Dodging the rain to get some fishing in at Boulder Junction
Some time ago our phone rang and the person at the other end of the line identified himself as long-time college friend, Jim Naylor. Jim and his wife, Nancy have a summer home in the Boulder Junction area were inviting us to join them for a weekend in June. Also being included was my hunting and fishing partner, the “Osseo Jinx” and his wife, Rosemary. All six of us were good friends many years ago when we were in college.
We watched the weather forecast as we were preparing to leave for an outdoor weekend in the Boulder Junction area. It seemed obvious from the weather radar that we would experience rain at some time during the weekend. Judy and I arrived just prior to noon and the “Jinx” arrived in mid-afternoon. Hors d’oeuvres and cold drinks were loaded onto Jim’s pontoon boat and we headed out from the pier for some sight seeing and fishing on Boulder Lake.
Jim, the “Jinx” and I had some musky tackle with us while our wives enjoyed the beautiful weather and the scenery. We spent a leisurely afternoon trying to attract some attention from a musky. Apparently the muskies did not want to show up so we decided that it was time to head in for dinner.
During dinner at one of the restaurants in Boulder Junction the area was hit with a very heavy rainstorm. The rain let up just long enough for us to leave the restaurant and get into the cottage.
Saturday morning after breakfast, we watched the bilge pump empty the rainwater from my boat as we prepared to head to another lake. Our target for Saturday was walleyes, perch and small mouth bass. The walleyes were eager and we caught a lot of them. The only problem was that the lake we were on had a minimum size of 14 inches and many of those we caught were smaller than that.
The bait that was most productive was a light jig head and a leech. We fished until late afternoon and returned to the cottage to clean fish.
More rain fell during the night but stopped in time for us to continue our pursuit of muskies. After several hours of musky fishing the comment made earlier this summer by our grandson, Will Schroeder, entered our discussion. Will said, “Muskies either do not eat or they don’t exist”.
This weekend is the busiest weekend of the year on northern Wisconsin’s lakes. DNR personnel and volunteers from various lake associations have been at boat landings across the area. They will be particularly active from July 3 to 6. It is no secret that our boat is frequently slipped off the trailer on a variety of lakes every week. Each time that we are met by volunteers at a boat landing we gain new respect for them. They work with anglers urging them to drain all the water from live-wells and from outboards. Their goal is to educate those using the lakes about how important it is for everyone to do everything they can to help control the spread of invasive species of plants in the lakes.
As a reminder, persons who were born after Jan. 1, 1989 must complete a boater safety course before they are allowed to operate a boat on Wisconsin lakes. This course is available online from the DNR or in classes sponsored by the DNR.
A new book was recently released that will be of interest to deer hunters. The book, “Hunting North-Woods Bucks”, was written by Steve Heiting. Steve is well known by Musky fishermen, as he is the Managing Editor of Musky Hunter magazine.
The book takes deer hunters from Canada to Northern Wisconsin. It is available from Pinemere Press in St. Germain.
We are pleased to see the hatch of dragonflies. These insects feast on mosquitoes and they are very effective at their job.
Hope you enjoy the Fourth of July weekend.
Longtime Northwoods outdoors personality Roger Sabota writes a bi-monthly column for the Star Journal.
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