What Should I Do With This?

Many folks will return home from VBL with frozen fish fillets. Pictured here is a nice northern pike, expertly cleaned and deboned by Gord Bastable for my dining convience.

Pike are good-eating and I regularly serve them up at home. They are similar to a walleye, but have a bit more flavor. Compared to the robust flavor of salmon, pike is mild. I prefer it seasoned-up and recently found a recipe that is a killer in this regard. My dinner guests raved about it and I'm going to share this one with you.


Grilled Northern With Herb & Caper Vinaigrette*
(T=tablespoon, t=teaspoon)

MARINADE
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T lemon juice
1 T chopped, fresh tarragon
1 t minced garlic
.5 t grated lemon rind
3 T olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Pike cut into six portions (one 24-26 inch pike will be fine)

VINAIGRETTE
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T chopped chives
1 T chopped, fresh tarragon
1 T capers, rinsed and chopped
1 t Dijon mustard
.25 cup olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper

STEPS
1. Whisk together marinade ingredients (except fish) in a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.

2. Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients. Put this off to the side for now.

3. Spread the marinade over the fish and allow this to stand at room temp for .5 hour.

4. Preheat your grill to medium-high. Oil the grate (if you have one for vegetables/fish, use it).
Place the fish on the BBQ and grill for about three minutes, gently flip and grill for three more minutes. Remove from grill, drizzle with vinaigrette and serve.

This dish, along with a salad and a side or two, will serve four. Your guests will be pleased.

*Source: Food and Drink Magazine, Early Summer 2010, p.170

Garlic ring man

Here are some of the pictures that you requested Gord. I'm looking forward to seeing you in September.

garlic ring man

I wanted to share a little knowledge with my fellow fisher-people out there. Some of you already are aware of this but here goes.

I have been seeing a great deal about florocarbon leaders so I decided to try them.  I don't like tying thick knots as they clog with weeds and I'm sure fish can see them.  I bought a Berkley sleeve clincher and some #3 metal sleeves and small and large swivels and snaps. I used 20bl test for small fish such as pike and used 50lb test for larger fish such as muskies. I found that the leaders didn't have to be changed anywhere near as often and in the clear water of Eagle Lake the fish couldn't see them. I caught multiple walleye and pike, and changed the leader once in a week. I used a traditional metal leader and changed that in one day because it kinked and I also did not catch many fish on that set-up. The other added bonus was I caught a 47 inch muskie and he did the usual roll and was not cut up at all where a thin metal leader would have badly cut or marked him up.

I find the florocarbon leaders tough, abrasion resistant, transparent, non-kinking and very easy to make. I used leaders in length from 18 inches to 24 inches and was extremely pleased. I hope this info helps others out there.

Garlic ring man

Well after busting two really good rods and using all sorts of brand new lures, it figures that the fish in Eagle lake liked all my old lures instead, so I think I'll save my money and stop buying all the new CRAP. The fishing was incredible and well going even if the weather didn't co-operate.
I also learned that you don't sail Eagle Lake during tornado style winds, right Gord. Sorry about your hat.

Mayfly walleyes..........

For the past few weeks we have been in the midst of the dreaded "Mayfly Hatch". Here's a nice smallmouth caught by Steve from Indiana that was slurping mayflys along with surface baits.

While the theory is that walleyes won't bite during a mayfly hatch, the fishing has been consistantly great. There is a shallow water bite going on (8-12') that is outstanding. Wade from Mpls. gave me some of the pictures from their fishing early in the week.

Here's a shot of a 24 inch walleye just before it jumped out of Danna Ferry's hands. This was caught trolling a Rapala in 10' of water.

Of course with all the walleye activity in the shallows, the northern (and muskie....several caught or sighted this week) are not far behind.

Another slot walleye. I am amazed at the numbers of 14 inch walleye we are catching.....must have been a heck of a hatch a few years back. Many of the bigger walleye are coming out of a little deeper water (up to 20') but not always.

The fishing has been great........ Make note of this time period for a future trip to Eagle Lake!

Why The Backcountry?

Pictured to my right is fishing partner, Andy Lewis. We just hiked the portage trail from Clearwater Lake back to Eagle, and it had been a long, adventurous day. Our senses were in overdrive as we felt hot, sweaty, thirsty and tired. Cold beer was less than ten steps away and we could already taste it.

This day was spent traveling to Caribou Lake to fish for smallmouth bass and pike with Gord. He accepted our invitation for a 5:30 breakfast featuring pancakes, eggs, sausage, coffee and juice. By 6:15 we motored away from the VBL dock and just less than two hours later we arrived at Caribou. Between the dock and Caribou were four lakes and four portage trails.

We fished the hell out of Caribou, making hundreds of casts to bass concentrated very close to shore and pike bunched up on a rock reef. We threw poppers, spinners, jigs, swimbaits, and shallow divers. It didn't matter much to the fish; they hit nearly everything. We stopped only for a lunch break on shore. By 4:30 I was fished-out, and shortly thereafter my partners called it quits, too. Then the two hour return trip began. But what a day it had been.

