Doubled Up Backwards

It probably sounds fishy to tell a story backwards while reviewing through the events and details that develop its skeletal structure.  But that’s exactly what transpired within this tale!  The script itself ended within the early fall days of 2024.  That particular week we had a partial lunar eclipse on September 17th while in the midst of the Harvest (Full) Moon, which ironically coincided with the Super Moon.  You know, that time when the moon circles closest to Earth and appears larger than usual.  It was then that Cindy and I cooked up the pike I had caught at the end of August.  The tasty fish and pleasant evening was comforting as we ate out on our deck; belying internal stress and sadness.  The following afternoon, after a day with family in the healthcare center, Cindy’s Mom passed away.

A Partial Eclipse Of
The Super-Full-Harvest Moon

A Pike Fillet & Vegetable Stir-Fry Dinner
Out On The Deck

Three weeks prior to that, up beside one of the many lakes straddling the Oneida-Vilas County line in Northern Wisconsin, I tried practicing what my Uncle Bob preaches for filleting a pike.  The meat is sweet, flavorful, and oh so delicious when cooked in original Shore Lunch Breading and Batter Mix.  Some people don’t like to fish for pike because you risk losing expensive lures and tackle with their vicious strikes if you don't prepare with quality equipment.  Others don’t like to fish for pike due to the skeletal Y-bone along each side of their backbone when trying to fillet them out.  I’ve often kept a pike and simply filleted them out - leaving the Y-bones in them.  I don’t mind digging through the bones to experience the taste.  But on that date, with that pike, I watched and re-watched a video I had recorded of my uncle cleaning a pike enough times to make an attempt at cleaning it correctly while removing the Y-bone.

(Click here to watch my Uncle Bob filleting a Northern Pike)

I graded the first side of the pike I filleted with an “A”, but the second side received a self assessed “C”.  I still managed to harvest all of the edible meat on that second side, but it came off in several scrap pieces.  After cleaning the pike I packaged the meat in a zip-lock and packed it in ice for my trip back home and the dinner I mentioned out on the deck a few weeks later.

I had caught that particular pike while drifting in the northeast corner of a lake on which my parents have rented a cabin a couple of times each year since 2009.  They say it's so they can continue to get their “Northwoods Fix” after having moved to Southern Wisconsin from Northern Lower Michigan back in 2001.  As a rule, Dad keeps a detailed fishing journal and wrote about the events from that morning as we fished together.

Captain’s Log:

Wed. 8/28/24

Up at 6:45.  Cool, cloudy morning.  Temp. 60° Dew pt. 54°. Light NE wind.  We got ready.  Mike & I were on the water by 8:00.  We are still using Josh’s bigger, wider 16’ boat with the 25 hp. Motor.  Nice : )  We went to the far NE end of the main lake.  It was calm water, maybe 5 mph wind allowing us to drift and cast along the whole shoreline.  We made 3 or 4 passes of drifting and casting for pike or bass without a strike.  We both used gold #5 Mepps.  Finally I tried a Dardevle, then a #5 silver Vibrax with a red blade.  Nothing.  So we drifted closer to shore [under the watchful eye of an osprey] and went to casting worms and a bobber for panfish.

We caught a few “gills” and I caught a few crappies.  As I was bringing in a bluegill, a big pike zipped in and grabbed it.  Excellent!  The pike must be starting to feed.  Mike grabbed his Mepps and I my Vibrax.  He cast North and I cast South.  Within a couple of casts we both had a pike on at the same time [known as being “Doubled Up”].  Mine made 3 jumps on the way to the boat.  His stayed down.  Both pike ended up coming into the same side of the boat at the same time. 

Mike got a video of them beside the boat.  Then he took our big net and netted them both at the same time.  Mike’s pike had a big head, and measured at 29.5” and 5#.  My pike was 24.5” and 3#.  We dispatched them both, put them on a stringer, made a couple more casts for good measure, and headed back to the cabin.  We were back by 10:30.

CLICK BELOW FOR A QUICK VIDEO OF

DAD AND I DOUBLING UP ON PIKE:

With those two pike on our lines, it made for a fun but hectic few moments.  For that reason, we were relieved when they both threw their lure off while thrashing together in the net.  We removed the lures and untangled the lines before hoisting the fish for a couple of pictures.

Having us each catch a big fish at the same time was the climax to a quick trip Up North to see my parents.  They had the cabin rented for several days, and since I had time available, retirement allowed me the opportunity to join them for two of those nights.  It was the kind of spontaneous autumn get-a-way that keeps you dreaming of time on the water and time with family - especially as the colder months creep closer.

