Phone: 612-382-6927
Email: travis@trophyencounters.com
To book a guided fishing trip or discuss details, please fill out the form to the right and click submit - or use the information above to reach Travis directly.
265 S Oak St
Waconia, MN
United States
612-382-6927
Travis Frank and Trophy Encounters Guide Service specializes in fully-guided fishing trips for Muskie, Walleye, Bass, Northern Pike and Panfish on Lake Minnetonka, Lake Waconia, Lake Mille Lacs and other Metro Minnesota Waters.
This excites me greatly. I found open water on an early morning adventure today. Spring is nearly here, and I will now get the boat out of storage. I know you will think that I am crazy for doing so, but what this picture doesn't show is the water around this area that almost always gives up big things. I will show you what I mean in a few days. Stay tuned...It's about to get very interesting...
Late ice in Minnesota means good panfishin'! The temps rose into the upper 30's this past weekend, which got the boys and I on the ice for the start of the end to this ice season. We caught some dandy panfish, and a few smaller ones. While they may taste spectacular, they also pose a great opportunity for the camera lens to get some up close and personal shots. Crappies are one of my favorite targets because they almost always shoot their fins straight out for the perfect pose. A great day on the water, a full belly and many laughs...it doesn't get any better!
I'm terrible. I can't even keep my blog going for 30 days. Ughh... Oh well, I am now going to relieve myself of the every single day pressure for the time being, and just throw up what I happen to think are sweet photo's. This one is from my nearly life ending disaster of a trip on lake Superior. What a memorable trip it was. While we were fishing I happened to take the camera out for a few shots while battling the fish. With the water being so darn clear and blue, it gave a great opportunity to show the huge fish we caught while still in the water. An opportunity that doesn't usually present itself in most other circumstances. This picture was of the largest Lake Trout we landed and was caught by Mr. Tengwall. To give you some scale on what you are looking at, the ice is only about 6 inches thick and the hole is a 10 inch diameter. The fish looked like a shark cruising through. Pretty neat...
Again today I found the perfect light at the perfect time. Dusty wasn't with on this journey, so Phillip took his place. I'm not sure why I like this picture so much, but it just really seemed to jump at me. It was a nice fish and the light just came into the picture at the perfect spot. Another reason why I love it so much might be because of the entire afternoon that we had on the ice. It was a unique fishing opportunity, and this was the first walleye to reveal itself to us. As it turned out, it wasn't even close to the last....
Everyone loves a hero shot. Stand there with a big smile looking at the camera holding your trophy fish or animal. I have taken a million of them and they are all great, but sometimes its cool to take different perspectives of the shot. In this photo I used Dusty as my object and while the fish he caught wasn't that big, it sure ended up to be a sweet photo. It's too bad I make these guys stop fishing and pose for the camera during the prime fishing times. It just so happens that the prime fishing times are usually the prime lighting times and the images turn out the best. I usually bug Dusty when the lighting becomes perfect, he likes to be the center of the lens. Thanks buddy!
I'm a sucker for that sunrise. I know I seem to have a lot of sunrise and sunset shots, but I just can't get over the beauty of them. This was the shot of our morning on Lake Mille Lacs. The previous night we pulled the house out on the ice to sleep on the lake. We woke up to darkness, put the coffee on, dressed in full gear for the day, and when we went outside to drill the first hole to start fishing, we were rewarded with this...
I have been tinkering with different ways to capture the moment on our excursions. There are so many aspects to each outing that it is hard to really get it all. Here is just one of the cool shots I took while we were on the ice. Sean was the object of my lens as he drilled the holes for us to fish. The lighting was pretty bright, so the background simply fades away, but with his big red suit he sure popped when the picture was taken. Not to mention the action of the water flying from the fast spinning auger blades. I hope you enjoy this one.
The past three mornings have offered quite a sight for my morning commute. The trees have been just covered with the frosty goodness and my lens has been doing everything possible to capture that moment. Knowing the amount of frost on the trees, I decided to turn off of my normal route and drive down good ol' memory lane. There is a road near my house that is one of my favorites to drive whenever this situation arises. The road sneaks through a forest and the trees create a tunnel when you pass through. It's beautiful in the fall and again when the frost takes hold. I'm sure there are many more, but this is the view as I entered it this morning. Enjoy day 11, I did!
This was one of the most intense and exciting photo shoots I have ever done. I saw these guys out on the lake Kite Surfing. Actually, I'm not sure if that is the correct term for this sport, but it is what it is. These guys were flying on the ice! Once they saw me taking pictures we discussed several shot angles and I was snapping like crazy. I took a couple hundred pictures and I could go on for days about each photo, but I won't. Instead I will tease you with just a couple and maybe, just maybe, you will see me flying high in the air because they offered to teach me how to do it. How sweet is that? Enjoy!
There are a handful of days each winter that offer that perfect coating of frost on everything. This usually lasts for only a few hours in the morning before it burns off. On my way to the office I decided to pull over for some pretty sweet shots. I hope you pulled your camera out to capture some of this too. I could have taken pictures all day long with the scenery I was offered, but somebody's got to keep this economy rolling...
This lil guy caught my attention on the edge of a tree grove. He was just taking in the day and the sunshine. Temps warmed a bit, and the animal activity is noticeably higher. Isn't it amazing how warm 20 degrees feels after it has been 20 below zero? I like the peacefulness this guy shows. It is what it is....
