Grouse Hollow Journal for August 18, 2016 by Greg Koelker

Grouse Hollow Journal for August 18, 2016 by Greg Koelker

I am eating a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich with my morning coffee as I tap this out this morning, trying not get mayo on the keys.  

Anyway, Ellen and I fished on Wednesday morning last week.  The air was cool and the water like glass as we motored north out of Goose Island.  We found a nice mess of bluegills and perch under docks and in some lilly pads.  We started out hooking some small bluegills, but eventually some big ones started showing up.  We eventually anchored with a gentle breeze out of the south at our backs.  We enjoyed the quiet and cool morning with few bugs.  It was not calm in the boat. We were both nearly constantly pulling in a fish.  I made a lot of tackle and did surgery on a number of deep hooked fish.  By 10:30 the sun was getting high and warm and the fish must have gone on break, so we motored south.  I thought we could try a different way to the landing.  I wasn’t entirely wrong, but I realized things weren’t just right when I saw cars far away in the park off to the east - and north.  Anyway, after a couple turns and miscues we made it in.  I asked Ellen to motor the Queen onto the trailer when I got it in the water.  She hit it perfectly.  Because the water was so high, the dock wasn’t really usable as the ramp to it was a foot under water and there was a guy with four little kids trying to drown worms from it.  I bet he was having fun.  Anyway, I cleaned 22 nice sunfish and perch and we had a feast that night.  (For those of you who care, El made homemade fresh tartar sauce with fresh dill in it, she sliced tomatoes, and baked red potatoes.  We topped off dinner with her blueberry crisp.)   

What with all the rain in the north last week, I was surprised to see that the river was beginning to fall on Thursday when Vince and I set forth into the back waters to hunt a fish fry.  Like the day before, we found little ones right away, but eventually, every other one or two was a keeper.  I got a nearly 12-inch perch, and we put 9 nice slabber perch in the livewell.  Even smaller perch have huge filets, so this was looking good for Vince’s fish fry.  He and his family were heading up north for a week on a lake, and he said he was taking those filets along as insurance for a fish fry there.   It was getting hot, but the catching was cooling off, so I declared, “Okay, one more.”  Then my bobber slammed down.  I was fishing with a micro-lite pole and reel and had a time getting in the dandy slabber bluegill that had mugged my crawler rig.  We and they were not done as it turned out.  We caught at least half-a-dozen more of those slabbers each before the biting tapered off.  

Ellen had casually mentioned that I should clean out the boat earlier in the week, so I spent Saturday afternoon bringing the Queen back from scow status.  Ben and Christine will be here this week, and we may go for a boat ride.  I have to admit, cleaning the boat is right up there with cleaning the basement for me so I let it go for a long time.  The carpet was full of ground in sand and dirt and leaves; I wish I could have turned the boat over and shake it.  The livewell had a certain aroma about it.  There was mud splashed all over the sides and on the trailer from driving through road construction much of the spring and summer.  After a thorough shop vacuuming,  I took everything out of it and then soaped the heck out of it before power washing.  Anyway, I wouldn’t eat off the floor, but the Mississippi Queen looks a lot more like a queen again.

Until next time, get out - the Wisconsin Conservation Congress Mississippi River Committee meets this Saturday at the Stoddard Legion at 9:30 AM.  Hunting season is only a month away.  Time to start scouting and checking out your gear and start practicing with your sharp stick stuff.  Ellen has been canning tomato sauce using our pressure cooker.  She plans on canning salsa this week.  Our kitchen is a cornucopia of colorful veggies.  Enjoy.