Dave Beck

Over the past few weeks, I have been biding my time waiting for my turkey hunting season to begin.  I’m not very patient when it comes to waiting. To make matters worse it seems like every day someone is sending me a turkey victory photo where the hunter is holding out the fanned tail to display the trophy. Now I know this is done with the best of intentions, but it seems to be making my wait even longer. 

I decided that I couldn’t sit around and watch the days slip by so painfully slow. To make the best out of my situation, I came up with an alternative activity that would get me out and about. I headed out for a day of catch and release trout fishing/turkey calling. Historically there have been turkeys in the areas where I typically trout fish. In other words, my turkey hunting spots are near trout streams. Either way, I would be standing near the water with my trout gear and my turkey calls. It’s not the same as actually setting up with a decoy or two but it’s better than sorting laundry. 

The first trout/turkey spot I tried was a huge success in terms of turkeys but not so much with trout. For whatever reason I just couldn’t get those darn trout to hit. It didn’t help my cause that the stream was clear as gin. While I was trying to figure out my next move, the morning changed course abruptly when a tom gobbled. Goodbye trout, hello turkeys. 

I eased upstream and settled into a spot that I thought was close to the gobbling tom. Before I could even call, a second gobble drifted through the valley from the north. There were either two toms or only one and he was walking really fast. Just then a gobble hammered from the south and I found myself in turf war for hens. Both the north tom and the south tom traded gobbles like they were cussing each other out. I was hoping for a good old fashioned slobber knocker, but the situation was defused when the south gobbler drifted away, apparently satisfied with being a lover not a fighter. 

Eventually the north tom drifted off with his three hens in tow and all was quiet again, so it was time to move on. Wait, it was time to catch a trout. I moved to a clear piece of water, watched and waited until I saw the unmistakable tell-tale sign of a rising trout. The circular dimple in the water radiated out giving me the exact location of the fish. I waited another minute or so, making sure the trout had returned to its upriver-facing direction and then fired a cast 10 feet past it. When the lure got near the trout a small wake appeared and an instant later, I wasn’t thinking about turkey hunting or gobbling toms. No, this was trout time and the first one of the year had been caught and released. 

My fishing/calling outing ended a few minutes later without any more trout or turkeys. It had been a successful day of distraction and I was another day closer to my turkey hunting season. It also gave me a great idea, but I don’t know how to possibly pull it off: a turkey hunting catch and release season. 

**I want to wish everyone good luck for the Wisconsin Fishing Season opener on Saturday. A reminder to share your monster fish photos with me, especially the youth pictures. Those are the best! 

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