Grouse Hollow Journal for October 4, 2012 by Greg Koelker

Holy smokes!  Burning leaf smoke that is; it is October.  October is maybe the most special month for us at Grouse Hollow.  Years ago before I was teaching and vacations came on our terms, El and I would take the first two weeks of October off every year.  We would fish and hunt, sleep in, clean up the garden, cut wood, watch football, take evening horseback rides, have bonfires, take long walks, batten down the hatches for winter on the house, putting out ice wires and storm windows, cleaning gutters, and raking up leaves; cook huge end of the garden meals, decorate for Halloween, go out to dinner, and even help the neighbors hang a wagon load or two of tobacco.  I always handed the lathes full of stalks up to the wagon as I figured that my less than petite physique and fear of heights could have ended in a disaster or at least a joke that would never go away had I climbed up into the higher reaches of the tobacco shed.  October is the month that as months go, I describe as, "It don't git no better!"   I mean we start the month off with the excitement of a full moon; Orion begins to appear clearly overhead in the morning sky; the bluffs become covered with a mardi gras of color; the river is the bluest of the year; sunrises and sunsets turn into spectacular panoramas along the horizons; Squirrel Picnic rolls around; high school football and the Badgers and Packers play every weekend; it becomes this sort of last orgy of enjoying the sun and maybe wearing shorts and t-shirts by noon before the long haul of winter sets in.  

  Anyway, Friday night was date night at our house (I didn't have to work a football game at school, and we had to head out early in the morning for a family wedding reception at Potosi on Saturday, so . . . ) El and I were treated to a vista of fall colors on Friday evening last week when we took the Queen out on what used to be the Mighty Mississippi River.  Okay, maybe "used to be" is a tad strong - how does sleepy work for you; the river is really low, but I guess it is still mighty, and of course it is always full of mystery and promise.  I had a plan to motor north from Stoddard above the berm that makes Stoddard Bay, and hopefully, hook a few panfish.  It was so fantastic out that any fish would have been a bonus.

The river was smooth as glass and colorful when we turned the corner outside the impoundment and motored north.  We had passed the Lee's on their pontoon boat and then another pontoon headed out somewhere.  

Outside the rocks, the depth finder showed that the water was as much as 20 feet deep and full of fish so I stopped the boat and drifted backwards to prove it a liar.  It was; the depth was more like 12 feet with few fish; cheap depth finders are like politicians I fear; declaring themselves deep and promising but most likely when you look close or do the fact check for yourself, shallow with little to offer.  Still El and I were on the river, and it was perfect out.  

When we got close to where I had an idea to try, we could see two boats along the railroad tracks.  We anchored way out from them along a weedline in maybe 6 feet of water directly out from a marker I sometimes use; okay, it is a brown house.  Anyway, we had gotten some fresh nightcrawlers from the Minnow Shop and I tipped our small jigs with a chunk and we started jigging.  Ellen struck first, hooking a nice perch.  She followed up the act with a huge bluegill.  Eventually, I got into the act, hooking some decent perch and panfish too.  We did not have any crappies though.  We did land a few neighbors.  Roy Gray and a youngster - maybe a grandson? - anchored north of us too far to talk and started catching a few sunnies using bait and bobbers.  Two guys anchored to the south of us and also started getting some fish.  

When I put away my sunglasses and put on my regular glasses, I realized that our southern neighbor was our old friend Garold Becker.  Garold and I visited some across the water.  His number three daughter, Melanie works with me at De Soto and I have had all four of his and Kay's wonderful daughters in school.  Anyway, he said the bite had been best near sunset all summer at Stoddard.  It was for sure pretty good that evening, but when the sun hit the Minnesota horizon, it got pretty chilly, so we headed in.  

Ellen drove the Queen up on the trailer for me.   She did fine, but she gets nervous when others are watching.  Our plan was cheeseburgers and fries for dinner at the Thirsty Turtle before I cleaned our fish.  We ordered at the bar and visited with former students Brandon Von Ruden, Brad Seidel, and Josh Kocimski.  We had a short visit with Suzy Clements and our food came.  If you haven't had a grilled cheeseburger at the Turtle, you gotta try one.  Their fries at really good too.  Anyway, the dozen or so keepers I cleaned were so big that they filled up a quart freezer bag so much that I could barely - I am not making this up - get the zip lock closed.  It don't get much better.

Until next time, get out - I moved my trail camera up above an old tree stand this last week.  It is halfway up the hill above our tobacco shed and pretty easy to get to.  There is plenty of deer sign on the sandy hillside, but the farmers in our valley are making short work of the "bait" we have for our deer; that is, Will and Paul and Phil and John are taking the beans off and chopping the corn and hay and such in preparation for the long haul.  We shall once again see how that affects the critters, if they are even around.  Tonight Scout and I went for a walk up the ridge near the end of the Packers and Saints game.  I guess I am the original "Ye of little faith" fan, walking out after the Saints went ahead in the fourth quarter, disgusted with my team, the officials, and football in general - but I still DVR'd it.  I found a smaller turkey feather on the road near the top and stuck it in my Packer cap.  Anyway, fall turkey and pheasant hunting is coming right up and if it cools down a bit, I hope to get some more time in a treestand.  El and I drove down the river road to Potosi on Saturday and back up Sunday.  The fall color is pretty good considering the experts said that there wouldn't be much nor would it last long; so if you're going to go, don't wait because like so much of October, it don't git no better and it don't last long.  Enjoy.