An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Home for a weekend

Hello friends, First things first: I want to apologize for being way ahead on my column deadlines as well as missing sturgeon spearing. In January I had a tree fall on my truck, which changed by mobility in a major way; then my beautiful golden retriever Ruby became ill and passed away. I got my truck back after three weeks, Ruby is in heaven, and it was time for an interesting time in the world of sturgeon spearing. I got the nasty gunk of an illness that has been going around for a week and it kept me off the ice.

So, back to the fun. The Polencheck family out of Glidden are good buds of mine and have been for about 25 years. We try to do something at least once a year, and this year it was two days of ice fishing, eating good food, and giving each other a hard time.

Saturday, Jan. 25 — High 21, low 12 Today would be a fun day full of adventure on the ice. Our crew consisted of myself; Scott Polencheck; his children Gunner (23), Preston (21), and Jersey (19); Scott’s brother Bruce Polencheck; and Mike Dunlevey, who owns Bear Necessities, a convenience store in Glidden that has excellent gas prices and some really cool taxidermy. Once we hit the ice we would travel by ATV and UTV. This was a big homecoming for Scott, as Preston was home from working in Alabama and Jersey was home for the weekend from school in Eau Claire, where she is studying to be a respiratory therapist. I want to say that actually Scott, Bruce, and I started our day crappie fishing on another lake and both Polencheck brothers insisted that I write that I caught the first, most, biggest, and only crappies of the outing. So anyways, our plan was to fish for walleye and northern pike with tip-ups, have a campfire and fish fry, and give each other crap. Let me tell you about the four Polencheck men. If a flag goes up, you would think a nuclear missile is on its way, as they get super excited and were a bit perturbed throughout the weekend about my rather “casual manner” in walking to the action. Folks, today would be a day full of laughs on a beautiful body of water with snow falling and flags flying. “Jersey Cow,”as I call her, and I teamed up together, as I had six tip-ups in my pack. It was really fun and she caught the day’s only walleye. Preston, I would learn today, is actually called “Chicken,” so if anyone sees Preston, please address him as Chicken. I am sure he will appreciate that. In the early 90s I lived in Glidden and then bought a home and 5 acres for $10,500 near Mellen. Little side note there.

Anyhow, the day was busy because the gators were hungry and Jersey Cow was quite naturally teaching her siblings how to catch fish, and did I tell you? The males in the Polencheck clan about soil their pants if a flag goes up and you aren’t running to it. I am sure Gunner, Chicken, Scott, and Bruce wanted me to write that. Towards dark a stove was pulled out, five gators were filleted and Y boned, and Bruce Polencheck created what might have been the best fish fry I have ever enjoyed. Shore Lunch “beer batter” with a bit of chili powder was/is the best.

The next day we headed towards Butternut and fished gators with tip-ups. It was cold and windy, but the gators were very hungry. Out of seven of us, as Gunner’s sweetie, Taylor Wineberger, was also along, the Jersey Cow and Taylor were on fire. They both literally seemed to constantly have a flag up and Taylor caught the big fish of the day. In all honesty, I bet we caught 50 fish and most of the time, the flags came up in doubles and triples.

I am sure the Polencheck boys want me to write that I taught them how to fish this weekend, especially Chicken and Gunner, but I want you to know that they already had a pretty “fairly” good idea of what they were doing.

Dear Chicken and Gunner, please send a check for your fishing lessons! Sunset

Mark Walters