I won’t elaborate at this point, but Granny and I made an offer on a house here in Wisconsin.  It’s not the town we planned on and it’s by no means a dream house, but it’s a quiet neighborhood, we have friends in the area and there’s plenty of job options for Granny within walking distance.  Best of all, the nearby fishing is off the charts!

I promise to end the suspense as soon as our new home becomes official.  But for now, its business as usual, which means I headed out fishing after we completed our home-buying paperwork.  While Granny opted to stay behind at the cabin due to horrendous wind, Howie and I made a casual departure for an afternoon of ice fishing on Lake Superior.

The part of Lake Superior is Chequamegon Bay.  It’s a huge bay that the towns of Ashland, Washburn and Bayfield all have ports on.  Ashland is home to Northland College where Howie and I were roommates.  I spent all four years fishing the bay at least a couple days week.  It meant a lot to get back on the waterbody today with Howie – some 35 years later!

Howie ice fishes a ton and was able to provide everything for me as far as jigging rod, fish finder, chair and etc.  He also has a nice sled to cart out all the goods including a seriously needed tent for our weather conditions.  All I had to do was get my annual nonresident WI fishing license.  I was able to get a “Couples” license that includes our Great Lakes Salmon/Trout stamp and Inland Trout stamp.  It’s an affordable $85.

It was a chore with the wind to get Howie’s tent set up.  But we succeeded.  I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but my shoulder got so bad I received a cortisone shot.  Luckily its working or I wouldn’t have been much help.  We drilled holes then Howie fired up the propane heat and set the fish finders and soon we were jigging.  Our main target was lake whitefish.  Though similar, they are a different species from mountain whitefish out west.

Not a fish passed through the finder in our first hour.  Howie got restless and left the tent and drilled holes all over.  He dragged his finder with him and was galivanting for at least an hour.  I stuck with my usual patience believing a fish would come by and I’d catch him.

I was right but the first one to come out smarted me.  Soon after another appeared on the screen.  I could see him moving up and down expressing interest in my jig.  I tried a few maneuvers but the one that finally succeeded was when I dropped it to bottom and bounced there five times.  Then I reeled up fast and stopped.  First twitch there and I hooked and landed my first whitefish of the day.

I called on Howie to come back and he was ready.  The cold and wind hadn’t stopped.  We spent the next couple hours catching up on old times.  The shack was so warm the jackets and gloves were off.  I’d go on to catch two more including a 20” slab.  We harvested all three for tonight’s dinner.

When I moved to Jackson Hole in 1987 I ate mountain whitefish from the Snake on occasion.  They’re a chore to fillet due to numerous bones.  But Howie is a master at cleaning them and tonight the four of us indulged on a few tasty whitefish chips and several tacos.  A splendid way to begin the new WI fishing life!

Today was so much fun we may go again tomorrow.  We’ll change it up and chase pike and walleye on the bay in a different area.  And if all seems good with our house buying and there’s nothing left we need to do in WI, Granny and I will point the Ruby Van for NH on Saturday.  I fly out of Boston to the Seychelles on April 15 to host a Yellow Dog trip.  More on the upcoming adventure and house buying in the next blog.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing