An Outdoorsman's Journal

The Fox, The Walleye, The Flesh

Hello friends,

   Last week I wrote to you that I had to lay low and stay out of the sun for a bit as I was going through a treatment for Actinic keratoses which is potential precancerous skin cancer cells. In short, a chemical was put on my face, ears and the top of my head. It was there for 2 hours, then I underwent BLU-U therapy for 16 minutes and 40 seconds. In other words, my head was baked, I could not go outside or be near a window. Four days later my face fell off and now I am looking good and feeling good. Special thanks to the staff at Marshfield Clinic and Hospital, we are blessed to have this facility in our region.
   Long story short, I have been dealing with precancer and skin cancer for 25 years. Wear a hat, long sleeve shirt and sunscreen, none of the process dealing with it is inexpensive or painless.

   Monday, March 30th
   High 64, low 36

   I would be getting my treatment 24 hours after returning from this expedition and one of the stipulations was that I could not have sunburn. My plan around that was to paddle troll for monster walleye on the Fox River below the dam at De Pere near Green Bay. Each spring from early March to the spawn, around mid-April, this 2 mile stretch of river attracts fishermen in large numbers from all over the Midwest who try to catch a walleye over 28-inches which is how large they have to be to keep, in reality almost all that size are released.
      I used to fish from shore at Voyageur Park in De Pere and did catch a 30-incher one year. In all honesty, I do not like fishing that close to people that I do not know. Next, I fished from my boat for a few years but simply wanted the challenge to be increased. So, then I started fishing out of my 17-foot canoe about 10-years ago and have caught several walleye 28-inches or larger and even to catch a 23 is a heck of a thrill in hard current while in a canoe.
       Back to the skin/sun thing. My fishing would be for the most part after dark to prevent problems and because there is less boat traffic and wind. I would use 3 rods rigged with crankbaits and one with a left planer board, another with a right and one straight back. Another tid bit that I was told several times at a very busy landing at Brown County fairgrounds is, they are not biting.
     I started setting lines while paddling down river and when I had three out headed upriver towards the dam. If a person can tell when people are talking about you, this was one of those times. I have never seen anyone in a canoe doing this and I paddle by many fishermen. The art of the game is to keep a distance from fellow humans and if you get a snag while going upriver react, but do not panic. In other words, turn your rig around, do not drift into anyone and hopefully retrieve your quarry.
      Folks, I paddled for 8 hours, until 1:00 am, I did not see a fish caught nor did I get a hit. I took a snooze in The GMC Hotel and then paddled until 10.00 am, did not get a hit or see a see a fish caught. I started the 140-mile drive home and was fine until the last 10 miles and holy moly it was like I had drank a quart of whiskey, but hadn’t. I made it home, walked in the house and went to bed.

   Tuesday, April 9th
   High 41, low 28

I have never been totally skunked on this mission and returned tonight.
  The BLU-U treatment caused a bit of discomfort, mostly fatigue and my face falling off on Easter Sunday but now I look 21 again. The reports at the landing were not good as I rigged my canoe but my excitement just to paddle, explore, challenge myself and hopefully catch a fish exceeded the slow catching stories.
    There are a heck of a lot of pelicans here on the Fox and my guess is that they must eat hundreds of pounds of fish a day, maybe even thousands, I wonder what kind of fish they eat on the Fox. In my journey I witnessed two walleye being caught. It was very much a challenge to maneuver between the fishermen, but I do not think I ticked anyone off.
       For the most part I sit on my knees squatting, I sit lower this way and have more control of all situations. I am good for about 2 hours and then everything goes numb from the knees to my toes but all I have to do is straighten out for 5 minutes and I am fine.
      I tried every crankbait in the box and did not get a strike, I have friends that fish here in boats that are very good at catching, all my reports this spring for this stretch of river have been of slow catching.
       For me I killed 2 birds with one stone, got a story out while working vampire hours and hopefully killed some potential skin cancer.

Be wise with sun exposure, teach your children!

Sunset