Alexandria’s LeRoy Ras was on his way north on a family fishing trip in the early 1970s when he stopped at a bait shop in Nisswa.
It was only meant to be a short stay, but Marv Koep, the owner of the shop, had other ideas. Koep asked him why he didn’t stay and fish the area. Nearby Hubert Lake had some smallmouth in it and a friend of Koep’s had a cabin for him to stay at. There was even someone to take him out fishing and show him the lake.
“I waited around and a guy showed up and it was Ron Lindner,” Ras said. “I learned back trolling, Lindy rigging. I learned about depth finders because Marv gave me a depth finder to use. They introduced me to a method of bass fishing by using a jig worm.”
Ras was already an established fisherman at that time after moving to Alexandria in 1965. His day job was teaching elementary education for 32 years at Washington, Garfield and Lincoln schools.
He took his first paid fish-guiding job in 1967, but that chance meeting with Ron Linder, who along with his brother Al created many lures including the famous Lindy Rig, opened his eyes to even more ways to catch fish.
Now almost 40 years later, he is up there among the best anglers in Minnesota after being one of three individuals and two famous fishing companies inducted into the state’s Fishing Hall of Fame.
Members of the 2015 class were honored on March 28 at a banquet at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Ras said it felt like his family was the biggest contingent there as friends and loved ones came from all over to share in a special night for him.
“No one was more surprised than I was,” Ras said. “I absolutely did not expect it. It’s a fantastic honor because it’s people already in the Hall of Fame that are voting for you.”
A LIFE OF FISHING
Being on a lake has been a way of life for Ras.
Most of his summer days were spent guiding clients before fishing with his family in the evenings. Ras and his late wife Trudy had two daughters, Joleen and Rhonda, and two sons, Lauren and Scott. Both Scott and Lauren grew up to do some tournament fishing themselves.
“He’d come home from guiding, clean the fish, we’d clean the boat and eat something and then he’d take us fishing,” Lauren said. “It never stopped. I just think it’s a passion and it’s more about learning than catching. Learning where the fish are, how to catch fish every day and then transferring that to his guiding and his work in tournament fishing.”
LeRoy’s freshwater outings start every season by targeting crappies when the ice goes off and ends after a summer and fall of chasing walleyes and bass.
When the first snowflake falls, he is off to Sarasota Bay in Florida where he spends his winter fishing the tides catching snook, redfish, sea trout and many other species. At 77, he still spends four or five days a week on the water.
“I think other than my church and my family, it’s probably number one,” Ras said of what fishing means to him.
“LEARN A LAKE WELL AND LEARN A METHOD WELL”
Alexandria’s Harry Bemo introduced Ras to the world of guiding in the 1960s before Ras developed his own clientele.
At its peak, guiding in the summer was making him almost as much money as his teaching job. He also fished tournaments, which was another way to meet clients.
“It was six days a week, every chance I got,” Ras said. “It was a way to put a little extra bread on the table. I didn’t fish very often on Sundays, but yeah, it really helped money-wise.”
Most of his favorite lakes are within 50-60 miles of Alexandria. Miltona, Ida, the chain and many of the smaller lakes around the area have all been good to him over the years.
“The whole secret is to learn a lake well and then learn a method well,” Ras says. “Don’t try to do everything. Nowadays when I’m fishing walleyes, I almost exclusively use a jig and a minnow. I basically stick with fat heads and change the appearance of them with various colors and sizes of jigs. If you’re fishing walleyes, learn how to fish a jig and a minnow and learn the lakes.”
CHANGING TIMES
Some techniques stand up over time in a sport that has changed dramatically since Ras’ first days as a guide.
“Most of it is technology,” he said. “When I first started I had a wooden row boat and we’d throw frogs to the edge of the weeds, cattails and rushes - basically fish visible structure.”
Today’s lures, lines, depth finders and GPS systems make learning lakes and getting in and around structures easier than ever. Catch and release practices have also become more popular with a lot of anglers.
Ras says he believes bass fishing is better today as a result, while walleye fishing presents a new set of challenges.
“I remember when I first got a depth finder in the early 70s, you could go to Ida any day of the year and catch a limit of walleyes,” Ras said. “Now there’s so much pressure it just doesn’t happen anymore. Plus the lakes are changing with the zebra mussels and so forth. I don’t know if there’s less fish, they’re just a little more difficult to catch.”
One thing always stays the same – the first step to getting them in the boat is knowing where to find them.
“Everyone thinks they’re going deep when you get that clear water, but they really don’t,” Ras said. “They go in the weeds, and that’s where you have to go after them.”
Ras would not have gotten this far in fishing had he simply given up while facing a challenge. As the industry grew, he grew with it – all the way to the Hall of Fame.
