No More Sanctuaries

In 1973, about this time of year, my truck broke down (actually ran out of gas!) about 5 miles from the north shore on big Lake Mille Lacs. One of the old Barnevelds was following me on his Evinrude snowmobile, which at that time, was quite a venture on the big ice sheet. We had found the Backer Flat, one of our favorite summer walleye fishing spots even back then via the ice. Brother Joe had broken the ice on that spot in earlier years. 200 yards after I jumped onto his sled, it broke down too. There we stood, looking into a stiff north wind. We weren't much prepared for walking 5 miles in a foot of snow against a biting wind. But we had no other options. It was then, unlike now.
This past Saturday, as the sun came up, I was sitting in my truck within a few yards of where my long, cold walk had started 37 years earlier. As was the case back then, a coyote was running east in the distance, just to the north. But this was now. I wondered how old Barney would have reacted to what I saw. As I gazed in every direction, the mental map of the bottom of the big lake I helped to develop over 40 years ago, was fresh and crisp. And all the tracks leading to all the spots on that map were fresh too. It was an amazing sight, and kinda hurt, to say the least, at the same time. I recalled the afternoon when Eileen Walters, hailing from Easton Minnesota, caught a 6.75lb. walleye and got a mud flat named after her, by my dad. A few hundred yards to the east was where Cal Backer, from New Ulm, and his kids, caught the very FIRST walleyes on the "Backer Flat", while on my dad's launch in the early 60's. I even remembered the wind direction that day. But this was now. My mental map was now covered with clusters of trucks, fish houses and plowed roads. I shook my head. Was this really happening? What had happened in the past 37 years? The answers hit home as a tear dripped off my cheek.
Old Barney and I made it to shore that cold, windy day in '73. We walked all the way. Thankfully, I was only about 18 years old and he was in great shape for a 60 plus year old. Unlike now, there were zero people in sight on the ice. There was no other tracks to follow but from a coyote looking for a mate. Global Positioning didn't exist in that world. There was no one in sight!
Mille Lacs walleyes lived in countless winter sanctuaries back then. It wasn't until the late 60's that Joe chiseled the first holes on what he later named the "Fish House Flat". It would take 20-30 years for the rest to follow, give or take a few brave locals. Now, unlike then, walleyes swim between shiney spoons flying in every direction. By the looks of things, from the shadows of where Eileen made a name for herself, not one walleye sanctuary exists anymore. In any direction.
I wondered if being able to walk across 5 miles of Mille Lacs ice, only crossing a coyote track, was in a better day. But it was now. And probably good that old Barney wasn't with me to experience it. contact Steve at 651-270-3383 or sf1954@embarqmail.com