Barb Carey for WI Women Fish

The Wolf River Adventure

2011-04-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

I decided that 2011 would be the year I really learn more about fishing. That is one great thing about this sport no matter how much you know there is always more to learn. I can’t believe all the fishing opportunities there are in Wisconsin right out my back door. I have always had a “thing” for walleye fishing. Maybe because its always been so hard for me to figure out and I am prone to take on challenges. Seems I don’t have any trouble catching Northerns or Bass, but that subtle tick tick of a hint of a walleye bite, if you can find them, always proves evasive. But this year is going to be different. ( didn’t I say that last year?)

One thing avid anglers do, is read the fishing reports and follow the information on the “walleye run”. We monitor water temperatures, current and water levels and try to figure out the best time to go to get on fish. One great place to fish the Walleye run is the Wolf River. I had only been there once prior, and this time I was invited by my friends Chris and Betsy. Now Chris, a member of our fishing club, is one of the club matriarchs who always catches fish and if we give out trophies at an event she always takes one home. She has fished the Wolf River before, and so has Betsy.

The plan was to meet and launch in Shiocton WI. I had my 2011 Lund Impact that turns heads where ever I go. There were three walleye tournaments on the Wolf this weekend and I looked the part. Also in my truck were my trusty side kicks and fishing pals Keeper and Roxy. Those that know me, know that we are always together, and they are usually partaking in all of my wild adventures.

A section of the Wolf at flood stage

When we met at the landing we were shocked at the high water level. We knew the water was high from the spring run off but we had no idea that it was that high. Right next to the launch there was a bridge that crossed the river and after you launch the boat you had to go under the bridge. Well to me, it didn’t look like enough clearance to even make it under the bridge without getting the boat wedged. We decided to look for another landing and spoke to some local guys that were just launching a smaller boat. They sent us to another landing up the road so off we went.

We got to the second landing and the entire parking lot was under water. Some guys were launching small boats between the no parking sign and the picnic table. We couldn’t tell where the original launch was even suppose to be, so we decided to keep looking. All the trees in that area were under water. I could tell the water was still rising because one truck that was parked in the lot had water all around it. I’m sure it was all dry when the person parked it there.

So off we go to find yet another launch. We were headed to Fremont WI when we saw a sign for a boat launch and turned off to follow the road. We found Barker Park, just south of Shiocton and third time was the charm. During the spring there are no docks or piers in the water so its waders or wet feet to launch in these high water conditions.

Before long, the five of us were on the river floating in the current. Without the motor running the current was taking us over 3 MPH. That is fast. The water covered trees, deer stands and wooded area on both sides of the river. The Hummingbird electronics worked great in determining where the main river channel was. A wrong turn and you would have been drifting into a farmers field or worse yet through a swamp. This section of the river is pretty wild. Lots of trees and wilderness. Its always a little nerve racking floating so fast in a river that you are not familiar with and I had no idea what was around the next bend. The river really winds around in this section. The main channel was about 12 feet deep. Big sticks, logs and debris were floating down stream because of the high water. You definitely had to pay attention.

We came to a corner and decided to try to fish the bend. Anchoring in the fast current is always a challenge. Having the right anchor, the right rope and putting it in the right spot are all really important. I have yet to perfect that. Boat control and boat placement makes a difference on if you catch fish or don’t. We tried to anchor right out of the path of the fallen trees and the debris field coming fast in the current. When anchoring in these conditions always have a good knife in your pocket in case you have to cut the anchor line in case of an emergency.

We fished that area for awhile. There was the bend in the river with some current breaks and areas that looked like they would be holding fish. Finding the right weight jig to hold in the current was difficult. I talk to other anglers and they speak of fishing with a 1/4 oz jig in that current. I don’t know how they do it. We tried a variety of tactics but no bites. As we were fishing we saw an animal across the river. It looked unfamiliar to all of us at first and then Chris said it was a Pine Martin. It was sure cute. Roxy spotted and and gave it the biggest stay away from my boat growl she could muster. A couple of large sturgeon’s rolled near by but we never got a hit.

We continued down the river a bit and began to see some rafts. I have heard of people fishing from rafts on the Wolf and I had envisioned a pontoon boat with a deck on it with a couple rod holders. I was dead wrong. These rafts are like house boats. Small structures are erected on a platform set on a bunch of plastic barrels. There are decks all around the structure and rod holders with huge cane poles set in the rod holders. I couldn’t believe it. Betsy works with a gal named Debbie that has a raft. She and her husband Steve have lived in the New London area for years and they invited us out to fish off their raft. We were suppose to meet them the next day to have them show us to the raft. We decided to pack up for the day and to regroup for tomorrows raft adventure.

The next day we headed out to New London for our next day of adventure. We stopped at the local bait shop called Cash’s The Little Shoppe of Bait. Its right on Hwy x in New London right next to the boat launch. We could see how high the water was in the river and some of the houses nearby, looked like islands with water all around them. There was a big tent sent up in the launch lot and apparently it was the big Whopper weekend, a local walleye event. How fun is that! They sold buffalo burgers and had a drawing and a fish contest. In the bait shop we found two Women working and they were very helpful. We bought some of the hot parrot jigs based on they’re recommendation along with heavy weights to hold in the current. I was glad to see a nice selection of lead free weights to use. We told them we were going to fish off a raft. They both had their own rafts to fish off of and told us we were going to have a blast and would become addicted to the experience.

We continued out to meet our hosts Debbie and Steve. We met off of a gravel road and they were going to lead us back to a private boat landing. This is a remote camping area of the campground owned by Wolf River Trips. They provide a service to raft owners where they store and launch the rafts on a yearly basis. In a field,there is a parking area for all the rafts, and we worked our way through the maze to the boat landing that was packed with cars. We packed our gear and launched our boats to head out to the raft. Steve warned us that there was no land near the rafts due to the high water so in order for the dogs to go to the bathroom they would have to be boated back to the landing so they could do their business. All part of the adventure.

The launch here was flooded as well and it seemed odd to be driving a boat by signs that are usually on land. Once we got to the main river channel the water was really ripping. You could tell where the main river was by the edges of the current bubbling at a high rate of speed. Once the boat got to that line it took us like a shot, thankfully in the direction we planned on going. We headed down stream from the launch and saw a variety of rafts. Some were very nice and some looked pretty junky. The one that was ours for the night was great. Really really nice. We landed the boat and parked next to the raft. Now that is not an easy task. Remember the current is ripping and you have to account for the speed of the current and really be a good judge of where the boat is going to end up. It is not easy especially when you don’t have a lot of experience boating in ripping current. For some reason I did it perfectly and made it look like I knew what I was doing. I even thought, that wasn’t to bad. Little did I know the worse was yet to come.


