couriersentinel
Posted on

An Outdoorsman’s Journal A Trip to RememberFLATER’S RESORT - couriersentinel_20240314_ccs-2024-03-14-a-011_art_2.xml

Call 715-861-4414
couriersentinel_20240314_ccs-2024-03-14-a-011_art_2.xml
An Outdoorsman’s Journal By Mark Walters A Trip to Remember Hello friends, This week’s column is all over the map: good, bad, danger and sad! I have to be very vague, to fit it all in! Saturday, Feb. 24 • High 40, Low 26 The pups and I arrived in Kipling, Mich., which is the north end of Little Bay de Noc, just as day became night. We actually arrived with a snowmobile in tow and were coming from another trip. There was not enough daylight to head out on the ice, so two golden retrievers, both in heat, and their papa, slept in the cab of my truck. Sunday, Feb. 25 • High 44, Low 30 Three miles from camp to the truck, this winter, traveling on the ice is a challenge. (To the right) This rainbow trout “steelhead” took a shiner, on a tip-up in the dark. all was well, as they went back and forth to shore several times. This experience was very much a bummer to witness! Monday, Feb. 26 • High 51, Low 29 Here is where crazy sets in. The landing I wanted to use had too much open water, so I had to change my plan. I would pull four sleds, with my Polaris “Classic.” I figured I’d have to travel about three miles to get to where I wanted to live, fish and camp for the next three nights. First challenge, jumping an expansion crack, while pulling four sleds today, it wasn’t easy. Next, I had traveled maybe two miles, when I came to open water. I stopped, let the dogs have a break and went around what was maybe an acre of water, in the middle of a sea of ice. I went by a camp of pop-up shacks and they would end up being about 800 yards from where I decided to make my camp, which is where three rivers come into the north end of Little Bay. There was open water 100 yards from camp, and I put out three tip-ups and started the job of building camp, with my Eskimo shack as my base. At noon, I had a flag and it was fish-on, and it was a good one; after a 10-minute battle, my line went limp. Toward dark, I pulled a tip-up and started jigging in my shack, with a Buckshot Jigging Spoon, tipped with a minnow. After a bit, I had a hit and landed a 19-inch walleye. That made me very happy. No more action and at about 9, I could hear an airboat. It was launched from shore, came across some open water, with red and blue lights on, I knew this was not good. The boat was well lit, kind of like a carp shooters boat, and when it pulled up, it had Masonville Fire Department on it. There were several people in it and I was asked if I was the one that went through the ice. I told them I was on good ice and was fine. I watched as this rig and another coming from my southwest, approached the open water I had driven around. Then, I watched what was a rescue operation of two airboats trying to help people in the water. I figured/hoped I had a light go off on one of my tip-ups at 5:30, the fight was awesome and was I ever surprised, when I caught a beautiful rainbow trout. I went back to the shack; it was still dark, and I figured I might as well jig. I was working a Buckshot Jigging Spoon and it got smacked really hard. The fight was on and it was a challenge, low and behold, I caught a 29-inch walleye. An hour later, it is light out and my daughter, Selina, calls me from Missoula, Mont., and I get a flag where I caught the trout. I put Selina on speaker phone and it is fight-on, as I was spooled in no time. I talked Selina through the whole experience and holy moly, I caught another 29-inch walleye. By 10 a.m., I was getting nervous about last night’s experience and the expansion crack I would have to jump. I broke camp and headed back to my truck, the crack expanded and I was scared to jump it, with four sleds in tow. I made the jump, was electrified with relief, looked behind me, and saw that my rope had broken and three sleds were on the other side of the crack. Everything worked out, until I went to a local sport shop and found out some really bad news. A snowmobile, and a UTV and occupants went into the open water, and one of the fishermen did not survive. Like I said in the beginning of this column, this one would be all over the map! Sunrise FLATER’S RESORT Where the Chippewa & Flambeau Rivers Meet Advertise Here! Call 715-861-4414 581 Advertise Here! Call 715-861-4414 Joe Flater, owner Cadott • Cornell • Lake Holcombe Your Hometown Newspaper www.flatersresort.com 270 N. Cty. E, Holcombe, Wis. 715-861-4414 715-595-4771 www.centralwinews.com Open Year-around | Bar w/food | Gas | Cabins
