Blustery But Fishy Tuesday...

Here's the poster for this year's much anticipated Peter Mitchell Days celebration in Babbitt. Peter Mitchell is a tough guy to find any good information on...Here's a quick blurb from a web page on the history of Babbitt.

The earliest traces of man in the Babbitt area have been uncovered on the north end of Birch Lake. This ancient Indian life dating back to 500 BC has been identified as the Laurel Indian culture. History reveals little activity in this area until the late 1800's. In 1885 an experienced woodsman, Christian Wieland, guided Henry Eames, a Minnesota state geologist, to Lake Vermilion near Tower, Minnesota. As they crossed the eastern edge of the Mesabi Range near Babbitt, Wieland pointed out the iron ore in the rocks. Wieland brought out samples of high-grade-ore and these samples of ore created interest and led to the formation of the Ontonagon Syndicate in 1869. It's purpose was to explore mineral areas of Minnesota and acquire land. Peter Mitchell of the Syndicate prospected the land and in 1871 sank a six foot test pit. Fellow Syndicate members were not nearly as interested as Mitchell so interest dropped rapidly.

Today (Tuesday) was rather chilly and blustery with misty, intermittent rain and a bit of wind. I went out and caught four walleyes. They weren't huge, but were nice to eat. I got them on a chunk of nightcrawler on a white jig with a rattling "collar" in 6-10 ft. of water on the west side of Deer Island in the mini-bay.

When I returned, Jack had the fishing fever...He wanted to catch the legendary 37-inch northern pike that lives in the marina and gorges itself on the dead/dying sucker minnows that get dumped out each morning throughout the summer. The guys (Rob and Dennis) set Jack up with an old rod and antique "baitcasting" reel with a steel leader and heavy black line. Since they were busy delivering ice to houseboaters, troubleshooting equipment, etc., they also gave Jack the run of the sucker minnow tank.

The J-Man went through six fairly large minnows trying to catch the sneaky pike, but didn't get him! He's bound and determined, not only to catch a fish, but the "largest" fish that he can get. Last night while fishing with Mike, Jack got skunked, while Mike and I were getting hits on nearly every other cast. Jack caught the bottom of the lake and when he realized it was only a snag, he cried harder than I have ever seen him cry with big salty tears and sad sniffling...