This was the raft we stayed at

So we unpacked and got the tour from Steve. What a great little cabin on a raft. The outside was surrounded by a deck much of it with rod holders. All along the front, tall cane poles stood upright in rod holders perched on the deck railing. The tallest ones must have stood close to 20 feet in the air. The poles on the left were taller and as they went left to right the poles got shorter. They had a specific amount of line on them so when the poles were lowered the lines were laid out in a manner to cover more water and not get tangled with each other.

The deck area to the right, or down stream was the area you stood on to jig fish. First we got the tour on how things worked. He showed us how to light the external gas lighting, how to light the furnace, how the bathroom worked, and even said help your self to the frozen pizza in the freezer. The inside had a car stereo, lights with switches, a stove with an oven, two bunks and a futon, a tall table that looked out a big picture window that faces the river and the cane poles. It reminded me if an ice shack, a camper, and a houseboat all in one. It was really nice. It was equipped with battery power, a solar battery charger, a cb radio, outside speakers for the radio, a minnow live well and just about everything you could ever need.

You could tell it was set up for serious fishing. Rapala’s on long mono leaders hung from the top cupboards. A rod holder was perched from the ceiling so you could set your rod there and change out the jigs and such. Clippers, jig heads, stinger hooks and leader line were all with in reach. Steve showed us how to to rig up our lines and grabbed a couple of his poles that were all ready set up and handed them to us to show us the technique. I noticed just about all of his rods were Ugly Sticks and were equipped with basic open faced reels. The equipment was well used and I am sure they have caught more fish than any of my rods have. Steve moved fast and I could tell he was dying to get a line in the water...like all of us were. He handed us each a rod and they were all equipped with a 1/2 oz jig with a stinger hook. We used Emerald Shiners and once you were baited up, just a little flip cast was all that was need to drop the bait off the side of the raft about 25 feet out. Steve showed us how to “pump” the rod so the jig was raised up and down and held out in the current. He said you should feel it hit the bottom and if you ever feel anything set the hook. Often debris from the river would hit the line or get hung up on the jig.

Any fish is fun to catch

Before long I had a fish on. I could tell it was a Sturgeon. The ugly stick was practically bent in half. I immediately wished I was fishing with my own rod. I was unfamiliar with his and it was hard to judge. I know mine so well and have landed big fish on them before. The fish felt big and was really pulling hard. I could tell it wanted to stay deep and I could hear Steve yelling to “keep it up”. The whole time I was thinking dang I wish I had my rod. Before long the fish took a dart into the current and the line snapped. I was bummed. I went to get my rod set up before I tried again. We were getting bites but they were biting very light. Steve lost one and Chris had a nice fish on soon there after. It was very exciting and looked like the bite would be good. In short order Chris had a nice 20 inch walleye on the deck. I was able to get my own line in the water and a sort time later had another fish on. I could tell it was big but it didn’t feel like a walleye. Soon after, I landed a big ugly carp. We had not even been there for an hour and the action was hot. We could only imagine what a great night of fishing would lie ahead. It was all very exciting.

Steve and Debbie had to head out and the three of us along with Keeper and Roxy were left alone to spend the night. We went inside and began to check out the inside in more detail. It even had nice fish curtains and all sorts of little extras to make it feel real homey. Cell phone chargers, can crushers, card games, pillows and blankets, all sorts of things that made you want to stay for a week. Since the raft was surrounded by water, the dogs were not able to go out to go to the bathroom. I’m sure Roxy could have been easily convinced to pee on the deck but Keeper would rather die than commit such a violation.

Chris and I decided we better load them up and head to the boat launch to give them a break before night fall. We got to the landing and I took them for a walk to be sure there would be good for the night. We hopped back in the boat to head back out to the raft.

It had started getting dark and you could see the rafts that were occupied by the lights shining inside. Some had big spot lights on the outside. If it wasn’t for the sub freezing temperatures it would have had the feel like we were in a mysterious southern bayou. We had big smiles and were totally loving our adventure. As we approached the bend in the river where the raft was, we could see the lights shining. We began to approach the same side ( up river) that Steve had directed us to when we first landed. I remembered a couple big white buoys there to park against. As we got closer to the raft suddenly I was confused. Some man shouted something from the Raft but I didn’t hear what he said. That confused me even more because the only one on our raft when we left was Betsy. My mind whirled for a moment thinking our raft had been boarded by strangers but then I realized were at the wrong raft. The area to land the boat was completely different than the one we had left and I immediate tried to put it in reverse to back out of the situation. The current grabbed the back or the boat and swung it around and we were headed right for the corner of their raft. The guys all seemed to be on the opposite side and didn’t come over to the boat at all. I tried to reach out and grab the raft to keep the boat from hitting it and that was a huge mistake. The back swung around from the current and caused the boat to swing against the front of their raft. Their raft was designed so the rod holders and poles went out right in front from the bottom portion of the raft and not the high deck like ours did. That made them just off the level of the water. Next thing I hear is a terrible cracking noise and I thought for sure the boat was ripping apart. Then there was a loud snap and one of the cane poles had busted off from the holder. There were numerous poles all in the line and we just cracked off the first one and the boat was headed down the line towards the rest. The guys on the raft began to holler and I put in in drive and hit the throttle to get us the heck out of there. Soon we were safe back in the center of the raging current and both of us had eyes the size of saucers. Holy Crap. Roxy sat there good as can be with her ears pinned next to her head knowing something was a miss so she wasn’t about to move. I was thankful I was wearing my Arctic Armor Suit that floats if need be.

We looked up and realized that our raft was right next door but no lights were turned on yet. Steve had showed us the deal with the lights, and not Betsy, and it was light when we left so we hadn’t lit them. Now I was afraid to even attempt to pull up to our raft even though I did a great job earlier this last fiasco made be nervous. We decided to land the boat on the back side of the raft and come up from the down stream side which is much easier. Still lots to learn I guess. I was shaken up by the whole ordeal that is for sure. I yelled to our neighbors whom I had just crashed into and said I would pay for the damage to the pole. They were nice about it and told me to talk to the owner tomorrow. I was afraid to look at my boat.

