Northern Wilds: The Early Angler Catches the Fish (Eventually)

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The Early Angler Catches the Fish (Eventually)

Eighteen inches of snow at the end of March does something to your psyche. The North Shore was slapped by the sloppy tail of the blizzard that wreaked havoc across the Dakotas last week. The snowing and blowing didn’t let up for two days. When it was over, any modest progress we’d previously made toward spring was buried beneath new snow.

But snow or no, the show that is spring must go on. So, too, must those of us who participate in this crazy, mixed-up season. A couple of days after the storm ended, I went trout fishing. I trudged through knee-deep snow to reach the river, which was low, lined with three-foot-thick shelf ice and partially ice-covered.

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Points North: Come on up, the winter is fine

On a recent morning I stepped out with the dogs at daybreak. Beneath a clear, dawn sky, the air was crisp and calm. When we came inside 20 minutes later, I thought it was pretty nice outside. Glancing at the thermometer, I saw it was 16 below.

While the rest of Minnesota has experienced a warm, snowless winter, up here at the Tip of the Arrowhead, we've had snow and cold temperatures. True, even our weather has been unusually mild, but proximity to Lake Superior and the Canadian border means we get always get a real winter with snow and ice and below zero temperatures. That's why moose live here.

Points North: New Hunter-Gatherers Need to Know the Conservation Story

Recently, a chef who wrote a book about hunting and cooking was interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio. She talked about making a recent trip to Colorado to do a cooking demonstration. While there, she was taken fly-fishing on a local river, where the guides and other anglers refused to keep fish for her to use in her demonstration. She told the MPR interviewer she was miffed by their catch-and-release ethic.

"I don't believe in catch-and-release," she said. "It's playing with your food."