Great Guides, Great Lakes, Great Fish
2-14-2013
When I sent my daughter off to college, I assured Taylor that the academic...and maybe party experience was the best 10 years of my life. No, I’m not a doctor. But she had no trouble believing both parts of that message. Her own high school grades have inspired more than a few comments regarding how she must take after her mother. And she came home from volunteering in the guidance office at high school last fall, the same school I attended, and said, “Dad...oh my gosh...I saw your high school transcripts...Oh my gosh.” The reason she snuck a look at my grades when given the opportunity was that for four years I had been begging my never-get-in-trouble daughter to get in trouble at least once before graduating. I totally believe in a well-rounded upbringing and never getting into trouble just does not seem American. This is the girl after all who spent senior skip-out day studying advanced algebra. So I didn’t count “skipping out” as a “check” in the getting in trouble once column.
This is kind of my introduction...again...to telling you that being an outdoor writer doesn’t mean you’re talented in the outdoors. I kind of fish like I study. Most all of you are better anglers. Being an outdoor writer does mean you have an opportunity to hang with the greats; the guides and other experts, who are really good at what they do. They let me hang with them because I can take pretty good photos and I can write okay, despite the English teacher’s evaluation of my essay, “Why Chicks Dig Me” in 1976. Yes, it was Fiction. Anyway, professional guides usually like writers with them to tell the story because they personally only grunt to communicate and they are usually just learning the alphabet at about age 42. But they can fish, so we make a good combination...and become fast friends...until they read stuff like this.
We are in production for March-April which hits the streets February 22 and I see that these experts are bringing you great stuff. I’ve been in the field with most of them and they are all so good. This is the part where I brown-nose so they still let me come along). I don’t know which stories will end up on the website at www.onwisconsinoutdoors.com, but in print or online you can expect (among many more) to read late-ice Panfish by Dave Duwe, Gobbler Hunting with kids by Tom Carpenter and calling Tom with JJ Reich, shed antler hunting by Gary Engberg and pre-season scouting by Lee Gatzke, pheasant hunting by Bill Cunnea, walleye run angling with Doc Kunz, keeping a hunting journal by Dan Moericke, stories from our gun cabinet by writers S. Wilkerson and Robb Manning, and how to fish Lake Michigan year round with the Tobin Brothers; Rob and Steve. What do they say about “last but not least”? Let’s talk about these Tobin boys.
Tobin Jewelers, a New Berlin and Mequon based business passed down from generation to generation, started out with “On Wisconsin Outdoors” as a sponsor for our paper and website and ended up with an outdoor column of their own. Like the guides, they are good in the field. But, their expertise like most of us grew first from a love for the outdoors. They go out and learn, often from the experts themselves, but they take it far and now they pass it on to you too. Their column this issue will tell you all the basics you need to know to get started fishing the big lake on the open water or hardwater, with a modest boat or none at all.
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Rob and Steve Tobin fish Lake Michigan.
I met Rob and Steve on the hardwater last week with my camera and notebook. I was going to write some of the details they showed me right here, but then I read their own March-April column. I’m not going to do them a disservice by writing too much. I am going to post a few of the photos I took and several they sent me of recent catches. Make sure though, that you check their column. It’s a really good, informative read. Since Tobin Jewelers is also helping bring this paper to you at no cost, if I were you I would check in to their stores and see what kind of a discount you get for your wife or girlfriend by wearing camo clothing in and introducing yourself. I already did. You’ll like the jeweler the price, and the conversation that strays as much to deer hunting as it does to carats.
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| From a past trip, Rob Tobin shows the very real potential of Lake Michigan Browns with this 20 pound plus monster that he released | Steve Tobin scores again this week with a nice brown that he releases to fight again. |
Now I also wandered north as a reporter to Lake Winnebago for the opening of the spearing season. FYI, I have not spent time yet this season in a shack as a spearer but I will. This trip was intended solely to add to the story the DNR sends us daily. We post the material daily under “Inland Fishing” “Ice Fishing” and “Outdoor News”. To wander a bit, while you’re traveling the website, make sure you check into “Deer Hunting”, “Firearms”, and “Upland Game” this week. We posted lots of new information and stories.
At Wendt’s Landing, they only registered four fish due to poor water clarity and ice conditions. We’re posting 17-year old Nicholaus Oelerich’s 78.6 pound 65-inch sturgeon. Nicholaus speared his first fish while holding vigil with buddy Jake Paulick. Fish Biologist Chip Long of Peshtigo, who was registering sturgeon at Wendt’s with Fisheries Biologist Dave Bartz, and Fish Technician Dave Paynter and Paul Cain, said not only were conditions tough on Winnebago, the population is more robust on the upper lakes and the water clarity better. The harvest was so good on those waters in fact that the season closed there after a few days. Get the details on those links mentioned above.
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| DNR Fisheries biologists and technicians registered just four sturgeon at Wendt’s opening day due to poor water clarity and ice conditions. | Nicholaus Oelerich of Oshkosh, who speared his first sturgeon opening day, drags the 78.6 pound, 65-inch beast toward the registration station. Friend Jake Pavlick, who was in the shack with Oelerich, trails. |
Nicholaus Oelerich of Oshkosh, who speared his first sturgeon opening day, drags the 78.6 pound, 65-inch beast toward the registration station. Friend Jake Pavlick, who was in the shack with Oelerich, trails. More photos will be added to this Blog tomorrow, Friday February 15.
We will add to this blog tomorrow. But the sun is slipping and I’ve got to study some algebra. Actually, there’s a flock of turkeys that are begging to be “shot” as they move to roost. My telephoto is up to the task. See you soon. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis