As I’m sure you’re aware if you’ve been following the OA blog these past few days, we just got back from our second annual fishing trip. While our fishing skills still require some earnest attention our efforts at decadence and leisure were masterfully honed prior to our departure and, fortunately for us, our destination this year, Lake Vermilion, offered as much for the truly leisure prone as it did for the cadre of world class fisherman it hosts annually.

This year’s trip was, in every manner, a marked improvement over last years trip and last year was nothing to sneeze at. We ventured up to Heaven on Stevens Lake in the UP, MI enjoying some modest fishing (some bass, a few pike, and plenty of pan fish) as well as a chartered trip on Lake Superior hosted by the fearless and stealy-eyed Dave Kimar. If you’re up in the UP and want to dine on some seriously delicious Lake Trout I highly suggest tugging the sleeve of Mr. Kimar and make sure he takes you to the Stannard Rock location. There was a frightful moment during our excursion where Matty snagged a lake trout that attempted to snap his pole in half. Without missing a beat, Dave jumped half over his rail and snagged the trout by it’s snout, festooned his foot for leverage and pulled the slimy, barking beast into the boat with both hands, a gnarled GPC cigarette still clinched between his teeth. Taking a breath, he dragged on his smoke and cooly removed it from his wind-scabbed lips. He looked over at me with a mischievous smile and punched the fish between the eyes killing it instantly. As he tossed the limp demon into our cooler he flipped a whisp of his long white hair and hissed, “Welcome to the club mate.”

Dave Kimar, when he’s not running chartered fishing trips onto Lake Superior, spends his time drinking Old Grandad Whiskey and carving his grave stone from the reformed metal of a 1947 Plymouth Mercury Club Coupe, the car he lost his virginity in. He told us he’s not interested in putting dates or religious affiliations on his tomb, but instead he’s only going to etch one phrase on it when it’s ready to go live: “I caught my lunch and I ate yours, too.”

But, while last year’s trip was a great success, this year we wanted to find a spot with a bit more seclusion and a slightly larger expanse then the 65 acres of last years Stevens Lake. Lake Vermilion with it’s 40,000+ acres, 365 islands and over 45 mile run from end to beautiful end safely fit that bill. Just 20 miles south of Ontario, Lake Vermilion is teeming with crystal clear water, a large bald eagle population, and claims to be home to otters, moose, black bear and some of the best Muskie fishing in the country.

Lake Vermilion was a serious upgrade from last year and our accomodations on the lake were a marked improvement as well. After some modest web hunting we came across the Eagle’s Nest, a log cabin styled house with 3 bedrooms, satellite tv, a hot tub, jacuzzi bath, extensive deck, fire pit and all glass a-frame that over looks it’s perch at the far apex of Black Bay. Every last amenity was given careful consideration and provided in the most purposefully articulated manner possible down to the providing of 2 fully charged walkie-talkies making communication between people at the house and those at the dock – and the other end of the 110 steps downhill to get there – completely effortless. All the multitudes of lights and fans were well marked and the “Cabin Manual” gave clear explanation of any question you might have even before having it. When we ran up against a question we called the number provided and our host answered promptly giving us both reassurance and a warm attitude.

With 3.1 acres of private land backed up by national forest and the only other house anywhere in the back of the bay being another rental that was uninhabited during our stay we were able to have the seclusion, the comfort and the rustic excesses we were in search of. I have had few greater pleasures than sitting under the star-lit night sipping 12 year Glenlevit and listening to Joanna Newsom’s “Y’s”
through the Bose outdoor speakers wired from the stereo inside the Eagle’s Nest.

But long afternoon’s and slow, steady evenings were only the spaces between the important notes of this trip. While a properly timbered unwind is paramount to a savory vacation the truly important moments of a fishing adventure are steward in the golden hours of the morning and dusk. For this, our twice daily hunt for the elusive Walleye, we turned to Gander Mountain and the wonderful folks at the Spring Bay Resort for proper dressing.

I broke my fishing pole somehow during the off season so I had to pick up a new one. I settled for the Ugly-Stik Lite a totally servicable pole for my purposes. I moved the Daiwa Sweepfire from my previous pole and was ready to fish in under 5 minutes. I actually prefer the feel of Matt’s pole that he picked up from Cabela’s, the Pro Guide IM6,  as it sets a bit easier in the hand than my Ugly-Stik Lite, but honestly this is only a minor and fairly unimportant distinction when you get down to it. Probably the best aspect of Matt’s Cabela’s rod is it’s price point, coming in at under $50 for both a rod and reel is a pretty sweet deal in today’s odd market.

While at Gander Mountain we also picked up plenty of tackle (which we subsequently donated to Lake Vermilion) and I picked up a nice and toasty flannel that helped take some of the bite out of our late dusk fishing excursions.

The good folks at Spring Bay Resort hooked us up with a 50hp Alumacraft, the Lunker, for $100 off their posted price and kept us armed with fishing nets as we somehow managed to lose one during the week. Joe Amundsen, the owner of Spring Bay Resort, refused to take any money from me for the replacement net he only laughingly inquired about just how much the three of us must be drinking. It was this kind of warm, accommodating, laid back attitude we found from – literally – everyone we interacted with up at Lake Vermilion at the surrounding areas. Coming from Chicago with all it’s noise and tempo it’s easy to forget that, with a few good decisions and a restful attitude, life can provide you with every essential you might need and, in honor of that, you can act in accord with that wisdom. If nothing else, our trip up to Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota reminded me of that and, for my money, that was the best result I could have hoped for from our trip.