The first night after I had arrived, my parents fixed some hamburgers.  We struck out fishing afterwards, but were able to enjoy a great sunset over still water in a nearby cove.  It took a while to fall asleep that evening with hot humid temperatures; fans in the bedrooms saved the night!

The second day of my visit was a mixture of activities such as solo fishing in the rain, having a hearty breakfast with Mom & Dad, sitting in the back seat while heading to town for a quick shopping trip, and then after a little lunch, Dad and I fished again.  We both caught bluegills and I managed a large mouthed bass that measured just shy of 15 inches before it started raining again.

We fixed the fish for dinner that evening and topped it off with some ice cream at Cathy’s in Saint Germain.  It’s a tradition to go there at least once per visit as it’s hard to beat a night-cap of Moose Tracks or Mackinac Island Fudge.

We all hunkered down that night with chilly temperatures outside that were a 180 degree turn from the evening prior to that when we needed the fans to survive.  The following morning, unbeknownst to us at the time, we’d be busy and doubled up with those pair of pike.

Before I had even headed North to meet my parents, the story actually began with a teacher retiree breakfast.  For years I had pleaded with my former colleagues to keep it going until I could join them for their “Beginning of the School Year Gathering.”  One of the past educators had once commented to my plea by saying, “It’s really not that big of a deal Mike.  It’s just a bunch of old people getting together to eat.”  Ha Ha, That was funny!  I replied that it was important to me, because it meant that I’d finally rejoined the colleagues I had originally taught with back when I had first started my career at Prairie Hill School.

To show their appreciation, they put me in charge of organizing the shin-dig since I had the contact information for the retirees.  There’s nothing quite like being baptized into the fold with a rookie initiation like that!  Regardless, the breakfast food, coupled with a reunion among good friends, gave me the energy needed to drive North and meet my parents at a rented log cabin.  Who knew that 48 hours from that retiree breakfast, Dad and I would be doubled up with a couple of rambunctious pike on a favorite lake!

See you along The Way…

A Few Colleagues After A Prairie Hill School
District#133 Retiree Breakfast

A Lake That Gave Up Her Secrets

 

It was the third year in a row that my wife Cindy, daughter Jodi, and I had spent at Jung’s Birch Lake “Tranquility Cottage”.  Born of necessity to get-a-way in the middle of the pandemic of 2020, we now use the week to reconnect.  Because Jodi’s been going to grad school in Texas this last year, she came back to join us Up North where we could spend time making some memories together.

The days quickly fell into a rhythm.  Being familiar now with the lake and surrounding area, I typically headed out to fish in the morning and spent time at the cabin with the ladies in the afternoon.  During that time we’d read, journal, take walks, fix and eat dinner, go for a drive, or go get ice cream.  The weather was pleasant during the day (70° ’s) and cold at night (50° ’s); a refreshing change of pace from what Cindy and I had been experiencing back home and from the triple digits of central Texas for Jodi!

I’d caught some fish in this lake each of the last two years; not a lot of fish, but some big fish.  So each cast this year was made with hopeful expectations.  Gordon Lightfoot sang in his song of Lake Superior and the Edmund Fitzgerald, “she never gives up her dead.”  Likewise, Birch Lake doesn’t always like to give up her fish, unless the fisherman has a lot of patience, some ideas of where to start, and a little knowhow on the lures of choice.  Any knowledge that I’ve gained has primarily come through intuition, mistakes, and sometimes just plain, dumb luck.  When she does give up her fish, they are downright memorable!

The first full day of the week (Sunday) was my 56th birthday.  I fished for several hours that morning with absolutely no action; until there was.  While retrieving a deep diving lure, a fish hit just below the aluminum boat.  I saw the flash, and instantly felt the pull.  What I eventually reeled in was a 23” walleye.  Although I’ve fished a lot throughout my life, for some reason this was my first walleye; and probably one of the last of the main freshwater game fish I had yet to catch.  We postponed my birthday dinner of tacos and had walleye, dipped in Shore Lunch, and fried in butter.  It was a memorable happy birthday indeed!

I Used My Grand-Dad Fagerlund's Old
Fillet Knife To Clean The Walleye.

