LAKE VERMILION — Tucked along the shore of Lake Vermilion near Cook, Whispering Winds Resort is becoming a type of sanctuary for those carrying the long echoes of military and public service – some for years, some for decades – offering peace, purpose and the space to breathe again.
For Jeremy Johnson, it’s all part of a bigger plan.
“Well, I went through some dark days in my life, and God got ahold of me,” said Johnson, who’s in the process of purchasing the longtime family-run resort from his parents. “In 2004, He showed me the plans He had for this place. At first, it was for working with underprivileged kids.”
But that vision expanded to include military personnel and others who may carry the scars of past trauma into the present.
“The battles of the mind are the same battles that these soldiers fight with every day, and I wanted to incorporate that into working with them,” Johnson said.
Johnson now sets aside three of the season’s busiest weeks each year to host veterans and first responders. He donates the cabins, fuel and time, working in partnership with three organizations – Fishing With Vets, Wounded Warriors United of Wisconsin and Hometown Hero Outdoors, the latter of which returned last week for its third year hosting its signature event known as Muskie Madness.
“We do these trips as a form of recreational healing,” said Aaron Schiller, the Minnesota state lead for Hometown Hero Outdoors. “One of our slogans is united we give, divided we fall. So, through outdoor recreational healing such as our muskie fishing event, it’s our way of giving back to those that deserve it most.”
The event spans a week but is divided into two shorter sessions, each welcoming a different group of participants. After arriving, guests settle in, share a meal and head straight out on the water, many staying out until dawn.
“We hit the waters that first night and fish until the wee hours in the morning,” said Johnson. “Some quit shortly after dark. Some of us will still be out there fishing at 2, 3, 4 a.m. When you’ve got two and a half days to work with these guys, you better be willing to sacrifice a little sleep.”
Breakfast is at 8 a.m., and boats head back out at 9 a.m. to chase more muskies before returning around 5 p.m. for dinner and a quick recharge for another night of casting under the stars. Guides pair up anglers based on their goals: Those driven to land monster muskies get grouped with similarly driven teammates, while more relaxed participants find their own rhythm with a rod and reel.
“We try to get the right people in the right boats,” Johnson said. “You learn how to better efficiently run them.”
That sense of camaraderie is where Schiller and Johnson both say the real work gets done.
“Some of these people can’t talk to their wife about the things that they’ve seen or done,” Schiller said. “They can’t talk to their buddy about it because they don’t understand. But you put them in a seat next to another guy that maybe they never met, but they were deployed in the same area, they can talk about stuff. They can relieve some of those day-to-day stressors.”
Navy veteran Mike Moen has seen how much that seatmate can matter. After 26 years aboard submarines, he’s taken part in seven or eight Hometown Hero Outdoors trips and said each experience adds something new – and the volunteer Muskie Madness guides make all the difference on Lake Vermilion.
“Every one of these guides are experts in my eyes at it, and none of them do it the same,” Moen said. “There’s nowhere you could go and learn what I’ve learned in two and a half days. You couldn’t learn in a year if you weren’t in something like this.”
Justin Resch, a U.S. Army veteran attending his first HHO event, said the sense of belonging clicked instantly.
“The camaraderie of hanging out with law enforcement, first responders, other people who have been in the military has been pretty cool,” he said. “It kind of reminds me a little bit of back when we were doing this kind of thing.”
Even quiet observers find their voice in the boats. Larry Bauman, a 13-year veteran who served in Desert Storm, came to the very first Muskie Madness not knowing what to expect.
“You know, I tended to be by myself when I got here, and I really wasn’t sure, but I got to meet some of the guides and go out fishing, and it just changed me really,” he said. “I can’t explain it. It’s just being around other veterans.”
Bauman now volunteers as a guide with four veteran organizations and spends much of his summer at Whispering Winds.
“This is my happy place now,” he said.
For many, it becomes that – a place not just to fish, but to feel whole again. Schiller has watched it happen in real time, over and over, as conversations deepen and shoulders begin to relax.
“The second night and the third day are the big ones, because that’s when the light starts coming back on,” Schiller said. “You start seeing the personality. You start seeing the laugh. You start seeing them come out of their shell.”
It’s the kind of transformation Johnson hoped Whispering Winds could help bring about.
“We’re trying to let people know what this place is for and who it’s for,” he said. “It’s about the faith, the hope, the healing, and honoring those who should be honored.”
“God placed it on my heart that this is the direction it needs to go,” he said. “And we’re just trying to figure out how to make that happen.”