Many years ago in a small town in northern Michigan, a 10-year-old boy on vacation with his family stood in awe in front of a sporting goods store’s shelves stacked with boxes of tantalizing slim-minnow lures.

The family vacationed every summer in the same town, Indian River, between Burt and Mullet lakes, and every summer the young angler visited the store to admire the fishing lures. He lacked the pocket money to buy the beautiful balsa wood baits hand-crafted in Finland and longed for the day when he could own as many of them as his tackle box might hold.

That boy was me and my visits to the northland sporting goods store were among the experiences that shaped my interest in the wonderful world of fishing.

More than 60 years later, I have more than made up for my late start in acquir

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