Dan Small: On The Road

Road Food: Steamboat Bill's on the Lake

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 05:35:21 GMT

A good rule of thumb for picking eateries when traveling is to eat where the locals eat.

Well, Steamboat Bill's, on the lake at Lake Charles, LA, was voted the best seafood place in SW Louisiana by area residents, so that was good enough for two Michiganders and a Wisconsinite in town for a writers conference.

Your reporter joined Dan Donarski, of Sault Ste. Marie, and Bob Gwidz, of East Lansing, to celebrate Donarski's 29th (or so he claims) birthday this evening at this no-frills restaurant with the best Cajun seafood for miles around.

Actually, our first choice was a barbecue joint, but it was closed for a company vacation. Fortunately, we had a backup plan. With the aid of a map provided by the hotel concierge, we managed to find Steamboat Bill's, a centerfield toss from yet another on-water gambling casino, apparently the only kind allowed by state law.

We started off with a pound of peel-and-eat boiled shrimp. Then we all had a large serving of crawfish etoufee, a mildly spicy soupy concoction served in a bowl over rice. Birthday Boy added a pair of stuffed crabs, while Bob had a boudin ball and I, a bowl of crawfish gumbo.

The beer list included a Shiner Bock, so I ordered one and told the story of the Texas brewery road trip I did one summer with grad-school colleague, John Shell. Leaving from Houston, we stopped at the Pearl, Lone Star and Spoetzl breweries. Our favorite was the last of these, situated in an unassuming building on the main drag in Shiner, TX, where the only other visitors in the tasting room were a pair of sun-dried farmers in faded overalls, whose demeanor and obvious familiarity suggested that they tossed down a few free cold ones here every evening before heading home to Mama.

If I had enough energy left tonight, I'd add the web links for all those breweries, but I'm willing to bet anyone curious enough to check them out is resourceful enough to do his own Googling. You'll find more on Shiner, the last of the original Texas brews, on the Beer Can Blog.

Later...

New OWAAer is murder on red drum

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 04:59:23 GMT

Lake Charles, LA. While most OWAA members and guests arriving yesterday and today were unpacking their luggage or complaining about the hot, muggy weather they knew would await them here, Jason Mitchell, a new member and fishing guide from Devil's Lake, ND attending his first conference, bought a 5-day fishing license, a Zebco 202 and rod and a bucket of shrimp, and had a ball catching about a hundred redfish, speckled trout and other species today, right from the beach about 12 miles from the hotel. Most fish weighed several pounds, but one red drum may have tipped the scales at 20 pounds or more.

"He burned out the drag on my Zebco 202," Mitchell said.

Mitchell waded in shorts and sandals, and reported finding not only good numbers of feisty fish, but also plenty of evidence of Hurricane Rita.

"I bumped into stoves, refrigerators, high chairs, just about everything you'd find in a house," Mitchell said. "I ran out of bait three times and had to buy more."

Well, he didn't have to, he wanted to because he loves to fish, and the brackish waters here are teeming with reds (channel bass) and specks (weakfish, or speckled trout). Rita, it seems, brought in the salt water, and these ocean species came with it. Lake Charles is teeming with shrimp, too, reported South Dakota TV and radio personality Tony Dean, and that has given the fishing a boost.

"Most of the commercial fishermen can't work because they lost their docks," Dean pointed out. "They have nowhere to put their boats, so no one's catching the shrimp, and the fish are just going nuts! One of the locals also showed Jason how to catch crabs, and he's got a cooler full of them."

Some folks just know how to get a conference off to a rousing start. Mitchell is one green-ribbon member who will be going home with more than just a story.

Mitchell almost didn't get to tell that story, however. He was literally swept off his feet by a passing freighter that sent a wave over his head. Fortunately, he regained his footage and continued fishing.

Later...

OWAA golf tourney avoids bad weather

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 23:16:40 GMT

LAKE CHARLES, LA. June 16, 2006.

Heavy rains held off long enough for all teams to finish the 8th Annual OWAA Golf Scramble, held here today at Mallard Cove Golf Course. Claude Bain, D.A. Ray and Chris Nelson won the 18-hole best-ball event with a scorching 8-under par score of 64. Skip Jernigan, Bruce Brown and Dan Small placed second, with a respectable 4-under par score of 68.

Merchandise prizes were awarded to first- and second-place teams and to individual golfers as follows:

Closest to left bunker on drive: Dan Small
Closest to pin, hole 4: Skip Jernigan
Longest drive: Claude Bain
Closest to tree in fairway: Bruce Brown
Closest to pin, hole 16: Claude Bain

Bain, of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, is already planning next year's golf tournament, to be held June 15, 2007, at the Roanoke conference. Roanoke's more temperate climate may allow next year's event to be scheduled in the afternoon, which Bain hopes will encourage more golfers to participate.

Keep checking this site for more news from the OWAA conference, being held here at l"Auberge du Lac, June 17-20.

Later...

Mallards in your face

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 03:46:42 GMT

Hunted ducks in a North Dakota wheatfield this morning with Bill Cooksey, Rick Frisch, Mike Faw, Andy Tweed and Steve Pitt. Faw is from Iowa, Frisch from Fargo, the others from Tennessee. Bill and Rick work for Avery Outdoors, which supplied some new and prototype gear for us to field test, and believe me it worked!

We set out about 50 magnum Avery mallard field decoys, a few Canadas and a couple dozen snows and hunted out of layout blinds. The decoys are lifelike oversize hard-shells, with an ingenious cone molded into the back on the inside of the hollow body. You set these dekes on an L-shaped stake that lets it wobble and rotate, something like a bobble-head toy. In the steady 20-mph west wind, those dekes bobbled and wobbled realistically, creating the effect of constant movement in our spread.