couriersentinel_20240314_ccs-2024-03-14-a-011_art_2.xml
An Outdoorsman’s Journal By Mark Walters A Trip to Remember Hello friends, This week’s column is all over the map: good, bad, danger and sad! I have to be very vague, to fit it all in! Saturday, Feb. 24 • High 40, Low 26 The pups and I arrived in Kipling, Mich., which is the north end of Little Bay de Noc, just as day became night. We actually arrived with a snowmobile in tow and were coming from another trip. There was not enough daylight to head out on the ice, so two golden retrievers, both in heat, and their papa, slept in the cab of my truck. Sunday, Feb. 25 • High 44, Low 30 Three miles from camp to the truck, this winter, traveling on the ice is a challenge. (To the right) This rainbow trout “steelhead” took a shiner, on a tip-up in the dark. all was well, as they went back and forth to shore several times. This experience was very much a bummer to witness! Monday, Feb. 26 • High 51, Low 29 Here is where crazy sets in. The landing I wanted to use had too much open water, so I had to change my plan. I would pull four sleds, with my Polaris “Classic.” I figured I’d have to travel about three miles to get to where I wanted to live, fish and camp for the next three nights. First challenge, jumping an expansion crack, while pulling four sleds today, it wasn’t easy. Next, I had traveled maybe two miles, when I came to open water. I stopped, let the dogs have a break and went around what was maybe an acre of water, in the middle of a sea of ice. I went by a camp of pop-up shacks and they would end up being about 800 yards from where I decided to make my camp, which is where three rivers come into the north end of Little Bay. There was open water 100 yards from camp, and I put out three tip-ups and started the job of building camp, with my Eskimo shack as my base. At noon, I had a flag and it was fish-on, and it was a good one; after a 10-minute battle, my line went limp. Toward dark, I pulled a tip-up and started jigging in my shack, with a Buckshot Jigging Spoon, tipped with a minnow. After a bit, I had a hit and landed a 19-inch walleye. That made me very happy. No more action and at about 9, I could hear an airboat. It was launched from shore, came across some open water, with red and blue lights on, I knew this was not good. The boat was well lit, kind of like a carp shooters boat, and when it pulled up, it had Masonville Fire Department on it. There were several people in it and I was asked if I was the one that went through the ice. I told them I was on good ice and was fine. I watched as this rig and another coming from my southwest, approached the open water I had driven around. Then, I watched what was a rescue operation of two airboats trying to help people in the water. I figured/hoped I had a light go off on one of my tip-ups at 5:30, the fight was awesome and was I ever surprised, when I caught a beautiful rainbow trout. I went back to the shack; it was still dark, and I figured I might as well jig. I was working a Buckshot Jigging Spoon and it got smacked really hard. The fight was on and it was a challenge, low and behold, I caught a 29-inch walleye. An hour later, it is light out and my daughter, Selina, calls me from Missoula, Mont., and I get a flag where I caught the trout. I put Selina on speaker phone and it is fight-on, as I was spooled in no time. I talked Selina through the whole experience and holy moly, I caught another 29-inch walleye. By 10 a.m., I was getting nervous about last night’s experience and the expansion crack I would have to jump. I broke camp and headed back to my truck, the crack expanded and I was scared to jump it, with four sleds in tow. I made the jump, was electrified with relief, looked behind me, and saw that my rope had broken and three sleds were on the other side of the crack. Everything worked out, until I went to a local sport shop and found out some really bad news. A snowmobile, and a UTV and occupants went into the open water, and one of the fishermen did not survive. Like I said in the beginning of this column, this one would be all over the map! Sunrise FLATER’S RESORT Where the Chippewa & Flambeau Rivers Meet Advertise Here! Call 715-861-4414 581 Advertise Here! Call 715-861-4414 Joe Flater, owner Cadott • Cornell • Lake Holcombe Your Hometown Newspaper www.flatersresort.com 270 N. Cty. E, Holcombe, Wis. 715-861-4414 715-595-4771 www.centralwinews.com Open Year-around | Bar w/food | Gas | Cabins
3-POINT WALCO ATTACHMENTS _______. __ _.____ ______ __ ___.___ !___'#$ ______ _ _____ ___ ____ % _!& _' _(___'#$ _____ !___
Read the printed article...
LATEST NEWS