Muskie Fishing in October

I took a couple days off work last week. Task #1 was to fish all day in 45 degree weather, trying to land a Muskie. This isn’t what I was going to write about, but this just tells you how much I plan ahead when I decide to ramble on with this personal stuff.

So, a friend of mine whom we’ll call Jeff had called me up twice within the last week talking about the 28-inch Walleye and the 30-inch Walleye he’d hauled out of the river. (He ate them. No Mercury poisoning there…)

His stories were good. You know, the kind that makes one start thinking “Hey, I wanna go catch me one of them there Walleyes too!” And then my boss had gone out on the river last Tuesday and he and the guy he went out on the boat with caught 2 Muskies, and had 6 other trailers (ones that follow but don’t take the bait – but they usually come up to the boat and check it out before darting off, so it’s still cool). So, I ask my boss where they landed them, and in what water depth. The answer was that they found them near dams or rocks, or other places where water came to a semi-stop and was shallower (5 feet and below).

So I passed this information on to my friend, who promptly decided to troll all day right down the middle of the river in 15-feet of water. Hey, it was his boat and his equipment (mine was up north). As one might predict, when one guy is landing a certain kind of fish in a certain kind of area, and then you decide to fish in areas with none of those characteristics, you’re not exactly increasing your odds.

I thought I’d present a picture of all the huge fish we caught. Here it is:

In case you’re wondering if I forgot to upload the picture, fear not. There is no picture to upload.

Oh well. It was still better than work.

I did catch a 12-inch crappie. We finally got so desparate to catch something that we stuck some worms on a jig until one of us actually caught something. Then we went back to trolling for nothing.

That’s probably it for me until spring. I don’t do the ice-fishing thing. Give me a warm couch and a football game.

Whether it’s Camping or not, it’s for the Kids

Originally posted on http://digitaldiatribes.wordpress.com on June 26, 2007.

We have a 32 foot camper parked on a lake up in northern Wisconsin.  This last weekend, my Father-in-Law and Mother-in-Law joined us up at the grounds with their two grand-daughters (those would be the cousins to our kids for those of you who have trouble with those kinds of things).  In addition, Wendy’s brother and sister-in-law also made the trip up with their two kids.   Throw in our six kids and you have yourselves a whirlwind of non-stop activity.  And noise.

 

But, the kids love it.  And we all must remind ourselves of this fact when we are cooking and cleaning and changing diapers and wet clothes (only to see the dry clothes become dirty or wet again) and screaming and getting too close to the fire and wanting to fish and just being kids.  There is a four word mantra that we adults must repeat a few times throughout these weekends:  “It’s for the kids.”

 

Ah, yes.  Camping.  OK, my Father-in-Law broke down and actually bought a pop-up camper before the trip.  (My Mother-in-Law wanted nothing to do with tent camping.)   His issue is that this isn’t really camping.

 

So, let’s make one thing perfectly clear.  I don’t wish to argue about whether or not we are camping or not.  We are heading up north to swim, fish, eat somores, sit around a campfire, and relax.  If that’s not camping because I can actually sleep in a bed in a camper, then fine.  Call it “going up to our camper” if you wish.   But if you think that we should be “roughing it” in a tent with six kids ages 11 and under, I would basically laugh at you and call you insane.  It simply would never happen, anyway, so this gets us up there and gets the kids enjoying the outside.

 

So, anyway, this all came about because 3 years ago I happened to just mention to my boss that Wendy and I casually keep an eye out for campers because it’s one of those things we’d eventually like to get (because tent camping is insane with all the kids).  As it so happened, his mom was selling their old camper and he was selling the truck we’d need to pull the camper.  To make a long story short, we ended up taking advantage of a great deal and purchased it.

 

The next thing to do was find a place to park it.  I did not want to haul that thing around to different campsites throughout the summer.  I wanted to find a permanent spot in a private campground.  We were very disappointed with many/most of the ones we stopped at.  We wanted a regular campground.  We didn’t want a petting zoo, a public pool, a playground, and all that stuff.  We also didn’t want to be crammed into a spot surrounded by a gazillion other campers.  We were quite disappointed after our first few stops.  We did find a couple of opportunities that were OK, but nothing all that great.

 

Finally, we stumbled across a place on the Wisconsin/Michigan border.  It’s a small, privately-owned campground that is pretty much for camping, fishing, and swimming.  The surrounding area has hiking paths and bike paths, as well.  We felt fortunate enough to find this place, and we’ve called it “home” for three years now.

 

These are special times.  I am hopeful that the kids grow up with many fond memories of their time spent there.  They enjoy fishing, especially Sweettooth.  The boys, I’m sure, will take to it more as they get older.

 

Prior to getting the camper, I’d never driven a boat, let alone owned one.  I didn’t really fish, either.  I have found that I immensely enjoy fishing and boating.  I am learning as I go along, and trying to pass on what little wisdom I have to the kids.

Wendy and I have managed to “get away” without the kids a couple times, and this gives us a nice place to go.  It’s a great getaway.  We’ve even spent the occasional evening or two solo up at the camper for some short periods of contemplation.

But, in the end, we know that when you take six kids camping, it is not a relaxing weekend.   But these are special times.  I am hopeful that the kids grow up with many fond memories of their time spent there.  They enjoy fishing, especially Sweettooth.  The boys, I’m sure, will take to it more as they get older.

 

It’s for the kids.