If the Covid year taught me one thing it was how fun it is to hop in your car and drive to cool places. Granny and I did a ton of that last spring when my usual international travels cancelled and it ended up being awesome. And that’s probably why we are on our second drive about of the year already. As you know from yesterdays blog this is a big one all the way to Wisconsin.
We left Lanesboro, Minnesota early this morning and zigzagged our way east to the Mississippi River. We intended to cross and enter the Driftless Region of Wisconsin but the huge river intrigued us. The Mississippi was beautiful with all its side channels, marshy sloughs and birdlife. Instead of leaving the mighty river we followed it south down the MN side and then into Iowa.
At Lansing, IO we crossed the Mississippi over to Wisconsin. This particular part of the river is nothing but tons of smaller side channels and I couldn’t help but want to make a few casts. I have a Wisconsin license so I rigged up my 6-weight and gave it a try at this really cool looking spot but it was harder to access than it looks and after 30 minutes or so without a fish I reeled it in.
That wasn’t the end of my attempt to catch a fish on the Mississippi however. As we worked our way further down stream I pulled into several spots hoping find a place for a few casts. There was a boat ramp that had several guys bait fishing. I talked to them and they said there were some pike and walleye around. I didn’t go as far as to break out my 8-weight but I did put on some wire and a pike fly.
Well, on about my tenth cast I hooked up. It was a good fish that dragged me around after the hook up. The bait guys came running over to assist and just as I got the fish near he came unbuttoned. But not before we could see it was a nice pike around 30”. At the moment it was no big deal because I was sure I’d get another. But after nearly two more hours of casting – nada. I was skunked.
That’s the way it goes sometimes. Granny and I have now moved further east and into the Wisconsin Driftless. We are camped on the Wisconsin River and its spectacular with the birds and peeper frogs. Tomorrow we’ll do a little trout fishing then head north.
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