I have been talking turkeys for weeks and then I finally got to go hunting but I can’t let the Wisconsin Fishing Opener come and go without paying my respects. I celebrated the tradition with a trip to the trout stream. For reference, I grew up in a non-trout fishing family. It actually skipped a generation in that my grandfather was a diehard trout guy but he didn’t pass that on to my father. Grandpa Wally always seemed to have trout cleaned and soaking in a pan on his porch. 

I waited until late afternoon to go fishing on opening day figuring that I needed to let the crowds thin out. I was pleasantly surprised when the only footprints I saw in the mud were made by white-tailed deer. I wasn’t little-boy-excited-on-Christmas-morning but I sure was happy to have that stretch of the trout stream to myself. 

I eased into the first spot knowing that if the brook trout saw me first, the jig would be up before I got a lure in the water. That’s a lesson I continue to re-learn almost every time I fish that gin clear, shallow stream. The trick is to use as light a line as possible and small lures that can be cast a country mile. Even then it seems as if it’s only a matter of time before the fish are wise to my presence.  

 The first few casts didn’t produce so I took a few more steps upstream and fired a cast just ahead of a small bowl-like structure in the stream. I could tell that I had generated some interest in there was a wake behind my lure, which meant a trout was in hot pursuit. When that happens with a musky the excitement and anticipation is palpable. To be sure, I wasn’t musky excited but I was looking forward to the next five seconds. The brook trout hit my lure and when I felt the tug, I yanked back hard enough to set the hook but not hard enough to pull hooks free of the fish. A moment later I held the first trout of the new season in my hand and it felt good. 

I caught and released three more fish from that spot. At that point I considered the fishing opener a success. I moved further upstream and managed to land four more fish including an unexpected brown trout that was the biggest of the day.  

I fished for a couple of hours which was enough time to catch and release some fish and to just enjoy being on the stream. Grandpa Wally would have certainly given me his approval for a fine mess of trout, and then he would have chewed me out for throwing them all back.   

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