Growing up on the Boundary Waters; Ely teenager is already a seasoned fishing guide.(SPORTS)

At the tender age of 3 months, Chris Kleist was afloat in a canoe. He must have liked the ride: He was 9 when he first guided clients into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

"When I started guiding, my fishermen had to help me start the motor because I wasn't strong enough to pull the cord," Kleist said the other evening as he plopped a canoe into Shagawa Lake on the edge of Ely. "Other than that, I could do everything that needed to be done."

A senior at Ely Memorial High School, Kleist on Saturday will spend the opening day of Minnesota's 1998 inland fishing season on Crooked Lake, deep in the heart of the BWCAW. With him will be his dad, Steve, his 14-year-old brother, Curt, and friends. …

Growing up on the Boundary Waters; Ely teenager is already a seasoned fishing guide.(SPORTS)

At the tender age of 3 months, Chris Kleist was afloat in a canoe. He must have liked the ride: He was 9 when he first guided clients into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

"When I started guiding, my fishermen had to help me start the motor because I wasn't strong enough to pull the cord," Kleist said the other evening as he plopped a canoe into Shagawa Lake on the edge of Ely. "Other than that, I could do everything that needed to be done."

A senior at Ely Memorial High School, Kleist on Saturday will spend the opening day of Minnesota's 1998 inland fishing season on Crooked Lake, deep in the heart of the BWCAW. With him will be his dad, Steve, his 14-year-old brother, Curt, and friends. …