FALL FISHING AMID THE PANDEMIC
We are driving in a blizzard. This is no small snowstorm. It is a full scale blizzard and snow is piling up on the road. My vehicle, with the boat behind it, slips and slides on the snow covered roads. Both hands grip the steering wheel and I am intently starring out across the front of my vehicle, snow reducing visibility, slushing up the windshield. We are about an hours drive from our home in Hudson and it has been a long, trying drive.
The dam on the Mississippi River north of Red Wing, Minn., provides great fall
fishing for walleyes and sauger.
We are returning from spending a long, lazy weekend in mid October in northern Wisconsin not far from Hayward. We were celebrating my wife, Becky’s sixty fifth birthday at a lavish cabin on a musky lake in Sawyer County. Brenda and Nate Dennis, two friends from Oregon flew in to join us. Nate and I fished for muskies on a part-time basis for most of the weekend with a full day on the water the last day before we left. We never raised a fish. It snowed briefly each day we fished but the snow never stayed for long. Now we were in a major, early season blizzard which seemed to get worse with every minute and mile we drove.
Summer fishing had been inconsistent and we hoped once fall started fishing would pick up. It hadn’t. Bass fishing continued to get worse and a muskie fishing trip in mid September and early October on a well known muskie lake in Polk County produced nothing except one follow from a mid forty inch muskie which follow my bait to the boat before disappearing.
Doug Hurd with a sauger caught on the Mississippi River.
When we finally got home, the driveway was covered in thick, wet snow. It took three of us to get the boat pushed in the garage. The boat was encased in slush which had turned into ice. Nate and I had vague plans to hit the Mississippi River the next day for walleye and sauger fishing. The next morning we were greeted with about six inches of snow on the ground and the boat still covered in ice and slush. I wasn’t certain I could get the car with the boat out of the driveway, plus I had no idea how bad the boat landing on the Mississippi River would be. It just didn’t look good so we scrapped the fishing idea, made a big breakfast instead and drank lots of coffee.
The next day we took Nate and Brenda to the airport in Minneapolis for their flight home. Within another day the snow began to melt. It was leaving as quickly as it came a couple days earlier. I didn’t know what this rapid melt would do to the river. I know in spring a sudden snow storm and melt meant high, muddy water, tough fishing and a slow bite.
THE PANDEMIC RESURGES
The pandemic, which haunted us from early March was on the rise too. Covid-19 seemed to subside a bit over the summer as predicted with warmer weather. We finally were able to go out to restaurants and bars. Becky and I as well as my fishing buddies were cautiously going out to cafés and restaurants mainly for breakfast the mornings we were going fishing. We picked and choose the places we ate at based upon how many others were there. If there were too many people we just drove on to another place. We continued to wear masks.
With snow on the ground fall fishing for walleyes and sauger, like the one Scott Clark is holding,
is still very productive on the Mississippi River.
All the medical experts were warning of a surge in Coronavirus cases once fall started with the onslaught of cooler weather. A number of other activities were impacted too as we tried to return to some sense of normalcy. Schools wrestled with what new precautions they needed to take. My two granddaughters living in La Crosse returned to school but their school week was entirely remote virtual instruction. Their experience were similar to many children throughout the state.
The pandemic affected fall sports programs from junior high school to professional sports. Schools had to decide which sports were to be abandoned and which could resume with changes to their normal activities. The Badger/Gopher football game, a big event for both schools, was cancelled in late fall because of Covid-19. It was reported after the cancellation that over forty players on the Gopher football team tested positive for the Coronavirus. Even professional football felt the affects of the pandemic and games were delayed and rescheduled due to outbreaks of Covid-19 within their teams.
When we picked up Nate and Brenda at the airport they, as well as all the other people waiting at the arrival doors of the Minneapolis airport, wore masks. Plus the entire time they were on the airplane they were required to wear masks. Normally on a long weekend up north we would have gone out once a day for either breakfast or lunch and there would have been some shopping at local stores and gift shops. That didn’t happen on our long weekend. We brought all our food up north with us so we wouldn’t need to go out to restaurants and the girls didn’t go shopping. The Covid-19 had changed our fall vacation plans as well.
Rod Ellner with a late fall sauger caught on jigs and minnows.
EARLY NOVEMBER
It is early November and we are now fishing the Mississippi River for walleyes and sauger. Like fishing any time of the year, weather is a factor but in the fall it seems even more erratic. After a record breaking October blizzard and a few days of cold temperatures and biting winds the weather turned warm. But it might be the last good day because tomorrow the weather forecast calls for colder temperatures and rain, perhaps mixed with snow.
As my buddy, Doug Hurd of Eagan, Minn., and I drive to the river it is bright and sunny with a fifty degree temperature. By the time we get to the river just north of Red Wing, Minnesota temperatures are hitting sixty degrees. There are always a few days of warm weather in the fall but nothing this warm in November. The weather pendulum continues to swing. Water levels remain normal or even a bit down from other years in the fall.
