"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:17:11 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


Since 1969 I've be frequenting the same camp just south of Kenora on LOW.
Over 50 trips, I've lost count. I've been in Central Florida for 15 years
and have been back up there every year, sometimes twice, except the past
two. Hoping to get up there again this summer at least once.

The trip was not so bad when I lived in Chicago but it's almost 4K miles
round trip for me here in FL. And, I tow my boat, a Lund 1900 Pro-V.

Damn!!!!!! You're a driver, you are.

I just love it up on the Canadian Shield if for nothing else than the
beauty
and tranquility. The fishing is almost secondary.

Second that. Run into any bears?

For my money, walleye, is my favorite eating fish. Of course up there
they
call them pickerel, eh.

Almost every fisherman from this area says that, and I won't argue.
It's good for sure. Maybe I like sand perch, grunt, drum, etc because
I've caught more of them and got them fried up quickly after catching
them. Except for shore lunch walleyes, which weren't cooked how I
like them, all my walleyes were frozen before eating.
Or maybe I just like best the most recent fish I've eaten.

I don't care for ocean fishing, but here the past couple of years a buddy
has got me into flats fishing for red fish.

Funny, my dad's been in Florida for almost 30 years now, fishing many
of those days, but still wants to go to Okee, WI on the river or up to
Canada. Talks about it all the time. I just like salt better.

I do a fair amount of bass fishing on the Harris Chain and my favorite get
away is to the Stick Marsh/Farm 13. Now there's some big bass. Also
crappies, or more correctly down here specs, are unbelievable in the
Marsh.
Couldn't believe the size of them beauties the first time there.

I fished for crappies more than any other fish, and they're good
eating too, but the ones we caught weren't big enough to fillet so the
bones slowed down the eating. Never caught or ate those southern
"slabs." Do you fillet them, and how do they taste?

Now I'm really longing for a shore lunch with fresh walleye on some
secluded
LOW island.

If you're interested, you can see the camp I'm speaking of at
witchbay.com.

Thanks for that. Looks real nice. When my wife gets more vacation
time I'd like to drive up there, even if only for a few days. Those
boats appear to be rigged up just right.

--Vic

The only place I've fished in Wisconsin lately is up near Hayward where a
friend has a place. I checked Okee on the map and that's right by the Dells
tourist trap area. Too crowded for my blood.

Believe it or not I have not kept a single fish in the 15 years I've been
here in Florida. Friends of mine do keep some crappie and they are quite
tasty. The ones I mentioned from the Stick Marsh go over two pounds and are
easily filleted.

Just for fun I posted a picture over in alt.binaries.pictures.sports.ocean
you might get a kick out of. When fishing with wild shiners and not free
lining we use balloons as floats. They attract pelicans and alligators.
Just after I snapped the pix I posted that gator opened wide and clamped
down on the balloon. It held on for quite a while as by partner tried to
get it closer to the boat for a better picture. It's not unusual to see a
pelican flying around with a shiner in his mouth and the line/balloon
trailing behind.

WitchBay has come a long way with the equipment they offer. We I first went
there in 1969 they had 14 foot Lunds with 10 horse motors. Not much of a
rig for all that available water. And it's soooo much nicer to have your own
boat that is rigged especially to your liking. Also when I first went there
it was $10/day for room and three squares.

I had a couple of interesting bear encounters over the years. The year I had
my 11 year old son up there with me for his first Canadian trip we came
across a bear swimming from one shore to another. I got quite close to get
a good picture. My son was petrified. Had a death grip on the gunwales.
He thought for sure that bear would climb in the boat. I took some pictures
and the bear continued his journey.

A friend I was fishing with had to relieve himself in the middle of the
night. The cabins don't have indoor facilities. He opened the door to go
outside and a big ole black bear was on the cabin porch. Took about five
years off his life, my friends life that is.

I get real home sick to be up there when I start thinking about that place.
Hopefully this summer.

the subject of the post with the gator picture is Farm 13 Critter

D.Duck wrote:
the subject of the post with the gator picture is Farm 13 Critter


Thanks for sharing.

On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:15:57 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Vic Smith" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:17:11 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:

Just for fun I posted a picture over in alt.binaries.pictures.sports.ocean
you might get a kick out of. When fishing with wild shiners and not free
lining we use balloons as floats. They attract pelicans and alligators.
Just after I snapped the pix I posted that gator opened wide and clamped
down on the balloon. It held on for quite a while as by partner tried to
get it closer to the boat for a better picture. It's not unusual to see a

Cute picture. Thanks!
--
***** Have a super day! *****

John H

On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:15:57 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


The only place I've fished in Wisconsin lately is up near Hayward where a
friend has a place. I checked Okee on the map and that's right by the Dells
tourist trap area. Too crowded for my blood.

