A Living Hell in Devils Lake

Imagine if you will, you are at home excitingly packing for an upcoming fishing trip. Rods are all inspected. Reels are lubed and cleaned. Tackle is sorted through and organized. The boat is packed with care, and you finally hit the road! A 9-hour drive with an overnight in Gettysburg, SD you finally reach your destination. You get all set up and are enjoying the serene setting when what pulls up in the campsite right next door? Two vehicles. one pulling a 40+' 5th wheel, the other pulling biggest pontoon known to man. After parking, the doors open and out pop 4 screaming kids who look like they are 10, 8, 6 and 1. Welcome to hell in Devils Lake.

But before that happened, I did enjoy two nice days with my friends Bob and Kerry. Brothers Sobieck, Bob being my high school buddy and father of Chris at the farm. Kerry is his oldest brother. They have coming up to Devils Lake for a few years now and this year I horned in with them. Bob also brought another fishing buddy with him from back home. 

Grahm's Island State Park is absolutely beautiful. If you are ever traveling through central North Dakota, I highly recommend it. Big sites, clean restrooms and great fishing if you are so inclined. 

Devils Lake itself is huge! And it is getting huger (new word). Over the past several decades the lake has quadrupled in size adding over 70,000 more acres of water flooding homes and farmlands. There are actual homes, barns, roads and other structures10-20' under water. We went out that first night, Kerry and I in my boat, Bob and the other Jim in the other, the lake was like glass. and we caught about 50 fish between the group. 

The next day was another story. The wind had picked up as Kerry and I made it 3 miles out to where were going to start our day. The waves kept building over the next couple of hours and we could not hold the boat in one spot any more so we decided to try another spot. Instead of heading towards the launch, we went further away. Dumb move. 2 foot waves became 3 foot waves which became 4-5 foot waves. By the time we decided that we should not be out there, it was too late. We could not go directly into the waves so we had to ride the trough between them and as the boat crested I would have to turn the boat directly into the next wave so we did not flip over. For over an hour we slowly made out way towards the nearest shore. At one point Kerry asks, "Where are your life jackets?" "Under that door in the floor" I tell him. He proceeds to pull out my two orange $4.99 Walmart lifejackets, looks at me and says, "Is this them? They will never hold me!" "Put one on each arm like a water-wing", I tell him. But alas, they were not needed and we made it to shore soaked, but safe. Not unscathed though as my phone was waterlogged for the next day. 

We had fish for one meal, a boil for another, fires at night and an overall good time. 

Bob even caught a tagged fish! I had never seen one before, but if you send in the date and location of the fish, they will send you back what information they have on it. We tried telling Bob that it was tradition that he had to wear the tag on his lip for the duration of the trip, but he was not buying it. 

Which brings us back to our camper neighbors from hell. Would you believe that we not only parked next to them on purpose, but made our reservations so we would be next to each other? Those neighbors were none other than Chris, Holly and their 4 kids from the farm! 

And it was not hell at all. Chris and family, after one night of overlapping with his dad and Kerry spent the next several days hanging out with Barb and me. Barb and I fished in our boat while they fished in their pontoon. Then we would switch and Barb would jump in the pontoon with Holly while Chris and I (and sometimes kids) fished in our boat. 

I know many of you are waiting to hear who caught the first, biggest and most fish. I can tell you who caught the first and biggest, it was none other than my lovely wife Barb. As for the most, it could have been her as well, but we did not keep track, I will have to do better at that in the future. In the pictures below you can see Barb with her very first ever white bass on the left and Barb fishing with Chris and Holly's pontoon in the background on the right. 

Our three days together were over before we knew it and it was time to move on. Where to you ask? Another hell altogether. We went to visit Dino and Lisa! After a 4-hour drive, we were there less than 5 minutes before we were rushed into their truck which was hooked up to their food trailer and we were off to an event. Nothing like slinging soup on a hot summer day!

Our destination was the former Fergus Falls State Hospital where they put on a summer concert series. Dino and Lisa are scheduled to appear at all 6 events. That night was a Bruce Springsteen tribute band. We arrived an hour and a half before the event and started setting up. Well, Barb, Lisa and Dino started setting up. Dino put a chair in the shade for me and told me to just stay out of the way. 

Over the next two hours I watched the venue are go from a desolate grassy field to one packed with 60-, 70-, and 80-year-olds. There were several food trucks there, but from what I could tell Dino and Lisa's was one of the most popular. Several people asked, "Are you serving soup on a hot summer day?" To which Lisa would reply, "It is in our name, so we have to have at least one soup". They not only serve soup, but they also serve salads, wraps, sandwiches and several other things. Based on where I was sitting, I heard the Chicken and Wild Rice salad ordered the most. By the way, several people did indeed order soup. 

Pretty soon Barb came out and took down the sign offering that salad and then the wraps became the most popular thing. The band was good, the people watching even better. Dino's sister Gio and her husband Jeff were there in another tent selling their beverage Switchel as well.

The band wrapped up about 8pm and we were home by 8:45 where Barb, Lisa, Gio, Jeff, Dino and I all gathered around the kitchen table and had a few cocktails. I was the first one to call it quits about 11:00. I am not sure when Barb came to bed, but I think it was an hour or so after that. The soup business must not be that good though as when I asked Dino for a beer, I received this tab with it. $8.00 should buy an entire case of this beer. Perhaps I should start a GoFundMe page for them. 

The next day we just hung out in their garage chatting, before we went to supper in Fergus Falls followed by a boat ride on West Red River Lake.

This was the coolest part of our ride.....

Next up, crossing the border into Canada and more fishing. This is where the real contest begins as the past week was just a warmup! It might be a couple weeks until our next post as internet will be limited or nonexistent.