Not long ago if I woke up on the shores of a gorgeous lake I’d grab my rod and go. But things change as you get older. These days my approach to everything is slower and more thoughtful. One of my favorite things now is an early morning cup of coffee with Granny sitting outside overlooking any beautiful outdoor setting.
It doesn’t matter that today was cold. We enjoyed the birds and the fact that we couldn’t hear a highway. And I knew the fish in Howie’s lake were waiting no matter what time we made our first cast.
The second that last sip of coffee was gone was about when Granny grabbed my 5-weight Air 2 and said, “Are you taking me fishing or what?” Then she tied on a big yellow marabou streamer and proceeded to bang a cute little largemouth bass of the dock. I slid Howie’s beat up old rowboat into the water and we headed out.
While the fish weren’t big this morning they were plentiful. I love watching Granny put the hurt on them and she caught at least a dozen largemouth bass with a few bluegill mixed in. Because the ice only went out three weeks ago here in Northern Wisconsin the water is freezing cold and the bass aren’t looking up for poppers yet. We stuck to the streamer and the trick was to strip the bright fly slowly.
We did more than fish as I rowed around. Because there was hardly a cloud in the sky the sun warmed us up fast. And not only us. Painted turtles made what was probably their first appearance from hibernation. Its in me to catch them. An instinct I acquired as a kid. Rather than catch a few myself I coached Granny into this colorful one. After a few pics we released him back.
Howie delivers the mail here in Iron River on Saturday mornings. When he got done at noon we drove to Ashland to fish Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. Howie and I fished here several times a week back in our college days. We mostly drowned smelt for big pike, Great Lakes steelhead and the occasional salmon. Anything to provide a fish for dinner over the cafeteria food we had to live with for four years.
Though Howie had some smelt packed for today, Granny grabbed my 7-weight Winston. While she hit from the dock, I suggested Howie and I wader up and cast the shoreline with huge streamers for pike. It’s not every day that Lake Superior is kind enough for doing this but it was warm and the wind was light. We watched a couple bait anglers catch pike so we went to work with confidence. But we chucked the big flies for over three hours. I may have had a bump but that was as close to a fish as we got.
It was a great day of warmwater fly fishing here in the Great Northwoods of Wisconsin. Tonight we enjoyed a huge dinner at Howie’s and a few drinks on the shores of his lake. Tomorrow we’ve been invited to go fishing and boating out in the Apostle Islands off Bayfield with another former Northland College graduate. Stay tuned. . . .
Don’t forget our yard sale will be May 15th. There will be all kinds of stuff from camping to fishing gear. I never sell stuff from companies I represent so don’t expect Winston’s or Simms waders or etc. but there’s some awesome stuff. If you’d like a list of rods or reels just Contact Me and I’ll email it to you. And don’t procrastinate, I mentioned this last month and a ton of stuff went fast!
0 Comments