Wide open frog bite from a kayak.

Went to Minnesota for five days to meet up with family. Trip was supposed to be two days longer, but a “suspicious package” caused our initial departing flight to be cancelled, as LAX shut down the terminal so we lost some time. 16 hours later, we were near Brainerd…The house we stayed at was very nice and the lake was even better. A small body of water called Gladstone. I had brought 10 rods and 10 reels with me on the plane, but would have to buy terminal tackle and lures when we got there, as I just didn’t have time to pack that stuff and honestly, wanted to play the conditions I was dealt. 

Girlfriend went out on what I’d call a reconnaissance trip the first day we were there and found two large areas of lily pads that were just coming in, mixed with sparse tulles. She told me about them late that afternoon as I was getting back from fishing with the in-laws in their tiny boat for a couple hours, catching dinner (pike/etc). Needless to say, I got excited and couldn’t wait to get out there, but the boat wasn’t gonna be available, so?….

The house we were renting came with a couple kayaks. Being that we’d be fishing from kayaks forced me to simplify and only carry a few combos, along with a small tackle bag full of what I felt would be necessity…something I’m not used to at all. Having 30-40 combos in the boat and way too many options is the norm for me, so it was nice to keep it simple. 

Armed with 4 combos:

XBD/SV103/white Bronze Eye 65

X7 Super Eiger/Steez CT/wacky rig

Jabberwok Slant/Steez SVTW/Wht-Chart Spinner Bait

X7 EM/Steez SVTW/t-rig

Girlfriend said she didn’t want to fish, just watch and relax?….”ok” I said.

We paddled our way over to the first patch of pads, and within 10 minutes, I had fish from 2-3.5lbs slamming that frog. Took about 4-5 fish getting into the yak and a bunch of child-like laughter before I heard… “I’m going back to get my rod!!!” And away she went…😆

She returned with her X7 Amart 71/Zillion combo, I tied on a black Bronze Eye 65 frog and we caught countless fish. Wide open. Up to about 4 lbs and lost a couple that would’ve easily been bigger. They wanted it worked fast over the pads and I’ve never had a better numbers day frog fishing than that. Next afternoon, we went back out to the second larger patch, on what was the first night of summer solstice and absolutely wrecked em again, good times. Smiles from ear to ear on an another beautiful day. After a few hours, the light breeze died down and the lake went glassy for the remainder of the night. As the sun slowwwly began setting, I can’t remember a moment in recent years that I was more content than I was right there. Everything made sense and I was at utter peace for the first time in a long while. Just an incredible, intimate experience.

Only gripe…it was over too soon and it was time to head in. 

Packing the next morning was tough to say the least. We both wanted to stay so badly, but we swore we’d be back. 

Some random shots of catches, house we stayed in and view from our dock. Hope you enjoy.