Happy Birthday To Me

Today was my 34th birthday. I actually got to go fishing.

I spent a good chunk of the day getting my gear in order for this weekend and next week, but I took the boat out for a couple hours this afternoon.

Still learning to use my side finder, but I got some great screen shots I'll be posting this weekend.

Fishing was slow but steady. The bigger panfish were hard to come by, I caught about 10 keeping size bluegills out of about 70 total fish.

Water on Okauchee has dropped back into the low fifty's in the shallow bays and high 40's on the main lake. Warmest water was in Whitigers Bay at 56, with Tierney close behind at 54.7. Garvin was 52.

There's lots of bass shallow, but they are running a pre-spawn pattern.

Why Hire a Guide?

Gang,

I was talking with some people I just met this weekend. They were your average Wisconsin/Minnesota outdoorsy type people. Not hardcore fishing and hunting enthusiasts, but the kind of people engage in outdoors activity several times a year.

After the usual discussion about whether Green Bay Packer Aaron Rodgers is going to be worth a damn, the conversation drifted towards the fishing opener this weekend. I mentioned that I was a guide and looking forward to gamefish season.

One of the guys I was with asked why people would hire a guide when they could just go fishing by themselves. I thought about it for a minute, and realized there's no single reason people hire me to take them fishing.

Some don't have the equipment or the knowledge to fish our heavily pressured local lakes. For others its a chance to spend some quality time with a loved one (father+son/ husband+wife/ grandpa and grandson etc.) Some people want to learn a lake or a new technique for fishing. Some just want to catch fish when they go out. Some are in town from somewhere else and its easier to hire a guide than rent an equipped fishing boat.

I certainly subscribe to the last one. When I travel to distant fishing locations the cost and hassle of towing a boat can exceed that of a guide. When I went to texas, i tried to rent a bass boat, but it was actually cheaper to hire a guide. When I contacted him, I told him I more or less wanted to to use his boat, and he was perfectly happy with that. In fact I ended up working from the front of the boat while he relaxed and fished from the back, something as a guide you don't often have the chance to do.

All these things aside, I think they best single reason to hire a guide is so that at the end of the day, you don't have to be this guy:

River Condition Update

The walleyes and whitebass are still running. Here's the latest on the river conditions. This is from Sunday at 3:45pm.


The Flood Warning continues for
the Rock River at Newville.
* Until further notice.
* At 0200 PM Sunday the stage was 11.20 feet.
* Moderate flooding is occurring and major flooding is forecast.
* Flood stage is 10.0 feet.
* At 11.3 feet... there is Knee-Deep water over Blackhawk Road. Lamp
Road on west side of river also becomes Flooded. Lake Koshkonong
merges with Mud Lake to the east of Lake Koshkonong.

The Flood Warning continues for
the Rock River at Fort Atkinson.
* Until further notice.
* At 0240 PM Sunday the stage was 6.81 feet.
* Minor flooding is occurring and moderate flooding is forecast.
* Flood stage is 6.0 feet.
* The river will continue rising to near 7.0 feet by tomorrow early
afternoon then begin falling.
* At 7.1 feet... water touches Highway 106 east of Fort Atkinson

The Flood Warning continues for
the Rock River at Jefferson.
* Until further notice.
* At 0200 PM Sunday the stage was 10.69 feet.
* Minor flooding is occurring and moderate flooding is forecast.
* Flood stage is 10.0 feet.
* The river will continue rising to near 11.0 feet by tomorrow
evening then begin falling.
* At 11.3 feet... floodwaters affect low lying areas of residential
and business property in Jefferson... including the Burger corner
restaurant and Riverview drive in the area of the wastewater plant.
A stage of 11.3 feet is about a 5 year flood

... Flood Warning extended until further notice...

the Flood Warning continues for
the crawfish river at Milford.
* From tonight until further notice.
* At 0200 PM Sunday the stage was 6.95 feet.
* Minor flooding is forecast.
* Flood stage is 7.0 feet.
* Forecast to rise above flood stage by tonight and continue to rise
to near 7.7 feet by Wednesday early afternoon.
* At 8.1 feet... there is widespread flooding of agricultural land and
lowland. There is widespead flooding in the Riverbend campground...
about 5 miles upstream. This level is considered to be about a 5
year flood.
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Be careful out there.
CT