We're Home from Our Little Fishing Trip

Kerry and I had to cancel plans for our 20th trip to Lac Seul this fall, since the border to Canada remained closed. As a backup, we booked a week in northern Wisconsin, running around some of our old haunts and reliving some fun memories while fishing a few different lakes. Kerry used to own land on Armour Lake and we used to go musky fishing on several lakes around there. He knows a lot of people there - and we ran into some he hadn't seen in 20 years! In addition, my family used to go up north somewhere different every year when we were little. It makes me miss my dad. All in all, we have a lot of familiar territory up north.

Here's my report ...

First, here I am with Chief St. Germain. He is too cool. I had to get that photo because I remembered standing there as a little kid. It doesn’t take much to turn me into a little kid again.


I love the musky there even more!


We had beautiful fall weather, starting in the upper 30’s and 40’s in the morning and getting up to the 50’s or 60’s in the afternoon. The colors were insane up there! We had about the same in the maple swamp behind our house before we left.


We went up to a lake near Presque Isle with a guide two days early in the trip and got 27 walleyes early in the week, and froze our possession limit (12) to bring home. We also picked up 3 perch, 36 smallmouth bass (who jumped in the way when fishing walleyes in the rocks) and 1 rock bass (Kerry’s catch). Fishing was a bit tough and we had to work hard because the water temps had dropped 10 degrees in the previous week, but we got there. We had decided not to fish walleyes in northern Wisconsin on this trip to avoid the inevitable comparison to catching hundreds of them in Canada, but this guy was on the walleyes and we decided to give it a try.




With the walleye chapter out of the way, we then went on to launch an all-species attack on Little St Germain Lake, mostly for panfish. We caught 97 bluegills, 1 perch, 5 nice crappies, 3 northern, and 2 largemouth bass. We had some fish dinners and took home bluegills, crappies and northern. We didn’t take any of our musky tackle up with us. We were in meat-fishing mode.


This little northern chomped down a bluegill I was reeling in and was landed with his teeth in the bluegill without being hooked (the way northern love to do), thus earning a space in our freezer.


We froze 2 little northern that will be the perfect size for pickling.

We did a bit of driving around and taking in scenery. I just loved this calm little bay.


We had fun! We sure needed that after having to cancel our 20th trip to Canada.

Final numbers:

27 walleyes
4 perch
97 bluegills
5 crappies
3 northern
36 smallmouth bass
4 largemouth bass
And 1 rock bass

Total 177 fish.

And that concludes my report. I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Nice trip Patrice.
But you're missing something

Where the bottle caps ?

Nice Pics and trip! Did you fish with John?

Thanks for sharing your trip, old haunt are always fun along with fishing. I don't think you could a taken that many glass eyes across the boarder. Sure looked like fun!

BnB and Kevin, I'm sorry I did not photograph smiley! He only comes out across the border, near his home. We are still missing our trip so badly.

Deerfly - it was John Andrew for the walleyes. Is that who you meant?

Thanks, Getting There. It was fun. Canada was 8 walleyes for the 2 of us (instead of 12), although they would be a lot bigger!

Nice bunch of walleye's crappie are fun as well then there's the rest of them .
So were you trolling crank baits or fishing with jigs ? Out here it's a combination of both but I lean toward the jig fishing now that I found a rod I like using finally .
That had to be a fun trip ! Thanks for sharing with us .
Allan

What a haul...Great pictures!!!

Thanks, Allan! We were only using jigs and minnows for walleyes. We rarely troll, even though it produces bigger fish. We both like to have rod and reel in hand. It feels more like fishing.

Thanks, 330!

... looks like fun Patrice... glad had another good trip

Thanks, Savell!

Are you tryin to make us jealous b/c this is how you make us jealous!
J/k I'm happy for you both.

Thank you, Leftlane!

Great trip and photos! Those colors on he walleye are beautiful!

Thanks, MnMan! I'm sure you noticed the crappies too!
(Crappies! Crappies! Crappies! Crappies! Crappies! Crappies! Crappies! )

Great photos and plenty of fish to eat too! Thanks for sharing...

You lucked out weatherwise. 40mph winds the last 2 days. 39 degrees with snow now. 1-3 inches expected tomorrow. Most of the leaves are down.

Now that looks like a good trip. Awesome pictures, and fall colors!

Was there any beer batter involved? Looks like a fun time.

Thank you, River Birch!

Corky, it sounds like we lucked out in both directions. I think it was windy and snowing the week before too! (I see we got busted on Lake-Link!)

