Lake Superior, The Best of Times
Hello friends,
This week I am going to write to you about my final winter, ice camping and fishing trip and it was a dandy. My pals since before middle school at Poynette, Jeff Moll and Doug Cibulka would make up our crew along with my golden retriever Red and her older sister Luna.
Tuesday, March 17th High 36, low 25
How much gear can you get into 7 Otter Sleds and pull it out on the ice with a 2004 Polaris “Sportsmen” and a 1996 Arctic Cat “Bearcat 440?” Well, it took two round trips, and all went well.
Then there was the drive from Necedah to Ashland. From my house to Medford was a task as the roads were covered with about 1.5 inches of packed snow/ice, which made for very touchy driving while pulling a trailer.
Next was the boat landing at the rv park in Ashland which is a pretty cool place to meet hardcore ice warriors who really got a kick out of our caravan. After a long haul of over 2 miles we were at what is one of my favorite places in the world, our home for 3 nights, after we built it, of splake, brown trout, walleye, perch, smelt, northern pike and coho paradise. To put it simply, it does not matter if it is on a tip or a jig pole, you do not know what you are catching till you see it.
We got camp built just before dark, caught some smelt but nothing else. After dark the guys wanted me to give them several classes on how to harvest monster bucks, drop ducks and most of all catch fish. These “lectures” took until the wee hours of the morning and were very enjoyable.
Wednesday, March 18th High 34, low 26
We made a new buddy that we met yesterday and gabbed with a bit today and that is local guide Tommy Hicks who is a big timer in the area and a whole bunch of fun. If I was going to fish in the area and I was going pursue a guide, I would check out Tommy. Then there was the fishing, it was fun but slow. I caught 4 perch, several smelt and a 27-inch gator, my buddies must have been sleeping when I gave my almost all-night class last night as other than smelt they had a slow day.
About midday I had something strange happen and I got real sick from like 3 to 7, my comrades took good care of me and by 8 I was ready to try to teach them how to fish.
Thursday, 19th High 44, low 31
The fish catching improved today and our mega species fish bets woke up quite well. Mr. Moll caught an extremely overweight 36-inch gator and a coho. Mr. Cibulka caught a burbot, lots of smelt were caught and at dark it was time for me to give my young students another class and this one went till well into the morning. Our evenings are spent cooking, enjoying a great meal, tonight’s was chicken thighs and home
grown taters from my garden, listening to classic rock and perhaps quenching our thirst with a malt beverage.
The next day we had to pull the plug but were in no rush and I iced a 23-inch walleye, and a coho which would beat Mr. Moll’s by 1/8 of an inch, it was painful to beat my buddy by such a paltry amount but very fun. Jeff did catch our only brown trout of the trip, and I put the horse in the barn about 9:00 pm after 4 days of 100% living life to its fullest.
Life is a gift, live it! Sunset