So, why the backcountry? Caribou Lake is in a near-wilderness setting and is rarely visited. Prior to our trip only one other party fished this lake during the past two years, according to Gord. The fishing opportunity is exceptional, but so is the genuine solitude that this truly wild place offers.

Nearly 100 years ago, John Muir wrote, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." That's why I go to Caribou. And I'm grateful that Gord and Andy value this kind of experience as much as I do. We had a great time together.

Caribou Lake is the most remote portage lake available to VBL guests. But, there are two additional options that are easier to get to and offer good fishing, undeveloped shorelines and the potential for solitude. However, there is the chance of seeing other anglers. But, I usually have these lakes to myself when I fish them. Ask Gord about Clearwater and High Cliff for detailed info that could put you into the backcountry on your next trip to VBL.

A few words of caution...Backcountry trips take you into wild country. The trails are decent for the most part, but you have to pay attention to rocks, mud, tree limbs and slippery spots--especially if it's been raining much. I wear very good boots and have never had a problem with my feet. Everything I need for such an outing usually fits into, or onto, my daypack. That way my hands are free and hiking is safer and easier. I'm in reasonably good shape and find the trails to be moderately challenging. Two weeks ago, I hiked the portage trail between Eagle and Clearwater six times. It always took me just under 20 minutes at a steady pace. Stick to Eagle Lake if you're out-of-shape or don't like hiking on terrain that will be challenging at times. And remember to apply insect repellent before you hit the trail.

Well, I hope you find this post helpful. Perhaps it will inspire you to give one of the portage lakes a try. These lakes offer nice alternative to Eagle and can spice-up a VBL fishing trip.

Part 2 photos from Eagle Lake

These guy's popped up right next to the boat as I scrambled for the camera to catch a picture.

Mark with one of hundreds of walleye caught during the trip

Moon rising on Eagle Lake

Mark with one of many Northerns caught while trolling husky jerks

CPR a nice walleye

Another eye

Back to the waters of Eagle to be caught another day

Another slot eye

Kurt with walleye from one Gords secret spots SHHHH!!!!!!

Another from his spot think we forgot to tell him we caught a couple in obe of his spots

Mark with slot eye from the culvert

One after another

Snapped this pic a little slow as another was there and gone

Double bubble

More double bubble on Eagle Lake

OK think your getting the picture we caught lot of walleye on this trip probably more Eagle Lake eyes than ever since we started going to VBL

OK enough pictures I don't want to rub it in anymore Dustin you missed a good year so 2011 will be another year.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures from our May 2010 trip it was a blast and look forward to next years trip and hope to meet new friends, like Andy and Joe.

Again we want to thank Gord Susanne and Mike for another great trip.

You do a great job keep up the great work....

Things you might see on a portage trail......

......a hidden lake ..........

.......a large wolf poop........

.......a boggy trail (bring your boots!)......

.......a large sweaty man in a moment of reflective contemplation..........

.........what the hey!......more wolf poop........

.....a pair of abandoned sunglasses (refer to wolf poop above.....coincidence or tragic reality?)

.......fresh moose tracks............

........non-electric beaver activity............

.......interesting flora..............

........weird flora..................

.......plenty of flora................

........purple flora.............

...........and rose colored flora to go with those sunglasses. The moral of the story is to always keep your eyes peeled when on that next "death march" to a hidden lake.........you never know what you might stumble upon. Perhaps you will even run into the owner of those sunglasses!

Portage Adventure

I made my first trip to Caribou lake on a gorgeous day with the Professor and Gord this June. It was a true adventure with some great small mouth bass and pike fishing on Caribou lake. The only lures these fish see are the ones cast by Gord's guests and a few fly-in trips.

Because lake levels are a bit low we took the first portage to Clearwater rather then navigate the 100+ turns and beaver dams on the river. We took the camp boat across Eagle to the bay where the portage begins. It was a bit mucky, but its less than a 20 minute portage compared to a 1-2 hour trip up Clearwater creek.

After reaching the other side of the portage, we took one of Gord's two boats to get to the other side of Clearwater. Earlier in the week we devoted a full day to fish out of this boat for lake trout and pike, but on this day it was simply transportation to McGregor lake.

We took the short portage to McGregor Lake. The creek has low water levels and a beaver dam so we took a slightly longer portage that took us through some beautiful green moss. A short boat trip in one of Gord's boats took us over to the creek coming from Otter Lake. This portage has some wild iris.

At the end of this short portage we arrived at a very small row boat with a weight limit of about half of what we were soon loading.

Here, Gord did his best imitation of a motor to get us across Otter Lake.

At the end of Otter Lake we had one last portage about the same length as the first but completely dry and relatively flat. This section of trail had several lady slipper orchids.

At the end of this portage we were greeted with our last boat and a motor that gratfully started!

We were not disapointed as the bass and pike fishing was excellent. We were hard pressed to find a lure that didn't catch fish. Even the over-promoted banjo minnow was a killer!

Of course we then had to make the return trip! In actuality, these photos were taken in the reverse order. The good news? We had two coolers of nicely chilled beverages waiting us on the return trip. Gord was introduced to Capital Brewery's (Middleton, Wisconsin) newest beer - Supper Club. Personally, I haven't found a beer brewed by Capital that I didn't enjoy.