Fun time on ice-fishing outing

Once again I have returned from another really fun trip! This past week, I headed north with my stepsons, Joey and Travis Dushek, who are 16 and 18.

We met my friends Kurt Weinand Jr. and his girlfriend, Sarah Bricco, who are from Clintonville. The five of us stayed at a family-owned cabin on a small lake that is located near the Catfish chain of lakes, which is near Eagle River.

You may remember the column that I wrote on Kurt Weinand (kurtjr@charter.net) last spring, as he is the young man who has a dream of becoming a multi-species hunting and fishing guide.

Friday, Jan. 22

High 34, Low 24

After the five of us unloaded our gear into a cabin that was built in the 1930s, we loaded our Otter Sleds and began trudging through deep slush to a part of the lake where Kurt and Sarah had good luck catching walleye last summer.

I mentioned the deep slush because as we would find out on this adventure, much of northern Wisconsin was plagued with slush-covered ice, which made driving a truck on the ice virtually impossible

Our weekend adventure would be on foot and our base camp was my 12-by-6-foot portable shack which is new this winter and is being broken in quite properly. Which means lots of laughs and fish caught from inside of it.

Early in the outing we were just catching small perch and then a legal walleye was iced that got every ones attention in a positive way.

Towards dark, Kurt set up a propane grill and cooked brats for everyone. After dark, all five of us piled into my shack that had two propane lanterns going as well as a heater. We began a night of jigging for walleye and hoping that our lit tip-ups would also help us a catch a few walleye.

It was about this time that I went on a cold spell and literally could not buy a bite.

The gang caught walleye of which some were legal and most were not. My cold spell lasted until after dark the next night and was the cause of many jokes that were all sent in my direction.

Saturday, Jan. 23

High 33, Low 25

Today was truly a fun day for all five of us! Everyone has become comfortable with each other and we all have the same goal, which is catching fish and having fun

I met Kurt in a Farm and Fleet last winter and struck up a conversation with him. Fast forward 11 months and I am heading out on the ice with the boys to our base camp. Kurt and Sarah went exploring to a different part of the lake to find active fish.

Two hours later, the boys and I had not had a bite and Sarah and Kurt had discovered an area that that was yielding 9-10 perch and a few walleye.

After a physical hike across the lake, the boys and I set up camp and it was pretty exciting watching this couple, which is in their late 20s, put a smack’n on some really nice fish.

The boys were fishing right away and I set up the shack and got it ready for a night of fun and festivities. With about two hours of daylight left, I began fishing and could not catch a fish. Meanwhile, everyone else was catching fish and I felt really lame but was enjoying every minute of our outing.

At dark, everyone piled into the shack and we had really good luck on 14-17-inch walleye.

Travis tried cooking chicken on the grill from inside the shack and after it became extremely smoky, we decided that was not a good idea.

About 8:00, something smacked the Buckshot Jigging Spoon that I was using and just like that I had a 17-inch walleye flopping on the ice. Like last night, we fished until almost midnight and had really good luck.

After the hike back to the cabin, we got into a killer snowball fight and the next thing we knew, it was well after midnight.

Kurt will have to pay his dues as he emerges into the world of becoming a full-time guide but I do predict success!

Pray for a long winter!

Sunset