We shot several mallards that came in in small groups, then a large flock came in and just hung over us and the decoys, some of them just 20 feet in front of us. Bill, who was calling the shots, let them hang there for our viewing pleasure. When they finally left, I asked "What was all that about?"

"Wasn't that beautiful to watch?" he asked.

It was in fact, one of the most remarkable things I have seen in years of duck hunting. Bill had these ducks right where we wanted them for a minute or two before they slipped out of range. Died I mention that Bill won tghe Grand American Duck Calling Championship last year?

After that show, we were all business. As birds came in in small flocks, pairs and a single or two, we shot for three hours, with a few minutes of down time while we ran out to collect our birds. We saw several flocks of snows and blues and managed to call one in. We dropped six from that group before they climbed out of range. We ended up with those 6 blue geese and 32 ducks -- mostly mallards, a few teal, one gadwall and one widgeon.

We picked up the decoys at about 11:00 and headed back to camp, where we took some photos and cleaned the birds. Some were destined for tonight's dinner, the rest we packaged and froze.

After lunch and a couple hours of college football, we headed out to scout fields for tomorrow's hunt and stopped at several grain bins to give the local pigeons some exercise. We'll clean them tomorrow for pigeon pie when we dress the morning's ducks.

Dinner tonight was grilled duck and goose breast. We filleted the breasts on a couple Fillet King fillet boards, then Andy wrapped them in bacon and put them in a marinade while we went pigeon shooting. Later, we grilled them outside and they were absolutely delicious.

Tomorrow night, we'll roast a half-dozen mallards for dinner.

Bed time already! Man, this is a tough life!

Later...

Grand slam slammed

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 02:28:23 GMT

Spent the morning hunting prairie grouse with Gari Sisk an hour east of Pierre. Gari put down two dogs, her English pointer Jack and a black Lab named chukar. We worked several shelter belts first, thinking they might be out of the wind. Jack pointed a snipe and a hen pheasant, and we bumped a couple deer.

Then, on the advice of the landowner, we hoofed it across a big pasture and were soon into birds. One sharptail flushed wild and sailed a mile on the 30 mph NW wind. Then Jack locked up, but Chukar bumped a flock before we could get into position. Several more small flocks flushed, some downwind, some upwind, but all flew over at least one hill, so we turned around and worked back to the vehicles.

Thus ended my quest for a SD grand slam. I at least saw some live grouse, tho I think they were all sharptails because I thought I heard a chuckle when one flock jumped.

Then I tried to stay awake as I drove east and north to Alsen, ND, where I met up with Rick Frisch and Bill Cooksey of Avery Outdoors and fellow writer Mike Faw. We're hunting ducks in the morning, so I'll have a report on that sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Later...

Dakota pheasant redux

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 05:48:59 GMT

Bone tired and need to get up early to hunt grouse in the morning on the way to ND, so this will be bullet points only.

Hunted pheasants at Cody Warne's operation this morning (a preserve, but loaded with wild birds) with Lee Harstad, Dean Bortz and Rick Windham, from NE. We started off slowly. I missed the only shot we had on the first drive, then Rick smoked one on the second drive with his 1880 Husqvarna side-by-side.

On drive three, Rick, Dean and I each shot one. Then we drove to a stock dam to water the dogs and Cody said we should rush up to the cover because there might be a few pheasants there. Dean and I did that, and 150-200 pheasants boiled out of there. We each shot two, but one of mine eluded the dogs.

We made one more drive, where Rick shot one with his Winchester 94-410 and he and I each missed another. A group of hunters was driving a nearby field, so we waited for them to push one to us and sure enough, a rooster came over me, and we were suddenly filled out.

After sandwiches at Cody's clubhouse, Dean, Rick and I drove to the National Grasslands south of Pierre, where we ran into two hunters from WI and MN who hadn't seen a bird. Not a good sign, we figured.

We drove on the Sheriff Lake, where we saw 4 roosters as we drove up, and several hens bailed out as we walked to the dam. Later, we found a prairie chicken carcass. It had been killed earlier today by a hawk and mostly eaten.

Dean missed a rooster on the way back to the truck and a couple more ran off and flushed wild.

Had dinner with Lee and his supervisor, Nicole Nordbye, of SD Tourism and M.D. and Julie McClelland-Johnson, in town for the Governor's Pheasant Hunt, which starts tomorrow.

By the time that party starts, I'll be hunting grouse with Gari Sisk and on my way to Devil's Lake, ND.

Later...

Halfway to the South Dakota Grand Slam

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 04:58:32 GMT

Today I spent a couple hours hunting at Tumbleweed Lodge with Lee Harstad, SD Dept. of Tourism rep who helped arrange my trip. We flushed a bunch of pheasants, or I should say, Lee's yellow Lab, Maggie, did. My shooting fell apart today, however. I missed four roosters and dropped one on preserve land near the lodge, while we watched dozens more skedaddle in every direction. Tumbleweed has a very nice layout, with good food and holding cover and tons of birds, but we needed another gunner or two today...

Lee and I then spent the last two hours hunting the old Tumbleweed property several miles west of the lodge, where we walked though high grass and cattails around a big stock dam and then pushed two cedar shelterbelts, where we flushed some hens and a half-dozen Hungarian (gray) partridge.

I managed to miss two Huns and drop two, while Lee got one and missed a couple. I also dropped a nice rooster that Maggie flushed from some dense cattails. The Huns gave us the second leg of a South Dakota Upland Grand Slam. All that remains is to bag a sharptail and a prairie chicken.

