Another fishing weekend on the books.
The 6th,
almost annual Winneconne fishing weekend is now historical.
And why haven't you
come along?
Lots of laughs, as
always, and I'm really glad I have the opportunity every year to set up the
trip.
That’s how I started last year’s review, save for the “6th,
almost annual….” part.
I couldn’t come up with a better one this go ‘round, so
maybe I’ll just use the same opening, every year.
Two vehicles, Six guys, three cabins, in two different locations. What could be simpler?
Why, yes!
Yes there WAS a fair amount of standing around, wondering where some of
the others were.
So be it.
New this year - one
of the new participants is a big fan of cleaning fish and cooking.
It’s been six years since I ate my
catch. Tasted pretty damn good
.
We hit the road early Friday morning, and drove 3.25 hours
north in a never-ending light rain.
God
laughs.
Got to town shortly before 10a, and as we started across the
bridge, I looked over, and spotted one of the guys who came up the night
before, fishing the bank next to the bridge.
I stuck my head out the window and yelled his name, as loud as I could,
causing him to jump a goodly distance, straight up in the air.
And he’s not much of a jumper, normally, I’d
guess.
The guys in the car with me turned to stare at me.
“Well, he said to give him a holler when we got to town…”
Rain let up by early afternoon, but had stuck around long
enough to mess up the bite. Six guys, three boats, and… two fish for the
basket. We caught a few more that went
back into the river, but wasn't a great showing, overall
.
Then the aforementioned cooking/fish-cleaning god, ran to
the grocery and brought back chicken and brats and baking potatoes. Good food was consumed. And beer. Beer was consumed, too. Quite a bit, for some in the group....
Around 10p, finding no dependable drivers, I decided
to walk the 4-5 blocks back to my cabin, as the rest of the goofs were trying
unsuccessfully to play poker. Having
spent a fair amount of time walking around this tiny little town over the last
seven years, I’ve come to realize that, while I would not want to ever LIVE
there year ‘round, it’s a fine town in
which to walk semi-inebriated at night.
Little traffic, and neighborhoods where most everyone seems to be asleep
by 10p. You feel like you have the whole
place to yourself.
Nice.
I took a slightly longer than necessary route back to my cabin, I was enjoying it so much....
Saturday was a beautiful day, spent trying everything we
could think of, to catch fish.
We didn’t
have much to show for our efforts, save for sore asses, and some sun.
4-5 more fish for the basket, with best boat
being one I was in. we contributed three
toward dinner, and I caught biggest fish of the weekend.
Sadly, was not a species we were targeting. But it was a hell of a lot of fun to wrestle
for 10+ minutes. I had a large, captive
audience for the first half of the fight.
Fishermen in other boats, guys fishing from the bridge, groups of people
walking to town for breakfast… They heard the sound of fish stripping line from
a reel, and stopped to watch the show.
Until the first time I brought it to the surface, and it was
clear that it was a sheephead (Freshwater Drum). You could
almost HEAR everyone mutter “Oh, never
mind then” and go about their day.
Saturday evening was fish tacos with cilantro, avocado,
tomato, and rice. And beer.
Five of us ended up sitting by the river
with a cooler and a couple of fishing poles, From 9:30-12a, give or take. Was the perfect way to finish off the
night.
A fantastic night, the exact type of night I always picture
when I think about organizing next year’s weekend. Great sky; reflection of lights from
the Fin and Feather(on the other side of the river) reflecting off the water; And the occasional holler of someone on the
bridge as they hooked into a walleye, all while drinking cold beer and making
each other laugh.
Sunday we got up late (understandably) fished for a bit, and
settled up our bill, while reserving for next year.
May 16-18, 2014 by the way.
Room for 6-9 guys.
What’s my takeaway this year? Waxing philosophically about death and the
true point of fishing weekend, like last year?
http://patrickosplayhouse.blogspot.com/2012/05/here-fishy-fishy-fishy-fish.html
Nah.
This year’s takeaway comes courtesy of some
nice guys I met Sunday morning.
1 1. Floating jig
heads.
2 2. More importantly - A camp stove, coffee pot, campfire toaster, bread and breakfast sausage would be a great addition to my fishing weekend next year.
Next year, shore breakfast’s on me, everyone.
