Sunny Side Up with a Belly Full of Coffee and Donuts

Trout Whisperer posted on October 16, 2008 13:24 :: 4190 Views

If the day ends with fresh sweet corn you can’t complain about the lack of fish. We went after walleyes but caught bulging blue gills, sunfish and an uncountable number of four inch perch. It was a day that left the stringer light, but filled my sense of accomplishment.

We left civilization on a belly full of donuts and coffee. The blacktop turned into gravel and eventually the GPS said we had arrived at our destination. That just meant the closest grid coordinates we could get to an ancient set of tracks.

You can look at all the maps, photos, topo sheets and it’s no match for what you walk. What you catch fishing, how you fall in the mud. Crayfish parts or beaver chews. The osprey working the south end of the lake few humans ever see. We wanted to see it bad enough, so we went.

One mile into this goat path I literally let go of the steering wheel, ruts were that deep. Three miles in we were halted by a toppled tree. Back in the drivers seat maybe a 1000 ft later, once again we came to an abrupt halt. Beavers made a dam on one side of the road for almost a half mile.

I know it was half mile because we paddled our kayaks and it felt like we were in the everglades. No alligators, but the vegetation growing roadside draped almost to the new water level. A cedar waxing watched from a branch as I meandered around a step dam.

Speed bumps were frost heaved rocks, no center line to navigate; we just stayed between the bracken fern curbs. No one passed us at any speed we paddled. We hit dry road bed and started to portage in a more traditional sense.

A light rain starts to fall. Then we slip and slide in the earthen grease. I can smell musty primordial dirt. I actually get to spit some out. Once again righted, we stop for a water break. Drink some in, and let some out.

Sometimes the public access makes it too easy. To soft. We worked our backsides off to get into and back out of this lake. It may be only one of the ten thousand, but we chose the lake, and what turned out to be, the road less traveled.

The guy I went with is a kindred spirit. Mud, sweat, bugs, toppled trees, the complete unexpected obstacles don’t fry his eggs, they egg him on. Give us more, it’s why we came. He didn’t complain about the lack of walleyes, how strong the wind was, when life gives you sunnies, you sunfish.

We caught punkin seed sunnies so golden of color; belly’s bursting in orange iridescence. They fought better than a walleye tug ever could. My sweet corn pales in color comparison, but each yellow kernel all lined up in rows is just like plucking a panfish, one right after another along a shoreline of lake. Little kernels of golden mouth watering deliciousness and doggone it I wish we would have hauled some out.

The trout whisperer

Inside the Mind of a Guide

Living the Dream in God's Country - Superior National Forest

Join author, professional guide, and master storyteller, Karl "Trout Whisperer" Seckinger, as he takes you on a 20 year, mystical journey into the Superior National Forest.

On this CD, Trout Whisperer's unique manner of storytelling, and digital sound effects, will transport you on a journey that will place you in the heart of the 'super natural forest' that is known as the Superior National Forest.