8/6 - Little Falls - Minnesota Fishing Museum

We got a late start today so didn't get a lot accomplished. The first thing was finding the PX and commissary which we check out at every military installation we stay at. The PX is very small and there's no commissary which is a bit surprising because of the distance between Camp Ripley and Little Falls. We then wandered around looking for the closest of their three laundromats which is somewhat hidden in a row of little metal buildings. It's huge, clean and FREE. We know where we'll be tomorrow morning.

Little Falls main street looks like so many small towns in America

We found an interesting place to visit this afternoon.....the Minnesota Fishing Museum. It was much more interesting than either of us expected. 

Murals at the Minnesota Fishing Museum

They have a huge collection of antique lures, outboard motors, trolling motors, rods, reels and everything to do with fishing, along with some beautiful mounted game-fish specimens.

Antique fishing equipment and mounted specimens

Many of the lures were like ones Jim and his father and grandfather used decades ago. Fish would be just as likely to hit the antiques as fancy new lures.

Prize-winning carved fish decoy - note the intricate carved scales

Neither of us had ever heard of fish decoys which are a really big deal in ice-fishing up north. They are used with spear-fishing, dangled in the water to pique a fish's curiosity. When the fish is visible in the hole cut in the ice, the fisherman throws his spear at the fish hoping to hit it. The spear has a rope tied to the end which is attached to either the fisherman or something in the darkhouse so it can be retrieved. 

The decoy pictured above is a work of art and not one that would actually be used. Carved decoys are a form of folk art in addition to being used for fishing.

Spear-fishing darkhouse

Another thing we knew nothing about is spear-fishing. It's illegal in all but six states - Alaska, Montana, both Dakotas, Minnesota and Michigan. Up here where lake ice gets thick enough for trucks to drive on it, spear-fishing is done using these "darkhouses" out on the ice. The structure has no windows so the fisherman can see the fish through light going into the ice outside the house. The ice hole is rectangular rather than round as in ice-angling. The picture shows a darkhouse with the side cut out for display. Note the muskie in the hole in the floor. Fish are curious and come to decoys to check them out at which point they get speared. 

For those of us from the south, sitting on ice in a tiny dark box in below-zero temperatures in the hope of spearing a nearly-inedible fish is not our idea of fun. (Muskie and pike have so much mercury in them they shouldn't be eaten more than once a month if at all.) 

Bombardier 1963 SkiDoo snow mobile with ice-fishing display

Ice-fishing display with ice-angling darkhouse at the end and a 1963 SkiDoo made by Bombardier, a Quebec company which is still in business.  The angling darkhouse looks rather like a portable outhouse. It's made of canvas and can be dismantled, unlike the wooden spear-fishing model.

Muskie named "Old Fish"

"Old Fish" was a well-known muskellunge who had swum the waters of the Mississippi between Camp Ripley and Little Falls with her partner for over 25 years. Whenever she was caught the fisherman would release her. In 2000 she got trapped against a grate at the hydroelectric dam in Little Falls. She was rescued by Minnesota wildlife people who were unable to save her life so they froze her until someone was found to mount her so she could be displayed at the museum. 

After the museum we found the local Walmart and headed home with our catch. The campground appears to be a favorite haunt of mosquitoes so the rest of the day has been spent inside in air-conditioned and mosquito-free comfort.

Tonight we had a good sunset, a rarity on this trip