I've been to Okee 3 or 4 times, never for more than a couple days,
and never knew the Dells was anywhere around. Of course I90
had pretty heavy traffic on weekends, but that even went past the
Dells. I never went to the Dells, but one thing I noticed about
Wisconsin is no matter how heavy I90 was, the state sucked up
that traffic so when you got off the interstate it was never crowded.
At least all the fishing areas I went to.
Anyway, lot of my dad's talk about Okee probably comes from memories
of fishing there in the '40's and 50's. Okee fishing never impressed
me.
I used to vacation at Grindstone lake near Hayward and did some
exciting Muskie fishing in that area with buddies one year when we
hired a Muskie guide. In fact I caught a Muskie when on vacation at
Grindstone, but it was a snake, maybe 24." I was spinning for
smallmouths. Too much work fishing for Muskie.
When I was a kid I summered every year at the Chain of Lakes in
northern Illinois with my grandfolks and that spoiled me forever.
Of course that area went all the way down the hill in the '60's and
has been wall-to-wall drunk power boaters since.
I get a kick from seeing pictures in "Fishing Facts" showing stringers
of Crappies, Bluegills, Bass, Walleyes caught in the chain.
Those pictures are 50 years old! That's the fishing that spoiled me,
but it's long gone. I haven't seen a "Fishing Facts" issue in some
years, and maybe they stopped doing that.
Personally I've never had much fishing luck in Wisconsin, I suppose
because I never learned one area well and always went in deep summer.
But I've had some good times there. Might take a weekend trip up
there this year, but doubt I'll fish. Just smell the piney woods.

Believe it or not I have not kept a single fish in the 15 years I've been
here in Florida. Friends of mine do keep some crappie and they are quite
tasty. The ones I mentioned from the Stick Marsh go over two pounds and are
easily filleted.

Just for fun I posted a picture over in alt.binaries.pictures.sports.ocean
you might get a kick out of.

Crikey! Wish I'd been there mate! Beautiful creature!

When fishing with wild shiners and not free
lining we use balloons as floats. They attract pelicans and alligators.
Just after I snapped the pix I posted that gator opened wide and clamped
down on the balloon. It held on for quite a while as by partner tried to
get it closer to the boat for a better picture. It's not unusual to see a
pelican flying around with a shiner in his mouth and the line/balloon
trailing behind.

WitchBay has come a long way with the equipment they offer. We I first went
there in 1969 they had 14 foot Lunds with 10 horse motors. Not much of a
rig for all that available water. And it's soooo much nicer to have your own
boat that is rigged especially to your liking. Also when I first went there
it was $10/day for room and three squares.

I had a couple of interesting bear encounters over the years. The year I had
my 11 year old son up there with me for his first Canadian trip we came
across a bear swimming from one shore to another. I got quite close to get
a good picture. My son was petrified. Had a death grip on the gunwales.
He thought for sure that bear would climb in the boat. I took some pictures
and the bear continued his journey.

A friend I was fishing with had to relieve himself in the middle of the
night. The cabins don't have indoor facilities. He opened the door to go
outside and a big ole black bear was on the cabin porch. Took about five
years off his life, my friends life that is.

Saw one once in Canada, swimming from shore to shore as you did, and
the occasional moose. I prefer not to see bears.

I get real home sick to be up there when I start thinking about that place.
Hopefully this summer.

Good luck!

--Vic

On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:20:55 +0000, Ian Malcolm
wrote:

Vic Smith wrote:

On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 02:50:43 GMT, "Mike"
wrote:


Thanks Harry. Nice story , and so true. Made me hungry for that 'chowdah'
my grandmother used to make back in the day. I'm originally from MA, but she
was born in ME.


I've always envied "coast people" for the sea bounties they enjoy.
The only fresh chowder I've ever had was what Indian guides cooked
up for shore lunches in northern Ontario. They only used Northern
Pike, potatoes, onion and seasonings, but it was always the culinary
highlight of our fishing trips, even though I'm not really a soup guy.
OTOH, give me some crisply fried fillets from freshly caught sand
perch, bread and butter and a cold beer, and I'm in Florida heaven.

Well the further north you go, the more likely the Scots got there ahead
of you.

Google for: cullen skink recipe
and you will see the ancestral white fish soup.

After initially dismissing what I believed to be typical Scots
chest-thumping, I've reconsidered.
In looking up Vladek Sheybal - one of my favorite actors-with-an-odd-
Polish-name - I discovered he is actually a Scot.
So you may add "further east" to "further north" and it will work some
of the time.

--Vic


http://www.vladeksheybal.com/4598.html
The Sheybal family was of Scottish origin, being descendants of
Andriks Sheybal, a Scot who left Scotland in 1511 as a result of
religious persecution. He settled in Pardubice in Bohemia and
although some of his descendants later returned to Scotland, one
branch of the family settled in Southern Poland which at that time
was under Austrian occupation [¤]