An Outdoorsman’s Journal

By: Mark Walters

Bay City Campground

Hello friends, This week I headed over to Bay City in Pierce County and had a plan of camping on an island on the Mississippi River and paddle trolling my canoe for walleye and also fishing from shore. My 8-yearold golden retriever Ruby would be my companion.

Saturday, June 8 High 77, low 54

Due to time constraints this would just be a 36-hour adventure. I had never been to Bay City which is kind of crazy considering that I have been doing this job for 35 years. First kind of setback! While driving, two separate friends told me all islands would be underwater. I also was given a report that the walleye and sauger were biting very well and that made me smile.

Driving from the south on Highway 35 made me think once again that I really would like to live on or near the Mississippi. Folks the point of this week’s column is going to switch over to a, I found a really cool place that you could visit story.

So, I pull into Bay City and then I pull into the Bay City Campground which has a boat landing and permanent as well short term campsites. There is a very clean shower and bathroom and fish cleaning house. And the scenery is beautiful.

Tall bluffs on the Wisconsin and Minnesota shorelines and backwaters of the Mississippi are your constant view. I got out of my truck and spoke with a shore fisherman who had a bucket of bass and a bluegill as big as frisbee and a 13-inch-perch. This campground is also the main boat landing for the area and is peaceful and very busy. I arrived early in the day spoke with several incoming fishermen who had all done very well on walleye and sauger.

I checked out the tent camping area and there were several families doing the camping thing and all of the kids were having a blast either on the beach or shore fishing. I picked out a site, threw out a bobber with a piece of crawler and began hauling gear as you cannot drive to the sites. I built a comfortable camp. Ruby was in an excellent mood and I then began rigging my canoe for paddle trolling in very high water conditions. One piece of information that I have held out is that all the boat fishermen were fishing a good 2-7 miles south of me and a very solid north wind was picking up.

When I began paddling, my plan was to pull 2 crawler harnesses and a crankbait. For the first 2 miles I had lots of problems as my rigs were constantly getting weeded up which makes them worthless. Once I hit 12-feet of water that was not an issue but the north wind was pushing me south at warp speed and in the back of my mind. I kept thinking, how am I going to fish back to camp, or even make headway?

Once again, I want to remind you the theme of this column. I think I found an excellent place to fish, duck hunt, camp and simply enjoy a great view that has big enough water, Lake Pepin, that a little problem like the wind was not going to bother me.

When I started paddling north it was everything I had to make headway and there were some fishermen around me that could probably see that. Good news did come my way when I had a hit on one of my crawler harnesses and then things got a bit nasty. I caught my trophy, a sheepshead, but all of my lines crossed because I was being pushed backwards and before I had the mess taken care of I had lost a hard earned mile.

Until well after dark this was my story. I caught 3 more sheepshead and when I made it to the campground shore fishermen were thoroughly enjoying life. I had a neighbor that had come by bike and I knew that I was home.

The following day the predicted north wind was even stronger and so I fished within a mile of camp and did not catch a thing. All day I watched the boats with motors heading south and I kept thinking, it’s time to get the War Eagle out and give my arms and back a break. I just finished my 5th trip in a row by canoe, truly found a place that you will read about again and that my friends, is this week’s learning experience.

Going from paddling to turning a key! Sunset

Ruby in the canoe on the backwaters of the Mississippi River near Bay City in Pierce County.

Walters plan of camping on an island on the Mississippi River near Bay City did not materialize due to high water.

These fishermen on the Mississippi River near Bay City, power their kayaks with their legs.