Fall fishing on Lake Kabetogama in northern Minnesota can be full of surprises. Lake Kabetogama is a very big body of water. Absolutely huge. It is located along the Canadian border. Most people might just picture ice fishing when they think about Canada and northern Minnesota, but this was an autumn vacation, and the weather was awesome.
Although we used to go fishing frequently, this one experience comes to mind quite often. We were out in the boat one afternoon in the middle of some pretty deep water, and I thought I had a hit, but maybe not. You know the kind. It might be a snag and then you better work fast to get free so you don’t lose your bait and tackle altogether. But it might also be a fish.
The lake was smooth that day. The boat was being powered by the trolling motor at the time, so not going real fast. In those days we used a depth finder that showed us the depth of the water and graphed the the contour of the lake bottom but we had no reading on whether or not we had just passed over a school of fish. That was before the newer fishfinders became available that actually show you where the fish are hanging out.
I went with my hunch and determined that I had a fish and not a snag. Since I was using night crawlers – live bait – I let out some line to allow the fish to nibble a little longer. After slowly and deliberately reeling in the slack, I could still feel a presence at the other end. I set the hook and felt no change. No movement. Nothing. I expected a huge reaction. Now what?
Since my hunch had told me it was a fish I decided to go with it. After what seemed like forever, the fish finally moved from the bottom and began to put up a fight. It turned out to be about a 4 lb. walleye. Pretty nice fish but unfortunately not a very captivating fish story. Sorry about that, but I guess you had to be there. I made some good decisions and played the fish well and that’s what makes it an exciting experience for me.