Frank Walsh
02-08-2009, 11:18 AM
GOOD TIMES ON ICE: Ice fishing trip is an adventure of 'firsts' for 11-year-old
By Carson Dennis , Grand Forks Herald
Published: 02/08/2009
OAK ISLAND, Minn. — My bobber dipped under the water. My rod bent toward the hole in the ice. I pulled up on my rod to set the hook and started to reel in a 17-inch walleye. …
But I’m getting ahead of my story.
Hi, I’m Carson Dennis, and I am 11 years old. About two weeks ago, I went on an ice fishing trip with my dad, Tom Dennis of the Herald, and two of his friends in the Herald’s newsroom, Kevin Grinde and Brad Dokken.
Today I would like to tell you about my trip. I think ice fishing is great because it is a good way to spend time with your family and friends. So, as long as we live in a cold part of the world, why not try it?
The place where we went is called Bay Store Camp. It’s on Lake of the Woods in the Northwest Angle. That is the funny little piece of Minnesota that you can only get to by driving through Canada.
So, I guess that’s why my story begins in a phone booth. Well, not exactly a phone booth; more like a phone room. It’s a very small cabin at the border between the Northwest Angle and Canada, and when you cross the border, your whole group has to go inside.
The room only has one thing in it: a phone. The phone only has two buttons on it: one with an American flag and one with a Canadian flag. You push one of the buttons depending on which way you are crossing.
Then, the border person on the other end of the line takes everyone’s names and other information. We were about to joke and pretend to order a pizza, but we thought we’d better not do that.
Actually, the border person probably would have laughed, because Mr. Dokken learned while talking to her that they had gone to high school together in Roseau, Minn. Small world, right?
On to fishing
Anyway, after that, it was on to fishing!
The resort is on Oak Island in Lake of the Woods, so to get there, we had to cross an ice road. It is a real road with signs and everything, except it is on the frozen lake. Weird!
Speaking of weird, pretty soon after arriving at the resort, we were in the Bombardier. Actually, that wasn’t weird; it was great. A Bombardier is a big tracked vehicle. It’s sort of half snowmobile, half bus and half tank. Frank Walsh, the resort owner, used it to take us from the resort to the ice house.
It was a great ride — loud and rumbling and fun. My dad said it must have been like riding with Patton across France, whoever Patton is.
Then we got to the ice house. It was like a small trailer house with some chairs and a heater. In the corners of the ice house, the holes were already drilled through the ice to the water.
I was dressed pretty warm because the temperature outside was about 20 below. But the ice house warmed up fast, so pretty soon I was in my T-shirt.
The fishing began! We used minnows for bait and dangled our lines in the water. One of the guys had a fish finder — a Vexilar — and it was fun to watch the red blips rise up to take the bait.
We fished and talked and talked and fished. In a few hours, we had about 10 keepers in the pail. Pretty soon, we heard a rumble, and there was the Bombardier to take us back to the resort.
Fresh walleye
I had my first fresh walleye that night. Boy, was it good. I watched Mr. Dokken and Mr. Grinde clean the walleyes, then bread the fillets and fry them up while also cooking baked beans and spicy hash browns. It was terrific, and like we all decided, everything tastes better when it has a Northwoods cabin around it.
We all got a good sleep after that great meal. The next morning, we got out fishing again early enough to see the sun rise over the lake. A little later on, I saved my dad’s rod from being pulled by a fish into the hole. My dad said I reacted quicker than Cassius Clay against Sonny Liston, whoever they are.
After a few hours, we were on our way home with a quick stop at the big phone booth at the border.
What a great time we had. So, if you’re ever wondering what to do during our cold winters here in North Dakota and Minnesota, just remember Carson Dennis’ Recipe for Fun:
1. Go ice fishing.
2. Catch fish.
3. Fry ‘em up. And …
4. Eat!
You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll never forget your good times on the ice.
On the Web:
Bay Store Camp: www.baystorecamp.com.
Northwest Angle and Islands Chamber of Commerce: www.lakeofthewoodsresorts.com.
