The more things change, right?

This year makes something around 19 consecutive early June trips to Harrop Lake in northeast Manitoba. It also was the fourth or so ownership change. A couple of readers were nice enough to email me about their trip in late July last summer and warn me that things were not looking good for the old owner. Several weeks later we were told that Harrop had changed hands… again…

But the fishing was as good as any year I can remember, at least with respect to large walleye. In one day I caught or netted four walleye that would be among the 20 biggest we’ve ever caught:

This one was big fish for the week and earned me a few bucks.

One of the highlights was that the walleye were in a more aggressive feeding pattern that we sometimes find. On day two I caught maybe a dozen walleye that struck close enough (and shallow enough) to the boat that I could see them. 3 of the 4 big ones came on jerk baits, which is a whole lot more fun than jigging. Every year the pattern is slight different, but this year jerk baits worked better than I can remember. The wife and I caught about 75 walleye a day, of which I probably caught 30 or more casting.

The Wife and I didn’t come close on any big pike though. The first and last day it seemed like everyone had a fish around 40″ and we didn’t even raise anything approaching 30″. In terms of numbers of big northern caught, this might also be one of the best years I can remember, I just wasn’t a part of it…

Big northern for the week was this 46″ fish:

My records only go back 8 years but I suspect this fish was one of the 2 biggest we’ve ever caught.

So in short, it was a great trip. The new owners are doing some things great, and some things have changed. Perhaps by this time next year I’ll have a better take, but right now I like the general direction…

I get a surprising amount of google hits for “Harrop Lake”. I enjoy hearing about the experience others have had. If you’ve been, or are going, drop me a note at dukkillr@hotmail.com

I’ve been doing some fishing locally:

I’ve been taking my daughter along:

And I’ve even been taking my pregnant wife along (to keep my daughter in the boat):

But now the wife and I are headed to Manitoba on our yearly trip to Harrop Lake. I’ve got a few things that will publish while I’m gone, and I’ll have some pictures when I get back.

In my line of work I sometimes marvel at the disconnect between those who go to jail and those who should go to jail. Fortunately for the world at large, a Dallas judge got it right when he sentenced Robby Rose to 15 days in jail for cheating during a recent bass tournament. It seems he stuffed a lead weight into the fish before weigh in hoping to win a $50,000 bass boat.

You can find more on the story here.

I’ve told you about Harrop Lake before. This makes something like the seventeenth year in a row that I’ve gone north to this particularly spot with my friends and family. What’s so great about this particular spot? Well, this is the view from my cabin:

Actually the view is great, but it’s the fishing that matters right?
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The Wife and I are back in Kansas safe and sound. Our trip included broken motors, broken bones, and big fish… I’ll give you a more detailed update when I find some free time. For now I’m trying to cram 5 days of work into 3 days… oh, and the rivers are flooding…

I’m off on this trip again. It’s one of the things I enjoy the most each year. I’ll have some pictures when I get back on Tuesday night. I also have a post or two that will run while I’m gone…

The Suburban Bushwhacker gave us a heads up on a blog that was new to me called Sleeping in the Dirt. Just a quick look told me that I will like this blog. Their caption: “For those who fish, not just post about it.” While I might fish (without a bow) 6-10 days a year, I love blogs from guys who really get out there and bring back stories and pictures from the action. Too many outdoor bloggers spend their time tilting anti-hunting windmills or waxing philosophically about why we hunt. I sometimes wonder what percentage of those writers’ time is actually spent outside? Anyway, this is not a problem for the guys of at Sleeping in the Dirt. Take a look for yourselves, and I’ll add it to the blogroll so you can find it again.

Go here and read the story of a river guide in Texas using a rattlesnake as bait for bass fishing.

So I think this makes the 16th consecutive year I’ve been to this lake. We’ve dealt with 3 owners and about 10 different arrangements of transportation and management. This year’s adventure included landing a small private plane on this abandoned airstrip so we could get picked up by the float plane. Beavers had apparently decided to build a dam that backed up water on one end of the runway… not good…

Fortunately our two expert pilots managed to make yet another wonderful landing and within a couple of hours we were fishing.

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I ran across this moose swimming the lake I’m currently fishing at in 2006.