An Outdoorsman’s Journal

By: Mark Walters

New Country in Washburn County

Hello friends, As I have mentioned I am in a crazy busy period of time with my job, gardens, pond, volunteering, and family. This week my daughter Selina flew home for a few days for one her college roommate’s weddings and as usual, we pegged out the fun meter. Then there is this job that keeps me on the go and pays my bills. This week I was given a tip about a unique chain of lakes in Washburn County called the Spider Lake Chain and I headed that way with my golden retriever Ruby to canoe camp and hopefully whack some bluegill.

Friday, May 31 High 67, low 48

You ever get so busy that your head is spinning, and confusion is part of your reality? Things are not that bad but close for me. Today my golden retriever Ruby and I started what would be a very cool adventure where it was just the canoe, gear and who knows what is in front of us until we see it. The Spider Lake Chain is a series of five lakes that I would find out are a bass fishermen’s paradise and you feel like you like you are back in 1970 as far as a peaceful location. Kind of bad luck would come my way very early in this trip when just as I found a campsite on an island, that had not been used yet this year, it started raining. The rain was just a drizzle at first, but the confusion part of my reality did not have quality rain gear along or the right tarp for my tent and I would be sleeping on the ground. No worries all’s well and I built a comfortable camp and went fishing/exploring with spawning 10-inch bluegill on my mind. There was zero wind so what I did was paddle my canoe, fish a potential spawning spot and catch bluegill as fast as a person could catch bluegill. There was one problem, if I caught a hundred, only 2 were over 4-inches. No problem, I went back to a wet camp just before dark and prepared for a night of what was now a solid rain. My evening activities were a propane light, sitting in the tent and enjoying two cans of beer while trying to figure out the driest spot on the ground/floor to sleep on.

Saturday, June 1 High 78, low 51

I like it when adversity rears its ugly head early in the trip and then is gone. The rain lasted until mid-morning and I heated up some homemade chili and then Ruby and I went fishing and good luck came our way. I anchored near a spawning bed and this one had some good gills, not huge, but 7.5 to 8.5 inches. I kept a dozen and then had a visit from my good buddy Paul Bucher who is from Cumberland and would be in his 17.5 Alumacraft “Competitor.”

Paul originally was going to camp with me but his son Isaac was home from his job as a teacher in La Crosse for a heavy duty weekend of fun and golfing at the Cumberland Golf Course with many of his buddies. In fact, as we were fishing, he got a text that one of Isaac’s pals, Trysten Neitzel had whacked a hole in one. Another interesting experience came our way when even though we were out of sight and a long way from camp, Ruby who I had told to stay, but not chained, swam all the way to our boat. Folks you had to be there to understand this, but it was a memorable experience.

Paul and I fished for about 6 hours, and we had a heck of a time catching good sized gills and ended up with I think 8 keepers. I had zero cares. The rain was long since over, Paul Bucher who is a dyed in the wool bass whacker and had never been on this water was liking what he saw for future reference and after dark I cooked my supper on a campfire and listened to the loons until just before midnight.

The following morning I got onto some good fish and made it home just before dark. The next day just before Selina flew west, we were able to hang out together and also go on a 4 wheeler ride.

Live large, while you can! Sunset

Ruby loves anything to do with going on outdoor adventures.

A well loaded canoe for a camping/fishing adventure.

There was time in the week for Mark Walters and his daughter Selina to go for an ATV ride.