Dining is always an essential part of a trip and, as far as essentials go, one that receives more than a fair amount of attention from us here at Outsider’s Almanac. In fact, at this point, if you didn’t know better – and you may not – you might think Outsider’s Almanac is a food blog as, I believe, we are statistically heavy on posts about eats. But, while we’re not exclusively a food blog, we’d be criminally remiss to pretend that a majority of our outside activities (especially in the summer) constellate around a variety of culinary investigations. Our fishing trip was no different.

I’ve spoken a bit about one of our favorite meals we had on the trip in another post, the Poutine and Walleye dinner was amazing. We also had some deadly delicious barbequed chicken, some bleu cheese stuffed burgers, several variations of Breakfast Poutine (just add over easy eggs and toast, yo!) as well as the ubiquitous prime New York Strip. But these are just the meals we prepared for ourselves, on any good trip it’s vital to venture Outside (ahem) and see what the local faire has to offer.

We hit 3 restaurants during our trip, 2 of which were on the road to our destination and the 3rd, the Landing, was on Lake Vermilion. The first place we stopped was at our hotel in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the Green Mill. We didn’t really expect much going in except for half-priced happy hour hores d’voures and pints. But we got inside and found that not only did they have a pretty decent selection of food but they also had this beautiful copper tower for their fairly extensive collection of pulls. It being Wisconsin we felt obligated to drink the New Glarus Spotted Cow flowing cold and steady and, it being vacation also, we managed to find a few shots of Jameson to spill across our chins as well. Combine their very serviceable food, with their great selection of pulls and the apparently rigorous hiring standards of lovely young co-eds from Eau Claire University and the Green Mill turned out to be a exceptionally pleasant surprise after a longish day of driving.

The next day we stopped at Gronk’s in Duluth for a late lunch. I was feeling pretty ill so I stuck to the Spotted Cow and deep fried cheese curds. But Matt and Alex ordered up the Gronk burger – a half pound patty covered in grilled onion, deep fried provolone and BBQ sauce. It was a delicious burger to be sure, the bun in itself a revelation. The only drawback is that the patties were clearly not hand packed nor were they cooked to order. A couple of odd decisions to be sure, but an otherwise pretty delightful sandwich.

And, if you’re stopping at Gronk’s, and you’re feeling froggy, they offer the Enger Tower Burger challenge. Named after a 5 story tower in Duluth this 6 patty, 5lb burger is served to the more heroic of patrons for a price of about $20. If you can manage to eat the entire Enger Tower and a basket of fries in under 2 hours you also get a shirt boasting your savage victories to others. Frankly, it seems to me if you are able to complete the challenge you should have your burger comped in addition to getting the t-shirt, otherwise I would have a hard time finding the incentive in a t-shirt to make myself sick on burger for what would certainly be at least a couple of days. But, some odd sons of bitches enjoy a culinary challenge and measure their size pant leg in how much food per pound they can put down. For you, I offer the Enger Tower Burger Challenge.

Here’s a pretty lousy video of a kid allegedly meeting the challenge:

Our final restaurant experience was born from the riddled hands of desperation and bounded determination to eat some freaking fried fish on this trip. As the Walleye gods mocked us from below we stayed resolute and made damned sure our lips would drape across the tiny acreage of battered Walleye before leaving Lake Vermilion. Our strategy was elegant in it’s simplicity: drive the boat over to the Landing, order 3 plates of the $9.95 All-You-Can-Eat Friday Fish Fry (soup and salad bar included) and proceed to get drunk on cheap beer and Jameson. As one of the few plans that remained ordered from concept to completion our trip to the Landing proved a great success. The Walleye was fresh and well breaded with a cornmeal batter, the service was unwaveringly sweet and the company we kept, a couple from the twin cities who just inherited a house on the lake, was both full of great stories and at least as pickled as us. If you’re at the Landing on a Friday evening in the summer or early fall keep an eye open for our fabled friends Chad and Julie they’ll offer you no end of enthusiastic and good-spirited trouble to help the buttery delicious Walleye go down.

I received a great piece of wisdom one time from Hunter Thompson’s co-conspirator and Road Manager, Wayne Ewing. He told me that he learned early on when traveling with Hunter to always pack the night before as “You never know what terrible thing may happen around dawn.” I may be stupidly stubborn at times, but I am not stupid, so I learned quite quickly to heed any wisdom handed to me either from the Good Doctor by way of Wayne or directly from Wayne himself, the unfortunate glutton who had to clean up after Thompson’s excess for the better part of 15 years. And, in this and every other case, the wisdom proved highly profitable. Had I not done the better part of my packing the night before our departure the 10 AM drive time might have rightfully killed me.

There’s another piece of advice related to this trip I can only offer adamantly. If you’re staying at the Eagle’s Nest – and you should definitely do yourself that great favor – pay the extra $100 for the “Pack and Go” option, allowing you to, as you might guess, simply pack your bags and drag your vacated and bruised body to your vehicle for the slow and labored escape back to the dark realities of your day to day life. Nobody likes to clean, especially on vacation, and there really is no better way to spend one’s money – at home or on the prowl – than to enable someone else to tend to the unappealing and menial tasks of life. Save your time for the Good Work and always, always keep your eyes on the prize which is, usually, located just Outside your door.