PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

PART-TIME FISHING GJUIDE FINDS THE ST. LOUIS RIVER HANDY--AND PRODUCTIVE

ON THE ST. LOUIS RIVER -- Mist rises in white clouds from the St. Louis River as Charlie Nelson powers upstream. It's 6 a.m. on a cool morning in May.

When he nears the upstream boundary of legal fishing on the river, he cuts the outboard and eases his 20-foot Lund into a current edge.

We are the only ones on the river at this popular spot, just downstream from Minnesota Power's generating station below the Fond du Lac Dam.

"I called ahead and reserved this spot for us,'' jokes Nelson, 44.

I drop the anchor when Nelson gives the word, and we begin jigging minnows where two currents converge with a piece of slack water between them. The river is still running high from recent rains, and it takes a 3/8 ths-ounce jig to find the bottom. We cast even with the boat and let the jigs and minnows bounce downstream.

"Just like steelhead fishing,'' Nelson says.

Within minutes, Nelson has the first walleye in the boat, a small male. It's below the 15-inch minimum size limit on the river, and he tosses it back quickly. Sunlight is just finding this channel of the river.

Nelson, a full-time F-16 pilot with the Minnesota Air National Guard and a part-time fishing guide on the river, lives in West Duluth and spends almost all of his fishing days here. He knows there are other places to fish. But the river is almost out his back door.

"The farthest landing from my home is 10 minutes,'' he says. "Where it takes 45 minutes to get to Fish Lake, I've been fishing here for 30 minutes already. And the quality of the fishing is good, both size and numbers and different types of fish.''

Nelson will be the first to tell you river fishing has been tough this spring. Preseason deluges sent big volumes of water through the Fond du Lac Dam's turbines, raising the river level. Walleyes hid out or dropped back downstream. Few bit on the opener. By last weekend's Grand Slam Walleye Tournament, fishing had begun to pick up.

Nelson and I hit the river on Monday. Within an hour, several other boats have joined us. They anchor near enough that conversations float over the river from one boat to another. No problem. That's the way it is on the river. That kind of cluster would seem unnatural on a lake, but this isn't a lake.

"When you fish up here,'' Nelson says, "there's a certain amount of closeness you have to accept.''

We pick up three more walleyes, including a 22-incher, in that first couple of hours. Two of them go into the livewell for supper. We could have kept the 22-incher, too, but the best eaters are from 16 to 18 inches. The longer one goes back.

And did we mention the catfish? He gets a free pass back to the water, too.

Chartreuse is the jig color of choice in the turbid water.

When you're fishing with an F-16 pilot who's already seen one mission in Iraq and probably will see another, there's no shortage of conversation between bites. Nelson talks about training missions to the Panama Canal, where he catches peacock bass in his free time. Last weekend, he was in Kansas, an easy hour's flight with Pratt and Whitney turbines under your tail.

When fishing slows, we motor downstream to try an eddy above Highway 23 and a channel just below the bridge. Nelson knows the river well from his year-round forays here. He and several friends hunt ducks and geese here each fall.

"When fishing season opens, we say, `Only five more months 'til duck hunting,' '' Nelson says. "When hunting season opens, we say, `Only five more months 'til fishing.' ''

Though he's been fishing the river for more than 20 years, Nelson has been guiding only for a couple. He plans to guide full time after retiring from the Air National Guard.

When he isn't guiding, Nelson is fishing with a brother or friends, just for fun. "Fish practice,'' he calls it.

Practicing one day last week, he caught a 28-inch walleye in Spirit Lake. He caught a half-dozen a few days later, trolling stickbaits in the harbor.

Fish practice. Little bits of information to file away.

"I've been fishing here since 1980,'' Nelson says. "I still find new stuff out here -- a hole, a deep pocket you didn't know about before.''

During our eight hours on the water, we'll catch several species of fish -- walleyes, a northern pike, perch, the catfish, a single crappie, a rock bass. Such variety isn't unusual.

"I had some guys here from Denver,'' Nelson says. "It was last August. They got 11 different kinds of fish.''

He recites the list -- walleyes, northern pike, smallmouth bass, a muskie, rock bass, catfish, crappie, a small sturgeon, perch, a white bass and a sheepshead.

But all we want today is more walleyes. We strike out near the bridge and move down to the shallow flats of Spirit Lake. Nelson wants to troll two 'crawler harnesses and a pair of Rapala Husky Jerks in about 2 feet of water. He uses small planer boards to get the lines out away from the boat. It has worked before, but nobody is home today.

Later, we find some 6-foot water on Spirit Lake and troll with bottom-bouncers and 'crawler harnesses. We pick up another 22-inch walleye and release it.

Nelson likes the way the river is managed as a fishery.

"The two-fish limit down here is pretty nice,'' he says. "For one thing, I'm close. I can come back tomorrow. But I also think it's kept the fishery stronger. Because it's not six (the regular statewide walleye limit), you don't have people from out of town coming up here and filling their trunks.''

Throughout the day, we're reminded that it's spring on the river. Canada geese call, and pairs move up and down the river. A beaver trundles along the bank. Birdsong drifts from the woods.

In all, we pick up a half-dozen walleyes, slow by normal river standards. But it's bound to improve as the water continues to fall.

When it does, Nelson will be here. He might be guiding. Or he may just come out for more fish practice.

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