I was in a daze the rest of the evening. It was raining and cold and we stood on the end of the raft pumping our rods to the beat of the soft jazz music that was coming out of the outside speakers. All I could think about was the crash and how lucky we were that it didn’t turn out worse. I felt as if I violated the unspoken word in the land of the indigenize raft people. Maybe they would bring me before the tribal counsel and I would be voted off the island. ( Of course I tend to be a little hard on myself) A few beers later we did start to laugh about it. We continued to fish hard and decided to wrap it up for a night since no one was getting any bites.

Well by 5 am we were up and fishing the next morning. The weather continued to be terrible. Wind gust were up to 40 mph and it was about 32 degrees. It seemed even colder than the day before and the only time it quit raining was when the rain turned into ice pellets. We could have dealt with the temperatures much better if the wind wasn’t so strong. At one point I set my pole against the railing to fetch another minnow. The wind took the pole and whipped it to the ground and my jig head went flying and landed embedded in my cheek. Chris was able to pull it out as the barb had not gone through the skin. These conditions were really rough. Good thing we were on the raft.

As we were fishing, we saw a boat come from another raft and find a patch of land about 6 feet long directly across from where we were. Soon there after a big lab jumps out and goes to the bathroom on the little section of land. That soon became Roxy and Keepers little bathroom oasis as well. They were very god through out the whole adventure.

We continued to fish all morning and the action was very slow. I had a big fish on for a short time and soon there after Chris was fighting a monster. I grabbed the camera and began to video tape. I have great footage of her fighting the fish. The fish jumped out of the water, ran down stream, came back and Betsy landed it in the net. It was really fun. Check out the video.

Betsy lands a nice one

We decided we wanted to stay another night and our other fishing buddy Holly was going to join us. We had to go back into town to restock supplies as we had only planned on being out there for a short time. Once on land, Chris had a family emergency and had to leave. That left Betsy and I along with the dogs. Holly was to arrive later. Betsy and I got back out to the raft and a short time later she hooked into a nice 20 plus inch walleye. She was thrilled. I missed one and the bites were very few and far between. It continued to rain and be down right miserable.

Steve and Debbie came back out and we began to talk about rafts and how they work as far as storing them, buying them and about the whole raft culture. It is a pretty amazing experience and if you ever get the chance to go, don’t pass it up. Debbie had brought us a pot of soup. We told them the story of the night before when we crashed into the neighbors raft and broke his cane pole. Steve said things like that happened and one time he had 3 poles cracked off at the same time. He said not to worry about it and I felt better. Steve fished for a bit and then they left to go out for a fish fry. A short time later we packed up the dogs and headed back to the landing to pick up Holly. The rain had started to freeze and it felt as if your were getting shot with a BB gun in the face when I was driving the boat. Even with the windshield it still managed to pelt me as I drove.

We picked up Holly and went back out to the raft. It was fun to watch her experience seeing the raft village for the first time and she also said it felt like we were in a bayou. We landed with out incident this time but pointed out the area we had crashed into the night before. The three of us donned all of our rain gear and began to fish hard for the rest of the evening. We never even had a bite. I couldn’t believe it. It was one of those things that if we would have owned the raft, we would have said the hell with this and went to our real homes, or out for a fish fry with the rest of the WI residents. We felt we had to take full advantage of the situation as the opportunity would not come up again soon. It was windy, cold, rain or freezing rain, depending on the minute, and they were not biting. That my friends, is the story of my life. It is always, “you should have been here yesterday” along with some drastic extreme weather condition. It never seems to deter us as we keep coming back for more. One of these days things will change and everything will come together. We hit the sack for the night feeling defeated and when we woke up the next morning the pouring rain continued.

We again donned the rain gear and fished hard for a few hours. A boat pulled up to the raft next door and I asked the guy if he owned the raft. He said he did and I preceded to tell him I broke one of his poles. His reply was “yeah I heard”. I told him I would be happy to pay for it and just to let me know, or tell Steve and Debbie and I would be happy to make it right. He said don’t worry about it. We fished for a couple more hours and finally we decided to bag it. Betsy tended to the inside clean up while Holly and I packed the boat and continued to fish when ever we walked by our rods. Just as the last pole was loaded in the boat the rain turned to snow. Betsy shouted last call for the cabin and I got the dogs in the boat and we gathered the last minute items. I looked over to the neighbors raft and he was “pumping” on the side of his raft and sure enough bang, he had a fish. He pulled up a nice walleye, put it on a stringer and started fishing some more. He no more than got his line back in the water and bang, another fish on, which was soon another fish on the stringer. I immediately yelled to my pals, “hey maybe since the rain turned to snow the bite turned on. Lets keep fishing” Betsy said she locked up the raft with the keys inside so there we were, locked out, the bite was on but now we HAD to go. I couldn’t make Keeper and Roxy sit in the boat getting pelting with snow as it was already covering the seats and the floor and Roxy was shaking in her coat as it was.

So we left never knowing if we should have been there an hour later. But that’s why they call it fishing, and not catching. We drove back to the landing, trailered the boat and drove into the Big Whopper Weekend tent and had a buffalo burger. And by the way, once the boat was trailered, I was able to check it for any damage from the dreaded crash incident. I am happy to say that the boat ended up only having a minor ding. Based on the force of the impact I was expecting some major damage or even a hole but the boat held up to its name....Impact....leaves one and can take one. All in all it was a great experience in spite of the weather. I would love to own one of the rafts of my own and get more women out there to have that experience. Of course better weather and biting fish would be helpful. Next time we will hammer them. Didn't I say that last time?

New Years Eve in a Sleeper Shack

2011-04-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Barb Carey
WI Women Fish
New Years Eve in a Sleeper Shack
By Barb Carey

Our Women’s Fishing club recently had a trip to Lake Mille Lac’s in MN. The plan was to spend New Years Eve weekend in a sleeper shack and be able to fish 24 hours a day for the holiday weekend. To some, the idea sounded dreadful but to 20 brave souls it was the perfect way to bring in the New Year. We had Women join us from WI, MN and IL and some came from quite a distance.

