Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Fish Report for October 25 & 26 OK, I borrowed John Walker's title this time. Actually, you'll find his latest "Fish Report" under "Stories." Just click on that line over to the right and read about Yooperland's favorite holiday. I'll let you guess! Well, videographer John McKay and I spent two days in boats this week. Monday, we fished Lake Wingra in Madison with Lee Kernen, retired DNR fisheries chief, and his son, Shad. I asked Lee why a fisheries biologist would name his kid after a baitfish, and he said he really named him after his dog, "Shadow." Shad and I couldn't decide which was worse, but it doesn't seem to have hurt him any, from what I can tell. Anyway, we fished from about 10:30 until 3:00 and saw one fish. Lee dragged a sucker on a quick-strike rig while we cast a variety of bucktails, jerkbatis, crankbaits and other stuff. A nice muskie took the sucker, but when Lee set the hook, he rolled the fish and that was that. Apparently, neither of the trebles dug in and the fish let go. End of story. That's two trips to Wingra with Lee this year. Saw one fish each time, but boated none. Today, however, was a different story. We drove up to the Wolf River at Shiocton to meet a large contingent of DNR and UWFWS fisheries people, led by Ron Bruch, of Oshkosh. Our mission: electroshock 6 sturgeon for stocking in the Milwaukee River and 20 more for stocking upstream on the Wolf on the Menomonie Indian Reservation. Short version of the story: we shocked up four fish, including one gravid female, due to spawn next spring. The fish guys then trailered the boats up to Shawano, while John & I headed for a warm restaurant for lunch. They got more fish in short order and headed to Milwaukee with six sturgeon. John and I met them there at 5:00 p.m. and taped the release of these fish in the river. I'll be writing this one up for Wisconsin Outdoor News, so don't want to reveal everything here. Check out the next issue for details. It's been a long day, so adios for now. Later... 9:29:15 PM    comment []