An Outdoorsman‛s Journal: Sylvania

Hello friends, This past week I made some new friends and explored a wilderness area for the first time that I should have checked out 30 years ago. Pete Wasson is the editor of the Ashland Daily Press and has been a contact of mine as he runs this column, but we had never met. Joe Pribanich is 71, the former city planner at Wausau, a good friend of Pete’s and a true wilderness addict. For several years Pete has been inviting me to an annual getaway to Sylvania Wilderness Area, which is in the UP about 30 miles north of Eagle River, and last week I took him up on his offer.

Friday, May 26 – High 78, low 42 My new buddies and I would be bass whacking out of canoes for both large and smallmouth bass, and the next day I would try for my first lake trout out of a canoe. This would be a total learning experience, as I had never met these guys, I have very little bass fishing experience and Sylvania has a lot of very wise rules as far as barbless hooks, no cans, etc. This 18,327 acres is basically dedicated to foot and watercraft travel with zero motors in most cases.

Heck, I did not even know how to get to where I was going when I pulled out of the driveway. What I witnessed on day one was wise campers that deal with skeets and adverse conditions and relish the challenge. Saturday, May 27 – High 82, low 44 I just met Pete last night and Joe this morning. I do not even know most bass fishing terminology, of which it is 100-percent catch and release on the lake we were fishing and these guys were some of the best bass whackers I have ever met. They can paddle a canoe, toss their weightless Texas Rig set up with a stick bait in the brush and pull out bass after bass without losing a rig. Yours truly on the other hand had a lot to learn and failed often, but at day’s end understood a lot more than when Pete and I set sail. Joe Pribanich would be at a different campsite than us and he is my newest “I want to age just like him” person. Joe is 10 years older than me and can handle a canoe, sleep on the ground and looks good. Pete and I tried paddle trolling for lakers and had no luck, but we caught at least 80 smallies and largemouth bass. I was extremely impressed watching these two longtime buddies love the day they were living. Sunday, May 28 – High 84, low 49 Just like yesterday, I was up at 5 o’clock and lots of mosquitoes. Today I would fish alone and Joe and Pete would go bass whacking as I paddle trolled for my first laker. I was dedicated to my cause and tried everything from a flasher/fly combination to several spoons and crankbaits. All setups had the barbs flattened on the hooks and basically what I did was pull lines and paddle a canoe for nine hours straight. Just as the seventh hour passed, one of my planer boards that had a deep diving crankbait with 1.5 ounces of weight in front of it started wobbling. By God, if I didn’t catch me a lake trout. I am addicted to canoe fishing and to catch my first laker out of a canoe was very cool. An hour later that same setup was hit again, and I caught another, with both being about 25 inches. Lake trout have to be 30 inches and I was very careful releasing them.

I have to tell you, I felt a very special bond to this place – the people, the ethics and the wilderness were just how I roll and then I go and bonus out and make two new friends.

It was a good weekend! Sunset

Mark Walters