I'll hunt pheasants tomorrow again with Lee and some other writers, then Friday I plan to try for the prairie grouse with Gari Sisk, a gal from Alaska who is staying at Tumbleweed. Gari runs pointing setters, so that should be fun. Lee tells me some folks hunt sharptails on horseback here. I'd love to try that on a future trip!

(Tumbleweed owner Michael Bollweg told me there are also some antelope and one small herd of mule deer in the area, and we saw a flock of eastern wild turkeys picking up gravel on the road as we drove out to hunt the old place. No shortage of game here!)

I stayed at Tumbleweed for a delicious prime rib dinner, shot a bunch of photos of guests enjoying themselves and then headed for Pierre and the Ramkota Inn.

Tumbleweed is definitely a first class establishment. Check out their Web site!

Later...

Once again, I'm bushed from all the driving and a little walking.

Longtails on a prairie wind

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 04:45:18 GMT

We worked hard for our birds today. A strong SW wind shifted to the N by 1:00 and picked up in speed to where it had to be roaring along at 30 mph. Walk through a field of switchgrass in that wind and the grass is waving so madly you come close to getting seasick. Then drop a pheasant in it and try to find him!

The birds got up and rode that wind, sailing for hundreds of yards and making for some tough shooting. I was walking on the downwind side of a drive and dropped one that Danny Myke and I both had a line on, but I couldn't find it. I marked where it fell by noting a big rock at the edge of a cornfield, and Travis said we'd look for it on the next drive. At the end of that drive, Danny, Travis and one of Travis's springers (Timber) worked all around where we had seen that bird come down to no avail. We were walking back out, having reluctantly given up, when I stepped on something soft. I thought it was an anthill, but when I parted the switchgrass, there lay my pheasant, dead.

Earlier in the day, I shot a bird with spurs longer than any I have ever seen. I'll forward a photo of the best spur to a couple biologists and see if they have an idea of its age.

Delicious pheasant dinner at Golden Upland tonight, after which we all watched KSFY news for the short piece reporter Brittany Benner did on our hunt. Danny Myke was the hero, since he was the only one to shoot a bird on that drive.

It's way past bedtime, and tomorrow I'm driving to Tumbleweed Lodge near Harrold for another hunt.

Later...

Walking and blocking

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 03:37:14 GMT

To hunt pheasants in South Dakota, you need a small army of well-organized troops. Travis Haglin was our guide and dog handler today for a half-dozen drives through CRP land, which stretches as far as the proverbial eye can see. I joined the standers for the first three drives, during which I shot three roosters - my one-day limit. For the rest of the afternoon, I walked with the drivers, trying to get photos of hunters and birds. The number of birds we saw today was simply unbelievable. Travis was counting roosters flushed, but I lost track after the second drive.

Shortly after a drive starts, pheasants begin pouring out of sides of the corn and sunflower food plots. I posted on the far corner, hoping to cut off any birds heading my way. Dozens of hens took to the air, with a scattering of roosters among them. The guns took their toll of the big birds, however, so I'm betting we'll see fewer of them tomorrow.

After two hours, we had 26 birds in the trailer, leaving 19 to fill our 15-gun limit. Darned if we didn't do that in the last drive, which rousted more roosters than all the previous drives combined.

I'm simply exhausted from walking, and the incredible number of birds we saw and shot has overloaded my circuits. If you had told me there were this many birds here, I would have scoffed. Whatever the pheasant population is, I've never seen anything like it.

Mayber I'll think of something more intelligent to say tomorrow. If you've never hunted South Dakota, you've got to experience it once, at least.

Later...

South Dakota rocks

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 03:47:30 GMT

Pheasant season opened here in South Dakota yesterday, and there were birds everywhere. Lee Harstad and I rolled into the state about noon today and stopped for lunch at Three Z's in Britton. Bought a non-res license at Cliff's One-Stop and it was off to meet a group already hunting. As we were getting our hunting clothes on, Lee yelled "Hey, Dan! Look at this!"

I looked up to see a flock of blackbirds flushing out of a cornfield to the east and another flock even bigger flushing to the west. Then I realized they were PHEASANTS, not blackbirds! In less than two minutes, I saw more wild pheasants than I have seen in 20 years in Wisconsin.

Shooting them was another matter. The group had already bagged 10 birds in their first two passes through CRP land. We joined them to pursue the birds that had flushed from the corn, and in the next hour, shot 8 more to fill our 6-man limits.

After a fantastic dinner at Golden Upland Game Lodge, the guys are BSing and I'm trying to post just a little mention of what we did today.

Sorry it's so short. Gotta hit the sack.

Later...

AGLOW conference in full swing

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 04:40:22 GMT

The first-ever Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers golf tournament was held yesterday at Arrowwood Resort's 18-hole course in a light rain that began about 10:00 a.m. and lasted through the day. AGLOW golfers are tough characters, however, and no one even complained. When we got back to the resort, though, a number of non-golfing members were incredulous that we had played for five hours in the rain. (These are the same guys who would think nothing of sitting that long in a duck blind or bass boat under the same conditions!)

Without divulging everyone's score, suffice it to report that new member Bill Hilts, Jr., of Sanborn, NY, won handily in stroke play with an honest 83. Everyone else broke 100, which ain't bad, considering the conditions and the fact that some of the golfers had not played in over a month.

The conference continues through Saturday here in Alexandria. Today's events included several excellent "Learn-it, Do-it" sessions, consisting of mini seminars on hearing protection, goose calling, scent control, pointing dog training and more. We enjoyed an evening of wine tasting at Carlos Creek Winery, followed by our Excellence in Craft Awards presentations. The blind pig worked overtime for yours truly tonight, as I managed to come away with nine awards in all - three firsts, two seconds and four thirds. That's the best I've ever done by 50%. Other multiple winners included Tony Dean, Paul Lepisto, Darrell Taylor, P.J. Perea, Paul Smith, Chris Young and I'm sure one or two others I am forgetting.

