Last Updated: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 2:14 PM CDT
Outdoors : Catch and release trout season - A pleasant surprise
Mark Walters - Columnist
Hello friends.
The idea for this week’s trip came in part because of my stepson Joey Dushek. On March 2 Joey took our snowmobile across the field while holding onto a net and a spinning rod. Joey, who is 14, was on a trout fishing mission and was taking part in Wisconsin’s barbless catch and release trout fishing season that opened on March 1 and runs until midnight April 27.
Until March 2, Joey has never been a trout fisherman and now the boy is literally hooked, having fished ten out of the last twelve days and catching and releasing at least two fish on each outing.
This week, I went on my own trout fishing trip. I headed down to Crawford County and took part in my first inland stream, winter, trout fishing experience.
Wednesday, March 12
High, 41 low 28
My plan was simple, throw a couple of spinning rods in the back of my truck along with my chest waders, some crankbaits and spinners that I filed the barbs off and head down to Crawford County.
My first stop was actually in southern Vernon County, where I tried fishing near Liberty Pole on Tainter Creek.
Until you actually try walking a stream bank that is covered with 1-5 feet of snow, winter trout fishing seems pretty simple. Within five minutes of throwing my first cast which was with a black and silver Rapala “X-Rap” I learned two things.
One, is that it is very easy to fall on either the shelf ice on the edge of the creek or through holes in the bank that you do not see because of the snow. The second lesson was that the X-Rap was going to catch me some trout. I learned that on my second cast when a chunky 12-inch brown trout grabbed my lure and headed upstream.
By the time I got back in my truck and started driving towards Rush Creek, specifically speaking, where Rush Creek enters into the Mississippi River, I had learned one other important lesson, it is very easy for a brown trout to get off a barbless hook as my catch rate was probably 20 percent at best.
The reason I headed to Rush Creek was that I was hoping to find bigger water. It seemed about every third cast I attempted, my lure would end up in a tree, which in the long run means a lot of lost time trying to save a lure.
With the deep snow and shelf ice, wading was close to impossible, because the water was too deep where there was no shelf ice. The deep snow caused it’s own problem, which was, that I made for a pretty high profile and when I attempted to cast I was all the closer to tree branches.
On the way down, I stopped at Viroqua and told a friend I would like to catch a trout of at least 16-inches in length. That wish came true when I caught a 16-incher on the X-Rap just before dark.
Thursday, March 13
High 47, Low 29
Today, I fished Sugar, Rush, Copper and Tainter creeks. Over the course of two days I did not see tracks from another fisherman in the snow.
I witnessed the first two real days of spring like weather and saw mother earth coming back to life, after a pretty difficult winter. I had the pleasure of watching a snapping turtle in the 20 pound range that seemed like it had just woke up from a long winter nap of living in the mud. The snapper stayed just underneath the water and was within inches of my feet for about 15 minutes.
I lost the X-Rap on the last cast of the day, which was at dark, on Tainter Creek, near Gays Mills. I drove home with a newfound respect for Wisconsin’s catch and release, barbless, trout fishing season.
Be Safe!
Sunset
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