BP's Fishing Stories Part 3: Root and Pike In Sconni

On IDO Outdoors Fishing Forums, one of the regulars was reminiscing about wade fishing in rivers, streams, and creeks in his childhood. 

I gave a three-paragraph reply, which I will share in three separate posts. This is Part 3, and it is about me fishing in the Root River at Racine, Wisconsin, and the Pike River in Kenosha.

I have also fished the Root River in Racine, WI, and the Pike in Kenosha for trout and salmon in the fall. Maybe one of these years, I will go back down there to do some urban fishing. It was like the United Nations being that close to Chicago. I almost got pinched by the WI DNR in the Pike for netting a guy's fish that was snagged. I think Snagger was Russian or maybe Ukrainian. I told the guy keeping a snagged fish wasn't smart. I had been warned about releasing snagged fish by my buddy, who showed me the bite down there and witnessed guys getting busted for snagging on a subsequent trip. I usually ran into at least one C.O. every year I went. Well, sure enough, about an hour later, about 5 C.O.'s came out of the woods. Thankfully, the CO did his job, considered the facts, and didn't write me a ticket. They took everybody, but me and a couple of Cheeseheads from the middle of the state back to the road to get tickets and I presume their gear confiscated. I hear they don't play around in WI. If you FAFO, they are apt to take your gear if you are out of state.

BP's Fishing Stories: Canby MN, Mid 1990's

MN Opener 1996

  On IDO Outdoors Fishing Forums, one of the regulars was reminiscing about wade fishing in rivers, streams, and creeks in his childhood. 

I gave a three-paragraph reply, which I will share in three separate posts. This is Part 2: Canby, MN 

I was a Youth Pastor in Canby, MN, for a couple of years in the mid-90s. They drained Del Clark Lake before I got there the same year I arrived. I was able to catch walleye, suckers, and pike at various points in the creek that runs through town. The final year I was there, Del Clark, which I think had been off limits to fishing, opened up, and it was on fire for 17" to 20" walleye and 28" to 32" in pike, and I was like the only person who knew about it. It was ridiculous. And then, at the end of that magical May, my time in that town was over. I also tried some fishing across the border in South Dakota for spawning pike, but I couldn't figure out how to get the big gals to bite in this one particular creek. I caught a few hammer handles over there but saw many spawning pike. 

Fishing Story From Bass Pundit's Youth: Nine Mile Creek, Bloominton MN

 On IDO Outdoors Fishing Forums, one of the regulars was reminiscing about wade fishing in rivers, streams, and creeks in his childhood. 

I gave a three-paragraph reply, which I will share in three separate posts. This is Part 1: Nine Mile Creek.

The first paragraph was about Nine-Mile Creek, a quarter mile from where I grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota. I don't think I have a single picture of me ever fishing there. Maybe getting one fishing in my old stomping grounds is a future fishing goal in the making.

Nine Mile Creek in Bloomington, MN, was not much for fishing in my youth, or at least not in the stretch close to home in the Moir Park area. We might catch a sunfish, bullhead, or crawfish if we were lucky. There were two to three-pound carp around occasionally. And one summer when I was maybe 9 or 10 years old, I think they stocked the area with bass, but they may have been trout. They were about 8-10 inches long, and I never caught one of them. They swam as a school, and I spied them frequently in a particular bend in the creek. They seemed to be on the move quite a bit. When I got older, I caught a few pike and bass where Nine Mile enters Lake Normandale. I heard stories of huge pike, bass, and crappies coming out of Normandale. I favored wading and float tubing in Hyland and Bush, mainly Hyland, where I had better luck and there was more shore access, being fully surrounded by the park. 

Two True Mille Lacs Indian Point Stories

Over at Bass Parade they are asking about Weirdest Thing You Have Caught.

Here are two of my true stories.

I was out fishing the Fall night trolling bite on Mille Lacs for walleye on Indian Point. I didn't pay attention to how much line I let out and was past the Fireline into my backing point. A fish hit and my line broke where the knot between the Fireline and the backing line was. I always have multiple rods so I just grabbed another one. Later on that night on one of my trolling passes I caught the broken off Fireline with walleye still attached. I got my line, lure, and fish. Pretty Amazing. The walleye was about 5lbs.

Then there was one time when Indian Point was busy with boats and another boat was following behind too close and my line got into their prop and my Fireline got spooled. That sucked! I hope my line didn't break their seal and wreck the lower unit.