Lee Johnson was born in Little Falls, MN and moved to Baxter as an infant and has basically lived his whole life in the Brainerd area. Lee started out fishing at a very young age off of their family dock on White Sand Lake. When Lee was 3 years old he spent many hours by himself at the end of his dock and his mom didn’t even let him use a hook on the end of his line. He didn’t even know the difference until the neighbor boy asked him why he didn’t have a hook. Lee graduated from Brainerd High School and went on to attend Central Lakes College, St. Johns University, and Bemidji State University. Lee worked for many years as a bartender at a local establishment near Gull Lake and kept a busy schedule with guiding full time. Lee now works as Manager in the Fishing Department at Reeds Outdoor Outfitters. Lee is very committed to his job at Reeds, but he is capable of still guiding many fishing trips. Guiding has played a role in his life for approximately 14 years. Lee started out guiding exclusively at resorts and joined in with the Nisswa Guides League in 1998. Lee fished for two years on the MTT (Minnesota Tournament Trail) and placed in other local tournaments. He has also fished in numerous bass tournaments. Lee’s wife, Kathy, is a schoolteacher and they have two girls. Kaylie and Hannah.