How much do we love loons — really?
The loons who ply our Northwoods lakes are right now down south on their wintering grounds. Before too long, maybe as little as 70 days from now, they’ll be back, provided the ice has gone out. For those of us who are anglers, now is a good time to rethink (if we haven’t already) the…
Breakfast with Grampa
A privilege of living on a lake is having four-season access to fresh-caught fish. The flip side is that you feel compelled to catch-and-release so as to preserve the various species’ populations. But when grandsons are coming to town, you have to surrender a little bit to catch-and-keep. On their first morning at our house, Tucker…
Boys on ice
Boys on ice Grandsons Tucker and Perrin love time spent on the frozen Birch Lake and are learning to like ice fishing. This morning Tucker (10) remembered the tip-ups we used two years ago and was eager to try “those flag fishing rods.” I opted instead for jigging rod/reel combos – waxworms on jigs promised…
The Zen of the jig
I came late to ice fishing, an activity the late Michigan writer Jim Harrison called, in the title of an essay, “The Moronic Sport.” In my perception ice fishing involved staying motionless on snow in a season when the weather devotes itself to turning any warm-blooded stationary form into a solid block. I found apropos…
White plain, clear window
Often the difference between winter conditions here in northern Wisconsin and in more southerly locations is only incremental: a little colder and a little more snow where we live, and a week or two of extra winter on each end of the season. At other times the difference is striking, and that was the case…
Of loons and lead
I’m sitting on a cooler on frozen Birch Lake, working a jig down 17 feet, waiting for the light tap on the line or a slight motion of the rod to signal the bite of a bluegill. At a time like this, why am I thinking about loons? It’s not because I envy the warm climate…
A little ice music
On a recent afternoon I made my first ice fishing foray on Birch Lake. Suitably bundled up, I hiked to the site of a crib I has marked on the GPS. I drilled a couple of holes and used the skimmer to clear out the slush. Thyen, sitting on a cooler, I dangled a waxworms…
There’s only one water – and it includes wetlands
Those of us who advocate for lakes can fall prey to a kind of myopia, forgetting that times that all water is connected – lakes, rivers, wetlands, groundwater. I’m as guilty of this as anyone, and so found it helpful to get a message lately from Christopher Noll, who worked for the Wisconsin DNR from…
Giving thanks
Near noon on Thanksgiving, the aroma of roasting turkey fills the house. The bird needs three more hours in the oven, and outside under a gray sky and light fog, the newly frozen lake beckons. I lace up my walking boots, slip on the winter jacket and head down to the lakefront. Conditions there have changed…