One of the things I cherished most in my life was my grandparents. They were very special to me and I was probably closer to them than my own parents. Growing up, I always looked forward to the end of the school year because I often times couldn't wait to go up to their lake home near Garrison, Minnesota. Their home was in our family since sometime in the 1950s and the lake home, often referred to as "the cabin", was purchased by my grandmother's parents. Originally, they were looking for a lake home in the Crosby, Minnesota area and couldn't find a place they wanted to buy. To my understanding nothing really caught their eye when they looked up in the Crosby area. So, they shifted slightly south in the Mille Lacs Lake region and found "the cabin"on a small lake connected to Mille Lacs Lake called Smith Lake. I loved everything about that lake. I really felt at peace there and I also felt relaxed. I loved to help my grandpa with things around the place, and as kid, it was a big deal to take the big trip to Brainerd, which was 20 miles away. In my childhood, I was obsessed with trains, so for me, going to Brainerd was enjoyable because it was a railroad town. I was always amazed with the fact that there was a street on the east side of Brainerd that had railroad tracks run right down the middle of the street. I remember every time going past that street hoping to see a train go down the middle of the street because that was something that I had not seen before. When I was older, probably in my mid 20s, I was driving to Brainerd and my grandma was riding with. More than likely we were on our way to Wal-Mart to get groceries because they were Wal-Mart lovers. Anyways, finally I saw a train taking a trip down the middle of that road, and I told my grandma that I was going to drive down to the end of it, watch it, and take pictures of it. I think for her it was a rewind of time as she knew as a kid I was obsessed with trains. Apparently, I wasn't the only one obsessed with this as there now are You Tube videos of this exact thing that I saw.
Getting back to "the cabin", that place made me a fisherman. It made me a bass fisherman. The lake featured some northern pike and had some good crappie holes, but you never heard or saw anyone pull out a walleye on the lake. The lake, even though it was connected to the ever famous Mille Lacs Lake, was a totally different type of lake. It was a very clear lake, but it had a very weedy bottom. The lake also featured several areas of lily pads. The east end of the lake was my favorite to fish and I was often times successful. I could out fish anyone of my relatives and it would be funny when my grandma would kind of get mad at me, because I was filling the live well while she was questioning her techniques. But, leave it to my grandma, who would accidentally cast into the water as we were moving at a pretty good clip and she would be yelling thinking she got stuck on weed when instead there was a fish on the end of the line. My biggest prize of a fish that I ever caught in Smith Lake was at about eight o'clock in the morning on the north side of the lake on a nice calm sunny morning. It was a 20.5 inch small mouth bass that got my adrenaline going when I caught it. Of course, I was fishing alone that morning, but when I put it in the live well in the boat, it had to curl to fit. I brought it into shore, showed people, took a picture, and let it go.
"The cabin" meant happy family times in my life. It was a place where people went to relax, enjoy the beautiful view of Smith Lake, and spend time on the boat and enjoy each other's company. I remember watching many Twins games with my grandpa there. I will never forget those memories. Even as I got to the working age in life, I still took off on a Friday night and headed up to Garrison. Yes, back then, I was a citidiot. That's city and idiot together. I loved the place so much and I wanted to own it someday. Even my first job was in Garrison at Dairy Queen, which no longer exists today. If I couldn't have owned "the cabin", I at least wanted it to stay in the family. When my grandparents became older and were unable to take care of the place, their four children were more interested in the money instead of keeping a family jewel. Of the four that decided the fate of the place, none lived near Garrison and didn't understand the charm of "the cabin". Ironically, I work in Onamia, Minnesota which is only about a 20 minute drive from the cabin. I drive by the Holt-Smith Lake Road (otherwise known as Linden Street) everyday on my way to work. Still to this day, I can't drive down that road. When they sold the place, my favorite place ever to fish was taken from me. The only time I get to fish now is when we take a week long trip to Park Rapids, Minnesota and get out on Boot Lake, which I am grateful for. Other than that, if I go out to New York in the summer, I usually go out fishing on Lake Champlain in eastern New York. It is a little different style of fishing, but yet I am still grateful for the chance to experience Lake Champlain.
I think about my days at "the cabin" all the time and how happy those times were. I will cherish those times forever.
#championbassfisherman
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