If you're fishing, it helps to be lucky.

Luck rules. Luck is good for everything from catching big fish to catching the winning card in a poker hand.

Truth be told, however, skilled anglers make their own luck most of the time.

All of which means Brian Brosdahl is one lucky fisherman. Today, "Bro" is a very busy Minnesota fishing guide who roams the waters of Leech, Cass, Winni, Blackduck or whatever lake his fishing hunch leads him to. Hunch? Yah, Bro has that sixth sense, that uncanny knack for fishing where they're biting instead of fishing where they ain't bitin'.

I followed him the other day for the fun of it. He stopped on a spot that didn't look that different from anything else. A few minutes later, the clients in his boat were reeling in walleyes up to 28 inches.

"I always wanted to be a guide, but I didn't think it was possible," said Brosdahl, 42.

After all, he was a city kid, growing up in the Twin Cities. Seventeen years ago, he moved north. He didn't think he was ready, until he realized he was catching fish when others didn't. He also studied his quarry, learned from other anglers and spent countless hours on the water.

Summer or winter, Bro's fishing career now includes his guide service (brosguideservice.com) plus he works as a fishing promoter and lure inventor for Northland Fishing Tackle of Bemidji.

"Fishing is never boring for me," he said, despite 250 days or more on the water. "To me, fishing is an excuse to be in extraordinary places, and I'm always curious about what lies below the water."