Dennis is a fifth-grader at Holy Family School in Grand Forks
By Carson Dennis , Grand Forks Herald
Published: 02/08/2009
OAK ISLAND, Minn. — My bobber dipped under the water. My rod bent toward the hole in the ice. I pulled up on my rod to set the hook and started to reel in a 17-inch walleye. …
But I’m getting ahead of my story.
Hi, I’m Carson Dennis, and I am 11 years old. About two weeks ago, I went on an ice fishing trip with my dad, Tom Dennis of the Herald, and two of his friends in the Herald’s newsroom, Kevin Grinde and Brad Dokken.
Today I would like to tell you about my trip. I think ice fishing is great because it is a good way to spend time with your family and friends. So, as long as we live in a cold part of the world, why not try it?
The place where we went is called Bay Store Camp. It’s on Lake of the Woods in the Northwest Angle. That is the funny little piece of Minnesota that you can only get to by driving through Canada.
So, I guess that’s why my story begins in a phone booth. Well, not exactly a phone booth; more like a phone room. It’s a very small cabin at the border between the Northwest Angle and Canada, and when you cross the border, your whole group has to go inside.
The room only has one thing in it: a phone. The phone only has two buttons on it: one with an American flag and one with a Canadian flag. You push one of the buttons depending on which way you are crossing.
Then, the border person on the other end of the line takes everyone’s names and other information. We were about to joke and pretend to order a pizza, but we thought we’d better not do that.
Actually, the border person probably would have laughed, because Mr. Dokken learned while talking to her that they had gone to high school together in Roseau, Minn. Small world, right?
On to fishing
Anyway, after that, it was on to fishing!
The resort is on Oak Island in Lake of the Woods, so to get there, we had to cross an ice road. It is a real road with signs and everything, except it is on the frozen lake. Weird!
Speaking of weird, pretty soon after arriving at the resort, we were in the Bombardier. Actually, that wasn’t weird; it was great. A Bombardier is a big tracked vehicle. It’s sort of half snowmobile, half bus and half tank. Frank Walsh, the resort owner, used it to take us from the resort to the ice house.
It was a great ride — loud and rumbling and fun. My dad said it must have been like riding with Patton across France, whoever Patton is.
Then we got to the ice house. It was like a small trailer house with some chairs and a heater. In the corners of the ice house, the holes were already drilled through the ice to the water.
I was dressed pretty warm because the temperature outside was about 20 below. But the ice house warmed up fast, so pretty soon I was in my T-shirt.
The fishing began! We used minnows for bait and dangled our lines in the water. One of the guys had a fish finder — a Vexilar — and it was fun to watch the red blips rise up to take the bait.
We fished and talked and talked and fished. In a few hours, we had about 10 keepers in the pail. Pretty soon, we heard a rumble, and there was the Bombardier to take us back to the resort.
Fresh walleye
I had my first fresh walleye that night. Boy, was it good. I watched Mr. Dokken and Mr. Grinde clean the walleyes, then bread the fillets and fry them up while also cooking baked beans and spicy hash browns. It was terrific, and like we all decided, everything tastes better when it has a Northwoods cabin around it.
We all got a good sleep after that great meal. The next morning, we got out fishing again early enough to see the sun rise over the lake. A little later on, I saved my dad’s rod from being pulled by a fish into the hole. My dad said I reacted quicker than Cassius Clay against Sonny Liston, whoever they are.
After a few hours, we were on our way home with a quick stop at the big phone booth at the border.
What a great time we had. So, if you’re ever wondering what to do during our cold winters here in North Dakota and Minnesota, just remember Carson Dennis’ Recipe for Fun:
1. Go ice fishing.
2. Catch fish.
3. Fry ‘em up. And …
4. Eat!
You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll never forget your good times on the ice.
On the Web:
Bay Store Camp: www.baystorecamp.com.
Northwest Angle and Islands Chamber of Commerce: www.lakeofthewoodsresorts.com.
Dennis is a fifth-grader at Holy Family School in Grand Forks