Did you see it? I can't remember ever seeing such a burning ball on the horizon. I was in western Minnesota watching the sun set on an incredible day. We stopped our activities just long enough to admire everything that had happened that day and to take in all the colors we were blessed with. I sure hope this was a blessing to you as well.
I know this isn't a wild deer, but I don't care. I slammed the brakes so hard when I saw this giant standing by the road. Apparently there is a deer farm in western Minnesota. This was the only buck in the pen with antlers still attached. I'd imagine he's days away from dropping them. Then he will look no different than any of the rest of his comrades. But for now he is one dandy to behold. I'd guess around 165 to 170 class. Now if I could just see one of these big boys walk by my deer stand when I'm towing my bow....I guess I will just have to look at this picture for moral fiber. Number 49, what a buck!
High snow depths are a cause for concern this winter. All wild creatures have to adapt to it, and for some, finding food isn't an easy task. One of the hardest hit when we get a lot of snow is the pheasant. While cruising some back country roads the amount of snow was evident as pheasants were all over the roads in search of anything they could get to eat. Biologists and DNR officials always say that you know how tough the pheasants have it when they can be seen during the middle of the day on roadsides. This was just one of hundreds that I saw while cruising just west of Waconia the other day. I sure hope these guys get some type of relief. If you own land in pheasant country, some added food would go a long way for your pheasant populations this year....
The winter storm and work obligations today kept me from sneaking out during daylight hours to get my shot. I'm not about to let the day slip past without a picture, so I wanted to introduce you to a new hunting companion from this past fall. On our trip to North Dakota we experienced many incredible hunts, adventures and laughs. This is nothing new if you know my hunting crew and I. While on our hunts I like to capture everything that is happening around us, the act of hunting isn't always first on the agenda. Meet Bella, she's a young lab on her first North Dakota hunt. There is just something about watching a dog react to the sky when it is teaming with ducks. Bella wasn't always sure what was going on while we were hunting, and many times she just took it all in. Isn't that a dogs life anyway? This was my favorite shot from NoDak this year. The colors of the brown on brown just seemed to jump. I hope you enjoy it too!
There is something to be said about a sunrise. Not that the sun setting over the horizon isn't sweet and sometimes beautiful with colors, but, you just cannot beat anything attached with that sunrise. Heck, it's the start of another day. A chance to rid yourself of all the crud that happened yesterday. A new breathe of fresh air, and a chance to make something awesome out of this day. I've said this many times in my past journal entries, but one of the greatest joys of my job comes from watching that very sun rise every morning. When I'm on the water, there is very seldom any traffic when that sun is rising. 99% of our population is still wrapped in their covers and they just missed what could have been the best part of their day. Today, I was blessed again. I stumbled out of the fish house just in time to catch the sun rising in all it's colorful glory. I hope you did too!
Sometimes I wonder what animals are thinking, and for this blog, coyotes are my observation. It's no secret that coyotes have found a good home right in our back yards. While we don't usually see the nocturnal animals around our houses, they are most definitely present. Why they roam in certain places is beyond me, but like almost all criters, their curiousity and need for food will drive them to places near and far. This place was near, and I suspect it was for their need for food. These tracks ran across the open lake we were fishing, but the shoreline was slightly wooded with a few cattails nearby. A perfect location for wintering rabbits and rodents. The funny part is that behind the limited brushy shoreline stood several mansions. These tracks are just a leftover reminder to how close we are to nature at all times. Perhaps if we stop the hustle and bustle for even a few minutes each day, we could pick up on a few cool signs of nature in our own back yard. Heaven's knows this homeowner is probably clueless about what is running in his...Day two was a doggone good one!
Alright, so I made it two days and already I have to start over. I guess I picked a pretty bad time to start the continuous blog. The New Year celebration kept me away from any computers for a few days, so I managed to fail miserably on my first attempt at 30 in 30. I'm starting up again, so here we go.
If you have lived anywhere other than a cave the last few days then you know it has been ridiculously cold. I was feeling like this shot would warm me up a bit, which is why I took it. If you ice fish, then you have seen this glow before. If not, then you are now looking at my fish house heater. It was running overtime on my last fishing outing. The temps are struggling to find zero right now, so i'm going to be bitterly snapping images over the next week. Oh yeah, the sunnies were still biting in this cold. Brrrr......
I found this to be a pretty tricky shot for me to take. Maybe it was the below zero temps, or the fact that I didn't use a tripod, but still I struggled to get the shot that I really wanted. When the nearly full moon was moving through the trees, it was a pretty incredible view. It was almost eerily creaping through the forest. The brightness of the night with the fresh foot of snow really lit things up well. I would strongly encourage you to sneak out the next couple of nights as the moon reaches the 100% Waxing stage. You will get cold, but you won't regret it for a second. There is something about that moon that effects everything on this planet. Day 2 is in the books, I hope you enjoy it!
Today the temps were hovering around zero. Cold was an understatement, but these feathered fowl were loving life. They had all the open water they needed, and boy were they packed into a small spot. In all of my Minnesota winters I don't think I have ever snuck so close to these wild creatures in their own habitat. I took about 100 pictures, so I'm going to break the rules here and show you a few of my favorites. Day 1 was a good day for the camera lens, God made some beatiful birds...
