She's got him hook, line and sinker

SPRING VALLEY -- Married life can be made all the more difficult when one's partner spends an inordinate amount of time away from home. While the traveler misses his or her spouse and children, the family members left behind must keep the unit intact without a vital piece of the puzzle. Professional fisherman Kevin McQuoid spends a healthy amount of time on the road at various tournaments throughout the season, but there is one family member he doesn't have to live without, as Karen McQuoid fishes right along with her husband at the majority of tournaments. Karen is an amateur fisherman but said her interest in fishing extends well into her past. "That depends on if you ask my husband or my father," she said, when asked about the origin of her fishing career. "My dad would say it's in the genes. We camped and fished almost every weekend." The McQuoids give others the same chance at their resort in Isle, Minn. Mac's Twin Bay Resort is located on Lake Mills Lacs, giving the McQuoids plenty of opportunities to practice for tournaments like the Masters Walleye Circuit Spring Valley Tournament. "Lake Mills Lacs is a pretty well-known body of water for walleye, and we host some tournaments out of our resort," Karen said. Kevin, who has been fishing in tournaments since he was 16 and is now sponsored by Cabela's, enjoys the chance to spend so much time with Karen during what would be a lot of time spent apart if she stayed in Minnesota. "I'm away for 18 weeks of the summer," he said. "It's definitely a big advantage to have her on the road with me. A couple years ago, we brought the kids with and home-schooled them for a year." The three McQuoid children, who were a sixth- and seventh- grader and a two-year-old when the whole family traveled together, seem to be following in their parents footsteps already. "The older two have already started fishing tournaments and done well. I expect at some point they're going to try and push me out of the way," Karen said with a laugh. One benefit of the McQuoids; third trip to Spring Valley is the chance to work as a team. The Masters Walleye Circuit allows the couple to fish together, while Pro-Am tournaments, which randomly pair one professional with an amateur co-angler, usually land Karen in the boat of a stranger. "Last year it worked out where she was a teammate of my brother (Aaron)," Kevin said. Though Karen doesn't make every trip with Kevin, the nine-odd tournaments she joins him on each year give Kevin a partner he knows he can trust. "The difference between this and other tournaments is that I have my wife with me on this one," Kevin said. "You know you're going to have a different partner every day on the other circuit, and you're never sure who you're going to get." The intense competition of professional fishing would not seem very conducive to marital harmony, but Karen said a few years of experience have helped smooth out some of the early wrinkles. "Probably, in the beginning, it was harder to let things go," she said. "It's easy to get frustrated, but it's gotten easier to let things go, and it's worked out a lot better. When we're on the boat, Kevin is the pro -- I really try to follow his lead." "There's a little bit of extra tension with it being husband and wife," Kevin said. "At the same token, you get a lot of forgive and forget in there too." After seven years of fishing together, the McQuoids can be sure no matter who they're partnered with on the water, they can count on a perfect match when they get back to land. For more information on Mac's Twin Bay Resort, visit www.macstwinbay.com, or call (866)670-8709.