OUTDOOR Tales and Trails

BY DAVE BECK

On Jan. 1, the outdoor new year starts all over again just like the calendar year. The late archery season is still going on but that’s a carry-over sport from last year. For me, walleye fishing on the Mississippi River near Red Wing, Minn., marks the official start of my outdoor new year. I don’t always make it right away, but this year I managed an outing down there.

Before I can tell you that story, I have to take you back in time to a place far from here and far from today. When I was a little boy, night crawlers, sturgeon hooks and three-way swivels and sinkers were pretty inexpensive but walleye and bass lures were not. The best way for me to get new fishing tackle was by earning some money so I could buy it myself. The solution was to catch shovelnose sturgeon below the dam and then sell them to the nearest commercial fish market, which was owned and operated by my dad. Once I sold the sturgeon for cold hard cash, it was a short bicycle ride to Huntington’s Gas Station/Bait Shop/Marine Center in Genoa, Wis. That’s where the sonar walleye lures hung like shiny ornaments on a Christmas tree.

I don’t have many original items from my youth, but for whatever reason a few sonars managed to follow me through the years. Nowadays most people refer to them as walleye blade baits. To me, that’s just some marketing way to rebrand and pump new sales into an old bait. The lure still works, no matter what you call it.

Now for my fishing report of the new year. The sonars I described were the only baits that I used and after all of these years they still worked, even with a couple of rusty hooks. I caught one walleye, but it was too short to legally keep. I did catch some saugers, which are the smaller hybrid version of the much more famous walleyes but just as tasty. It would take a better trained palate than mine to distinguish between the two once they receive a beer batter bath and hot oil soak.

The old lures worked twice that day. First, they brought back some great memories from a long time ago and second, they provided enough for a great fish fry.

The new outdoor year is successfully underway with the first walleye outing on the river. Just like running into an old friend, it doesn’t matter how much time has passed since the last visit; it just feels good. A trip to the river always sparks the same thought every time: I need to do that again.

Didn’t get enough Dave this week? Visit “Outdoor Trails and Tales with Dave Beck” on Facebook for photos and video of Dave’s adventures. You can share your own photos and video with him there as well, or by emailing him at [email protected] Also, check out OTT content on Instagram @ thepiercecountyjournal