Tomorrow, more Learn-it sessions are followed by lunch at Long Lake Lodge, hosted by Pheasants Forever and catered by Big Al's Gourmet Pies, served up by Al himself. If you're a regular visitor here, you're likely familiar with Al's products. AGLOW members who haven't tried them yet are in for a treat! After lunch, it's more seminars and then Shooting Day at Long Lake Lodge, where we'll get a chance to try out some new shotguns and ammo. I'll try to sharpen my eye for those South Dakota pheasnats and sharptails I'll be huting next week.

Later...

Eat My Fish!

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 04:41:07 GMT

This morning, I stopped at Bullfrog Fish Farm in (very) rural Menomonie, WI, for a look at their operation. Bullfrog will be supplying fish for some of the filleting demos that the Johnson Brothers and I will be doing this coming season at Gander Mountain stores in Wisconsin and Minnesota. (I'll try to post those dates on my Web site calendar, but you can also find them on the Gander Mountain Web site by looking here.)

Bullfrog's "soul proprietor," Herbie Radmann, is quite a character. If you get a chance, check out his Web site and visit his farm. In addition to selling dressed trout to restaurants and offering catch-your-own fishing fun in a big pond, Herbie caters a delicious shore lunch and produces a tasty trout spread and yummy smoked trout. There's even live music on some summer evenings and weekends.

Herbie also raises rusty crayfish for crayfish boils and snacks, and the heads and guts from his dressed trout keep his three pigs fat and happy (though when he butchered one last year, it tasted like fish guts, he said!).

Tomorrow, I hope to report on the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers golf tournament and a delicious duck dinner I had tonight at Arrowwood Resort, if chef James gives me his recipe, as he promised he would.

Later...

Deer damage up close and personal

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 03:59:50 GMT

I visited Jackson County farmer Steve Stetzer today to see first-hand the kind of damage deer have been doing to his crops. We walked through a soybean field, where the evidence was so clear a child would have seen it. Steve's soybeans are dry and ready for harvest. The leaves have fallen off the plants, and clusters of fat bean pods cling to the stalks. The taller the stalk, the more clusters of beans, since the pods grow pretty much the full length of the stalk.

In a section of the field that deer have not browsed, the plants stand nearly waist high, with bean pods running the entire length of the plants.

"Here, I can expect a yield of 45 or 50 bushels and acre," Steve said.

Just 100 yards closer to a woodlot, though, it was a different story. As we walked toward the woods, the height of the beanstalks steadily diminished, until at the woods edge, they were barely shoe-top tall, with a few clusters of beans per stalk.

"This section of the field might yield 8 or 10 bushels an acre," Steve lamented. "That wouldn't even cover the cost of producing them."

Steve and his brothers farm over 2000 acres, most of it in corn and soybeans. Their crops sustain so much damage that the Stetzer brothers enrolled in Wisconsin's Agricultural Damage program three years ago.

"When we first got into the program, we were losing maybe $20,000 a year," Steve said. "Since we've been in the ag. damage program, we've seen some improvement in crop yields, but we've still got a ways to go. We have shot 24 deer already this year, but there are still too many deer. We'll stay in the program as long as we keep seeing improvement in our yields."

Tomorrow, I'll visit two more farms in this area for a look at damage to corn and Christmas trees. My guide is DNR biologist Michele Windsor. We're taping segments for Outdoor Wisconsin's annual Deer Hunt show, which will air Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 12 at 9 a.m. on MPTV-Milwaukee and Nov. 11 at 9 p.m. on the Wisconsin Public TV network, including Madison, Green Bay, La Crosse, Wausau, Menomonie and Park Falls. Check your local listings to verify times and stations.

Later...

WOCA highlights

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 03:28:35 GMT

The Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association conference at Trees for Tomorrow last weekend brought a couple dozen writers, photographers and broadcasters together for a full weekend of seminars, networking and fishing.

Saturday presentations:

-- Anne Sayers, program director for the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, briefed the group on this relatively new lobbying organization whose role is to let state legislators know its members value our natural resources and watch how they vote. Sayers cited voter apathy as a main reason behind the recent passage of legislation that reverses long-established resource-protection laws. About 90% of Wisconsin's voters belong to only one conservation organization, she said. If voters don't hear about an issue from the organization they belong to, they might not know about it at all and might not bother voting in state elections.

The WLCV maintains three websites: www.conservationvoters.org; www.conservationvoters.org/pac.

WLCV also makes certain resources available to citizens and legislators, including a briefing book, weekly "Conservation NOW" (notices of the week) bulletins; as-it-happens vote trackiing of legislators on key issues; a "scorecard" of state legislators, based on their voting records; and activist networks of citizens who care about resources.

The late Gaylord Nelson, honorary chairman of the WLCV, said of the organization, "Wisconsin's environment found its political voice."

Launched just over three years ago, WLCV couldn't have come at a better time in state political history.

*********

-- Bill Horns, DNR Great Lakes Fisheries specialist, brought the group up to date on Great Lakes issues, from water diversion to exotic species. He touched on the reduced size of chinook salmon, but said the jury was out as to why. Alewives, too, are smaller than they used to be, although no one really notices this decline in size, he said. Alewives may be limiting lake trout recovery, too, he suggested. And double-crested cormorants are putting pressure on Green Bay's yellow perch.

"Lake Michigan may be a very different place than it was just 10 years ago," Horns said.

