Latest On Wisconsin Outdoor Columns
6-14-2012
On Wisconsin Outdoors is building. You know that since our website launch in January that we have been posting outdoor stories, reports, photos and news each week under “Inland Fishing”, “Fishing Reports” “Outdoor News”, “Upland Game” “Firearms” and other areas. But we have only just begun and have only just scratched the surface.
Look for our Archery/Bowhunting page to become a primary website category in the very near future with its own drop-down pages to entertain and inform On Wisconsin Outdoors’ archery enthusiasts. Look for our Bear Hunting pages to also kick in next. Every page on this website is scheduled to become active on a weekly basis and we appreciate your patience as we do build on the foundation already set since 2007 with our newspaper available at 700 locations. Send your guide reports, organization notices, stories and outdoor photos. We will post. In the not-too-distant future, we will be among your favorite stops as you chase your need to wallow in everything Wisconsin outdoors.
Beginning now, writer John Luthens will be bringing his column to our website each week. You most likely have already “met” john in our paper. Find his web column today under “Inland Fishing”. We will be introducing many other regular columnists to you as we expand.
If you guys aren’t more careful, you’re going to ruin our reputation as a compassionate-less bunch of ruthless outdoorsman. If you haven’t linked to it under “Trips Elsewhere”, first came a short story last week with photos from outdoorsman Jim Beres about three Wisconsin anglers saving a moose calf in distress on the water in Ontario. Now in a weekly “fishing report” from Price County, Professional Guide John Carlson of Phillips sends us his story and photos of a loon rescue of a bird tangled in fishing line.
I can relate. I’m the guy who stops the lawn mower to move a toad out of the way of an impending haircut in September before heading out and trying very hard to place an arrow in the boiler room of a buck. This really is no contradiction. It has to do with fair chase. Well, and maybe the fact that a toad sandwich isn’t going to compete with tenderloins from a fresh kill. But, link to read a story written long ago about my brother shooting a limb out with a full choke load and “releasing” a Tom turkey stuck for two days in a roosting tree. Really. How did we know the gobbler was stuck for that long? You do have to read this one.
I do get some funny looks as a hunter. “Isn’t that a beautiful wood duck?” I asked my neighbor this spring. “Wouldn’t you just love to shoot him and put him on your wall?” Oh, we are a complicated species.
Read and return often to our “Fishing Reports” and “Inland Fishing” pages. As soon as these many great guides from across Wisconsin send their report each week, we post.
Speaking of great fishing guides, Dennis Walker called this week to say the lake trout action on Big Green is red hot with a caution that great fishing now can shut off. “The water is really clear with visibility good to 30 or 40 feet down which means the fish can see the lures,” Dennis said. “Basically, fishing has been better in the morning, it slows down in the early afternoon and picks up again. We’ve been getting limits every time out and averaging two to three fish an hour with five, six and seven pound trout common.”
An average laker, he said, is three to five pounds and Walker has not seen any 10-pound plus trout yet. But they will. Call Walker direct at 920-572-0622 (cell) or 920-294-0611. Walker offers pontoon boat fishing for up to 12 anglers, cook out capabilities, sun deck and the all-important bathroom… ladies.
I’ve been out with Dennis Walker. Connect to “Dick Trips” to see how that journey played out. Also under “Dick Trips” we’re posting a story on Vilas County’s Escanaba Lake, one of five DNR experimental lakes that over the decades are open year round and have no limits for most fish. We did great on the water and show you how to get there yourself and what to expect.
This just over the OWO wire the morning of June 15 from Top Gun Guide Phil Schweik on the Wisconsin near Wausau. “The musky bite is on!” he said. “Some pretty nice fish and lots of them.” But he only sent 13 photos for you to see. See them now at “Inland Fishing” and “Fishing Reports”.
I was on Okauchee Lake Wednesday in Waukesha County pounding for muskies with Dennis Radloff, another ultra-talented guide. I’m writing that story for the next print issue of On Wisconsin Outdoors but you are going to want to tap into the Radloff’s own column in that issue. He was telling me fish stories on Okauchee. My hair stood up as Dennis talked about the conditions on Green Bay and his own reaction to two of the biggest fish he has ever seen close up and personal. It’s scary-good. Upon request from me, he’s writing it for you. Connect with Dennis at 262-443-9993 or www.sterlingmusky.com.
As always, tap into “Outdoor News”, “Firearms” and “Upland Game” for new “stuff”.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. I’m heading north for the Bob Ellis Row Trolling Classic. See you next week.