50171
by Keith Brake
CUBA CITY, WI. – No one is perfect and that surely includes me.
But . . .I had a perfect day recently.
Daughter Amber and her boyfriend, Craig, called and announced they were coming down from Minneapolis to celebrate a late Father’s Day, and my birthday (July 15).
They were going to take me fishing!
I hadn’t been fishing during the almost five years Linda and I have lived in Wisconsin, even though some of my favorite spots of all time are located in this region.
I hadn’t gone fishing up here because, well, because . . .well, I don’t know why, really. Just because.
I thought and thought about where we should fish. Craig is quite the fisherman. His family has a cabin on a lake in northern Wisconsin, and he makes an annual trip to the far north to go after the lunkers that lurk in Minnesota and Canadian waters.
I considered three lakes in Wisconsin, and a Mississippi River spot about 30 miles up the line. But, because the kids were going to take Linda and I out for supper, we decided on a location we could get back from quickly. So we wouldn’t stink, as Johnny Bench says in the commercial.
I’ve had great fun at O’Leary’s Lake on numerous occasions over 40-plus years.
It’s an inlet off the Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side, right in front of Lock and Dam 11 at Dubuque. It’s part of a park in Grant County, Wis.
It’s. . .well, rustic. Authentic. Sand-in-your-shoes gritty.
It’s a county park and they take pretty good care of it by keeping it pretty much like it was 60 years ago.
There is a fishing barge that floats at the edge the channel. We decided not to go aboard, because the river was low, really low, and we guessed the walleye and sauger that usually hang out there might not be.
Amber was fascinated by the number of white pelicans swimming in front of the dam. A few blue herons floated overhead. One of the pelicans dive-bombed in front of us, after a fish.
We’d hear barge horns over at the locks on the Dubuque side, but they’re so loud you’d swear they were just a block way.
The inlet features outflow from the dam rushing into O’Leary’s Lake. That provides a highway for fish. Had the river been much lower, the inlet would have been a rocky sandbar and there wouldn’t have been a way in or out for the fish.
For 90 minutes, not one of us got as much as one bite. Not even a tap.
I taught Amber to fish, and she has sensitive hands. She can feel a fish just bump the bait, and she sets the hook. That has resulted in her catching a lot of fish.
Finally, Craig hauled in a smallmouth bass, but a little one.
Then, Amber and I each caught one. Again, bass.
What followed was a feeding frenzy: The three of us feeding smallmouths on a bass superhighway. Bass can be like that.
When I was younger, my grandfather, my dad, and I fished in front of the Sylvan Island dam off Second Street in Moline, and we caught all kinds of fish. But very few bass. Probably 10 or 12 drum for each bass.
Well, during this session, the three of us pulled in a little over 30 fish. All bass!
We each had a largest fish that probably didn’t weigh a pound. We were strictly catch-and-release on this trip . . .but what a joy it was. And we did take a few photos before putting the fish back.
I sunburned. . . a week later, I’m still picking skin off my arms.
We went out to a great dinner to cap a perfect day.
Oh, I’m 72. . .and happy I had another day like that! You had to ask!
Thanks, Amber and Craig . .and to my wife, Linda, who had a rare morning and afternoon at home.
Keith Brake is editor of Montezuma Magazine, which covers area sports and community events. He also writes sports for The Record.