An Outdoorsman's Journal

   Spring Lake, From Perch to Gators

Hello friends,

   For about 6 years I have traveled to Buffalo City which is on the Mississippi River about 40 miles north of Lacrosse. Each spring I’ve fished from shore for perch or walleye just south of town. I use my atv, build a camp and either fish below the lock and dam, or on a small stream that has culverts going underneath the dike road that for about 2 weeks each year can be a "perch hole," as perch from the Mississippi river travel up this stream that most of the year runs very low but has good water each early spring for the perch to spawn.

   Tuesday, March 12th
   High 53, low 32

   I was at the boat landing just south of town and had just arrived with a pretty good sized task of getting all my gear into a trailer, going for a short ride, building a camp and then fishing from shore for the next couple of days and hopefully putting a hurting on some sumo perch.
   Reality hit me when a man that I have spoken with each year that reads this column in the Buffalo County Journal and is a very avid fisherman told me that the perch were not at the "tubes" as they are called. Crazy as it may sound, there are four hardcore fishermen that read this column in the same paper that I speak with quite a bit when I fish here but I do not know them at all. I would speak with 3 of the 4 in 30 minutes and they all had the same message.
   Well there was some ice left on the Spring Lake, no one on it though, which can be a very good place to ice fish and I did have my auger, some tip ups, shiners and rosey's "orange minnows." So, I made an executive decision, if I could get on the ice and that was a large if, as the shore ice was in very poor condition, I would camp at Spring Lake and try to catch a world record northern pike. I had hip boots and knee boots for footwear; I would find out the hard way that both leak.
   I set out 3 tip ups and built camp which as usual would be with my Eskimo pup up shack. The flags were quiet but the air temp was excellent so I made myself very comfortable and read a book. I am reading A Civil War Treasury, and it was written by Albert Nofi. Folks, you want to learn about what life was like back in the 1860's during the Civil War, read this book.
   I will tell you a little story that is a regular part of my life and has been since I was 4 years old. I dream about being a soldier in the Civil War, the dream is generally the same, marching, fighting and camp life and the mood is always sullen. It’s unique, but has been a part of my life for 60 years. Any mention, any time of the Civil War gets my attention.
   Anyways, back to fishing. No hungry fish for me and I noticed my shore ice was becoming open water but then I got a flag and had no cares and just like that landed a 28 inch-northern pike. I give my neighbors fish, they help with my cattle when I am away from home and I knew where my Y boned gator was going. Twenty minutes before dark I got a chunky 29-incher and that put me in a pretty excited mood for my next morning of fishing.
   Just to end the day with a splash, I kind of went through the ice in about 18-inches of water a jump away from shore. My feet got wet and I came up with a grand plan to use my Otter Sled for a bridge and had zero problems the rest of the trip.

   Wednesday, March 13th
   High 38, low 27

   A very brisk northwest wind and a bit of snow along with a lot of migrating waterfowl overhead is how I started my day. Though the shore ice was weak, the 15 inches of ice on the lake had frozen up real nice overnight. The gators were hungry all day but ran small. I was running low on shiners and so I did an old trick and put a rosey red on the hook with a dead shiner. The rosey red keeps the set up moving and the I feel the red color is an excellent attractant.
   I read my book, cooked and lived well. I even filleted my catch and just before dark headed the loaded atv and trailer back to the landing and arrived home about 2 hours after dark well aware that the season of ice is melting away.

   Sunset