Thankful Outdoors: Out On the Water

Thankful Outdoors: Outdoor Journal Week of August 2^nd through August 8th

August 5^th – Peace in watching a bobber

As the workday wore on and during the afternoon walk on break time, I couldn’t help but have a desire to get out on the water for the evening. The weather was perfect, and I know that summer evenings are soon coming to an end. This time of the year feels hectic and rushed, trying to cram in the enjoyment of summer before it slips away to frosty mornings and snowdrifts. It is this time of the year where I have to work hard to push those rushed hectic feelings down and just enjoy the moments when they are available.

I sent a text message to the boys to get some venison sausage sandwiches, chips, and drinks put into a cooler because we would be having supper on the water tonight. This type of meal is simple, but they are some of the best meals because it’s just the boys and I sitting in the boat spending time together.

We decided to stay on local waters and took a short drive to the Big Eau Pleine Flowage; Lisa’s Landing was empty, which did not surprise me since it was the middle of the week. Tonight we decided that we would fish by drifting with bobbers dragging fathead minnows and crawlers. The water as it usually is during this time of year was super green, it almost glowed.

The evening was spent drifting some of the 10 to 18-foot breaks in hopes that some walleyes would find our offerings attractive. The water that night held to a nickname that the Eau Pleine had been called a few times over the years, “The Dead Sea” this evening, it sure kept that name.

Even though we didn’t hook up with any walleye, we had a very relaxing evening drifting on the water, talking about favorite food, and all of our upcoming activities as the hunting seasons will soon be upon us. With each bounce of the bobber on top of the water, I felt the days’ stress get washed away.

We wrapped up the evening with a quick visit to friends Steve, Lisa and their pointer Greta, who has a house on the water, it’s always nice to stop and have a visit with them. Boone enjoys it; also, he and Greta seem to be starting to bond more and more each time we stop by.

August 8^th – Real Life Fishing challenge number three

For those of you that have been reading about the adventures covered by Thankful Outdoors, you have read about the fishing challenges with Jeff, who runs a YouTube channel called Real Life Fishing.  It has been fun to team up with a local YouTuber and capture our time out on the water.

The challenge on this day was going to be one pole and one lure. That doesn’t seem too unusual, though, does it? So Jeff said that the one pole was going to be a kids pole and a novelty/toy lure that he found on Amazon. This lure claims it can catch fish, and he wanted to test it out. He was inspired to do this challenge after watching a guy take a spinner toy, cut off some hair, and boated a musky.

Again we decided to fish unknown water to us; we drove 3-hours to Bayfield County in the Cable area. Once we got on the water, it took both of us a little bit of time to remind ourselves how to cast with a push-button spincast reel. I have not used that style of reel since I was about eight years old. It did bring back memories to when my fishing career started out using a Zebco 303. Throughout the day, I had thought about that greenish colored rod and reel combo that I used to catch crappies and bluegills in my youth.

The day started with not a bunch of action; it took quite a bit of time before a northern finally blew out of the weeds to hit my lure. During the retrieve I had thought it had bitten me off, and the bait was lost, turns out that he had just decided to run at the boat. It took all my effort to crank that little reel to bring in all the slackline. Jeff netted the “trophy” for me, and we celebrated in the boat with high-fives about the first fish of the day on the kids’ pole. The twenty-seven inch northern turned out to be our only fish landed that day.

Jeff just might be finding a new person to run these challenges with, though, since the record is Scott = 3 and Jeff = 0. It’s just a matter of time when Jeff gets to scratch that zero away and turn it into a 1.

In closing, I hope you find a way to get into the outdoors, create your adventure and memories, but most importantly, find a way to “Celebrate the Experience.” Go check out www.thankfuloutdoors.com for more content and share your “Celebrate the Experience” moment with us!

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