Doug catches the first fish, a keeper sauger, with an Acme Hyper Rattle. He lets the jig hit the bottom and then rips it up with a rapid movement of the spinning rod. We are fishing in eighteen to twenty three feet of water. I am fishing with a firetiger colored blade spoon. People are telling us the fishing is slow but no one is complaining about the weather. We see people fishing in shorts and t-shirts. In November? I have seen that before.
I have a hard strike and the fish stays deep. My spinning rod is doubled over as the drag on my reel gives out line. I stop the fish from running off and start getting it off the bottom. It puts up a tough fight by the time I lead it into the net. The fish is a large sauger, swollen with spawn so I slip it back in the water once a photo is taken.
Doug and I continue to get strikes and we are putting fish in the livewell. I catch our last keeper fish as Doug is putting things away for us to leave for the day. We caught over thirty fish, mostly sauger and kept our limit of eight. The key to our success was we didn’t give up and continued fishing. Our persistence payed off. Two days later temperatures are at freezing and it is snowing.
The pandemic continues to get worse. Hospitals are filling up and they are running out of beds. Doctors and nurses are being overwhelmed. As a country and as a state we are surpassing infections rates almost daily. We are being urged to stay at home as much as possible and limit gatherings. Huge numbers of people voted in the national elections in early November with record amount of mail in ballots or early voting simply to reduce the potential of further infections.
Our lives are changing. My wife and I no longer go out to restaurants. We are still supporting local places by getting take out and delivery orders. We don’t shop at stores now. We order on line and have our groceries and other items brought out to us at pick up spots in the parking lot. Everyone is wearing masks.
Some of the activities allowed with the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 is fishing and hunting. I continue to go fishing. My fishing buddies and I are social distancing even in the confines of a boat and of course we are outside in the wind and fresh air which should provide some form of protection. Hunting seasons for ducks and pheasants are in full swing along with bow hunting for deer. The gun deer season begins soon. There is still some sense of normalcy in the outdoors.
Scott Clark shows another use of pandemic masks as a wind break for the face while
fishing in the late fall.
MID NOVEMBER
It is mid November and there is snow on the ground with ice under the snow. I brush most of the snow off my vehicle and turn on the defroster on the windshield to melt the ice. The ice is gone by the time my fishing buddy, Scott Clark of Hudson, Wisc., arrives and we load his gear in the boat and leave for the river. It is sunny with blue skies and temperatures are rising as we drive to the river. There seems to be less snow the further we drive south but the wind seems to have picked up.
Once we launch and head upriver to the dam Scott displays another reason to use face masks. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out one of the masks he uses at work and puts it on, telling me it makes a good wind break. I never thought of that but he does have a good point. There won’t be any t-shirts or shorts today. As we pull up to fish the water close to the bank I see a bald eagle in the tree above. I take that as a good omen. We are fishing in a little over twenty feet of water.
I catch the first fish on a blade spoon and Scott catches the next five fish on minnows with a three rig we use. It is similar to the famed Wolf River Rig. Instead of a bell shaped sinker we use a one ounce chartreuse jig on a twelve to sixteen inch leader. The other leader is two to two and half feet long with three chartreuse bead and a size six or eight hook. I have a sharp rap on my bait and set the hook as the fish runs off. The fish stays deep, fighting hard against my spinning rod. It is the first keeper sauger of the day. After that I catch five more fish on blade spoons.
Next to the bank it is raining as the snow, on the branches of the trees hanging over the bank, is melting. In early afternoon the sky is covered in gray clouds blocking out the sun. It looks like we could get more snow. It is that time of the year. With the sun gone the fishing slows down. An hour and a half later the sun begins to break though the cloud cover and we see blue skies behind it and the fishing begins to pick up again. By late afternoon as we are heading back to the boat landing it is sunny again but the temperatures are dropping as we are approaching sun down. We caught twenty six fish and kept seven.
LATE NOVEMBER
Coronavirus cases continue to rise as we get into late November. The new surge is changing things we do. Deer hunting camps are adjusting to the reality of the pandemic. Older camp members, especially those who may have additional health risks, are the most vulnerable to Covid-19. Many of them are skipping this year’s hunt. Some deer camps are missing hunters who might have to travel some distances to join them. There is a great deal of uncertainty.
A friend of mine who has hunted the same camp for years decided not to hunt this year because of Cocid-19. Instead he and another one of his hunting buddies went to camp a couple days before the season started to get it ready for those hunters who still were planning on attending. After the season they were returning to close the camp for the winter.
Thanksgiving has been altered this year. Typically, it is a day of family, food and football. In our case the kids and grandkids as well as other family members and friends gather for the day. Normally there are a couple turkeys and a bunch of side dishes. No one goes hungry and everyone is stuffed while we watch the afternoon football games.
