An Outdoorsman’s Journal: 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 80s, are my prior military buddies and each year we get together with members of my deer camp and a few other good people for two days of howling at the moon and musky fishing on the Eagle River chain of lakes for a friendly competition with just under 20 teams. Saturday, Aug. 24 – High 77, low 50 To say that I only put about 30% effort into winning this weekend bash would be correct. To say that I put 150% 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 with the 115th Tactical Fighter Wing, and I are the last ones to bed each night.

Yesterday everyone arrived and we stayed at Hiawatha Motel in Eagle River. This place is perfect for having fun and they have a dock for your boat. We had an informal meeting outside by all of our boats and a shindig with beer. This year I served my homemade chili over noodles with Polish rye bread. The energy at this event is top notch and for everyone. Not only is it my military buddies, but it is also the official start to The Red Brush Gang’s 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 longtime 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 me. It has been three 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 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, or in some cases five 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, troublemaking 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. 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

Mark Walters