This past week has been one of the nicest fall weeks that I can remember. I guess we are truly experiencing Indian Summer. I hope that phrase is politically correct, which it should be when associated with something this good.

Last week I spoke of the past falls I have headed north for a little fishing only to incur the wrath of old Mother Nature and some mighty chilling experiences. I can’t say that about this past weekend. It was an absolutely perfect fall weekend. If you like cool, crisp sunny days and chilly but dry nights, then this one was made to order.

Our little chunk of nature is located in the Marcell area north of Grand Rapids and the colors there turned drastically in just the three short days I was there.

The fishing on our little lake was surprisingly excellent. If you like &uot;jumbo&uot; perch then it was the place to be. Our lake wasn’t supposed to have any meaningful fish in it but this summer we caught some nice bluegill and numerous perch.

On Sunday afternoon I rowed our small fishing boat out onto the lake and decided to play a hunch and use a floating jighead and minnow. The results of my experimenting produced some of the largest perch I have ever seen in my life. I had a fish on almost every cast and most all of them were huge. I really have to thank my grandson Trevor for reminding me that floating jigheads are still an effective part of the fishing arsenal.

This is the first time I have kept any fish from our lake but, after seeing the size of these fish, I decided to keep enough for a meal. It was really great, and there just isn’t anything better than a meal of freshly caught fish. I don’t know how many I would have had if I’d kept all of the fish I caught. I can now understand why my uncle Ben would head north to Big Winnie when he heard the jumbo perch were on the bite.

When I left for home on Monday I drove down Highway 38 from Marcell to Grand Rapids and the colors were as pretty as it gets. On the west side of Highway 38 there is a National Forest Campground situated on North Star Lake called (of all things) North Star Campground.

I had always wondered what it was like so I decided to take a drive through it and was really impressed. It was a beautiful with nice, spacious campsites.

The camping is on the honor system this time of year, so you just deposit the money in a box by the entrance. I believe the price is $12 a night for a single site and $26 for a double site. There are rest rooms, water and a fish cleaning area.

Each campsite has it’s own fire ring and the sites are well spread out throughout the area. These sites are on a first come basis, but if you like rustic and beautiful this looks like an ideal place to visit for a family outing. There is a beach and, although the access isn’t right there, I imagine most campers would just put their boat in at the access and run them up on shore by the beach. I know some fishermen from Grand Rapids that go to Winnie and stay at the campground by Cutfoot Sioux.

There are a lot of wonderful resources to take advantage of in our state and hopefully the budget cuts don’t start to eliminate some of the things that we have available to us in this great state.

The leaves are really in about full color mode about now and you can notice how the trees in our area have really turned in just a matter of a week. You don’t have to go north to enjoy the colors. Just take a drive in the rural areas of Freeborn County.

Some of my favorite country is down South Broadway and in the Emmons and Twin Lakes area. There are a lot of woods and grasslands in the area and it can really make a &uot;Sunday Driver&uot; out of

you no matter which part of the county you visit this time of year.

From what I’ve seen this week the fish must be biting in the channel. If past years are any indicator perch could be the main catch there too. I know there have been some walleye caught in Fountain as well as in the channel.

There is no time like the present to try catching your own meal of fresh fish.

Until next time, here’s wishing you Safe Huntin’ and Good Fishin.’

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Keep supporting our service men and women.

(Dick Herfindal is the Tribune’s outdoors columnist. His column appears Sundays.)