Minneapolis/St. Paul Photo Shoot....

Recently I was selected for my second appearance on the cover of the Minneapolis / St. Paul Magazine.  This time I was thrilled to showcase my outdoor background, especially my newfound obsession to the mighty musky.  The July issue of this magazine is still on the shelves if you are interested, and here is a video to give you a unique behind the scenes look at my fishy day!  I hope you enjoy!

Girls Gone Walleye...Part 2

The Schara family decided to have a rematch of our 4th of July fishing tournament on Leech Lake. So we divided our teams the same as last year, with defending champions “Girls Gone Walleye” vs. “Walleye World”.

“Girls Gone Walleye” again consists of my mom Denise, my friend Jill and myself. “Walleye World” is guided by my dad, with my sister and Troy as fishing partners. Our guide Bro Brosdahl greeted us with big smiles and greeting of “Are we ready to take the championiship for the 2nd year?” We shot out a ”Go Girls Gone Walleye!” and we were off. The competition rules were the same as last year. There are 3 points up for grabs. First point, is for the first walleye caught which, by the way, is the most important point to grab as it can never be taken away. The second is for the most walleye caught and the third point is for the biggest walleye. My mom was the one to capture that point with a nice 16” walleye. Bro being a great guide, motivator and cheerleader kept the momentum going and the energy high all day. Jill brought in the point for the largest walleye landing a 28” Walter. Not that we needed that third point of catching the most fish as we had won our 2nd championship...but we did sweep it with catching the most walleye (is that bragging?). My best catch being 25” and a few more keepers. All in all it was a fun & entertaining day on Leech Lake, thanks to Bro, the best fishing guide in the area. Girls Gone Walleye takes the trophy again for 2009...at this rate, for 2010, we may need official uniforms and a sponsor or two...ha!

Should you be interested in having Bro show you where the Walleye’s are at, his contact information is: bro@brosguideservice.com

9,999 and counting...

My summer goal for 2008 was to catch a muskie for the very first time. Boy did I not realize what a high goal I was setting for myself. Travis...who works on our team and is a legend fishing guide on Lake Minnetonka, at age 24, decided to help me reach my goal of landing a true water wolf. His tactic is bad weather = good muskie fishing. So, one rainy thunderstorm morning, we met at Lake Minnetonka at 5:30am. Yes, 5:30am, its dark and thundering...did I mention down pouring? I am now wondering what kind of goal I have set and repeatedly have to remind myself, that legend has it, catching this giant fish is worth all this craziness...they call it "Muskie Fever". For a moment I thought I had a fever to be fishing that early in those types of conditions. I had to trust my guide's rule of bad weather = good muskie fishing.

We head out onto the lake, and I make my first few casts, and immediately there is movement and swirls in the water like sharks in a feeding frenzy. I think to myself, this is going to be easy..what is all this nonsense about "10,000 casts to catch a muskie" as they are so excited and ready to eat. Well after a few casts and one bite (I was also so excited that I, of course, set the hook too early), we move on to a new location. We continued to cast with no luck, so we moved on again. This happened for approximately 4 hours...I am now starting to understand the "10,000 casts" phenomenon.

The sun is now up and when that happens the Muskies get VERY sleepy. We could practically poke them with our fishing rods and they would just slowly swim away. Travis had warned me that it's slower fishing when it's sunny but not impossible to land the big one. My entire body is now sore from casting such a large lure into the water, however we trudge on to try ONE more spot. By this point I have cast so much that I wasn't really paying attention to my lure when Travis yelled, "you have one following!" I looked at my lure and there is "Jaws of Lake Minnetonka" following it....his mouth was open so wide, a small dog could have crawled in it. This fish was huge and even Travis said so. I patiently waited for him to tell me to set the hook...he yelled "Take it!"...I set that hook so hard, the fish whipped its head left, and then right and to my disbelief my lure flew through the air and hit our camera man on the boat. I was devastated but I didn't realize what I had missed until I saw the look on Travis's face. He told me I had just lost a 55" Muskie which would have been the biggest fish landed in his boat on Lake Minnetonka. Right then I realized I had missed a fish of a lifetime.

After seeing the size of that fish, I was determined to go out with Travis a few more stormy mornings...but only racked up my # of casts and missed bites vs. landing a fish.
I have to be close to 10,000 casts or at least it feels that way however, now that summer has come to an end, my goal of landing the elusive water wolf will have to wait. But something else happened this summer on Lake Minnetonka...I caught a fever...a Muskie fever that is.

