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Outdoors
Lakers, Lakers, Lakers
Contest winner gets taste of lake trout fishing that leaves him hungry for more.
By Brad Dokken
Herald Staff Writer
When Allan Monsrud won the Herald's Ultimate Fishing Getaway contest and a guided trip for two to Big Sand Lake Lodge in northern Manitoba, he had three goals in mind:
Catching a lake trout. Catching a lake trout. And catching a lake trout.
Monsrud, of Badger, Minn., had never landed one of the hard-fighting fish before the June 4-9 trip, but his fishing partner, Bernie Brazier of Greenbush, Minn., caught the lake trout bug a few years ago.
And now, Brazier isn't the only one with lake trout fever.
"I've caught 20-pound northern pike, and that was nothing like this," Monsrud said.
Monsrud hooked a lake trout the first afternoon of the trip while trolling a large spoon, and he had the fish about three-fourths of the way to the boat before it shook the lure. That night at supper, Monsrud could only speculate on the lake trout's size, but he'd fought the fish long enough to know it felt heavy and that he wanted a shot at another one.
Monsrud would get his wish the next morning, when he released a 36½-inch lake trout, big enough to qualify as a trophy under Manitoba's Master Angler program. For the two trout fanatics, there was no turning back, and aside from a stop to catch walleyes for daily shore lunch each morning, they had their guide, Lloyd Moose, trolling for lakers the entire trip. Brazier also landed a Master Angler lake trout that measured 37½ inches, and they released a total of nine lakers and lost several others during the trip.
They also hit it off with their guide.
"We had him joking with us, and that's what we wanted him to do - be part of our fishing group," Monsrud said.
Big Sand Lake Lodge requires anglers to release all big fish, so the lake routinely kicks out trophy pike, lake trout and even the occasional whopper walleye. According to Brazier, knowing that every strike could mean a lake trout of 30 pounds or more was enough to keep them going, even though they didn't catch numbers of fish.
"Part of the reason we wanted to fish trout the whole time was we knew we had a chance to get a big one in the boat," Brazier said.
Besides, having grown up fishing Lake of the Woods, Monsrud and Brazier already had caught their share of northern pike and walleyes over the years.
"If I hadn't come from such a fishing area, we probably would have taken a day and fished northern pike," Monsrud said. "But I guess that first trout in the boat ... it's pretty fun."
The lake would live up to its reputation for big lake trout the last morning of the trip, when Moose hooked into a heavy fish that eventually would measure 43 inches - easily more than 40 pounds. After not fishing at all the first couple of days, he tried to pass the rod to Brazier or Monsrud so they could battle the big fish, but they would have no part of the offer.
"He tried to give it to Bernie twice, and then he looked at me and says, 'Here you go,'" Monsrud said. "I said, 'No, you caught it.'"
Only when they saw the trout alongside the boat did they realize just how big it was. "You should have seen it in the water," Brazier said.
It was the biggest lake trout of the week. Still, the two trout fanatics have no regrets about letting their guide reel in the fish.
"We wouldn't have had it any other way," Monsrud said. "He's a good guy."
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The pair ended their trip with Moose on a high note by hooking five more lake trout - and landing three - that night after supper. In every respect - from the fishing to the food to the staff - Monsrud and Brazier say their trip to Big Sand Lake was a keeper.
"The trip was a blast," Brazier said. "The fish were extra. For five days, I'm not hungry for a meal. I just eat because it's there, and that's saying something."
Dokken reports on the outdoors. Reach him at (701) 780-1148 or (800) 477-6572 ext. 148; or bdokken@gfherald.com.
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From bustling metro to untouched wilderness, you'll find experiences abound in Minnesota this summer. But before you can make memories, you have to make plans.
Here are some helpful links to exploreminnesota.com to get you started:
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