One change that is hardly noticed is the decline in diporeia, a native plankton species whose decline followed the introduction of zebra mussels, which may be eating the diporeia. Whitefish are also in decline, he said. Perch may be on the increase in Lake Michigan, thanks to excellent hatches in 1998 and 2004. This fall, the Natural Resources Board will look at proposed harvest increases for commercial and sportfisherman alike.

*********

-- Tim Lawhern, co-coordinator of the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) for Wisconsin, briefed WOCA members on this program and played a 10-minute DVD program that traced the program's beginnings in Kentucky several years ago. (I reported on Wisconsin's initial teacher training session back in February in Wisconsin Outdoor News and this weblog.)

*********

-- Paul DeLong, who heads up the state's Bureau of Forestry for DNR, made what might appear to be a dull topic quite interesting. Pointing out that Wisconsin is 46% forested compared to 40% agriculture, DeLong said not many people know about the importance of forestry to Wisconsin's history and economy. Forested land is increasing in the state, he said, but our forests are also aging.

One key current issue, DeLong said, is that large blocks of industrial forest land are changing hands. Some of those sales are in small parcels to private landowners, who use them for hunting or build a second home. Private landowners own 57% of the stae's forested land. The number of individual landowners is increasing by about two percent every year, but parcel size is decreasing. The average private parcel is now 34 acres, and 35% of those are less than 10 acres in size. Thirty-fove percent of private landowners also reside more than 25 miles from their forested property. Fewer people live on the land today, and landowner values are changing, he said.

DeLong cited a couple other interesting statistics. Land enrolled in the Forest Cropland Program is increasing at the rate of about 5% per year. The growth of our forests exceeds the number of trees removed each year, and both growth and removal are increasing annually. Although we do import wood from outside the state, Wisconsin residents consume the equivalent of nearly all the wood rfemoved from Wisconsin annually. No other Midwestern state comes close to meeting the wood demands of its residents. There is not a lot of marketing of forest products, yet we consume an incredible amount of them. For example, Americans consume about four times the amount of paper consumed by Norwegians.

DeLong briefed members on several forestry issues: invasives and exotics; rare and declining ecosystems; the importance of forestry to the state economy ($28 billion a year in forest products and foret-based recreation, second only to California.); and forest fires, among others.

*************

-- After dinner, Kenny Salwey treated us to a showing of the superb movie featuring his seasonal activities on the Mississippi backwaters. I have reviewed his film on this weblog back in early March. Salwey says he belongs to three organizations: the Alma Rod & Gun Club, the American Legion, and WOCA. He likes WOCA, he says, because its members are genuine communicators.

*************

-- Sunday morning, most WOCA members enjoyed a half-day of fishing on local waters. I fished the Sugar Camp Chain for muskies with Gary Myshak, who lives on the chain. We started on a big weed flat on Sand Lake, where I caught a 33" muskie on about my 10th cast on a Little Nellie Exploder Bucktail. We thought that might signal the beginning of a day full of action, but that was the only fish we saw all morning. When we got back to Trees for Tomorrow, we learned that Lisa Goodman, who fished with Judy Nugent and Roger Sabota, caught her first muskie on the Eagle River Chain. I think those were the only two fish caught by our group.

Back home again Sunday night. Next out-of-towner: Fishing Has No Boundaries on Lake Winnebago, August 27.

Later...

Wisdom of the Last River Rat

Sat, 13 Aug 2005 04:24:27 GMT

Spend a few minutes with Kenny Salwey, and if you don't come away with a few gems of wisdom, you weren't paying attention. Tomorrow night, Kenny is scheduled to entertain WOCA members with some of his adventures. Published in Tales of the Last River Rat and immortalized in a fine documentary by British movie producer Andrew Graham-Brown, Kenny's adventures lend themselves to story-telling, and nobody does it better than Kennny himself. Kenny has a knack for couching valuable lessons in memorable tales and for putting wisdom in a nutshell.

I arrived at Trees for Tomorrow around 10:00 p.m. tonight, just as the Friday night gab-fest was winding down. Roger Sabota, Kenny and I hung the last dog, after everyone else had turned in. The conversation got around to the National Archery in the Schools Program, which Kenny's wife, Mary Kay, coordinates with Tim Lawhern. Tim, who is also administers the DNR's hunter education program, is speaking to the group about NASP tomorrow.

We got to talking about the importance of getting kids outdoors, and NASP's role in that endeavor. Kenny said, "Outdoor experiences generate feelings, feelings lead to attitudes and together, feelings and attitudes influence behavior."

Isn't that what we're all about in the outdoor communications field? It all starts with hands-on outdoor experiences, or at least it ought to. A generation ago, the connection with the natural world began to dissolve, as more folks moved into cities and electronic ways of having fun replaced exploring an old orchard or poking around a pond on grandpa's back 40. Today's kids are more at home at the mall than in the woods, and so we are losing hunters, fishers and even hikers and campers in ever-increasing numbers. As the old timers die off or quit going out there, they are not being replaced by a new generation. If kids don't get to experience the beauty of an autumn sunrise over a marsh or the melodies of spring songbirds, they won't know enough to work to save the places where those experiences can be had.

So we've got our work cut out for us, if we hope to turn kids on to such things that many of us take for granted and many more of us don't even know, let alone care, exist.

More on that at a later time...

Two birds for the plucking...

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 03:11:45 GMT

I played hookey today and shot a round of golf at Rolling Meadows with Joel "Doc" Kunz and Don Cashmore, both of New London. Don runs Cash's Little Shoppe of Bait in New London (920-982-4802), where he sells only wild suckers, which catfishermen prefer to farm-raised suckers because they react when a big cat sidles up to them.