Lake Mille Lac’s, along with several other MN Lakes has the reputation of having acres of frozen water with plowed roads, road signs and colorful ice shacks placed throughout the landscape. It often brings back thoughts of Grumpy Old Men and the history of this type of winter recreation goes back for generations. The Ice Houses these days are equipped with a variety of luxuries and some even have a satellite dish mounted on the outside. They come in a variety of colors and on your first trip out onto the ice it is not unlike visiting a foreign country where small different colored huts make up a village. There are some that are on special trailers that drop right down onto the ice and others look like mobile homes. Team loyalty is evident by the MN Viking shack as yes there was even a Green Bay Packer shack.

Our expectations were high which is a common symptom of most die hard anglers. Many of us had been looking forward to this trip all year and the video of the monster walleye catch from last years trip here teased us into a mouth watering frenzy.

The day came for us to leave for the trip and where I left from in South Central WI, it was pouring. I was confident in the fact that I was traveling 6 hours North and thought for sure it had to be snowing at our destination. The closer we got to Mille Lacs the harder it seemed to rain. I couldn’t believe it. As I drove on the way up, my cell phone started ringing and all the nervous callers where wondering if we were going to be able to go ahead with our plan. I contacted our hosts, Hunters Resort, and they told me the ice roads were closed to protect them but the ice was perfectly safe and they would get us out to our shacks with out a problem.

We arrived in Isle MN, home of Lake Mille Lac’s and it was just pouring. We stopped in the local bait store to get our out of state license and the clerks were kind enough to go in the back room and dig out some rain poncho’s for us to stay a little dry. We continued on to the the meeting spot, the bar at Hunters, and everyone pretty much was in a state of disbelief. The excitement could not be contained and it was obvious the show was going on no matter what Mother Nature threw at us. There was a 68 degree difference from this year from last year. Last year during our weekend there it was 30 below zero and now the temperature was 38 degrees.

We began the caravan out to our rental sleeper shacks which would be home for us for the next 3 nights. As we followed our escort out to the shacks we could not believe how much water was on top of the ice. As the trucks moved forward, a wake was created and it was of upmost importance to keep the speed under 10 mph to avoid doing more damage to the ice roads. For a minute I thought the TV show, Ice Road Truckers, has nothing on us. I has the urge to stop the truck and put on my Arctic Armor because a floating suit seemed like a good precaution in these conditions.

Our first stop was the 10 person shack, where many of the followers were to bunk. As we got out of the vehicles I noticed that there at least six inches of water on top of the ice. That meant as you walked on the ice your boots were actually under water and the water was so deep, it was coming over the top of my boots. This is when my thoughts went to our liability insurance policy and I hope I had enough coverage. The rest of us went to our shacks which were two 6 person shacks. The three shacks were set up about 2 miles out and were placed in a big triangle.

What surprised me at this point is that the excitement was still present, and there was a buzz in the air that couldn’t be suppressed. As soon as we were unloaded, my next problem was finding a place for my little 15 pound dog Roxy to go to the bathroom. If I put her down on the ground she would have had to swim in the icy water. I found a patch of snow still remaining in front of the shack and it was about that time when Wendy said “hey we can set tip ups there”. Sure enough the next thing I see is Wendy and Tara setting tip ups in the one small area of snow that remained in our area. As they knelt down on the snow it looked as if they were kneeling next to a river running as the wind was blowing the water to look like an actual current.

We managed to get unloaded in our shacks and began to peel off the wet clothes and boots. The first order of business was rigging up some clothes lines. The heat in the shacks is controlled by a a thermostat so we could set it where we wanted. As we nestled in our shacks we noticed that the temperature outside began to drop and the rain stopped.

The next morning we woke up and the lake looked like a normal frozen lake but there was not a speck of snow on it. Creepers were a must and everything that was left outside in the water was frozen into 4 inches of ice, including the trucks which had to be pulled out to dislodge the hold the lake had on them.

Friday was spent fishing of course and welcoming in the few that were unable to join us the night before. Once everyone was settled I went to check out the other shacks to see how things were going. I stopped in at the 10 person shack and found everyone tucked in tight. Some of the bunks were stacked three high and gear, food and women was scattered about. They had underwater cameras set up and flasher units going. There were crock pots and dice games and banners and smiles on everyones faces. The underwater camera showed big rocks and perch milling about with an occasional walleye. A variety of baits were put in from of their noses and it was soon determined that the smallest jigs were necessary to get any of the perch to bite. The walleye remained tight lipped.

In the other 6 person shack all the women were from MN so it was kind of their turf. As I visited with them I heard tales of last weekends outing where 40 - 50 walleye were caught on a different lake and it had a familiar feel like the old adage “ you should have been here yesterday”. I did find they were quite good anglers and a fun bunch to be around. We talked about having an outing on Saturday out to the “flats” to see if the fishing was any better out there and having them be familiar with the lake was a huge help.

Meanwhile back at our shack Wendy and Tara were tip up machines. From 6 am to midnight, they had tips ups in and checked them every 30 minutes. Many times the bait had been picked and they probably had over 25 flags over the weekend. Some of the flags there would be about 6 inches of line out and the bait would be gone. At one time we had 3 flags at once. The third flag was the charm, and a 20 inch walleye was hauled in by Wendy. Several big perch were caught as well the biggest being just shy of 12 inches.

So Saturday rolls around and the fishing is far to slow for our liking so we make a decision to head out to the flats to see what is happening out there. Now the temp is about 10 and its lightly snowing and after making the announcement I was shocked to see that there were 15 takers on the road trip. Our caravan started out and we were in 5 vehicles. As we left base camp the snow seemed to hover just on top of the lake in a manner that it looked like smoke. It would twist and turn and make little mini tornados.

The MN gals led the way and it seems as if we drove for miles. We crossed pressure cracks that were bridged, and it seemed like a lonely desolate place thats for sure. After we drove about 5 miles we began to see shacks on the horizon and stopped to have a brief consult and take a look at the gps map. We found a nice bit of structure in the flats and headed that way. Sure enough as we got close we noticed that there was a group of shack there, many permanent ones. We stopped on the spot and began to set up portable shacks. We had pop up shacks by Eskimo including a six, four, and three person types. These women jumped out of the vehicles and began popping up shacks and drilling holes and before you know it our own little red village was erected on the mighty Mille Lacs. With conditions such as these, you want shacks that go up fast, and the ice anchors that hold the shack really do the trick. The funny thing was is after we got all set up other shacks started arriving and setting up around us as if we were right on the hot spot.

