Getting back on the lake for the inland fishing opener
The sun glistened off the water with a light six to seven mile per hour wind blowing. The sun wanning the air to a comfortable high 60 degrees, the clouds cleared to almost none; a beau- _ tiful opening day for Wisconsin | H ROUGH A
inland fishing season.
The water temps were still in the mid 50’s and in few places slightly lower. We didn’t intend to fish really hard that day. We just wanted to fish and enjoy the weather.
Opening day of fishing season brings some things I like and dislike. One of the things I dislike tends to be the weather. It seems like a lot of years we don’t get that great of weather on the opener. But this year we enjoyed pretty good weather by mid-morning to sunset.
The boat landings fill up pretty quick. The lakes get crowded with a lot of fishers.
We found ample space at the landing mid-afternoon and the launching went pretty well. The boats on the lakes seemed spread out. Until they weren’t.
Certain days and times bring out the guys that want to fish right on top of you. Run their boats and lines right on top of your boat. If you can cast your bait into their boat someone got too close to the other boat. The boat under power needs to yield to the boat that sits at anchor or drifts with the wind. Not just for etiquette reasons, boating regulations require 100 feet distance from shore, structures, and other boats when operating on plane. Just good old safe boating and it cuts down on shore erosion. One fishing boat split between our boat and another boat, leaving about 75 feet from our rigs to his. To the east, almost a half-mile of open water existed with no boats and to our west a quarter-mile of open water existed. We expect stuff like this from a boater on wave runners or boaters pulling people around on inner tubes, but not from other fishing boats.
When we landed our boat, we found the usual opening day antics at the landing. Mostly etiquette and lack of common sense. Pm sure the excitement of opening day contributed. A lot of guys were chatting it up about the fish they caught. It didn’t sound like a lot of fish got caught, but i didn’t hear anyone tell anyone that they got skunked either.
I like the cold water of opening day. It feels refreshing. I like that the fish stay firm and cold in the live well. Flies and mosquitoes don’t swarm on opening day like they will by Memorial Day.
I like the waterfowl flying around. They fly over a lot more nonchalant than they do in the fall. Their full plumage lighting up in the sun.
I looked east at one point and some movement caught my eye a half-mile away. I saw a large eagle size or bigger birds flying in formation high above the water, gliding down into the wind. At times they flapped their wings and the markings became confusing. I saw white shining from their heads and tails. When they worked their wings a very dark brown almost black wing feathers created a stark contrast. They landed on the water, about a half dozen of them, well away from boats. If a boat headed in their direction they winged off. From a distance they looked like swans on the water. Great day to leave the binos in the truck.
After watching these birds on the water for about 20 minutes, several took flight heading away from an approaching boat. Five minutes later they glided back in. One started a bank past us into the sun at 75 yards and for the first time we could clearly identify it as a pelican. That’s something you don’t see everyday living in north central Wisconsin.
They nest along the Mississippi River in places, along the Great Lakes and Green Bay, and apparently around Winnebago. I always keep my eyes peeled for them when in those areas in the summer, but never saw one.
So, to see one on a northern Wisconsin fishing lake - that made the whole trip. The number of fish caught didn’t matter. The antics on the water or at the landing didn’t matter. Seeing actual pelicans in Wisconsin the first weekend of May made the whole trip. I wonder if they plan to nest there. Tight lines everyone, and please remember, Safe Hunting is No Accident!
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CHUCK K OLAR LOCAL OUTDOORSMAN
