Lake Tomah/A good time had by all

An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Mark Walters sponsored by

Hello friends, This week’s column is all about what can happen when good people pull together and try to do good things. I have mentioned that Kids and Mentors Outdoors (KAMO, www.kamokids.org), which is dedicated to helping get kids outside, is on a pretty good roll and if you would please keep reading you will find out what I mean.

Friday, Jan. 20 High 19, Low 9

One of the seven chapters of KAMO is out of New Lisbon and it is called the Meadow Valley Chapter of KAMO. I make as many of their meetings as I can. We recently had a couple of new guys join our group that had recently retired. I just met Charley Rydmark, who had a long military career that ended as a maintenance superintendent in the air control squadron at Volk Field.

Charley is an avid outdoorsman and is very into elk and mule deer hunting in Montana. He purchased a 16foot enclosed trailer and completely rigged it up to live in and he can haul his UTV in it as well. So, this week’s outing for Meadow Valley was on Lake Tomah and they invited the Coulee Chapter of KAMO from La Crosse and the New Lisbon high school ice fishing team to join us.

We would be ice fishing, eating good food and each kid was given an ice fishing rod and reel as well as some jigs. Charley, myself and another of my new buddies, who is Randy Rowell of the Sparta area, felt compelled to arrive a day early and pre-fish, sleep in Charley’s mansion and have fun. We are hoping Randy joins the KAMO gang as he is lots of fun. He also owns a very nice snowmobile.

At dark we hit the mansion and had a meal of bear steaks and a tater-sausage casserole.

Saturday, Jan. 21 High 29, Low 15

Today was a great day for any one of the probably 50 of us that hit the ice. We put Charley’s cabin tent up about first light and also rigged up his wood stove. My mission for the day would be to cover a large area with tip-ups and try to teach some kids how to run tip-ups.

Before long, our world was full of kids and adults. Some knew exactly what they were doing. Some had no clue. We had all of the bases covered and the New Lisbon Fishing Club members, who are managed by Julie Mecikalski and sponsored by KAMO, were a machine and it was very cool to watch. These guys and girls had ice shacks, electronics and a great attitude.

I have a pretty fair eye for picking out kids who want to do outdoor experiences but could use some help. So at first, I chose 14-year-old Allison Maulsby, who is a freshman at New Lisbon. Our goal was to teach her how to run a tip-up and catch a fish with it. She had four tries with flags up, some of which were dropped minnows, but in the end she caught her first gator on the ice and was a very happy girl.

For me, this day was a celebration victory as the readers of this column are what started KAMO. I watched this group of people having a great day as grown-ups teamed up with kids that, in most cases they had never met, and taught them how to use a jig pole and electronics.

My final thrill for the day came when Gail Traut and her 8-year-old son Lucas arrived later in the event. Gail is an elementary school teacher at Summit Environmental Elementary in French Island at La Crosse and seemed like a very cool person. Randy Rowell took both Gail and Lucas under his wing and began helping them with jig fishing. I taught Lucas how a tip-up works and made a solid goal of helping him catch his first northern pike on a tip-up. Well lo and behold, a flag went up and Lucas did an excellent job of icing his first gator and, just like Allison, Lucas had an ear-to-ear smile.

That my friends was a good weekend in the outdoors! Sunset P.S. If you want to join a chapter, get a kid involved, start a chapter, or help out in any way, check out the website.