With the kids being with their grandparents in ND, my wife and I decided to jump in the truck and see what Red Lake was all about. This trip was to be more about exploring new territory and spending time with each other than catching loads of fish. My wife has never fished solely for walleye and admits to enjoying fishing only when the weather is nice. Weather forecast was to be ok, so off we went.
We headed up I35 to Moose Lake, jumped some backroads over to Hwy 2 through GR and then off the eastside of Winnie through some spectacular country. It was hard passing all those classic walleye factories (Winnie, Leech, etc)on the way up. We’ll save those for another trip.
Stopped at the Crow’s Nest south of Northome for lunch and had a great meal, checked into our motel in Shooks, and hit the water out of Roger’s on the south shore around 5.
We drove out to the first break (9’fow), threw out the slip bobbers while I tied up two other rods with spinners. All of a sudden my wife sets the hook and this nice 22″ eye came to the boat, her biggest fish ever. She did a great job fighting and landing the fish. 
Let’s see, 5 minutes on URL and we have a 22″er in the boat!!
Well, things slowed after that, no more fish on bobbers, no walleyes on the spinners on Friday night. We had some crazy wind to deal with that kept switching directions. I ended up catching a nice 13.5″ crappie to end the day. It was fun hanging out with my wife and listening to Kenny Chesney on the CD player. A very relaxing evening.
Saturday found us going out of Rogers again and this time we headed for the cribs on spot 4 of the local lake maps. We found a crib holding smaller slot fish and put 6 in the boat, keeping three. Highlight of the day fishing wise was the 38″, 15+ lb northern (pic below) that I hooked into with a spinner and minnow. Good ten minute fight that included my wife having to move the boat away from a crib and my wife trying to net this beast. This is a personal best fish for me!! 
We ended the day at 1 pm, cleaned the fish, walked our two dogs that fished with us both days, and took off for Fargo for the best catch of the weekend. The kids and my parents were going to meet us for the exchange. The drive through Bemidji, Park Rapids, and Detroit Lakes was awesome. That is beautiful country and we need to get back there soon. The drive was very eventful, with a lock-em-up stop for a doe and two fawns (all ok), a lost tire by the van in front of us near Park Rapids (those tires take some nasty hops when they come off!), and the near miss in DL due to a driver pulling out in front of a truck-boat that had to swerve into our lane to miss it! 
Had a nice Father’s Day brunch in Fargo with my mom/dad and the trip on Sunday back home was uneventful 
. Hat’s off to my wife for coming along on this adventure. We really put on some miles, saw some beautiful country, fished a great lake, and best of all, spent some quality time together. This summer is our 10th anniversary and I’m a very lucky man to have her as my wife! 
This trip was not our anniversary celebration but it was a great way to spend time together! That was the best part!! 
June 19, 2006 at 3:29 pm
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