Beth brought her under water camera and we had a view of the murky mud flats and spotted an occasional walleye milling about. The fish seems like they were not into eating anything and would not even react to a PK lure which always catches me fish. We up sized and down sized and changed baits and the fish seemed few and far between. The occasional sighting of one on the camera gave us hope but not a fish was caught out there. We did have some laughs, one at Barb’s expense when she almost took sail in her pop over shack. Good thing she fell out of it or it would have been more like ice boating. We did get a text from Tara with a picture of a jumbo perch and she said they were getting flags at base camp while we were gone.

Sure enough two hours into it the snow started and then the wind and before you knew it there was white out conditions. We made the call to bail out and before you knew it the shacks were down the trucks were packed and our caravan was on the way back to the sleeper shacks. This is one of those time when the magic of women working together really shines through. Every person pitched in, knew exactly what to do, and got the job done quick. I was so impressed with everyones ability to chip in and get things done in a Jiffy. And speaking of Jiffy, we just LOVE Jiffy’s new propane auger. One pull and it starts even in the extreme weather conditions.

The ride back was like you were in a desert but instead of blowing sand it was blowing snow. We passed a full sized passenger van that looked like it was lost and I think our caravan helped them get their bearings on where the road was. Thanks Cindy for leading the charge.

We all made it back safe and sound and got tucked into our sleeper shacks during what seemed like a mini blizzard. There was even a rainbow around the sun as it went down. It was beautiful. The night came upon us and a few wild card games were had and lots and lots of laughs. The women talked about how it felt like we were on a trip to the Arctic Circle and the conditions were so extreme we felt a sense of accomplishment for just surviving. That is one thing that some people don’t realize. This kind of stuff makes you feel alive. Its danger and excitement and hard work. Its takes fortitude, and courage and a passion that not everyone gets to enjoy. It would have been awful if just one of us would have been there but as a group, as a team, its a challenge that we were up for, that we conquered and are better because of it. We have made new friends, have wild stories to tell our Grandchildren and we did it. WE DID IT. Not bad for a bunch of old ladies and I use that term proudly.

So as far as the fishing it wasn’t that great. Several small walleyes, one 20 inches and numerous small perch. Most of the perch were very light biters, 5 inches or so and I wouldn’t have even been able to catch them if it wasn’t for my St Croix Ice Rod with the spring bobber. Four perch were of noteworthy size and somehow I ended up with them. Thanks gals. It was some consolation that the top guide that works out of there was also struggling to catch fish. We finished up the weekend with an awards ceremony. Once again Holly out did herself with the hand made trophies. Wendy and Tara’s non stop tip up dedication paid off and they took top walleye, top perch and the big fish pool. Pat received a special trophy and there are some things you just have to see in person to believe. I can safely say that everyone had a good time, new friendships were formed and WI Women Fish just got stronger. Women who ice fish are a special breed and I am proud to be one of them.

Barb Carey
WI Women Fish
www.wiwomenfish.com

Fishing Vacation - volume two

2010-04-05T08:46:00.000-07:00

Georgia is beautiful this time of year. At least it is at the place I am staying. The large open porch overlooks channel off the main lake. In the channel, all sorts of wildlife seek refuge from the main lake. Majestic Blue Herons arrive down the center of the waterway suspended about 10 feet off the water going right past the pier. They land near the edges and fish for food. Cranes and an assortment of water birds meander throughout the cove. The birds are singing all the time and the rat a tat of the woodpeckers rounds out the assortment of birds sounds. All the bushes are blooming and the leaves are popping out on the trees. Tall pines and Oaks stand between the house and the water providing much needed shade. Trees with pretty purple flowers over look the water and the reflection bounces back off the water doubling the burst of color.

Even though I am on vacation I find myself getting up before 6 am. The early morning calm on the pier is to much of a draw to stay in bed. There are plenty of fish to be had without even having to go into the main lake. In fact, later in the day I can hear an occasional speed boat or jet sky and find I have no desire to leave the pier in search of fish elsewhere. Beside I am on a mission, to catch the ever evasive cat fish that stole my pole 3 years ago. I have affectionally named her Esmeralda. The cat fish not the pole.

It doesn’t take to long on our early morning fishing outing to land our first fish. Holly yelled fish on and I saw the tip of her pole bending and knew it was a good one. What ever it was, it wanted to stay at the bottom and it took some effort to get it to come to the surface. We thought it had to be a cat fish but when we scooped it in the net we both saw what looked like a bull head. The body was a yellow color and the tail area looked flat and rounded. It was the biggest bull head either of us had ever seen and rounded out at 18 inches. We let it go and continued to fish. Before to long our hosts, Trudy and Clare joined us.

Trudy had a piece of paper and pen in hand and was ready to keep track of all the fish that were caught. Neither Trudy nor Clare are very experienced anglers and we helped them get their rods set up to fish for pan fish. Trudy had her line in the water for less than five minutes when she pulled out a 9 inch blue gill. She was just dropping her line right next to the pier on the shore side and was able to catch several and so was Clare.

I was fishing with my St Croix Avid 9 1/2 foot “noodle” rod. I had a barrel weight, a bead, followed by a barrel swivel with a 3 foot leader line to my hook. My bait of choice was liver. That is what I was using when I lost my pole so I figured that is what the big cats ate. As my friends pulled in one blue gill after another and continued to get slash marks beside their name as I continued to not catch a thing. Imagine the ribbing I took from my friends who never fish, as I fish all the time and yet they were out fishing me 10 - 0.

Well the afternoon went on and everyone else caught fish. Holly pulled in another big one and we saw that it was another bull head. My friend Trudy said “that’s a cat fish.” We were planning on having a fish fry that night as we had brought some Walleye and Northern from Wisconsin as a treat for our friends. So we decided to keep that latest “cat” and Trudy caught another to add to the mix. She also landed a real nice 10 1/2 inch blue gill and Clare was able to catch a few to add to the dinner. So now in the live well we have about 10 nice blue gills and 2 big “cats” and I still have not caught a fish. Suddenly my pole bends, my bell rings and I grab the rod and yell ” fish on “. The drag on my rods squeals and after a quick adjustment the fish is headed my way. I could tell is was a big cat how it hugged tight to the bottom and the fight was on to bring it up. It started to head towards the shore and when there wasn’t much I could do to stop it. The next thing I knew it was under the pier I was standing on and a moment later my line was snapped. AH crap. Dang. And Trudy says, “so Barb how many have you caught”. Ergh....

