Thanks for the info!

I am going to the Park Rapids area, it should be some great fishing!
The last time I was there I fished Waboose lake, Long lake, 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
7th, 8th, and 9th Crow Wing lakes and Third River Flowage. The fish you see
on my rec.boats picture page were caught in Waboose Lake. I made the
mistake of going to Birch Lake (Roaring Stony Lodge) 3 years ago, then to
Vermillion River (Gold Mine Camp) 2 years ago. I did not do very good
fishing either place (only 5 fish at either place between three people over
5 days. If not for the scenery they would have been wasted trips. I am going
to trailer my boat up this year. Do I need to have a fire extinguisher and
first aid kit on board for MN DNR rules? Do I need a signaling device
(flares or horn)? Are there any rules concerning transporting aquatic grass
and animals I need to know about other than the obvious washing off of the
boat and trailer when going home in the evening.
In Indiana we are not required to have these items but they are recommended.
I am going to stay at a motel in the Park Rapids area this year and my
wife's uncle has agreed to guide us again.

I really love the fishing in Minnesota. It makes the fishing in Indiana look
pretty sad. The only 2 times I had any fast action like I had in MN was in
1976 in S. Indiana at a Coal strip mine pit called "Twin Sloughs" for
Bluegill and Redear Sunfish and again in 2004 at Cecil M Harden Reservoir
fishing for Hybrid Bass (Wipers) other than that, it's go out, catch a
couple for an all day trip and go home (usually catch and release because
you don't have enough fish for a meal for two people. You must watch how
much you eat of any fish caught in IN anyway due to pollution (PCB's from
good old Westinghouse manufacturing capacitors all over IN. in the 30s, 40s,
50s, and 60s and burying the waste everywhere, and from farm runoff).

We used to trot line fish with 3-4" gold fish for bait on a small river in
south central IN with no towns along it's banks back in the 1980's and early
90's for flathead or yellow and channel catfish (no more than 50 hooks
allowed per In DNR). We would occasionally catch some smallmouth bass next
to the bank. Once we even caught a spoonbill! Biggest flathead we caught was
43 lb., channel 17 lb,, if we caught blue catfish we usually released them
as they have a strong taste to the meat when cooked. Biggest snapping turtle
was 23 lbs, that fellow was mean and ugly!
The key to the catfish was in cleaning all of the yellow fat out of the
meat. In this respect the larger fish were easier to clean as you could cut
fillets out of them.
There was an 80 years young man named Estel Cox who lived by our cabin, he
used to go out by himself "hogging" for catfish:He would take a 5 foot piece
of cane pole with 3 treble hooks wired to the end of it, shuck his overalls
off, jump in the river and feel under the cutouts in the bank with that pole
until he hit something with it, then stick his arm in the hole and let the
catfish clamp or bite onto his arm and wrestle it into the boat.A couple of
times a month he would stop by our cabin to show us his catch. He used to
take a lot of large catfish this way. I remember one day he had 3 flathead
catfish weighing 24, 27 and 38 lbs.
The last time he went out his eyesight was failing and he lost hold of the
boat and it floated away down stream!
Can you picture an 80 year old half blind naked man trying to feel his way
down a river bank looking for his boat. He finally found it almost a mile
downstream caught in a logjam. That was when his wife Marie (a retired
school teacher) put a stop to his fishing trips!

As far as lake fishing we never had a lot of fast action for bass. For
Crappie if you get on the lake right after ice out you can catch the Crappie
schooling and have a pretty good day if you can find them.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tamaroak"
To: "Fredo"
Sent: Monday, December 26, 2005 10:09 PM
Subject: Summer vacation in central MN next year!


You may need a B-1 fire extinguisher, depending upon the boat size and
whether or not you have an enclosed engine or fuel tank. See
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/regulatio...ter/index.html

You don't have to have a first aid kit, but it's recommended.

Read these rules about washing off the boat and cleaning trailer, washdown
and bait/fish tanks.

They are serious about these rules up here due to alien aquatic species.

Good Luck!

Capt. Jeff
"Tamaroak" wrote in message
. ..
I was raised there and still live in St. Psul.

Email me with questions.

Capt. Jeff