Trout Whisperer - Fishy Wishes

[Lee Borgersen]

Trout Whisperer - Fishy Wishes

by the Trout Whisperer ..........Ely Echo 4/17/2010

I really wished the lakes would open sooner this year and by golly they did just that. I did that all by myself. I was thrilled. I wished, and it came true. Funny what a fellow wishes for. Now I wish it wasn't that long until the opener.

I'm not going to a walleye opener in another state either; my opener is in Northern Minnesota and no where else. I want, I crave the superb Superior National Forest fish fry with the golden fillets. My old skillet, in my old haunts, anything else would be second fiddle for me.

Panfish this spring have paid dearly. I have so many panfish fishing warm ups under my belt, I need to go on a shore lunch diet.

In my efforts to find something, anything, everything to do until the opener, I went with the first stall tactic, I stayed busy with the steelhead run and it was short lived even as I lingered in low rivers.

So to fill in the abundant outdoor hours I tried some antler picking. Nice walks, just not much bone to chew on where I hiked, I did pick plenty of ticks.

I volunteered to help haul syrup pails but even the sap ran too fast. Everything but what I want, is in a hurry. My crocuses are fading.

I got my garden all cleaned out, but it's too early to plant. Pruned all my fruit trees that I never pruned before. My logging roads are too wet to skid timber.

One windy day I blew bubbles off my deck (with nobody watching) and even tried flying a kid's kite. It's crazy, the one thing I want to do, and I can't.

The weather is fantastic and that makes me wonder, what if the walleyes aren't where they always are on the opener. That wish has become a silent prayer.

Every reel has new line. Rods are at the ready - life jacket even laundered. A winter's worth of new jigs and lures in my mind are just lusting to get wet. My new fishing license is burning a hole in my pocket for Walter the walleye.

My wood duck nesting boxes are cleaned and recently rented out. A robin has a nest under my deck and a phoebe is almost done with the third tier of moss in its nest under my porch roof overhang. I raked my lawn; I never raked my yard in ten years. Wood frogs are croaking up a storm.

The boat is ready. The walleye lake of lakes has been bug tested and fisherman approved, so is the guest list. Vacation days locked in no matter the weather.

I called the bait shop just to make sure my allotment of minnows would be ready. The guy's wife laughed and said some of you boys sure got it bad this season.

My decoys for next fall have never been in better shape. I spent three afternoons calling ducks at sundown. I'm seriously considering a morel mushroom picking trip. I think that's about as desperate as a fishing guy can get when I'm reduced to finding edible fungus.

I've been told to be careful what I wish for, next year I'll need to be more specific.

--The trout whisperer