Doc and I were scouting the course for next year's "Fish, Sticks and Stones" tournament to be held there in conjunction with Fond du Lac's Walleye Weekend. The first such tournament was held two years ago at Idlewyld in Door County, with Mercury Marine as the big sponsor and Mercury's pro walleye anglers as the celebrities. It's a charity fundraiser, but unlike most golf tournaments, it is a triathlon of sorts. In addition to a round of golf, players shoot two stations of sporting clays and fish the golf course's water hazards. Doc is still working out the details of the event, but suffice it to say, it will be a heck of a lot of fun. Stay tuned for more as it develops.

We played today's round in a steady drizzle that dampened the course and our play, but not our spirits. Here's a shot Don took of me and Doc with a pair of darts on the 140-yard 20th hole. I wish I could report a pair of birdies followed the photo, but we settled for two pars.

Doc was deadly today. He stuck most of his approach shots and made some spectaculr putts, while Don and I applauded his play and muddled along, with a couple decent holes apiece ourselves.

BTW, the water hazards came into play today, but they will be a lot more fun next June!

Later...

Door County Shootout final report

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 02:58:14 GMT

When we headed out Saturday morning, Nooo Problem struggled to keep on course in the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal because so many boats were going out at once that there were waves and counter-waves tossing everyone around. Capt. Bill Luer decided that would not happen on Sunday, so he informed us all that we would leave the dock at 3:45 a.m. SHARP.

Key word there was "sharp."

The canal was calm at that hour, but when we motored out to the Banks, I counted the lights of 35 boats that were already fishing. Those were all smaller boats, it turned out. We were the first charter to arrive. Several others followed close behind us, but we were already catching fish by 4:30 a.m.

We had 10 in the box before 5:00 a.m. When First Mate Eric Tracy woke up some time after that, the action had slowed to an occasional hit. At one point just before sunup, every boat within sight was fighting a fish! We quit before 8:00 a.m. and headed in for breakfast with 19 kings in the box.

One of our fish looked like it might make the board, but when we got back to port, it weighed only 17.3 pounds. It made the board for a few hours, just below Eric's at 17.35 from the day before, but was later bumped. When the final fish was weighed, though, Eric's fish from Friday was big enough to earn Nooo Problem third place in the charter boat division. Janet Eileen won that division with a 20.42-pounder, and Elite Fishing Charter took second with an 18.27-pounder.

The leader board told the final story. Andy Stuth took the grand prize of $3500 cash with a salmon that weighed 20.97 pounds, one of only a few fish over 20 pounds. Bill had been telling us the average size of mature kings was down from loastg year. It appears there are fewer alewives in the lake, but no one knows for sure if that is because kings are more abundant (There is some natural reproduction in northern Door County now.) or if something is going on with the alewive population itself. No doubt it is a complex issue that bears a call to DNR fisheries biologist Paul Peeters, who has been studying the problem.

At any rate, don't count on catching too many 20-pounders in the lake this summer or in the streams come fall. The fish we caught were lean, mean and strong for their size. Maybe they were just hungry!

In the other divisions, Brian Peterson took first place and $1000, with a 17.70-pound brown. Barb Bellin won the rainbow trout division with a 13.70-pounder. Brian Miller registered the largest lake trout, a 10.13-pounder.

After the tournament, I unwound with a few holes of golf on the Leathem Smith par-three course, then headed home. I found a dead doe on Highway 42/57 just south of the high bridge across Sturgeon Bay and photographed it for a story I wrote for Wisconsin Sportsman magazine.

It was a great weekend of fishing, but an exhausting one. I averaged about three hours of sleep for each of the three nights. From that perspective, it was a lot like turkey hunting!

Later...

Lies, lies and more lies...

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 03:30:42 GMT

Otherwise known as fish stories. Most outdoorsmen stretch the truth a bit when retelling a story, but the tales passed around at dinner tonight at Nightengale's in Sturgeon Bay were mostly true, or so we were leading each other to believe.

Tales of 30-pound pike and 80-walleye (all over 26 inches) mornings in Canada's NW Territories. Of quadruple limits of jumbo perch under wardens' noses - the same wardens who didn't know a splake from a lake trout. Of bear cubs and sows shinnying up a tree occupied by a bowhunter.

Everyone had a story or two, but the primary bull-tossers were Capt. Bill Luer and EZ Charlie Dutter. EZ, of Cameron, lived in Washburn at the same time I did back in the '70s. We knew many of the same people, but somehow knew each other only by reputation. Charlie is a respected taxidermist and woodcarver who has won several wood-carving world-championships, thanks to a natural talent tutored by Dave Constantine, of Durand, who is hands-down the best wood-carver of turkeys and turkey calls in the world.

Anyway, we dragged ourselves away from the sports at the Door County Anglers Shootout to eat, and now suddenly it's time to sleep fast before a 2:45 a.m. wake-up call. Back at the Leathem Smith, word was someone had just registered a 17-pound brown, the new leader.

Capt. Bill wants us on the boat early tomorrow - 3:45, he said, so it's beddy-bye and I'm late already. We'll fish for a few hours in the morning, then pack it in and catch the awards portion of the ceremony.

Later...

Door County Anglers Shootout update

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 20:34:14 GMT

As of 2:30 p.m. today, here are the leaders in the 1st Annual Door County Anglers Shootout:

King Salmon: Phil Pomdenne 20.6
Brown Trout: Keith Waloway 10.4
Rainbow Trout: Brad Reetz 12.36
Lake Trout: Brian Miller 10.13

Only two kings over 20 pounds have been registered. This category, which pays down to 20th place, is pretty crowded at the top. Currently, Mark Smith holds down No. 20 with a 17.35-pounder.

There are only 4 browns registered, and No. 4 weighed 5.04, so the next brown registered is automatically in the money. The first three browns on the list were brought in by a boat from Marinette. Doln't know where No. 4 came from.

