Mississippi River perch challenge

Hello friends, The last two years in the month of March I have headed down to Buffalo City, which is located on the Mississippi River about 40 miles north of Lacrosse and used my ATV to go three miles where I fish some of the backwaters of the Mississippi for perch and walleyes. These backwaters are very close to the dam that controls pool number 5 and I have had excellent success shore fishing for perch and walleyes that temporarily migrate to it for the spawning season. In all honesty I have been very excited for this trip for at least a month.

Sunday, March 21 High, 57, Low 30 sustained 40 mph wind

I have my ATV in my enclosed trailer and a fourwheeled feed cart to pull behind it with gear. Because all of my gear for this overnight experience will not fit into the cart, I have an Otter Sled strapped to the top of it. As you are about to find out bad luck would soon come my way. I arrived at the public boat landing at Spring Lake, where I planned on unloading and taking the pleasant trip down to the dam with my golden retriever Ruby.

As soon as I pulled into the landing, a fisherman told me the trail had recently been closed to ATV travel. In all honesty, I would have rather been punched in the gut than hear that report. My new plan had me pulling my load exactly three miles and here was the killer. The wind was blowing into my face at a sustained 40 mph and I actually verified that report.

I pulled my load and kept going back to the line I would use that I created when I hiked 1,244 miles of the Appalachian train back in ‘91. “Eyes that see, ears that hear, feet keep moving, Home is near.”

So, I make the journey and am super excited to catch some huge perch and walleyes. When I hike into the backwater, I have some really bad news. The main channel of the river has created a sandbar that has 100% blocked the entrance. In other words, migrating perch and walleye could not get to where I was fishing.

On another front, this was a challenge to myself. I had not brought any food whatsoever. I was going to live on fish. I rigged three poles with worms and spread them out over 60 yards of shoreline and, after four hours, concluded that I was going to starve.

I knew that I could go to the river, but the sand was blowing so intensely that it looked like it was snowing. Just before dark I moved one pole over to the river and caught a 10-inch perch right off the bat.

In the dark I moved my entire operation over to the river and though I caught several redhorse, which are inedible, I did not catch any more perch. A couple other side notes, I did not bring a tent, a light rain began and it was so windy that for the first time that I can remember, I could not light my propane light.

I was super hungry, so I filleted and fried my one perch and it actually made me feel very good.