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An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Mark Walters sponsored by

Hello friends, This week’s column will be all over the map but it’s a good one. Location: Sawyer County near Birchwood. Activity: winter camp on Chetac Lake with my faithful companions Ruby and her pup Red and see if I can do some serious fish catching.

Sunday, Feb. 26 High 33, Low 21

I have always had a cardinal rule, do not socialize the night before an expedition. I broke that rule last night when I went to a very fun gathering for Vlad Wandler’s 21st birthday. Today, I was short on sleep and had a lot to do before my head hit the pillow.

I drove to Birchwood pulling a trailer with my Polaris 550 Classic, unloaded the snow machine and packed three Otter Sleds with my gear which I would pull behind it and then headed out into the wild white yonder, confident that over the next three days I was going to catch some fish.

I was late in my day for a solo trip, and it was 3 p.m. before I set out two tip-ups and a Finicky Fooler with my intention being northern pike or walleyes. I had a camp to build, and it would be dark for two hours before I was done. On the happy news part, I had five flags, including one with the Finicky Fooler and caught five gators of which I kept three in the 5-pound range.

After dark I had serious hopes for a walleye or some crappies. I re-rigged for these fish, drilled a hole in my shack and put the “Fooler” in my shack. I set up my shack real nice with flooring, a cot, kitchen, heat and propane lights. The pups took their normal spot on the cot, I fished and when I hit the rack about 11 p.m. had not caught any fish since the gators. If I want to sleep, I have to kick the pups off the cot. They have a ritual. For at least 30 minutes they stare at me with the hopes that I will let them back in my bunk. When I am weak, it costs me sleep as it’s just too small of an area.

Monday, Feb. 27 High 35, Low 28

The rain, sleet, and snow started about 2 a.m. First there was a wind for an hour as the front approached and then it hit. I was up long before daylight and put out two tip-ups and would jig in the shack for perch and crappies. Let me tell you about the weather that everyone in the north witnessed, drenching type of freezing

rain that chills you to the bone if you have to spend a lot of time out of your ice shack. I had to spend a lot of time out of my shack because the gators were very hungry, as in no rest for yours truly. By 9 a.m. I was soaked to the bone and smiling from ear to ear.

I get a cold call mid-morning from Pat Sorenson who reads this column in the Rice Lake Chronotype. Pat and her husband George were the original owners of Christie Mountain ski area and avid out west campers, as in backpacking and fly fishing for trout for several weeks at a time in Wyoming and Montana. They would have a base camp, which was a canvas wall tent. George Sorenson passed away and Pat wanted to know if I could use the tent. Long story short, I met Pat on the way home from this trip and I now have a wall tent. Thank you George and Pat.

Today was truly a day of surviving the elements and catching fish, just a few perch and a whole bunch of gators. At dark I gave a renewed effort to catching a crappie in the “Eskimo popup.” I missed a few tries and then I got lucky and landed a 14-inch crappie. At midnight I was very tired and hit the rack, I was weak and let the pups on my cot. The Finicky Fooler went off five times, I caught two more crappies and sleep was minimal.

At daylight I caught a 31- and a 36-inch gator and a dozen perch and bluegill. I broke camp, met Pat in Rice Lake, shopped in Tomah for my next trip and when I got home I was so tired I felt like I had drank a bottle of brandy.

It was a well-deserved fatigue!

Sunset