When it Rains it Pours

This post is a little late, but with how things have been lately I am just a little behind in pretty much everything right now. I am not complaining, just explaining. 

One of my favorite spring activities is fishing and my favorite location for this is… Canada. But this year, that just wasn’t in the cards. A very close second favorite location is my family’s cabin in northern Minnesota. This is where my love for the outdoors developed growing up. Besides the obvious important things (family, friends) this was the hardest thing to move away from for me. One of the best times to be at the cabin, especially for fishing, is the end of May when the crappies come in shallow to spawn. This year after some planning with my folks, we got a trip lined up for me to take the three older kids (Eli, Caleb and Brooke) on a spring fishing trip to the cabin during this time of year. 

All good trips start with a trip to a sporting goods store so the four of us about a week before we left went to Scheels in Sioux Falls to gear up. With rainy, and cold temps predicted the main thing we determined we needed after going through all the gear was some good rain pants for all the kids. It took some searching but we did find a pair for everyone, even though Eli didn’t think she really needed them. When we got home she quickly informed mom that I had to convince her to get these pants. Turns out, after a day of fishing in them she told me she was glad I did.  

We left on a Sunday afternoon with the Yukon pretty loaded up and high spirits. We actually took a little bit longer way up there in order to stay on 4 lane highways longer, and stop for dinner at a familiar spot we like that we normally stop on the way back for family visits.

Dinner on the way up

It wasn’t too long and we had made it up there and it was incredible for me to see all the improvements my parents have made at the cabin the past few years. To say I am proud of them for how nice everything is, is an understatement. We got unpacked with just enough time for a little bit of fishing off the dock. My kids have been fishing before, but it isn’t something we do very often. So fishing off the dock was the perfect place for a quick lesson on how to use an open face spinning reel while we managed to catch a couple fish. 

Caleb and Pa getting things kicked off

After a good night's sleep, the next morning we all woke up with lots of anticipation. Thankfully the rain stayed away, we got a good breakfast in us and the pontoon loaded up. This is the pontoon my parents purchased quite a while ago from my mom’s aunt, and it was the perfect boat for this fishing trip. It provided the ample space needed for three kids alongside my dad and I to fish.

The Pontoon

One of the best things about the lake the cabin is on, is that when it gets windy like it was for us there are enough little bays that you can tuck into to get out of the wind. We tried a couple of these spots, and for longer than I ever could have imagined my three kids fishing, we fished. We caught crappies, sunfish, and bass. Brooke took some breaks to “manage” the minnows but one of the things that really stuck out on this trip, was that thankfully all of them got into the fishing quite a bit and really enjoyed it.

They finally got hungry, well after what I thought would be lunch time, so we went in and had lunch with grandma and then played a few games in the backyard. While the kids were doing that I set up a couple fishing rods for the afternoon at the new workbench in the new garage. It is the ultimate setup for things like this and I can see why my dad enjoys spending time out there. 

In the afternoon it was back out for some more fishing. We tried a new spot with not much luck, so it was back to the spot we left off at in the morning. We proceeded to catch quite a few more fish and just had a blast. This was a day I won’t soon forget, that's for sure. 

It is at this point, we get to the hard part of this trip. After another fun night in the cabin, we woke up to an almost 100 percent chance of rain all day and the next. We were not supposed to go home until Wednesday morning, but with the projected forecast we had to make the tough decision to head home a day early. This was met with tears, from all of us really. The fun from the day before had not worn off yet. We made some sandwiches and packed the rest of our snacks and started for home. I let the kids watch a movie right away to help ease a little bit of the sadness of leaving early, but this didn’t last. They didn’t even finish it, due to some more tears coming from the disappointment. I took the shorter way home, but it didn’t seem like it. This was a tough 5 hour drive. However, when we finally got home the excitement of sharing the fishing stories with mom and brothers and sisters kicked in to help alleviate much of the sadness and all was definitely not lost. I look forward to more spring fishing adventures, and another try for better weather at the cabin. My kids are really hoping to be able to have a bonfire next time.