

Lake Stats: 1268 acres, 64 feet maximum depth, Otter Tail County
Fish Count (Dock): 10
Fish Count (New Blue): 30
Fish Count (Old Blue): 0
Motor Count: 2

We’ve had a busy summer. Have only been on the lakes twice so far. So we spent the afternoon getting together a picnic and fishing gear while waiting for our guests to check out. Old Blue’s trailer has a slow leak in one tire, so Kevin got out the compresser to fill the tire. I was actually writing on this blog – we had talked about putting together this blog for a long time, so while we waited, I wanted to surprise the boys with a completed blog. Then Kevin came to the kitchen door and asked me to come outside. I could tell by his demeanor that it wasn’t for a good cause. Now is the point in the story to mention that two nights before, one of our lion statues was stolen from our courtyard garden. So I hesitantly walked outside to see what horror awaited me. Good news – Old Blue was still there! Bad news – his motor was gone! End of Sunday family fun day. Our short lived boating season has already come to an unexpected end. The next question, would Dave Ramsey think this was worthy of a withdrawal from the emergency fund?

Fish Count: 0
Thief Count: 1

Fish Lake - May 31, 2009

This trip we didn’t even bother to fish – we only had a couple hours in the middle of a windy day, so given our fishing luck we decided not even to bother, despite the lake’s name. I packed a picnic lunch, and we toured the shoreline. Fish Lake is quite small so we went across and around several times, and with the wind we ended up getting pretty wet!

There were several homes for sale around the lake, so we dreamed and took pictures. But we decided this wouldn’t be the lake for us, as it backs up to the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club, so there was the consistant sound of shotguns echoing across the water. Here in Jordan, our house is right on a state highway – though there is a 30 mph speed limit, it’s not frequently obeyed, but I have learned to visualize the traffic noise as ocean waves. I have gotten so good at this that when we went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina I wasn’t sure if the sound I heard from our vacation condo’s porch was the Atlantic Ocean or the highway (turned out to be the ocean). But I just can’t figure out how to romanticize the sound of shotgun blasts.

Captain Kev at Rest

Catch of the Day - Salad!

Jordan, Kevin & Terri

Lake Stats: 171 acres, 37 feet maximum depth, Scott County
Fish Count: 0

Spring Lake - May 17, 2009

Another season on the lakes in Minnesota has begun! Our inaugural outing of the year took us to Spring Lake. If I could have a lake home in the metro area here it would be on Spring Lake. Totally feels like an “up north” lake, but it’s close to jobs. We tried a bit of fishing, one side of the lake, then the other. No luck again! We have been totally skunked!

Maybe being a fishing boat (that catches fish) isn’t Old Blue’s thing lately – but he has taken on a new role: Rescue Boat! During our cruise around the shoreline ritual, we came across a drifting, distraught pontoon boat. The captain of that pontoon asked if we might tow her to her dock, about 3 cabins away. We weren’t sure if Old Blue was big enough, but offered to give it a whirl. And sure enough, Mighty Old Blue towed that big pontoon boat safely home! If we can’t catch fish, we can catch boats I guess…

Old Blue To The Rescue!

Lake Stats: 591 acres, 37 feet maximum depth, Scott County
Fish Count: 0
Boat Count: 1