The Great Roll Call Roadtrip: Lake of the Woods Walleye Fishing Out of the Riverview Resort with its Owner, Larry Cauble

There once was a modest fishing resort located on the Rainy River about 12 miles North of Baudette called the Riverview Resort. Nothing fancy. A collection of white washed cabins that served their purpose (i.e. a place to sleep). The cabins were immaculately clean but came with few amenities other than a table to play cards or mix drinks and discuss the day's catch.

The proprietor from 1973 until 1994 was a colorful Chicago transplant named Larry Cauble (photo on left and seated at table on left in above photo). In the early 1960's Larry had come up from Chicago on his first fishing trip to Lake of the Woods and the rest, as they say, was history. Larry moved to Lake of the Woods in 1963, part time at first and after saving enough money for the down payment on the resort, he quit his city job and left Chicago for good.

Larry fished every chance he could and by acting as a guide for his favorite guests he got paid for doing something he loved. It wasn't long before Larry earned a growing reputation for being one of the most knowledgeable guides on the lake. By the time I met Larry in the late 1980's his reputation had grown to legendary status. The other guides on Lake of the Woods referred to him as "Pappy" as in the father of all guides. If the fishing was slow Larry always seemed to know of a spot where they were biting. If you were lucky enough to be fishing on one of his launches you would spend the first hour or so trying to lose a flotilla of boats full of fishermen hoping to horn in on his hot spots and techniques. While imitation is high praise the last thing you want if trying to catch fish is fleet of morons scaring your fish away. Larry dealt with the problem in several ways.

First, his launches had large inboard engines and were deceptively fast. Once the flotilla of boats that trailed us up the Rainy River reached Wheeler's Point and entered Lake of the Woods, Larry cranked up his engines and ran full out for the first 45 minutes or so making for a very long, uncomfortable ride. However, it produced the desired result and we would lose all but the fastest and most die hard tag-a-longs. What really got under Larry's skin were people who thought they could save the cost of guide services and launch rental by bringing their own boats and tailing Larry.

For the persistent cling-ons or dingleberries, Larry's other favorite trick was to lead them to a sauger hot spot and start reeling them in one after another. From a distance saugers look like a small walleye and people get caught up in the excitement of catching fish like that.

By the time the other boats realize it is nothing but saugers, Larry has quietly snuck off, out of eyesight, before opening it back up and running flat out until you are surrounded by nothing but water. Like being on the ocean or one of the Great Lakes, you can go a long time without ever seeing a shoreline or other point of reference.

For the uninitiated, Lake of the Woods is a huge body of water located in the "cap" that juts out on Minnesota's Northern border with Canada. When I say huge, Lake of the Woods boasts 65,000 miles of shoreline, 14,000 islands and over one million acres of water. It is known by those who fish as one of the finest walleye fisheries in the world. Once you fished Lake of the Woods and experience the prolific action and abundant catches first hand, you are ruined for life. The only other fishing experience I can compare it to is when I fished an indoor trout farm in Maryland. You did not even have to use bait, just a naked hook and your catch was only limited by what you were willing to pay, calculated by the pound.

Fishing Lake of the Woods with Larry as your guide was nearly as easy and you also paid by the pound, for tackle. The best spots to fish Walleye were rocky reefs and Larry would troll back and forth over them. He would suggest what color lure to use, give you an approximate depth, then it was up to you to jig off the bottom without snagging the rocks, a nearly impossible feat. Run out of tackle? No problem. Larry had a veritable tackle store on board his launch and I think he made almost as much money selling tackle as he made from guide services.

Don't get me wrong, although Larry was a businessman, he was generous to a fault. While he did not suffer fools well, if he liked you, you were treated to special perks like a shore brunch of just caught walleye filets, battered and fried with onion rings on an open camp fire. We jazzed it up with a case of champagne. To this day I think that was about the best meal I have ever ate.