Right now, a 4.5-pounder holds down the number 5 spot for lake trout, so that category is up for grabs.

I fished again this morning with Bill Luer on the Nooo Problem, with first mate Eric Tracy and "helpmates" Scott Platta, Mark "Fuzzy" Koenig and Gary Houdek. Tom D'Amico and Ken Zitzke, of Midstate Marine in Fremont, joined us.

We motored out to the Bank reef, leaving the Leathem Smith Lodge Marina dock at 4:00 a.m. There were so many boats out this morning, the water was rough in the narrow shipping channel from all the no-wake wakes.

We got into fish right away, catching a few small ones in short order. We caught a couple 4-year-old kings up to 17.35 lbs and two rainbows, one of which topped ten pounds on our two scales. When we weighed it back at show, it had lost weight, like those we caught yesterday.

I think we need to check our respected scales. I used a Berkley digital and Eric used s brass scale. His was more accurate than mine, tho not by much.

Bill Luer and Ross Smilko joined me for lunch at Scaturos, then we came back to the Leathem Smitth to check the leader board.

The weather has been perfect, which is not unusual for Door County in the summer. I'll keep you posted on developments.

Later...

Door County Anglers Shootout - Day One

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 23:12:56 GMT

If you're looking for some fast fishing action, come on up to Door County this weekend for the First Annual Door County Anglers Shootout. It's a three-day event headquartered at Leathem Smith Lodge in Sturgeon Bay. Look for the big blue tent in front of the lodge.

A not-for-profit tournament, the Shootout will pay out $45,000 cash to winners in four divisions: salmon, lake trout, brown trout and rainbow trout. Look for details on the Leathem Smith website.

I came up last night and got up early enough to join Capt. Bill Luer on his boat, Nooo Problem. Bill and mate Scott Platta had a boatful of guests, all of them registered in the contest. We motored through fog in the Shipping Channel and then powered up and ran out about 4.5 miles to The Bank Reef, off Whitefish Point on the Lake Michigan side of the county. We started hitting fish before first mate Eric had all the lines set.

I grabbed the first rod because someone had to, but a small shaker got off before I could get it in the boat. Shawn Fairchild grabbed the next rod and brought in an 8-lb. 3-year-old salmon. The rest of us then drew cards for fishing order. Roger Monson was next, followed by me, Tony Pupp and Ross Smilko. Action was pretty fast for the first hour, but most of the fish were small. By 7:00 a.m., the hits slowed down, but the fish got bigger. We boated several fish in the 15 to 18-lb. class. Ross caught the biggest one, which topped out at 16 lb. 4 oz. on my Berkley digital scale. In all, we caught about 14 chinook salmon and lost several more. No other species graced our cooler. Several other boats caught lakers and rainbows, but I haven't heard of any browns.

Back at the Leathem Smith weigh-in tent, Ross's fish weighed 14.96 pounds, not 16-something. Ross is currently No. 8 or 9 on the leader board and in the money, although no one expects the top fish (currentoly 18-something) to hold. Gotta check the accuracy of that scale, as Leathem Smith owner Chuck Buccola says his scale is certified. As long as all the fish are weighed on the same scale, it doesn't matter which one we use. Still, A 1.25-lb. discrepancy is significant if you're estimating the weight of a moderate-sized fish.

Representatives from Mid State Marine, Cal Marine and Lakeshore Marine have brought along some boats for show and tell. I'm looking forward to a ride in a G3 1750 bass boat or 1850 deep-V, and plan to take a look at the Pursuit equipped with twin Yamaha outboards. I'll let you know how they test-drive.

Gotta run. Tonight's the barbeque chicken & ribs dinner, and I've worked up a pretty good appetite.

Later...

Sending legislators down the river

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 02:37:25 GMT

Well, we did it! We sent a few state legislators down the river today, the Rock River, that is.

The Rock River Coalition held its 5th annual Send Your Legislator Down the River today to acquaint local and state officials and citizens about issues concerning the Rock River Basin, which encompasses most of ten counties in south-central Wisconsin. Shivani and I joined a group of paddlers to explore a five-mile stretch of the Rock, from Harnischfeger Park downstream to the next landing. My high-school buddy, Dick Tracy (yes, that's his name) and his wife, Pat, came along with us. They are on their way to Alaska, traveling in style in a 36-foot motorhome. More about our adventures in a couple days, when I get caught up. We've been having too much fun to take out time to blog about it!!

Later...

No sign of Bobby

Fri, 13 May 2005 02:49:44 GMT

We have exhausted every lead and worn ourselves out looking for him, but our dear Bobby is nowhere to be found. It's as if he evaporated, which was the first impression I had when he disappeared so totally in seconds almost before the car stopped shaking.

We are heading home in the morning with a new (2003) Explorer, but no Bobby, unless he miraculously appears before then.

Later...

That's my cat on Fox News!

Thu, 12 May 2005 03:52:06 GMT

And on the front page of the Ashtabula Star Beacon this morning!

But we haven't found him yet.

We spent most of yesterday afternoon and just about all of today trying to find him, with the help of Mary Stouffer, the local volunteer firefighter who came to our rescue with her sons, Matt and David. They were among the first responders to the 911 call, which came less than a minute after we crashed. After we had convinced the ambulance crew that we were OK and talked to the state troopers, we set about gathering our stuff, which was strewn about the median. Mary and her sons went home and came back with a half-dozen cardboard boxes and a box of heavy-duty trash bags, which we filled with our belongings. When the guys from Kingsville Towing brought us and our stuff to the Kingsville Motel, the Stouffers helped us get it in the room.

