Duluth, Minn. ? When Paul Johnson gets ready to go fishing, he makes sure he has all the gear he needs.

Rod.

Tackle.

Stuffed Barney doll.

Without any of those items, Johnson might have to curtail a morning of fishing at the Island Lake Bridge. That’s because his fishing partner is his 17-month-old daughter, Zoe Jane Johnson.

Three or more mornings a week, you’re likely to see Johnson, an avid walleye angler, fishing from the rock rubble near the Island Lake bridge. You’ll know him. He’s the one with the blue portable playpen next to him.

Zoe, a cheerful girl, will be sipping on a cup of apple juice and pointing at the minnows, saying, “Fish!”

Johnson, 25, is a stay-at-home dad. His wife, Sara, works. So Johnson waits until Zoe wakes up in the morning, then packs up for a couple of hours of fishing at the bridge.

When he arrives on this overcast June morning, he first brings Zoe’s miniature playdome down to the rocks a few feet from the water. He makes sure it’s supplied with the apple juice, the stuffed toys and the book. He carries his dozen minnows from Chalstrom’s Bait and Tackle to the water along with his rod and a little tackle. Finally, he returns for Zoe, and places her in her happy little domain.

She looks up at him and smiles. He looks down at her and smiles.

Johnson, who lives in Duluth, has been fishing here for five years, gradually refining his presentation.

“I had no clue when I first came here,” he says.

Zoe watches her dad’s every move. She loves it when he goes for a minnow.

“Fish!” she says again.

Johnson doesn’t fish from the bridge at Island Lake. For one, it wouldn’t be safe territory for Zoe. But he also prefers to fish from the shore itself, near a hole he knows to be 12 feet deep. In a normal water year on the lake, it would be 20 feet deep, but the water is about 8 feet low this summer.

Johnson’s family has a boat.

“But I choose not to use it,” he says. “I’d rather fish from shore. There are a lot more fish, and they’re in close. And it’s easier.”

Johnson says he often catches several walleyes during an outing. His largest at the bridge area is a four-pounder.

Johnson will keep a limit of walleyes if he’s planning to eat them that day, he says. Sometimes, he brings along a small stove and fries the fish right there.

If Zoe begins to fuss, Johnson does not hesitate. He puts down his rod, picks up Zoe and picks up his rod again. He holds her and fishes. Together, they soon get another bite. With Zoe in his arms, Johnson lets the fish run, sets the hook, reels it in.

“Fish!” Zoe cries.

Both Johnson and Zoe seem completely happy.

“I’d be out here every day if I could,” Johnson says.

He re-rigs his line and grabs a minnow from his minnow pail.

“Fish!” Zoe says.

Johnson doesn’t push the limits, fishing with Zoe. He’s usually there for a couple of hours, tops. Then it’s time to head for home.

“We have to be home by noon,” he says. “That’s when ‘Teletubbies’ comes on.”