On Monday morning the air was cool, and with hardly any breeze, the lake was like glass.  I tried several different spots around our end of the lake, but didn’t catch anything until the sun began to heat things up.  Using my Whopper Plopper lure, I caught a nice 18” smallmouth bass that exploded on it and jumped multiple times; all within sight of our cabin and dock.  I released it and watched it swim quickly back under some nearby lily pads.  It’s fun to catch a fish on that surface lure as I feel like Matt Nelson, the YouTube fisherman under the tagname of, “ndyakangler.”  That evening Jodi and I fished together in a back bay for a while.  I managed to catch a 20” pike; releasing it after a quick picture into the water from which it came.

Tuesday morning was slow going.  I caught and released one small pike, but otherwise it was simply time in a boat; which was still worth every minute.  Before heading in, I shared the last hour or so with a doe and her two fawns as they made their way along the shoreline.

On Wednesday morning I started the day by running the hills around the lake, jumping off the dock to rinse off, and eating breakfast.  By that time I had formulated a bit of an adventure in my mind, so with the kayak that comes with our cabin, I set off with some of my fishing gear for a neighboring lake.  It was like being the main character of an epic tale about a guy who trudges through Hell to get to a Heavenly secret lake.  Indeed, it required a lot of grunt work, mud, slogging up and over beaver dams, and wallowing through a swamp, but it was well worth the struggle.  Halfway to my destination I took a break to catch my breath, rest, and was actually able to get a connection so I could talk to my Dad on the phone.  I told him he wouldn’t believe where I was (actually he could picture such a place because he knows me, has done that type of thing himself, and even looked up my location on a satellite image).  The ensuing lake was choked with weeds, but I fished some of the sporadic open sections with a #5 silver Mepps.  After an initial small pike, I managed to catch and wrestle in two twin northerns at a smidge over 25 inches.  I elected to keep them as I truly do love the taste of pan fried pike.  Before I headed back, I caught and released a couple of largemouth bass that were hanging out next to a beaver lodge.  The final paddle across Birch Lake was against the wind, which of course had whipped up some small, rolling whitecaps by that time.  I thought my arms were going to rip out of their sockets before I reached our cottage, but regardless, it was a classic way to end the day’s tale!

Thursday morning’s fishing expedition lasted no more than an hour.  While fishing a small bay, a giant fish went airborne after hitting my Mepps. Spinner.  It was hard to tell what it was exactly.  All I really saw was a large body and a lot of water being thrashed about.  It dove deep, but as I brought it close to the boat, after it had taken multiple runs, I could see that it was a muskie.  I felt fortunate that I had my large, rubberized net.  It’s safe for the fish, and a bit easier to handle them when they are in it.  Make no mistake that with the combination of power, hook barbs, and fish teeth, it’s not what I would label as an easy task.  It is, however, more manageable of a venture as it allows you to keep a fish in the water while using your multi-tool pliers to get the hook out.  Actually, for this fish, which measured at 33 inches, I had to grab it under its jaw and lift it from the net.  I find that it immobilizes them more than a gripper.  This also allowed me to reach down into the muskie’s mouth to extract the treble hook while still holding it.  I lifted it for a quick photograph and then eased it back into the lake, where with a flick of its tail, it disappeared.  At that point, and after a fish like that, I quit for the morning.  That fish was my fourth muskie in three summers, my second of the year, and although the smallest of all of them, I was more than satisfied with the experience!

My Plug Of Cedar
With A Prayer Of Thankfulness
For The Opportunity
Before Each Fishing Adventure.

That afternoon I took the girls to a nearby bay where they caught panfish and perch.  They had fun, laughed, and enjoyed being out on the lake.  We kept 6 of them that we ate that evening along with one of the pike from the day before.

I closed out the week with a 25 ½ inch pike on a cold and early Friday morning.  I took a selfie with the fish and then released it as I didn’t feel as though I needed to keep it (we were already bringing home one of the two pike that I had caught on Wednesday for a meal later this fall).  The interesting story of that last fish was that I was able to see the wake it made as it charged out from some lily pads before it actually hit my spinner.  Talk about short lived anticipation!  Knowing that something was about to happen, I waited only a fraction of a second for the actual strike.

All in all our week together was fun, relaxing, and just what any doctor with half a mind would have ordered.  Fishing was just a portion of what we did that week, but to that end, it was an important facet of the overall experience.  Thankfully, Birch Lake, in its tranquility and serenity, shared some of its secrets and gave up her fish.  Interestingly enough, the brochure for Jung’s Birch Lake Cottages states, “The natural beauty of this 180 acre lake offers you great fishing for Musky, Northern, Bass, Walleye, and Panfish…”  Indeed it does, and indeed it did - on all accounts, with fish that were truly memorable!

See you along The Way…

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