An Outdoorsman’s Journal
By: Mark Walters
Operation Musky 2024
Hello friends, Just to give you an idea of how fast a lifetime passes. I enlisted in the Wisconsin Air National Guard in 1981 and got out after my enlistment ended in ‘87. I loved the Air Guard, was a weapons loader and was good at it. The problem was, I wanted to canoe up the Mississippi River and the only way to do it was to get out. Fast forward 37 years and some of my closest friends from the 80’s are my prior military buddies. Each year we get together with members of my deer camp and a few other good people for 2 days of howling at the moon and musky fishing on the Eagle River Chain of Lakes for a friendly musky fishing outing with just under 20 teams.
Saturday, August 24 High 77, low 50
To say that I only put about 30 percent effort into winning this weekend bash would be correct. To say that I put 150 percent effort into having as much fun as possible and trying to talk with all 38 fishermen would be true. Generally speaking, my buddy Jeff Moll, who put in 23 years at Truax Field in Madison “115th Tactical Fighter Wing” and I are the last ones to bed each night.
Yesterday everyone arrived, and we stayed at the Hiawatha Motel in Eagle River. This place is perfect for having fun and they have a dock for your boat. We have an informal meeting outside by all of our boats and a shindig with beer and this year I served my homemade chili over noodles with Polish rye bread. The energy at this event is top notch for everyone. Not only is it my military buddies, but it is also the official start to The Red Brush Gangs “our deer camp” season of fun. Today would be a bit different, Jeff Moll is generally my partner but he could not get in the tournament until late in the game, so I asked long time Walters family friend Roger Frank to be my partner. Roger goes all over North America with us and though he couldn’t catch a cold, he is a ton of fun. Because Jeff is Jeff, it was worked out that he would partner up with someone else but fish with Roger and I.
It has been 3 years since Jeff or I caught any form of a fish so were we ever surprised when Jeff latched onto and caught a really, enormously huge, 15-inch northern pike. Little did we know that over the next two days that would be our only fish. Actually, we were not surprised.
We hit the water at 7:30 a.m. but fished until 8.00 p.m. when the gathering ends until the following morning. Besides awing Roger with our skills and ability to talk a lot, our favorite part of the day always is pulling up to another boat of friends and in some cases 5 boats and just shooting the jaw. I am a competitive guy and for the most part, no one can understand how come I suck so much on this given weekend. It’s because I don’t care, which really ticks off my buddy Moll.
Towards dark my stepson Joey Dushek caught a 43-inch musky and my no good, trouble making nephew Trent Schuster, Joey’s partner, netted it for him. Joey is very good at catching musky, only because I taught him how. That comment will get me the cold shoulder for a bit but seriously Joe and Trent do well.
Us old timers in this group of which, I would say half are over 60 and the other half are 25 to 40, have a blast with these kids and I think they have a blast with us. Many of them are our kids or friends of our kids and what I have always said about the outdoor sports is really proven here and that is, if you take your kids hunting and fishing, you will have a friend when they are adults.
Joe and Trent won. Make sure you ask Joe which technique he used that I taught him. The most important thing I can finish with is this. I am proud of my days in the military, our country is free, and we have ourselves a blast each year the last weekend of August.
Sunset
L to r; Roger Frank and Jeff Moll with our only fish of the weekend.
L to r; Joey Dushek and Trent Schuster won this year’s “Operation Musky” fishing get together.
Walters’ favorite part of the week is pulling up to friends and family to BS for a while.