I tied on a new set up and sticking with my chicken livers, threw my line back out there. A short time later my bell rings again. This time I am reeling in I can tell its a good size one but not the weight of the last fish I had on. I had total control this time and was confident I would soon be on the board. As it got near the pier and began to surface I have to admit I let out a scream. A turtle! Yes I had just caught my first turtle. We netted the poor creature and cut the line at the mouth as it had swallowed the bait beyond our ability to retrieve it and we didn’t want to hurt it. We let it go and it swam away.

That was it for the day and I was still not on the board. We had to stop and clean our days catch and get ready for our dinner party. We did fry up the four kinds of fish and it was fun to do a comparison to see which people liked the best. The winner by a land slide was the walleye. I felt lucky I lived in a place where they are available.

So day two at our little private resort. I still had not caught a fish and was to stubborn to attempt to redeem myself as well as my reputation. I could have changed over and began to fish for blue gills just to prove that I could catch a fish. But my grudge with Esmeralda was greater that my embarrassment of not catching any fish so far. The day went a little better as I was able to catch a couple more of those yellow looking cat fish and I did land a blue gill so at least the pressure was off to actually catch a fish. We were getting a little to much sun and decided to take a mid day break and try our luck in the evening.

We got back out onto the pier about 5 P.M. and I started to get my rods set up. I noticed a plastic pop bottle in the water and went to get the net to retrieve the litter floating near the shore line. As I walked toward the bottle all of a sudden it shot under water and disappeared. Holy Crap. What the hell! Then it dawned on me that sometimes people in the south “jug” fish and this could be someone jug with a fish on it. Of course I immediately felt bad for the poor fish and shouted to Holly to alert her my find.

We both scanned the water looking for the bottle to pop back up and sure enough, down the shore line about 75 feet it popped out about 2 feet off shore. We ran off the pier and down the shore line following the pop bottle down the shore. Holly jumped in the water and almost had it in reach but it shot out about 10 feet and started headed toward the pier. Sure enough it got right next to pier but by the time we ran back over there it had disappeared under the pier. Holly decided to jump in the Kayak and I grabbed the net and stayed near the shore. Sure enough we saw it pop out again 25 feet away and Holly paddled over towards it. The bottle doubled back headed for shore and ended up in a cement area near the boat house. I grabbed the net and was able to trap the bottle next to the cement and hold it there till Holly arrived and grabbed it. She pulled the bottle up and low and behold there was Esmeralda. A beautiful grey cat fish 28 inches long and 8.8 pounds. Now this was a cat fish. And a nice one. I still felt bad for the poor thing and can see now why some states ban jug fishing. There doesn’t seems to be a lot of control over the “jugs” and who knows how long the poor fish has been swimming around stuck to that bottle. Needless to say the fish earned its freedom and was released. The funny part was that we realized that, THAT was a cat fish and the other yellow things we were catching ( and eating) were bull heads. AS Holly said , well they tasted good so who cares. We have one more day here before we head to TyBee Island to fish the ocean. I hope my luck improves there. We also realized that we forgot to take any pictures of Flossy, our plastic geo cache find. I wish I would have thought of it at the time as we could have set on on the back of the big cat fish we caught. I will also try to upload some of the photos I have taken onto the blog photo slide show. In the mean time I think I’ll take a nap. I love vacation.

Fishing Vacation - volume one

2010-04-03T04:58:00.000-07:00

This blog has been dead for awhile. I have been posting on the WI Women Fish facebook page instead and decided to go back to the blog thing. I often intend on writing stories of our fishing outings and such but always seem to be waiting till I have enough time. Well is there ever enough time? So I am breaking up with facebook for awhile and logging stuff on here just to see how things go. This first one will be about our fishing vacation. Instead of my daily facebook posts I will post it on here.

The ice left Wisconsin early and we planned to go on a fishing vacation. It was a tough choice to leave the spring walleye run that was just heating, up as well as the steelhead fishing that I was hoping to do. My fishing partner Holly, had told me many fishing tails about huge trout in the White River of Arkansas. Another fishing pal of mine, Rich, moved to the far south and we had often spoke of surf fishing in the salt water. We combined these two ideas and added in an overdue visit with some friends of mine who live on a lake just south of Atlanta GA. Their place has a special memory for me as on my last visit there I lost a pole off their dock to a giant cat fish. It is helpless feeling to see your pole shoot off the end of a dock like a boat had snagged the line. One splash later and it was gone for good. So off we begin on the fishing trifecta. First stop Jackson Lake GA.

I left the UP of Michigan to drop my cat off in Northern WI. Two hours into the trip I hit a deer with my truck. It came out of nowhere. I will spare you the gross details but it was not pretty and I now have a dent in the front of my pretty truck. The headlights and all the important stuff are still in tact so the trip will not be delayed. Any other time Holly would have harvested some of the venison but due to the time crunch we had to leave if for the wolves.

We left WI the day before good Friday. Holly had to work so we didn't get on the road until after 5 p.m. My truck was packed to the max and Roxy and Keeper ( dogs) were in the back seat settled in for the trip. We stopped at a wayside in IL. By the way IL seems like the longest state in the universe to drive thru. Anyway we stopped at this way side somewhere along I -39. We took a short hike on some trails that we mowed at the travel stop. We came across a bird house that ended up being a geocache site. Inside the bird house was a few trinkets people had left and also a prized find of Flossy the Toothfairy a Travel Bug Dog Tag. Basically its a cute plastic fairy about 6 inches tall who wants you to take her on adventures, log the travels on the internet and eventially leave her at another geo cache site to be picked up by another person. Well you would think I would have won the lottery as this was really exciting for me. I have never geocached before because frankly I hate looking for stuff. I have however, came across several of them in the past just by accident. So this was a big treat and we scooped "Flossy" up and she is our official mascot of the trip. We hope to get pictures of her along the way and make sure she has some fun. ( The possibilities are endless) Anyway if you want to check out the site its www.groundspeak.com and Flossy's dog tag number is 477866.

So anyway the trip continued and we made it to GA last last night, Good Friday. It took us 4 hours to get thru Atlanta to Jackson GA, which is usually a 1 hour drive. It appeared there was a national emergency and everyone in the city of Atlanta was asked to leave and drive south on I75 exactly at the same time we were driving through. At least it seemed that way. I guess that is "normal" holiday weekend traffic. I guess I would rather have to watch out for deer that have to deal with that. It kinda made me cross.

