For as long as I can remember, a fishing rod of some sort has always felt comfortable in my hand. I’ve always been drawn to the pursuit and capture of angling. For fun, food and family time, my parents would take myself and siblings fishing together for panfish at one of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. We’d get home, start scaling and cleaning several sunnies. The fish scales I remember would be popping off everywhere! My mom and dad would the cook us a feast of fish, hushpuppies and salad. Just some really great memories!
Later in life my dad took me fly fishing on the N. Shore of Minnesota. Wild experience. I was crossing the river walking down stream and lost my footing and began flailing in every direction while floating down the Knife River towards my grinning father with his arm reaching out to save me from the horror I was experiencing. I never learned how to swim.
Needless to say, I shied away for years and focused on flipping sticks and spin cast setups for bass and walleye. The the Fall of 1999 came around and my dad invited me up to Brule River. Just a beautiful place to be. This trip something major occurred. I had my first touch and feel of the powerful head shakes of a wild steelhead and it changed my perspective on fishing forever!
