An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Big Chip getaway - Loyal

An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Big Chip getaway

Hello friends, This week’s column was going to be about a serious musky fishing trip on Sawyer County’s Chippewa Flowage, also known as“The Big Chip.”Serious musky fishing turned out to be casual musky fishing, hanging out and dog training as soon as I found an island, built camp and realized that I was worn out. Definition of “worn out”: My pond, garden and most importantly the beach in Necedah that I am in charge of removing all water vegetation from have me a bit tired. Everything, at least almost everything, in my life these days is physical, so I decided on this trip, my goal was going to be to stop and smell the roses. Sunday, July 28 – High 86, low 62 The mood for Ruby, who is 8; Red, who is 2, just weaned and said goodbye to her pups; and myself was excellent as we slowly navigated the west end of the Chippewa Flowage with a goal of getting away from the human race. The pups have not been able to travel with me for a host of good reasons, and this time as I did my casual pack for two days I kept asking them if they wanted to go on a trip and so they were well aware that they were in for an adventure.

It was Sunday, late in the day, and just about all campers were headed home while I was headed northwest towards Crane Creek and was still in the “I am gonna do some serious musky fishing”mood. The campsite on Crane Creek Island was open and as I started unloading the War Eagle, I heard an elk bugle and it really was not that far away. Next I had a “vision”; the vision spoke to me and said, “Walters, you have been

running hard and physical since March 15th.” Second, the vision told me, “Your body is sore. Drink a cold beer, listen to the loons and play with the pups.” It was at that moment that I decided that though this was still a musky fishing trip, number one, I was going to slow down for 48 hours.

From 6 to 10 I sat by a campfire, listened to the very plentiful population of loons and watched Red and Ruby, who were literally as happy as they could be.

Monday, July 29 – High 84, low 59 I just about got up at 5 this morning but the “vision” told me to rest my weary 63-year-old body, and so I did. I have to tell you about a new trend that I have no clue why I am doing it. Though I use a tent, since spring I’ve had no cot or sleeping pad; I just sleep on Mother Earth. I think there is something very cool about that and it is worth a try if you can handle it.

So, later in the morning, I was about to go musky fishing and decided what I really needed to do was some retriever training. On June 15, 2022, Michelle Chiaro passed away. Michelle was an incredible woman and my love. Red was 10 weeks old when Michelle passed away and I have not had dog training in me. Slowly but surely that is coming back, and Red is pure animal.

Today I worked with Red and Ruby with bumpers, which are basically retrieving tools for water retrieves. Red is the most agile/fastest golden retriever I have ever had. From shore, she can do an 8-foot leap and land in the boat without hesitation; she can also get in the boat from the water without any thought. Red’s mama is a bit more casual but actually loved the training today.

Musky fishing went with the casual mood, and I know my buddies will laugh about this. I had planned on making 10 million casts, but instead and because of my casual attitude, I decided to spend the day exploring while trolling. I learned a lot, did not catch a thing and loved every minute of it. Tonight I stayed up until midnight. The loons were my music and they were very happy. Though I did not want to go to bed, I mean the ground, I had to because I was going to get up early and go cast for musky. Tuesday, July 30 – High 85, low 57 The pups and I were up early and exploring while casting. The musky must not have been hungry, because the best musky fisherman in my boat could not catch a thing. About 10, I started noticing some fierce-looking clouds coming our way. Today was break camp day. I headed to camp, got everything packed in the boat and the storm hit. Leaving the island was not an option. I stood in a downpour with a rain jacket on for an hour and the rain, wind, thunder and lightning was pretty cool to endure. My guess is a woman named Michelle was right there with us.

Check out The Big Chip and relax. Sunset

Mark Walters