This year our family made the difficult decision to cancel our family Thanksgiving gathering. My wife and I, as well as many of our friends and hundreds of other families this year were alone. We still made the turkey but it was a much smaller bird since it was only going to be for just two of us. We had the traditional sides such as green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy and dressing topped off with a pecan pie. We put a fire in the fireplace and watched football but the evening football game was cancelled since one of the teams had a rapid spike in positive Covid-19 tests.
It is late November and when I go out to me vehicle early in the morning I see frost laced across the windshield. Skies are blue with thin white clouds. It is cold but little wind so it might not be too chilly on the river. By the time my buddy Rod Ellner from Hudson, Wisc., arrives I have the ice off the windshield, we hook up the boat and head south to the Mississippi River near Red Wing, Minn., stopping enroute to pick up minnows. Blade spoons and other jigs have been working well but we get the minnow just for insurance.
I have gone through a number of jigs and picked up only four or five small fish. Rod is using minnows and has two fish in the livewell. Rod yells he has a fish and dropping my spinning rod, I grab the net. He leads a keeper size sauger into the net and after twisting out the hook he drops it in the livewell. I admit I might be stubborn but I can see a pattern here and quickly put away my jig rod for the spinning rod with my three way rig on it. As I am baiting the jig and other hook with minnows Rod mentions to me he caught the last fish in thirty feet of water. We had been fishing in twenty to twenty five feet of water but had inadvertently drifted into deeper water. You don’t have to hit me alongside the head with a paddle for me to see the deeper water might be more productive along with minnows.
With the trolling motor I moved us into thirty feet of water and instantly have a strike. It is a keeper sauger. Even without the wind it is cold on the river. We are dressed as if we were ice fishing and wearing gloves. I hear the guttural honking of geese and look up to see a line of Canada geese stretched out on the horizon. We hear eagles chattering and screeching in the trees.
I keep the boat in couple feet either side of thirty feet of water and we continue to get strikes. A fish hits my bait hard and when I set the hook the fish momentarily doesn’t move and then slowly moves off. My spinning rod is bent in half and line is pulling off the reel. The fish stays deep. It feels like a catfish but after a couple of minutes I finally see the fish just under the surface of the water. It is a golden brown walleye and it is big. It still has lots of fight in it and it take another minute before I can lead it into the net. The fish is thick, swollen with spawn and measures twenty one inches. I slip it back into the water.
It is getting late in the afternoon. The sun is sinking lower toward the western bank. We decide to fish another half hour longer but a couple minutes later Rod catches the last keeper fish we need to fill our combined eight fish limit. It is getting colder and we have our limit so we see no reason to stay any longer. The fishing season is starting to end.
IN RETROSPECT
It has been an extraordinary fall. Although bass and muskie fishing earlier in the fall wasn’t productive, we had good fishing on the Mississippi River for walleyes and sauger. There have been a couple slow days but for the most part we have been catching fish and keeping limits or close to limits on many days. The size of the fall fish have been larger than we have seen in other years. The summer had been slow for fishing but many of my friends have remembered some ten of twelve years ago we had the same situation and fall fishing was wonderful. Apparently, that is what has happened this fall.
Another unique outcome is that this fall we saw very few fish other than walleye and sauger. Normally, in the fall you will catch catfish, sturgeon and white bass along with an assortment of other fish. Almost anything found in freshwater is found in the Mississippi River and the number of strange fish that can be caught in the fall is sometimes unbelievable. In my boat two fisherman caught a foot long sucker but that was it for different fish. However, one morning we saw a boat with two fishermen catching big yellow perch. They caught at least half a dozen perch and they kept them. It is hard to find a better eating fish than a perch.
The weather was strange. The fall weather pendulum kept swinging but generally you can expect the weather to start warm and end cold. The first ten days of December were unusually warm but that wasn’t going to last for long. There are those who fish the Mississippi River all winter long but I’m not one of them. Once the temperatures stay steadily in the twenties for a daytime high it is my sign for the season to end and to put away the boat until spring.
There seems to be little slowing down for the coronavirus and it is looking more and more inevitable Christmas will look much like Thanksgiving with families staying home by themselves. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Vaccines have been developed and are in production with distribution possibly starting by the end of December. It may take a few months before everyone who wants the vaccine will get it but there is a realistic chance by spring we may have broken the back of Covid-19. Until then, let us all hang in there, continue to mask, maintain social distancing, stay at home as much as we can and be safe for each other so we can all get through this together.
EDITORS NOTE: Mike Yurk’s column is sponsored by Warner’s Dock in New Richmond, Wisconsin. Warner’s Dock is the premier marine dealer in northwestern Wisconsin. They have a complete supply of new and used boats, motors, and trailers as well as other marine supplies plus a complete maintenance staff for all your boating needs. They can be contacted through their website at www.warnersdock.com or by telephone at 1-888-222-3625.