So this morning I am sitting on the deck over looking the water and watching fishing boats come in front to fish my friends pier. The water is a little finger off the main lake and anglers often fish in the little cove right in front of my friends house. My host, Trudy, told me boats were out here yesterday and one man had 10 fish on a stringer. Dang, I wish they were the catch and release type. So its time to quit blogging and go fishing. I love vacation. Barb

Women on the Barge

2009-05-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

I recently took a field trip to the Great Alma fishing float to check it out prior to our fishing outing scheduled for June 13th – 14th. I found that Alma is a cute little river town with several nice campgrounds and hotels. I drove down the main street which is also HWY 35. It was easy to find River road and the parking area for the shuttle to the boat. The shuttle is a multi – passenger boat and picks you up right at the dock. The boat then crosses the mighty Mississippi and docks at the great Alma fishing float. The float is a series of docks with a structure in the middle. The float does not move and is stationary. The structure has a small restaurant, a bait shop, and two bunk rooms each having two sets of bunk beds. The beds have mattresses but no bedding. There is a covered area open on both sides with a picnic table and grills. There are several lounge chairs scattered about and benches along the docks. The restaurant serves a nice breakfast I can personally recommend.

The float has a dock that extends out to the shore line on the MN side of the river. That area has room to pitch a tent or to walk the shore line. You can also access the wing dam on feet from that location. The dock has a gate that can be closed to keep non event goers off the float.

The bathroom on the float consist of two porta potties. I checked them out and was pleased to find them clean and adequate. There is a fish cleaning station as well but no drinking water. The owners were more than helpful and very friendly. There is a place for boat to dock up to if someone had a desire to bring a boat. One thing to note is that once the other patrons leave the float for the day there will not be any way off the float until the next morning unless you bring a boat. The passenger boat does not operate after the regular hours. The there is a boat landing approx 1 mile downstream from the float. There would not be room for everyone to bring a boat but there is room for a couple so if you are thinking you would like to bring your boat please let me know.

Now for the important news. Although I did not have time to fish while I was there I did see numerous fish being caught. I saw northern, walleye, sauger, smallmouth, white bass, sheep head, suckers all be caught during the hour I was there. The day before someone landed a 50 pound sturgeon. There were a few people who had spent the night and said the fishing really turned on about 4 –5 am. Most people were fishing right off the bottom using 3 way rigs or lead head hair jigs. Most had rod holders and set one pole and held the other. You are only allowed two lines in the water on the float due to MN regulations. Either a MN or WI license is good but you must have a license from the state you live in. They do sell bait, lures, and they rent poles and rod holders in the bait shop. Nets are scattered through out for all to use.

While I was there I had the pleasure to meet a famous angler who was on board. Her name was “Annie” and she has quite the reputation on the float. She is from MN and spends the summer renting a house in Alma and comes to the float several times per week with her husband. Annie is very friendly and walks about the float talking to other anglers. She is an older gray haired women with a permanent smile and a sparkle in her eye. The catch is she puts her line in the water while chatting and ends up catching lots of fish. She out fishes nearly everyone on the float and people are often in awe on how she can be fishing next to them and catch all the fish. One group came in and all wore matching shirts with something to the effect of Anglers against Annie as she often out fishes everyone. The next time they came they bought a shirt for Annie that said Annie against the other anglers. The whole thing was quite charming and I felt a real sense of camaraderie amongst the regulars.

So the plan for this outing is we can board the float at 3 ish. If you want to go for the whole day you are welcome but there is a $15 fee for that day. The regular day people leave the boat at 6 pm and then it will be just our group. There is a total of 8 bunks. If you would like to rest during the night take you sleeping bag and go to an open bunk and nap away. I will also be bringing an additional cot. If you would like to set a tent up on the river bank off the float feel free. If you would like to come and leave to go to a hotel later in the night bring a boat or if you are bringing a boat and are willing to give a ride to those who want off the float for the night let me know. If you want to make plans with other anglers for any other part of the weekend, or if you have questions about what others are doing before or after I suggest using the Wi Women Fish Face book page to banter back and forth and make what ever additional arrangements you want.

If you are attending this outing here is some suggestions on what to bring. All food and drink. Grills and charcoal will be provided. Fishing stuff, pillow and bedding. Alcohol is allowed but please use moderation. Bug repellent, camera and filet knife. Be prepared for the weather. The majority of the float is open air.

If you have any questions let me know. I will try to answer then as best I can. This will be a new experience for me. I am really looking forward to it. I hope you can join us. Advanced sign up is required and liability waiver must be signed and turned in with the registration form. You can register at www.wiwomenfish.com.

Best Fishes,

Barb Carey
Wi Women Fish

December 2008

2009-01-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Wow. I wait all year for the ice to get here and before you know it, the conditions are great and its time to get out there while you can. The one down side of ice fishing is that the window of opportunity to enjoy the sport is very small. So far this year the fishing as been outstanding. It started with a trip to the Chetek chain fishing with Wendy and she landed a Walleye close to 30 inches. The only camera we had on that trip was the cell phone. Its still a nice shot of her laying on the ice in front of the atv holding the monster fish before it was released. From there I went to the Michigamme River and had about 20 flags that produced some small Northerns and 17 inch Walleyes.

The highlight of the season so far was a trip to Petenwell where I was guiding Jane. It turned out to be one of the best action packed days on the ice with over 40 flags and numerous fish caught on the jig pole. Some action photos were taken and are posted in the images on the web site. Thank goodness Jane got that new camera for Christmas. We also had some exceptional video footage which included landing a 26 in walleye but unfortunately the camera tumbled down the hole when I bent over to scoop it out. I wish I could say this was the first time I lost something valuable to the depths of the lake but unfortunately this has happened before. I have witnessed no less than 4 cell phone take a similar plunge. Not all by me but non the less they were lost forever.

I really encourage you to take a look at the March Ice Challenge event in March. Ashland has a lot of offer and a side trip to the ice caves or other local attractions would round off a weekend away nicely. Face it, you live in Wisconsin, time to start embracing it and enjoy the beautiful winters. I will be traveling around WI and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the rest of the ice season. I will be headed to Madison for two weekend classes and will attend several other events across the state. I will blog about places I fish and keep up dating the schedule in case you want to join me on an outing.