Thanks, Gary! It was fun.

Yes, Teepee, there was beer batter involved!

Thats a great haul of fish for anywhere.

Those pictures melted the stress away... can't imagine how good I'd feel being there! Thanks for sharing!

WOW !!!
What a trip...


Donnie

We're happy with it, Boco!

You are so welcome, rendezvous!

Lots of fun, Donnie! I could head right back up there right now.

I will have to get those two northerns out of the freezer and start the pickling process!

Looks like you two had lots of fun thanks for sharing the pics. I sure missed going to Canada this year too. I have a good friend outside of the little town of Navarino, WI that I should go see and maybe pull the boat with me and try fishing some lakes in Northern WI next year. Who knows if they will ever open the border again. Crazy times. I used to go up to his place and hunt the opener for ducks and geese every year, always had a great time and love your state.

Looks like fun to cacth an good to eat congrats.

I knew you'd have fun regardless of the change in vacation time ! I'm sure the guide had as much fun as you !

Lots of great fish and beautiful areas. Thank you for sharing your happy times .

We will catch up soon, Chickie !

I'm up for adoption.... Just saying!!!!!

Nice Walleyes... It's nice to revisit all those childhood places that bring back great memories- even better when they're untouched by time

Let us know if you're in our neighborhood, Flipper! Maybe we could meet up.

Thanks, Concrete man!

Thanks, Sharon! We sure needed that one!

Okay, little Elky! We'll take care of ya!

Thanks, Eagleye! I could tour around all kinds of places up there.

Looks like an awesome trip! Only fly fished Wisconsin. Literally little trickles of water in cow pastures meeting people from around the world trying to catch pretty tiny fish you can't keep. Things you do entertaining customers/clients. Looking for the next annual brothers location get together. Looks good in that direction.

Very good haul on the fish, looks like good fun.

Them "eyes" look so much better them the Canadian one color wise.
That'll put Boco over the edge
But dang girl, I have been waiting for the annual blue smile?

Looks like a lot of Fun...and a bus load of fish...But what is a Walleye ?...Dont have them in lakes around here. My next walleye would be my first.

Wow that looks like a wonderful trip you 2 had. I'm glad you guys had a blast. Thanks for sharing

looks like you had a great time , thanks for sharing ,

Looks like a fun trip! Thanks for sharing.

Next year think about trying some Rapala SnapRap's I tried them and found they really work quite well .
I'm fishing them on 6 lb J braid with a crank bait snap then a short 12 lb mono leader down to the lure no minnows or night crawlers required ha ha these are something new to me that I'm going to try more seriously while ice fishing even its a real kick when you catch a fish on them .
Allan

Sounds like fun, Thomas! We only go trout fishing on creeks where we can keep a few to take home. I'm too much of a meat hunter! There are a lot of great things to do here though. I hope you get a chance to come back and enjoy!

Thanks, Beartooth trapr!

They are nice colorful walleyes, Bucksnbears. I'm sorry about Smiley. He was shy. Maybe I can get him to do a photo shoot here in our woods for his 2020 appearance ...

Ah, Nessy. Many would say that a walleye is bettah than any othah fish for eating for suppah! Pure, delicate, white fillets of goodness!

Thanks, Adam!

You bet, Trapper Dahlgren!

Glad you enjoyed the photos, Hobbie Trapper!

I'll have to look at those, Allan! It sounds like it's worth a try. Thanks!

Patrice if you get some of them and start fishing them my advice keep a good grip on your fishing rod the strikes aren't like what you're use to while jig fishing or so I've noticed .
The good thing is when you do catch a fish using them they're hooked generally in the top of the mouth or on the corner of the jaw .
They'll pin it down on the bottom when you let it fall more so than normal jig fishing .
Allan

Last year in Canada my boat used jigging raps, snap raps and shiver minnows and slayed them. I only used about 3 night crawlers all week. While the other guys were dragging worms waiting for a bite we would catch 40 or 50 to their none. It was nuts, those things trigger a strike whether they are hungry or not. Watch some YouTube videos on fishing them. I would see fish on the hummingbird on a drift over a hump and tell the other guy and we would both have a fish. They glide on the fall and the walleye try and pin them to the bottom. We caught a lot of northerns too. Way fun!

Wait for the mail, there will be a new phase of old Blue face coming sometime soon as I get them in the mail.

Allan and Flipper, it sounds like I may have to pick up a whole bunch of those!

That is too funny, Northof50! They will be well cared for!