Howie tossed a carrot last night at dinner. We had an invite to go trolling out of Bayfield, Wisconsin through the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior. The invite came from another Northland College graduate that settled in this area, Brad Nagel. I remembered Brad but haven’t talked with him since graduation in 1987. We were in for sure!
It was a cold dreary day. The wind was light but enough to take 45° and make it feel like 30°. We bundled up and met Brad at 9 AM. Brad has a 30 – something foot sailboat he intends to sail around the world eventually. For now, he’s enjoying summers on Lake Superior. Unfortunately, his sails were out for repair so we literally fired up his engine and went trolling.
Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world and the Apostle Islands are made up of 22 islands. Most are uninhabited by humans and are home to a variety of nesting birds, numerous plants and some even have large concentrations of black bear. I remember a few trips to them during college. They are beautiful and wild. A well-kept secret in fact.
We trolled about 20 miles worth of the Apostles passing Madeline, Stockton and Oak to name a few. Though a gray day you can still appreciate the miles of shoreline without a sign of humans. Not many lakes in the US have shorelines without houses everywhere.
The fishing however was slow. We had three rods out with various lures that Howie and Brad thought might entice at least a splake. But some days you catch them and some days you don’t. We had one fish on all day long and lost him.
It was a marvelous time though. We had plenty of snacks and a few beers. It was super fun to catch up with Brad. And very generous of him to take us out on such an amazing and hardly touched piece of America.
We’ll have the fly rods out again tomorrow. In the morning Granny and I will fish Howie’s lake and in the afternoon Howie and I are going to walk a river.
Don’t forget our yard sale will be May 15th. There will be all kinds of stuff from camping to fishing gear. I never sell stuff from companies I represent so don’t expect Winston’s or Simms waders or etc. but there’s some awesome stuff. If you’d like a list of rods or reels just Contact Me and I’ll email it to you. And don’t procrastinate, I mentioned this last month and a ton of stuff went fast!