The Rhinelander Daily News - Online news and information for the Rhinelander, Wisconsin region

Roger Sabota
Northwoods notebook

The New Year has arrived and 2008 is history. How did last year treat you? Perhaps more important is the question about the resolutions you established one year ago. Did you achieve those goals?

My notes show that I did not lose as much weight as I wanted to. The work during our elk hunt in Colorado pointed out that I could have been in better shape before we drove west. The most difficult aspect of getting in shape for elk hunting is that we hunt at an elevation of just over 10,000 feet above sea level. Our lungs are accustomed to exercising at our elevation here in the Northwods.

The other notes from last year point out that we experienced a good old-fashioned winter. The snow arrived early, stayed well into spring and ushered in some sub-zero temperatures.

The month of June was colder than usual and it was quite wet. The rest of the summer was extremely dry in our area.

Now let’s look forward to 2009. Like so many persons in our area, I would like to trim off 10 pounds during the year. If I cut 10 pounds I should be able to climb into tree stands with less effort. Unfortunately, we had to retire our black lab, Bert, from hunting.

Walking in the woods with him helps to get in shape plus helps me shed some pounds. At Bert’s advanced age he is still willing to go in the woods and hunt, however, even a couple hours in the woods and he has trouble getting out of his bed the next day. His condition has taken away the fun in grouse hunting.

Another resolution is to work with the Conservation Congress to encourage the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) game managers to reduce the number of antlerless permits that are available for Deer Management Units in Northern Wisconsin. It appears that we may again experience another difficult winter this year. Where winter was severe the number of deer that were registered this past deer season dropped off significantly.

This winter my goal is to spend more time ice fishing than I did during the past few years. It is so easy to say that it is too cold or too windy and then not go out on the ice. This winter we will be experimenting with very light fishing line. Already we have learned that while fishing without a good windbreak, light line can provide a frustrating experience. Also, it is difficult to tie knots in one or two pound line in a wind. I have a lot to learn about fishing with extremely light lines.

There will be several opportunities for us to care for grandchildren while their parents travel. One of my goals is to spend more time in the boat with our grandchildren. They really enjoy fishing and especially enjoy crappie fishing when the crappies are in the stumps. This past year the four oldest of our grandchildren were introduced to musky fishing. While celebrating Christmas with them they asked if we could spend more time this summer fishing for muskies. For me that is a resolution that will be easy and fun to keep.

We will again keep our membership in the YMCA of the Northwoods current. Both of us have noticed that we feel better when we visit the Y on a regular basis. Those visits also assist in keeping the extra pounds off.

Each year I attempt to spend more time fishing for walleyes and bass. The problem comes when I see a nice sized musky. When that happens all my thoughts go toward musky fishing. While thinking about musky fishing, I have promised myself that I will spend much more time fishing deep water. My hope is that by fishing deep water for suspended muskies perhaps my average size will increase.

By working with the Warm Water Committee of the Conservation Congress I hope to get the position fishing law revised. Presently when a musky angler has a sucker out and an electric positioning motor in the water the angler may be in danger of receiving a ticket for motor trolling. In my opinion there is some gray area in the current law. To carry the thought about position fishing a bit farther, let’s think about a grandparent fishing for crappies with a grandchild. One line is cast over the side of the boat with a crappie minnow and a bobber. Each person in the boat is casting with a pinky jig. Grandpa chooses to move the boat with the electric motor pulling the minnow and bobber along.

If the line with the minnow achieves a position that is an angle greater than 90 degrees, Grandpa is violating the position fishing law.

This year we do not anticipate that we will be chosen for elk tags in Colorado but we will apply for preference points. Again we applied for turkey tags and preference points toward a bear tag.

Let’s all look forward to doing our part to make 2009 a year to look back on with satisfaction.

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