I hope you find this website informational and if you have any fishing questions I'll do my best to answer them. Hope to be fishing with you some day so don't hesitate to invite me. I’d love to see how other women tackle the sport.

Arctic Armor

2008-12-15T07:52:00.001-08:00

Arctic Armor Ice Fishing suit tested in a swimming pool.

March Women's Ice Challenge

2008-12-15T06:56:00.001-08:00

Well folks here is the deal. There had been lots of interest in the Women’s Ice Challenge and some women want some specific information about the event.

One of the best fishing days of my life was on the Chequamegon Bay in Ashland WI. There were two of us and over the course of the day we caught ten different species of fish. I couldn’t believe it. I have fished here many times and not all days were like that but I have never been skunked.

We decided to have the Women’s Ice Challenge in Ashland so we could invite some women from MN over. The City of Ashland offers some very reasonable motel rates and we found clean comfortable lodging at the Crest Hotel. For approx. $35 a night you can’t go wrong. Its basic but clean and right across the street from the lake. If you try to make a reservation and they are full email me because I have some extra rooms set aside. There are other places to stay that have swimming pools and more amenities. I suggest you make a reservation somewhere as soon as possible because there are several other events going on in Ashland that weekend. There are also other attractions including the Ice Caves if they are open. The Ashland Chamber of Commerce is a great resource.

As far as the fishing if you have gear bring it. WI allows three lines in the water per person and I usually set two tip ups and jig with the third line. If its nice out I’ll set one tip up, one tip down and jig with the third. As far as jigging, you can catch smelt and any number of different game fish. The small mouth bass in there look like footballs and are really fun to catch on a jig pole. I usually use a med-light rod with a six pound braided line. One particular jig that is productive is the Hali jig. The one that is about an inch and one half long and has a small chain that hangs down with a small single hook on it. That can be tipped with a wax worm and you can catch smelt off the bottom. Once you caught some smelt you can use them on a tip up or the smelt head on a bigger lure such as the buck shot rattle spoon. Usually anything with some flash will draw the fish in . The Coho and other fish come in schools and follow the smelt around . Its common to have a flood of activity and the best techniques is to get the fish off quick and get your line back down while the school is still there. As you can imagine this flurry of activity sure creates some action. On the prior trip I mentioned, at one point we didn’t have one line in the water because all the flags were up and the jig rods had fish on them as well.

We will have demos of how to set a tip up, a tip down and there are a number of experienced women signed up that are willing to give you a hand. We will also have some new products showcased including the Jiffy Stx Auger, Eskimo Ice Shacks, Beaver Dam tip ups, Tip up lights by lighthouse tip up light company and others.

Even if you don’t have any gear we encourage you to sign up. Even if you have never ice fished before. This is a great opportunity to learn what its all about. There is another fisheree held in Ashland that weekend sponsored by the Rod and Gun club. If you are married bring your husband and send him over there while you fish with the Women. Sounds like a perfect plan.

Please email me if you have any specific questions. This event is funded by donations and the biggest expense we have incurred is the liability insurance. My goal was to provide low or no cost outings to get more women interested in the sport but the reality of the insurance world limits us. Please save us advertising costs by spreading the word to other women who may be interested. Hopefully Wi Women Fish will be a resource for women anglers for years to come.

Women on the Ice

2008-12-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

I feel like a pioneer. Not because I’m aging and about to turn 50 but because I am one of few women I know that have a passion for ice fishing. As I began to become more involved in the sport I realized it isn’t to often that you run into other women on the ice. Once in awhile a Dad would have his daughters out. I always tried to pay attention to the girls to see if Dad had provided them with a pole or if they were playing in the snow. I always smiled when I saw a little girl holding her pole starring at the hole with anticipation. Or better yet when they run towards a flag as fast as they can. I hope Dad lets her take the flag.

Then there is the occasional husband and wife team. Usually the female half of the duo looks like she knows what she is doing. I have to admit I always look at what she is wearing. Not to judge the fashion but to she what she has found to wear that is warm and functional. You just don’t go to the Women’s Ice Fishing Clothing section and pick something out. Its more like hunting for the right thing but its just not available. I found these pants once that were great. It was like wearing pajamas, with nice pockets, warm, windproof and water proof. The fact that they were “wetland camo” didn’t deter me but I have to admit when ever I see myself in the photographs holding fish I cringe at the sight of them. They look terrible on me.

Another annual female visitor to the ice is the teenage male’s girlfriend. Now these women are obvious. This is the gal who walks to the shack with her short cropped pretty jacket and low rise jeans. Some times they wear boots but often times its just the tennis shoes. Lucky the shacks are close to shore but I often wonder if they are the ones spreading the rumor that you freeze your tail off if you go ice fishing.

Then there was the time that my friend and I were bundled up from head to toe. This was before the advent of the light weight high tech gear that we wear now. We had so many clothes on we could hardly walk and the only thing showing was our eyes. We started walking out onto the ice and passed a couple of older men who were just walking off the ice. They proceeded to tell us “ good luck ladies”. I was shocked. How did they know we were ladies. We were wearing men's Carhardt clothes and looked to be wearing the same outfits they were. Now I’m a big girl so it wasn’t because of my small frame or dainty boots. I don’t know how many times I have been in dress clothes in a business establishment and while going to the bathroom I get looks as my gender neutral look often confuses people. So these old ice fishing gentleman knew that we were ladies I will never know.

I must say I rarely see a women out ice fishing by herself. If fact I never have. I’m not saying it doesn’t occur, I know I do it, and I have friends that do, but I have never personally seem a women ice fishing by herself. I didn’t realize what a novelty it was. One day while fishing on Lake Petenwell, I was talking to some men who were also fishing. They asked me if I was “Keepers”. I admitted I was, That's actually my dogs name which I have been using as a screen name on Lake Links and other fishing reports. I thought it was funny and didn’t think to much of it until it happened again on Lake Superior. Now here I am 275 miles from home and the first time I am fishing these waters and some guy asks me if I’m “Keepers”. Suddenly I looked around and think “Am I the only women in the world that ice fishes?” What are the chances of seeing that one women on the ice in the middle of nowhere being me the same women who posts on a fishing web site. Sadly the odds were real good. I knew that day that I had to do something about that and let other women know what they are missing. And then WI Women Fish was born. So maybe someday when you Google women’s ice fishing, something other than the Bikini Ice Fishing Team will come up on the first page.