An Outdoorsman’s Journal: A remote trout fishing trip

Hello friends, Last May, I headed down to Columbia County, put my canoe into the Wisconsin River and did a physical, and at times dangerous, journey for 90 minutes to a stream. Up that stream I fished trout and slept on the shoreline. I only had three bites in 24 hours, but I landed two 17-inch and a 22-inch brown trout. It was pretty much impossible for me to not return this May.

Saturday, May 3 — High 73, low 35 This trip would have me back in my home area, as far as where I grew up, and naturally, I had my 3-year-old pup Red along. Just to fill you in, this is, in a way, a fairly dangerous canoe journey. The reason is, before I get to the creek I paddle up for almost 2 miles and have to paddle through about 600 yards of water just deep enough to float a canoe through muck. When I was a kid, the ice fishing was pretty good here and while my brothers and I watched tip-ups, we would often skate and play hockey. Ten years ago I could use my 40-hp Mercury and 16-foot boat to travel these waters. Wild rice and dying plants each fall combined with sediment flowing down the stream have literally blocked everything and if a person were to fall out of their canoe and could not get back in it, they would die. Simply put, there is no bottom. Large trout and ZERO fishermen besides myself pull me here. After getting through the muck field, there is an about 60-minute paddle upstream and this year it was pretty physical, as there was a lot of current. Another “situation” is deadfalls; they block my path and create labor. When I arrived at my hole, which is probably 100 feet long, elbow shaped, and 3 to 7 feet deep, I was in excellent spirits, as I would be here two nights.

There was no dry land for a tent; everything was flooded, so I pulled up literally a half truckload of last year’s dead grass that was on the top of fallen trees and made a tall pile for my tent. This worked flawlessly; my other choice would have been sleeping in my canoe and I have done it here.

So I am in a swamp, there is more waterfowl here than you can even imagine, and I am fishing, doing as little as possible, and loving it. Towards dark, it actually became damn cold between heavy moisture in the air and probably not bringing enough clothes. I caught three suckers and one 11-inch brown trout. Retiring to my sleeping bag was good and bad; Red likes to snuggle like a tick but she was soaked and muddy, which would have made me colder. I kept her a foot away and slept well. Sunday, May 4 — High 72, low 27 I was up at first light and it was cold out, everything outside of my tent was frozen, and I had trout to catch. The suckers were hungry. The waterfowl were overhead by the hundreds, as were the sandhill cranes. I had one group of cranes fly directly over me and one of them had a leg just hanging. Imagine living much of your life in shallow water, not being able to swim and only having one leg!

Today I caught my biggest trout of the trip, a 16-inch brown. My goal was to crack 15, so I was happy with that. Last year I was here a week later; there were leaves on the trees and the current was much lower. Over three days of fishing I only caught three trout and 11 suckers. Last year I was well aware that I was on a dream trip when I landed the big sumos.

For myself, the 100% getaway and the huge trout last year and other years are the reasons I come here. Most importantly, it’s the nonstop wildlife show and the cold reality that my years of reaching this type of hard-to-get-to spots are definitely numbered.

I still love my job! Sunset

Mark Walters