My father and I fished many Labor Days in Northern MN over the years, and we often had good luck with northerns and bass. But this particular Saturday morning the northerns were hitting aggressively. At that time, Minnesota did not have a slot limit, just a limit of 3 northerns per license. We never kept large northerns, and we didn’t want small ones, so we aimed at a 23″ – 25″ range to keep. I can’t tell you how many we caught and threw back. Many were too large, but these were the ones we kept. My father wanted to do the cleaning. I offered to help, but he liked to always do it himself. He was an expert at getting the Y bones out of northerns, but it took a lot of patience, something my father is very good at. After he was finished, he straightened up his back, shook his head, and said, “I’ll never clean that many fish again at one time.” At 97 this August, he hopes to have a few more fishing adventures ahead.