Last week I had tips on biting fish from two friends and a relative; Jeff Bye texted me that he and his partner had just finished cleaning 40 perch. They had launched a boat into open water and motored to a backwater ice flat (that is to remain secret). He said, “I just love going out in the boat and then fishing through the ice.” I asked him if he had heard about anyone catching fish south of the Genoa Dam and he texted me a picture of a livewell full of pike. Rick Elsen of Stoddard also reported that he got a nice mess of pike at Genoa last week using hair jigs and rosy red minnows. Nephew Jason Junk of Onalaska shared his most recent secret spot for catching panfish. He had picture of a bluegill that was bigger than his bigger than average hand! He said he had 5 like that and almost a limit in total. Believe me, I was reinvigorated to get out on the water.
Vince Ruetten and I went out in the Mississippi Queen at Genoa later that week. The temperature was a sweet 40-plus with sunshine. We stopped at the Captains in Genoa for the fishing scoop and a scoop of rosy red minnows. Jen Clements said that the catching had been good two days before, and okay but slower yesterday according to her sources. I swear they are going to put “Yashudabinhereyestiday!” on my tombstone.
Anyway, the Blask Landing parking lot was busy, but we were able to launch pretty much without incident. Okay, not completely: I didn’t see the ice shelf on the east lane of the ramp and dropped my trailer over it. The boat rolled off fine, but the trailer was hooked for a moment before sliding to the side and letting me drive up and out - no harm, no foul, at least as far as I could tell.
When we got up to the dam, there was good news and there was bad news. The bad news was that I realized the wind was coming over the bluffs out of the east! In my experience that is never good; you know, “wind from the east fishing is least.” The good news was that we could see fishermen setting their hooks here and there and netting fish. We put on heavy blue colored hair jigs baited with rosy reds. We commenced to drift among the forty-plus boats, jigging and dragging our baits in the deep (30 to 60 feet) open water at the head of pool 9. Vince pulled up the first sauger. He had a couple in the boat when I finally hooked something that proved to be a nice ring perch. We kept a fish here and there, the wind eventually shifted from the north, but the sun got warm enough that we didn’t need bibs or gloves. We lost a little tackle to snags and we pulled up a few zebra mussels (but nothing like the dozens of them some years back.) Anyway, we drifted and fished and solved the problems of the world. Vince did catch his first ever legal walleye on the Mississippi. Better yet, when we got done, he said I should keep the fish! We had cheeseburgers with the works and fries washed down by some of Milwaukee’s finest at the Thirsty Turtle in Stoddard before we headed home.
Brother-in-law Chuck Wright of Potosi called the next evening and said he was laid off and asked if anybody was catching fish around here as no one was doing any good down there. Well, I told him about Jason’s big haul of super nice bluegills, caught at, uh, well, I was sworn to secrecy. Chuck said he was coming up the next morning.
It was gray but calm when we walked onto the hardwater at 7:30. The ice was probably 14 inches thick, but it looked sketchy in places, dark, cracked, and soft here and there. We tried to find Jay’s secret spot but it wouldn’t have been a secret if we could have found it I guess. Anyway, we caught a few small bluegills and I got one real nice perch. There were some snow geese flying to the west, and I really enjoyed three trumpeter swans that flew gracefully north at treetop level a few yards from us. Chuck had said there were no boats out at Genoa when he came by earlier, but as we weren’t doing much good where we were and Vince and I had some success there a couple days before, we decided on going out in the boat at Genoa.
At Genoa, there was no wind as evidenced by the rising flume floating up out of the smoke stack at the power plant; it went straight up. By now there were probably 30 boats out. We had some catching luck here, putting 6 saugers and a nice walleye in the livewell before calling it quits near 4. We agreed that we should have started there and that we we might have had our two limits. While out on the water, we visited with John Ross of Stoddard and Rick as they floated by amongst the thirty or so other boats. Anyway, Chuck said I should keep the fish too, so with what Vince and I had from earlier, Ellen and I had enough for a real Friday fish fry feast. She fixed red cabbage slaw and “crash hot” red potatoes, and I fried fish. We topped it off with super chocolatey brownies covered with mint frosting and with a daub of ice cream to cut the sweetness. Yeah, I know, it was great.
We can report many, many cardinals at our bird feeders. We have been seeing herds of deer in the fields around the area, including 16 in a hayfield near Stoddard one morning recently. The turkeys are out making a living off the the newly melted off corn fields. I got a report this last week from Gregg Sikora about hearing a coyote yip at dusk and then calling back at it. Later, their dog started howling and they could hear a coyote out in the field nearby. They were ready for it, getting a spotlight on it in time to send it to varmint heaven with a .243. Eli Jackson borrowed the trailer and four-wheeler on Saturday, February 20 to go on a fishing safari far out on Lake Onalaska. He said he started out and then pulled up before walking ahead to check some sketchy looking ice. He drilled a hole and found only 5 inches of ice! He and his friend Mike decided to turn back. They did get a nice mess of panfish on a cranberry bog up near Warrens later that day.
This past week in Madison, thirteen bills were reported to be advanced for hearing by the senate. As of this writing, one was NOT a change to the railroad trespass law, making it unlikely that it will be acted upon before this current session ends on March 15. The 2006 Railroad bill in question, a roughly 18-page document submitted by five Republican lawmakers in August of 2005 - restricts thousands of acres of recreational area. Several people have asked me what the law actually says. The 2005 Assembly Bill 588 in regards to trespassing on the tracks reads: “No person, other than a licensee or authorized newspaper reporters or those connected with or employed upon the railroad, shall walk, loiter or be upon or along the track of any railroad . . .” There’s more, but that’s the lines that are onerous to fishermen, trappers, hunters, birders, and such. According to the Wisconsin DNR, there are at least 124 spots along the Mississippi River alone that are restricted by this law. Lee Nerison’s (R-Viroqua) bill to change the law moved through the assembly and on to the senate in Madison; however, the senate has yet to act on the bill for some reason. Contact your representatives and the governor and let ‘em know how you feel about changing this law. Heck, for that matter if you have any pull with him, let BNSF Railroad owner Warren Buffett know too. By the way, this law covers all railroads in the state, not just along the big muddy.
Timber Todd Slaght and his beagles Smoky and Hank came over Sunday morning to celebrate the official end of the rabbit hunting season. I opted for pancakes and bacon and the Sunday paper, but I went out in the yard a couple times to just listen to the music of his hounds as they ran one cottontail after another. I had to laugh one time as they bellowed out their hunting calls and charged across our yard on their short legs in hot pursuit. I eventually saw the rabbit bounding up across the old horse pasture while the dogs scurried about and worried the brush where it had been hiding. Todd called to me, “That one has long legs!” He had two bunnies in his bag when he loaded Smokey and Hank up back at the ranch - two fewer garden raiders come summer.
Until next time, get out - but be careful; over a week ago a fisherman from Ontario went through the ice near the public landing at Stoddard Bay. Warden Dale Hochhausen was able to assist him in getting back on hardwater. In fact, I had just walked past that spot maybe twenty minutes before, missing all the “fun,” and maybe a cold surprise myself. Finally, it is March - hooray! Remember to get your fishing license renewed before it is April. Enjoy.
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