An Outdoorsman’s Journal
By: Mark Walters
Walleye on Puckaway!
Hello friends: This past weekend I drove over to Lake Puckaway, lived on what was just enough ice to hold a human for 48 hours, and tried to catch some northern pike and walleye.
Friday, Dec. 18 High 40, low 29 Last year I fished for walleye on Nov. 10-11 on the frozen waters of Puckaway. The first night I fished on the southwest end of the lake and caught two walleye. The next day I moved my operation over to Miller’s Resort, which is also on the south end, and I caught one. All of these fish were over 19 inches and so I was pretty excited about this year’s adventure.
Back in the day — and I am talking more than 50 years ago — my grandparents Herb and Lucy Walters, who owned The Cubby Hole tavern in Rio, used to vacation at Miller’s Resort and every time I am here I am almost constantly thinking about them.
Today was a major learning day for me. First I learned that until there is good enough ice to drive on, owners Chad and Paula Gilbertson allow some fishermen to bring their campers and they keep them on shore and hike on the ice but have a warm place to shack up.
As the weekend wore on, this was pretty neat to observe as it literally is a way of life for some hardcore, very fun fishermen.
Another thing that I learned was that there was only 2-3 inches of ice and it was not what one would call real good ice.
Last year when I was here, I met Gavin Gilbertson, who is Chad and Paula’s 18-year-old son and a senior at Markesan High School. Gavin is a hardcore outdoorsman who is one of the folks with a camper on the shoreline.
Tonight I met three of Gavin’s good buddies — Cayden Plagenz, Max Stellmacher, and Dylan Quade. These guys are all 18 and really into fishing for walleye with tip-ups. My entire weekend would be spent in the same area as them, which was very cool, and I am betting that you will be reading about these guys again.
Another very cool story was Michael Wakeley and Joe South, who are both from Aurora, Ill., and in their mid-30s. Both of these guys were true gentlemen the entire weekend and had been camping on the ice since Wednesday.
So on night one I did not catch a fish and Max caught two walleye that were both around 20 inches. Dylan caught one that was 21 inches and I believe Cayden also caught one.
Both nights I took short visits into the Miller’s Resort tavern; both the locals and the fishermen were fun and polite. Most of the people in there knew who I was because I write for seven papers in the area and I had a lot of very cool conversations.
On Saturday there were two groups of fishermen in my area and what I thought was very cool is that between all of them they had probably a dozen kids between the ages of 14 and 22. It was obvious how the fathers/mentors were thoroughly enjoying watching the youth have a blast on the ice.
In that respect I have always had this same thought — you can follow your kids’ athletic career while they are growing up, but if you don’t get them involved in the outdoors as well, what are you going to do together when they graduate from high school?
The fish must not have liked my bait very much this weekend as all I caught were two northern pike. Possibly my real catch of the trip is that Bernie, who is the Gilbertson’s resort golden retriever and one of the best looking goldens I have ever seen with an excellent disposition, may be going on a date with Ruby in a couple of months, if you know what I mean.
All in all it was another quality experience and until I pulled the last tip-up I never gave up hope. Sunset
Good friends Cayden Plagenz, Max Stellmacher and Dylan Quade enjoying life on Lake Puckaway.
Dylan Quade with a 21 inch walleye that he caught just before daylight.
Cayden Plagenz and Max Stellmacher with a late night walleye.