"4th of July...Girls Gone Walleye"

So following family tradition, I was up at the cabin for the 4th of July festivities which I look forward to every year.  My father mentioned that he had set up a day of fishing for all 6 of us on Leech Lake.  His friend "Bro" was a guide that resides in the area and knew the lake well; so we were, according to my dad, "guaranteed" to catch fish.  

I said "sign me up!". 

It was terribly windy that day and if you have ever been on Leech Lake on a windy day,  the "walleye chop" and the LARGE waves were at a maximum to say the least.  Bro our guide was so enthusiastic about catching fish it was contagious...my friend Jill, my mom and I hopped into his boat.  My dad, sister Simone and Clay hopped into Dad’s Crestliner and we were off and the competition was on.  

We came up with three ways to win our homemade competition...it was the best out of three categories: 1) who ever had the first catch, that was a point, 2) who ever had the largest fish, that was a point...and 3) who ever caught the most fish, that was a point.   My mom, Jill and I decided our appropriate team name would be "Girls Gone Walleye" and as they afternoon went on we certainly deserved that title. 

I got the first fish hooked and as I looked at Bro's excitement, I new it was big...however it had been awhile since I reeled in a walleye and I lost it.   VERY close to the boat.  Bro's smile turned upside down as he told me "shoot!...that fish was close to 29 inches!"...my walleye moral sank a little too...but the day was early so we forged ahead.   Before you know it Jill and I hooked two fish at the exact same time and it was on.  Jill reeled her fish in first, mine second and we were two fish ahead of the other boat...we let them know it.  You would have thought the Leech Lake cheer leading squad was on the boat and we got a nice thumbs up from the competition in the Crestliner.   

Well numerous bites and earth worms later, I caught a 25" walleye, my mom continuously caught perch, giving her the title "Princess Perch" and Jill was on a roll too...the interesting thing is that the other boat wasn't.  I could see the growing frustration on my dad's face as the day went on and our cheers erupted as they remained silent.  There wasn't any thumbs up coming our direction anymore.  We even passed over the exact spinner bait we were using and that didn't seem to do the trick either.  

As the day came to a close, "Girls Gone Walleye"  had obviously won our own version of a fishing tournament... much to the dismay of the other boat.

I think it was a combination of a two things, girl power and a really good guide.   So good, my dad said "Next time we go out...I am fishing with Bro and you girls are on your own in my boat."  

 "No problem!" I said with weary confidence....looks like I’d better sign up for a class on "How to read a depth finder."

A Day With the Tiger Woods of the Clays...

On Friday June 20th, I spent the morning with Trap Shooting Hall of Famer, Loral I Delaney.  I was honored to have the opportunity to take a trap shooting lesson from one of the most talented trap shooters in America.  So being a novice that I am, I was a little nervous and started to sweat when she arrived.  However she calmed my nerves and we went about our lesson which surprisingly started off by tying my hair back into a pony tail...she said, "No distractions, you don't want your mind to think about anything but that target".  She was right.  Next we briefly went over a little gun safety/handling and trap shooting etiquette and then it was time for me to test my shot.

We started off by shooting a cardboard box that was set a short 13 yards from me.  I asked "Why is the box so close at just 13 yards?"  I guess it's the first point of impact for a shotgun...well, I pulled the trigger and missed that box that was only 13 yards away.  My father just about fell over in embarrassment...I don't blame him, but my nerves got the best of me.  So I tried one more time and I hit it dead on.  We then moved on to form...I didn't realize there was "good form" to shooting trap.  It's similar to a golf swing in that matter where eventually it just becomes automatic but is a lot to think about at first.  She suggested that I practice in front of the mirror, as she does.  Good advice though I can only imagine what my neighbors will think.

It was time to shoot some clay birds and as you can guess I missed the first one.  From that, she gave me some of the best advice. "Don't look down the barrel of the gun but look at the tree line".  Loral I equated it to pointing at something with your finger, your eyes don't follow your finger, they look at what you're pointing at.  That same philosophy applies to shooting trap.  So, I said "Pull!" and I hit the target dead on...wow did that feel good.   As the morning went on my shooting skills improved and Loral I, my dad and I shot a round of 25.  Yes, I came in last, but I did get a rhythm down and shot a few in a row even as the targets skeet quickly right and left.  

One thing I can tell you is that it is obvious why Loral I is the "Tiger Woods of trap shooting".  Before that clay bird got a chance to fly one second in the air, it was already shattered by her.  Impressive to say the least.  I look forward to taking the lessons learned and improving this summer, who knows, maybe I too will earn a trap shooting title someday.  Until then, I may need to hit a few more cardboard boxes and settle for a self titled nickname to increase my confidence... "Annie Oakely" sounds good to me.