An Outdoorsman’s Journal

By: Mark Walters

Four Days on the Frozen Waters of Lake Superior

Hello friends, Who would have thought that a day that would reach 80-degrees in Necedah would see myself and 3 good friends Rick Miotke, Jeff Moll and his son Nate, heading out onto the ice for a couple of miles and 4 days of winter camping at Ashland on Lake Superior?

On this same day a UTV would go through the ice due to current and warm weather.

Friday, March 14 High 56, low 29

Two round trips by 2 ATVs pulling multiple sleds and people ensured that our gang of 4 was ready to start building our camp which would consist of 3 Eskimo ice shacks and a whole lot of gear. For myself, this is my favorite “ice escape” of the year and that is because whether it is on a jig pole or a tip-up you never know what you are going to catch until you see it. On this trip we would catch smelt, coho salmon, brown trout, northern pike, perch, burbot, splake and have a $5.00 per big fish bet on each so as you can imagine, there is a lot of competition. Today was all about travel, getting our gear out a couple of miles, setting up camp, fishing and having fun. I cannot remember the exact facts but at night’s end we had a couple of perch and a coho. Someone, late in the evening, may have sabotaged the length of one of the perch. Very late in the evening when it was just the Jeff and Mark show. I had a heck of a good fight with what would be a 23.5 inch walleye that in the end would have a floy tag attached to it which is used to study fish populations and angler catch.

Saturday, March 15 High 49, low 26

Today there would be a major wind storm that wreaked havoc on our camp and made it so that almost constant thought was required to keep our shacks from blowing away. Our gang of 4 had a blast and caught some beautiful fish, including a couple of perch just under 13-inches in length, several burbot, smelt, one northern pike, a splake, brown trout and one heck of a lot of laughing.

We ate great meals. Last night Nate made steak, and tonight Rick made wild rice soup. About 10ish I caught a 22.5-inch walleye. About 3ish in the a.m., I caught a 26-inch walleye that propelled the “elder Moll” and myself to fish until 4:30 a.m.

Sunday, March 16 High 28, low 19

We have witnessed spring and now winter on this trip. The winter part is a good thing because though there is a good 24 inches of ice, it was getting a bit on the weak side.

Today would be a day of coho on the rather small side but very tasty with more getting away than we would catch. The “Elder Moll” was on a rather “cold streak” as in not catching much but today that would turn around as he caught a 21-inch splake and what would beat the winning coho. Rick had big burbot, Nate had big gator and I would take big perch, walleye and brown trout.

A trip like this is a constant test as in not falling on the ice or through it. Fatigue is huge and how to adjust to actually catch what you are after and then of course there is the weather.

We had so much fun that we are going to keep doing it until we are too old to do it.

And with that I would have to say, I think my winter sports are about over until next fall.

Sunset

Jeff Moll, Mark Walters and Rick Miotke after 4 great days on the frozen waters of Lake Superior at Ashland.

Mark Walters caught this walleye that had a Floy tag attached to it, which is used for research in population dynamics and angler catch studies.

Three trips like this were required to get all of our gear off the ice.