Lodging Over the Years

Just thought I'd give you guy's an overview of where we have stayed over the years and why we have made a home for our opener where we are now.

The first seven years really didn't qualify as lodging because we camped those years. whether it be pop-up campers, camper trailers, truck campers, or sleeping

in the back of a pickup under a topper.

We started out in '74 at Hiawatha Beach Resort in Steamboat Bay, but the lure of the big part of Leech Lake had us make a move to Pine Point for the next Opener.Still camping we chose a resort with a campground, Acorn Hill Resort. We had six good years at Acorn Hill. At the end of that stint we rented our first

cabin there being tired of the whole camping deal. It was a lot more comfortable

and if bad weather came by it was even better shelter.

The only problem at Acorn Hill was that they only had docks for our boats. Being exposed to the elements caused problems when the wind was coming in to the

Resort. In 1982 it was so bad that we needed to load up our boat at a neighboring resort with a sheltered harbor.

That resort was Brindley's Harbor. We immediately asked if they had any openings.

That next year was our first at Brindley's, 27 years ago.

Staying in many different cabins at Brindley's, we always had our eye on #14. Cabin #14 was big, with room for a dozen guys or more. Finally in 1986 we acquired cabin 14 and Team Walleye exploded. We got

bigger and developed our current organization that has continued till the present.

Even when Leech Lake fishing took a drastic downturn a few years ago, the

quality of our accommodations, and service of our hosts didn't make any of us

to even think of making a change.

Having a sheltered harbor for our boats is one

of the greatest pluses for our group.

And the unsurpassed dock service, fish cleaning and

packaging of all fish.

In past years we crammed ourselves in, sleeping in

a full size bed with another guy (not good). Over the

last few years we have matured and realized the importance of personal comfort.

Each member deserves his own bed and space.

This year we have five cabins in close proximity to each other, this ensures a

comfortable experience for all. Yet we still have our cabin 14 as a gathering point

and base of operations.

Shiner Issues?

The go to bait in the last 5 years or so has been the spot tailed shiner. Past shortages have prompted Team Walleye to buy our bait for opener through a good friend of ours. This has assured us a good supply of bait through at least Monday. Last year we purchased a couple of large 30 gallon Bait Tamers for our minnow stash which has resulted in a marked improvement over our previous minnow holding cage. This year with 24 guys in the group we are thinking about up to 4 gallons of shiners will be needed. That's a lot of minnows.

One of the issues we need to think about is the water temperature. A check with my friend Bill, who we arrange the purchase of the bait, I have learned that the shiner harvest is pretty much over with! In the past couple of years it has been questionable as to the ability to get shiners with the late ice outs as shiners are harvested from the large lakes in Minnesota. This year with ice out 3 - 4 weeks ahead of schedule, the shiner harvest is already over with. A bumper crop, the challenge is for the wholesalers to keep them alive and viable till May 15th. A normal to late spring assures water temps in the mid 40's to low 50's however this year we could be pushing the mid to high 50's. That assumes this beautiful weather continues. High 50's could pose a problem with assuring out minnows will survive both the 2 hour trip from Mille Lacs as well as the temperature change going from cooler well water to the elevated temperature that may exist in the harbor at Brindley's. It may force us to keep our stash of bait in the main lake this year. Time will tell and we will call Tim at Brindleys and find out what the water temp is in the harbor. If too high we will have to make an adjustment as 4 gallons of shiners represents a substantial investment to lose within an hour of unloading. This is one of the aspects of all the planning needed to assure that our opener at Leech is a success.

Written by Team Walleye correspondent, Dave Anderson