Spring Opener, 2010

Doug and I paddled in on thursday evening, two days prior to the opener. On friday we relaxed in camp while having an excellent breakfast served by Doug. In the afternoon we paddled over to the Palisade and climbed to the top. Doug had never been up there even though he had been to Seagull Lake for several years. While we were up there the other members of the "Bill" club paddled by and we lobbed rocks into the lake beyond them, making them think there were huge fish jumping out of the water. Back in camp stories, jokes and coffee took up the rest of the afternoon. We were all glad to be together while escaping the realities of life in Southern Minnesota. On saturday morning everyone was already out fishing when I crawled out of my tent. Only Doug remained. We toured the islands and bays of our part of Seagull. We fished for Lake Trout without any luck. Finally south of Turtle Island I caught a nice Northern which we took back to camp for supper. The other guys had caught 3 Northerns, one Walleye and a Bass. Everyone took naps and Doug and I swam in the fridgid water. It was warm out so our goosebumps disappeared soon after we got out. After supper the two other Bills and Brian and Coop headed for the Seagull River as it came out of Alpine Lake. Within a half hour they returned saying the waves were too big to paddle that far in the evening. Bill and Bill did return with a couple Lake Trout, Bremer's being a huge one. We saved the Trout for breakfast in the morning. We baked them in tin foil with onions and salad dressing. Just as we were finished two Forest Service rangers paddled into camp. We explained that we goofed up permit but they told us to stop at the Gunflint Ranger Station and it would all be cleared up, much to our relief. Doug and I paddled out shortly afterwards.