March 31, 2005 at 9:05 a.m.
Let’s look ahead to the open-water season
Let’s look ahead to the open-water season
When I was younger and far more foolish than I am today, I was one of those guys you’d shake your head at that would gingerly tiptoe across a punky length of 2x12 suspended between dicey looking black ice and the soggy shoreline to get a few more late-season crappies and bluegills. I learned my lesson years ago when I fell through the ice on Chisago Lake in early April. Now I look back on that particular incident and count my lucky stars that I took the plunge close to shore and the water was, thankfully, only waist-deep. Yes, we’ve definitely turned the corner and spring is upon us. The ice on area lakes seems to darken by the hour as it recedes from the northern shorelines, so I took some time yesterday to winterize the auger and store all of my “hard water” equipment for the season.
Each spring, as I drive by our area lakes and see a lone angler sitting on that dark and pitted ice, a couple of things always pop into my head. The first is a quote by author and screenwriter Wilson Mizner, who said, “The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.” And the other is a mantra that I recite to myself and live by twice a year (the operative word being “live.”), which is, “Don’t be the first on the ice in the winter or the last on the ice in the spring.”
I think I’ll keep my feet on the ground and look ahead to the open-water season.
Dan Brown’s weekly outdoor column is brought to you by Frankies Bait and Marine in Chisago City and St. Croix Outdoors in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.
Dan Brown is a director at the Chisago Lakes Achievement Center in Chisago City. In addition, Brown is a fly casting instructor and trout fishing guide at Seven Pines Lodge in Lewis, WI. Recently Brown was featured on Ron Schara’s Minnesota Bound and ESPN II’s Backroads with Ron and Raven, as well as KSTP channel 5’s Eyewitness News Morning Show. He is a Taylors Falls resident and can often be found on the area lakes, trout streams and the St. Croix river.
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