It’s Still Fishing
By John Lindeman
Take what you can get!
This scenario rears its ugly head each and every year. Once or twice between mid-summer and early fall every fish in Wisconsin seems to virtually disappear.
Just as predictable as this virtual mass exodus is our reaction to the annual event. We find ourselves motoring back to the dock with a dry live well in complete and utter shock, surprise, amazement, confusion, and denial.
When you can’t coax a single fish into your 21-foot fiberglass leviathan that is filled with enough technology to get another Apollo mission to the moon, there is nothing you can do about it. That’s why it’s called “fishing” and not “catching.” When biting fish disappear and it catches you by surprise, it’s time for a reality check.
Wisconsin fishermen can and do get spoiled. From spring spawning runs on the rivers to fall feeding binges atop the last patches of green weeds, we all catch, release, or harvest our fair share of fish.
Since history is destined to repeat itself, why not come up with an alternative plan of attack when this sort of thing happens? What might be needed is a simple “take what you can get” approach, trying to catch something besides the prized quarry.
There are a few things guaranteed to thrill all fishermen, no matter their age. Watching a bobber vanish below the surface is awesome. Feeling a glob of worms suddenly sucked off the bottom with a flick of the line always starts the adrenaline flowing.
So when the fish you usually chase seem to have left town, try an angling approach that will reconnect you with your fishing roots. It no doubt has something to do with the “take what you can get” approach.
My fishing roots involve the 1970s, a Schwinn Sting Ray, recently dug garden worms, and a creek close enough to pedal to. My hometown of Beloit, Wisconsin, is literally surrounded by creeks and small rivers. Turtle Creek (bass), Sugar River (everything), and Taylor Creek (suckers, carp, northern, bass, and snakes) are just a few of them. I had endless opportunities and the summers off to take advantage of the bounty.
Some of my exploits inspired Dad to fire up the Plymouth Furry III and drive us to destinations I could not get to by bike. Think back to those simpler times. Carp on Dad’s fly rod, put and take trout on corn and red horse suckers on worms—I know this rings a bell.
Currently, the home turf is Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I now drive a car and buy (most of) my worms. But the “take what you can get” approach sure comes in handy when my Winnebago and Green Bay walleyes seem to be vacationing in Canada.
Getting someone interested in fishing may start in a small creek up to your knees in water. Just ask Hannah Robinson of Milwaukee, who hoists her first smallmouth like a pro.
Our state’s creeks and small rivers offer endless opportunities wherever you live. Ponds are also great places to find cooperative fish during tough bites. No matter where you are reading On Wisconsin Outdoors, you have these opportunities.
When I realize it is time to take what I can get, my go-to water is the not-so-secret Milwaukee River. The secrets I have about that river include locations of deeper holes and current breaks that hold fish. I have stumbled across these spots by wading in and around stretches of the river for over a decade.
To be successful doesn’t take much tackle, just a little savvy and luck. The hardest part of getting ready will be finding a few split shot weights and bait hooks that have found their way to the bottom of those storage compartments in your 21-foot rocket in the driveway.
A small backpack is great for stuffing everything into, especially a cell phone in a plastic bag. Get some worms and off to the creek you go. If you run out of bait, endless supplies of small creatures that fish eat are under the rocks and in the weeds along the bank of the water you’re fishing.
At the creek, follow the beaten path to the bank. Some spots are pre-marked by those forked sticks used to prop up fishing rods for bank anglers. When you start feeling young again, take a step off the path and trek right into the water. Like most small streams and rivers, the Milwaukee River has vast stretches of water less than a foot deep, which makes for easy wading.
The holes and current breaks are easy to spot and just as easy to get to when wading. Take your time and watch your footing. The rest should come natural, like it did when you were 12. Cast that glob of worms into deeper water and hang on. Drift the grasshopper you snatched up on the bank past the big rock in the shade and watch the water explode. When slipping that first fish back into the water, what turned you on to fishing years ago will come back in a flash.
Be honest. Wasn’t it the searching for fishy spots, making that perfect cast, and the joy of success that attracted you to fishing years ago? It didn’t matter what you caught. Not getting skunked was the victory.
When I again started fishing creeks a few years ago, I had trouble letting go of the technology and the vast array of lures at my disposal. I spent hours wading upstream, casting the latest bass bait and catching a few fish along the way. Everything changed when I left the lures at home and grabbed some bait.
That’s when the river came alive. A few smallies turned into rock bass, northern, catfish, carp, suckers, bluegills, chubs, bullheads; the list of biters is still growing. For example, I had no idea that my stretch of the river held bluegills until I ran out of worms one day.
On that day, I dusted off an ice jig and loaded it with a bug I found under a rock. It was that bug that looks like a tiny armadillo. When I dropped that armadillo next to some tree roots by the bank, I found a school of ‘gills that thought they were Great White Sharks.
My best times on the river were taking my daughters wading. They usually caught so many fish that all I had time to do was take fish off and bait hooks. They screamed equally loud over the suckers as they did the bass. What a blast.
Will I ever tell my wife that I have just as much fun fishing close to home at a cost of a dozen crawlers? Heck no. I will, however, keep trying to get her up to Bay’s de Noc in November. Maybe I should set my sights a little lower and break the ice by asking her to go wading in the Milwaukee River instead.
It’s nothing but wisdom when you take what you can get!