Birds and Fish

Before reporting on our fishing experiences, let me comment on the many bird sightings we have recently enjoyed. A pair of loons has been around our little bay for weeks. We have seen and heard these wonderful birds daily, and when we have been fishing, we have seen others all around our boat. At our bird feeders, our friends, the evening grosbeaks, are back, as are purple finches, chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, hairy woodpeckers, and others. In the last two or three days, rose-breasted grosbeaks and baltimore orioles have appeared. We are trying to temp the latter with grape jelly and oranges. When we were fishing yesterday, a pileated woodpecker landed in some nearby trees. They have good size and are quite colorful, but they aren't numerous or tend to stay hidden, so seeing one was lucky. You might have seen the photos Will took of one in his back yard some time ago. We have been seeing bald eagles quite frequently, and while fishing yesterday, we once saw three together and several times heard them chirping to each other as they flew. In fact, when we got home, there was another on the ground on the island across from us eating a fish and drinking from the lake. Kathie got the following amazing shot (given the distance and low lighting conditions).


Now, let me turn to fishing! We are making good progress in terms of learning how to fish this massive body of water called the Chippewa Flowage. Last year, Kathie did quite well for bass and a few northern pike by using artificial baits and casts along the shores of the upper parts of the river, but we haven't felt very sure of ourselves with regard to walleye and crappie (or other panfish) through the various parts of the season. Yesterday, we hired a guide, not so much to catch lots of fish as to learn more about rigging, technique, location, time of day, weather conditions, and the myriad of other issues that can affect fishing and results. The bottom line was that we learned much, saw some amazing things, and even caught quite a few fish--this on a day when fishing conditions were pretty poor (little or no wind to "chop" the surface, very bright conditions). We fished on both the east and west "halves" of the flowage and learned about the different water conditions and underwater structures in each part. If you go out with us sometime or if you want to hear some interesting stories, we can tell you, for example, about the floating bogs and the trees that will wave goodbye to you. There are also stories about river channels, integrated lakes, sunken bogs, and other things.

Our guide, Ron Bergman, was a 41-year veteran of guiding and fishing in the Flowage. We really enjoyed his stories and information, certainly about the fishing, but also about the region, wildlife, and history of the Flowage. We highly recommend him and will likely hire him again to learn more about fishing for other species (e.g. muskie) and in other times of the fishing season. He has a great boat, that is configured well for guiding. Heeeeere's Ron....


We spent most of the day fishing for walleye, but as I said earlier, conditions were not ideal. Still we caught five that were eating size and that we kept and a few others that we returned to fight another day. Kathie also caught a monster perch. Ron taught us to use jigs and minnows, and he showed us how to locate underwater structures in which the walleye tend to hide out. When the walleye fishing quieted down due to glassy water surfaces and bright conditions, we switched to panfishing. The action in this case was fast and fun. Each of us probably caught ten or more bluegill in a short time period, and some of them were keepers. We caught at least one true sunfish and some small, hungry bass as well, all of which we returned to the water. Here are Kathie and Ron working the panfish:


At the end of the day, we had the following "mess" of fish for our efforts. Ron cleaned them all, teaching us some filleting techniques along the way, and we have enough for at least two good meals, one of which will occur today.


Now, when we venture out, we can work on improving our technique as well as our ability to locate good spots.