By Wayne Morgenthaler

If you are really are a true fishermen, then it is time to get out and fish the backwaters of the Wisconsin River. The weeds are at an all time thickness, the water is above flood level, and the mosquitoes are so thick you can almost get a free air flight. Another way to say it is you can give a pint of yourself to the wildlife blood bank. 

  At this time of the year I do like to fish smallmouth in the river. They bite on a variety of baits and supply you with plenty of action. One of my goals is always to find the fish that I am after being shown off in a city. The smallmouth is not an easy fish to locate and it took many miles before my goal was realized. This particular bass was found in Ashland, Wisconsin, right along the highway. I quickly jumped out of the car and my wife took this excellent picture. Ashland is located on Lake Superior and is one of the hot spots for big smallmouth bass. I have read articles and seen pictures of some of these beautiful fish being taken out of the large bay that borders Ashland. I did not get the fishing pole out, as I had a long trip back to southern Wisconsin for some tough swamp backwater fishing.

One of my readers, Patrick Collins, sent me his picture of the large 21 inch smallmouth caught on the Menominee River two weeks ago. They boated 17 fish and were on guided trip by www.bigsmallmouth.com.

  Another one of the Collins, Mike, decided to venture out with me near Lone Rock on the backwaters for some evening fishing as the Wisconsin River was too high. Mike is pictured getting into the canoe with appropriate gear to ward off the giant mosquitoes. As we traveled through the waters, we noticed that some of the water was a deep green color. This meant, because of the flooding, that part of the backwaters were more like a river and that disturbed the plant life. We fished for about an hour in this colored water and did not get a bite. I did notice some parts of the lake where the water was very clear. This is where we found the bluegill and bass action excellent. The only problem was that the mosquitoes were hungry and made fishing just plain miserable. We did catch 3 largemouth bass and a dozen bluegills. You can see Mike pictured with a 2 ½ pound bass caught on a scum frog in some duckweed.

  We desperately need some dry weather and less humidity to get things back to normal. Don’t forget to get out and take a friend fishing.

You can see Mike pictured with a 2 ½ pound bass caught on a scum frog in some duckweed.

Wayne can be reached at Morgenthaler.wayne@yahoo.com

Iowa Waterfowl Hunting Seasons Set
 

The Iowa duck and goose hunting seasons were approved by the Natural Resource Commission on Aug. 12, with two notable changes from last year. The first change increases the Canada goose daily bag limit starting on Nov. 1, from two geese to three. The other change increases the daily bag limit of pintail from one to two.

Migratory Game Bird Seasons

For the purpose of duck and goose hunting, the state is divided into north and south zones by a line beginning on the Nebraska-Iowa border at State Highway 175, east to State Highway 37, southeast to State Highway 183, northeast to State Highway 141, east to U.S. Highway 30, and along U.S. Highway 30 to the Iowa-Illinois border. 

North Zone

Ducks, Mergansers and Coots: Sept. 18 – 22, Oct. 16 – Dec. 9.

Youth Waterfowl Days: Oct. 2 – 3.

Canada Geese and Brant: Sept. 25 – Oct. 10, Oct. 16 – Jan. 5, 2011

White-fronted Geese: Sept. 25 – Dec. 5

Light Geese (white and blue phase snow geese and Ross’ geese): Sept. 25 – Jan. 9, 2011

South Zone

Ducks, Mergansers and Coots: Sept. 18 – 22, Oct. 23 – Dec. 16

Youth Waterfowl Days: Oct. 9 – 10.

Canada Geese and Brant: Oct. 2 – Oct. 17, Oct. 23 – Jan. 12, 2011

White-fronted Geese: Oct. 2 – Dec. 12

Light Geese (white and blue phase snow geese and Ross’ geese): Oct. 2 – Jan. 14, 2011

For information on shooting hours, daily bag limits and other migratory game bird seasons, go to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources online at www.iowadnr.gov and click on Hunting and Trapping Regs in the column on the right, under Current Hot Topics. Then click on 2010-11 Waterfowl Regulations.

Has anyone seen my mosquito spray?