We spent most of Monday evening calling family and friends and just unwinding from the ordeal. Tuesday morning, you already know about. Tuesday afternoon was an adventure!

The land on both sides of the Interstate here is pretty wild. Steep ravines, several small creeks, pocket wetlands and thick brush are anything but welcoming to a 15-year-old cat with cancer, but he had to have gone either north or south, crossed two lanes of traffic, and then what???

Because we had to start somewhere, we chose the south side of the freeway. We hiked east on Fox Rd., which parallels I-90. Shivani knocked on doors, while I hit the woods. We stayed in touch via the Motorola Talkabout radios I usually use when hunting.

I hiked about a half-mile in both directions from Milepost 236, which is where our caravan came to rest. I found four deer carcasses, one dead dog, a possum skeleton and half a skunk, but no Bobby.

"There's lots to eat out there," said a man named Dwayne, who lives close enough to Milepost 236 to have heard the crash. He watched the entire cleanup from his back fence, but said he never saw Bobby. I met a woman and three kids who asked if I was looking for my cat. They were looking for Bobby because Mary Stouffer had given them a flier that told our story, but they were also looking for two other lost cats and a female beagle with a pink nylon collar. The dead dog I had seen was their Clyde, who had been hit by a car a month ago. I should have asked if the female was Bonnie.

I crossed under the freeway through a 6-foot culvert and continued my search on the north side, with the same results. Dead critters, but no Bobby. East of Milepost 236, there is a steep ravine I doubt he would have tried to cross. To the west, there is Nelson Sand & Gravel. I was finishing this sweep, when a thunderstorm hit, so I put on my raincoat and headed up the exit ramp, where a Travel America driver gave me a lift back to the motel. Shivani had just been interviewed by Ashtabula Star Beacon reporter, Mark Todd, who planned to do a story on Bobby for today's paper. I emailed him a photo, which he used in color with the story on Page One!

***************

After dinner last night at Kay's Place, we struck up a conversation with owners Kay and Dave Conley about the all-50s music they play. In fact, it's all late-50s: Rickey Nelson, Richey Valens, Buddy Holly and the like. They told us it was a Sirius subscription. They kindly offered us the use of their second car to search for Bobby, and that's how we spent this afternoon.

Well, that is after Cleveland's Fox TV 8 reporter Gary Stromberg taped an interview with us and Mary Stouffer, which aired on tonight's 10:00 news.

If Bobby doesn't show up after this media blitz, then he just might be gone for good, but we're not about to give up just yet.

Bedtime.

More later...

Roadkill celery

Tue, 10 May 2005 23:25:14 GMT

We spent today picking up the pieces, calling insurance companies and trying to arrange a replacement vehicle. Although we thought we might be sore all over this morning, we felt remarkably fine given the circumstances.

Connecting with two insurance companies and West Herr Ford in Amherst, NY, took most of the morning. Mike Wilkinson is looking for a used Explorer that will tow a boat or camper. Am I crazy to replace an Explorer with another one? I don't think so. The old one stayed pretty intact while rolling in the median, and we were well protected inside. Mike tells me newer models have a wider, longer wheelbase and independent rear suspension, so a newer model should be more stable. You can bet whatever replacement camper we buy will be more stable, too.

Around noon, we hiked down the road to Kingsville Towing, where Joel let us into the impound lot. We searched the Explorer first, salvaging the little bits of our life that remained there: a few coins, the trailer hitch, some of the flat stones we picked up at Zion what seems like a year ago. Gotta go back tomorrow for the plates, which I forgot we can use on the new car. We took a few photos of me in the driver's seat, to lighten up a bit. We had neglected to shoot photos of the wreck yesterday. Too busy dealing with it at the time.

Then it was on to the Hi-Lo, where we found a pile of stuff we had missed before: socks, our welcome sign, Shivani's garden tools, the kitchen timer that was still shrieking and a bag of celery, which I ate since it was already lunch time. Took a couple shots of Shivani with the camper.

We lugged half the stuff back to the Kingsville Motel, leaving heavy stuff behind for later. After lunch, we headed out to search for Bobby, with no luck. That story is developing into a local cause, and I'll report more on that later.

Time for dinner at our favorite restaurant in downtown Kingsville (Pop. 25, maybe?), Kay's Place. Home cooking at a decent price.

Later...

Seat belts save lives!

Tue, 10 May 2005 03:13:23 GMT

And so do medians on the interstate.

That's one of the first things that came to mind when the Explorer came to a sudden halt just inches from oncoming traffic at 4:30 this afternoon. The car was on its right side, with every window shattered. Blood was dripping from my head onto my briefcase, which was in the passenger seat. Shivani and Bobby had been in the back seat.

"Are you OK?" I asked Shivani.

"Yes, are you? But where's Bobby?"

I crawled out through the driver's side window on the Explorer and checked myself over for cuts and bruises. Shivani searched frantically for our 15-year-old cat, but he was nowhere to be found.

Our road trip had taken an abrupt turn for the worse, but we were OK, except for a few minor cuts and bruises. Moments before, the Hi-Lo had begun to fishtail and I lost control as I tried to correct it. Somehow, we swerved from the right lane into the left and then into the median, where the Explorer had rolled onto its side and the camper had come apart like a shoebox in a tornado.

Hours later, we are sorting our belongings in a motel room, while a local angel of a paramedic is searching neighborhoods on both sides of I-90 for Bobby, who apparently bailed out as the crash happened. We hope he was just traumatized and not injured, but we need to find him soon because he is on cancer medication and needs his treatments.

I'll get back to this later, but I want to leave you with one thought: if you EVER drive without your seat belt fastened, you're out of your mind!

Thank God we're both alive. To be continued.

Later...