June 4-11 trip report

[djcoop52]

Just got back from first trip to the flowage beautiful place friendly people and lots of crazy weather. Caught a lot of fish just not what we were looking for seven adults and two kids one walleye all week and it was to small to keep. Lots of smallies, quite a few large mouths, plenty of northern (some keepers) and tons of gills and perch. Tried early morning, dusk and early night fall. Jigs, slip bobbers, cranks, worms, leeches, minnows, stumps, rocks, windward shores, flats and weeds no luck with the walleyes. Not brave enough to go to far late at night not knowing lake that well. Thank God for gps or would have been lost many times. We covered all the water available and fished hard. Knocked off front 1/4 of skag on day two in Merkel lake going thru same route taken the day before. Couple of the guys were looking for crappie and found none of them either. We stayed at the Hideaway resort it was clean and the cabins were adequate but the service was not very good. Our cabin was full of mosquito's, stove quit working, no bait, if you wanted gas had to take boat out of water to middle of resort, bar restaurant did not open till 3 or 4. Dissappointed with resort it was not what was advertised or represented when called. We found fuel readily available at Donners and bait. If we come back to TFF we will stay at Donners lot better location also. All in all a good trip we did catch a lot of fish close to limit every day on panfish. Gills and perch very good eating and took our limits home. Qaulity size gills and perch one 14 year old caught a 7 lbs smallie which his dad took pictures of and measurements to get a replica made that young man will probably never catch one bigger in his life. Thanks to all on the forum and all we talked to while there for their advice and help. Not sure if TFF will be our adventure again, stumps and hazards make for many nervous runs about the lake. Thats all

[beelzebob]

skeg shmeg, I haven't had an intact skeg for 8 yrs. I also have never laid hands on a 7# smallmouth..... that fish alone should be motivation for your whole crew to return. Congrats on a great trip.

[Musky Mauler]

It does seem a bit surprising that the "magic" of the Flowage didn't grab you enough to force a return. You wouldn't believe how it was 50 years ago - - stumps galore, "leaners" all over the place and numerous log jams. But, the "magic" still prevailed. If someone put a 15 horse engine on their boat, they were brave. If someone mounted a 25 horsepower engine, they were nuts! A 9.5 Evinrude was ideal. Just be sure to bring lotsa shear pins. (Shear pins are an unknown these days, what with clutches and such now being the norm.) But, despite the minor occasional inconvenience of putting in a new shear pin, the "magic" of the Flowage prevailed.

Actually, it's pretty much a "breeze" nowadays to zoom hither and yon with 200 HP kicking the boat in the butt. Of course, there were no GPS gadgets back then. It was an adventure to learn your way around the Flowage. Every now and then an impromptu search party would be formed at one of the resorts to go out into the evening dusk and find a lost soul from Chicago or Milwaukee who got a bit mixed up out there. His nervous wife would welcome the inevitable return a bit later.

Walleyes and northerns were the mainstay back then. With an occasional musky to give momentary bragging rights. Smallies were somewhat of a rarity. That sure has changed!

Back then it was even possible to fish all day without seeing another boat. Your solitude might well be broken by a deer swimming from one shore to another, sometimes with a young' un in tow. And, the wolves on the big island would howl their mournful tune every night. There was driftwood galore and who would have thought that it would one day be gone? That thought was almost beyond comprehension.

There used to be Saturday night dances in the barn across the road from Ed Robinson's and the floor would actually bounce during the hoe-downs. Lively evenings prevailed at the "lodge" at Al's Place, with Al and Millie Weseman tending to the customers. Back then it was possible to rent cabins from Al, or even camping spaces for trailers or tents. Earl would tend bar and Elsie would serve delicious meals at Tomek's Old Log Inn. A cold brew could even be had at Mary Downey's little bar across the road from Al's Place. She was tough as nails on the outside, but warm and friendly once you got to know her - - as were ALL of the folks you would meet up in the woods.

I guess I inhaled a bit too much of the magic atmosphere half a century ago 'cuz I still pine to get back to the Flowage, and my body actually feels some inner relief every year when opening day comes along - - whether or not I actually get out on the water.

How lucky I was to get introduced to the Flowage and all the fine people I met up there along the way - - many of whom are no longer with us. It's still great, despite the powerful, fast, GPS and fish-finder equipped juggernauts that zoom past. Perhaps you're lucky that you didn't get infected with the TFF bug after all. Had you been so infected you would suffer the malady of cursing winters and anxiously awaiting opening day every year. Like I say, it's gotta be some kind of "magic."

[George]

Musky Mauler is spot on! I first went to the TFF in 1954 with my parents and grandparents, staying at Joe Popko's Resort (later Casey & Lu's and finally Tutt's before it went condo) on the Flambeau side near Norway Point. Back then as a kid you didn't need a motor, you just rowed out to the breakwater logs and the stumps beyond and caught nice perch, rock bass and walleyes. Also, back then we threw the [I]snakes[I] (northerns) back. "Too many bones" I was always told. Now I know how great eating they are, minus the Y bones, which are pretty easy to take out. Most folks had either 5 1/2 or 7 1/2 hp Johnsons or Evinrudes with the occassional Martin. One guy did mount a 10hp motor and everybody wanted to know why he needed all that horse power! Going from the resort to Rat Lake took hours, not minutes, and fishing was as much about persistence as it was skill. If there were 70 stumps in a bay, you fished all 70. You used the oars on the heavy green wood boat to go from one stump to another and fished vertically around the stump with a bait casting rig that was tipped with a snelled 1/0 hook (really a 1/0) and sinkers above it. This also doubled as your depthfinder. If you got a fish, they went on the chain clip stringer and hoped that a musky didn't decide that those walleyes an perch were meant as a buffet. You always carried a spare prop and plenty of shear pins. That was basic stuff, standard equipment if you will. But like Musky Mauler said, it was the magic of the place. While you were there you didn't think about being anywhere else. It was almost dreamlike. You wanted to savor every moment. I'm 62 years old and I still get the same feeling. Sure, I have the electronics du jour and a boat with horsepower that requires you wear your cap backwards; but the magic is still there. And the magic has nothing to do with size limits or bag limits. It's the place and the people and the memories of times past and the new memories created each time you return.

[sureshot612]

hay musky the first place i stayed with my folks was the shady rest [that was mary ds place ] when she passed some of the guys bought some of the cabins when bastines was sellin we could have bought one for 19 thousand now you cant get access for that back then it was great the bear dump knight rides to the river by dam road it stila great place and we go every year a time or to

[Hot Runr Guy]

OK, I'm the "newbie" here, having only been coming up to the TFF since 1970 or so (but my Father and brother had been going before that), and still have the 1957 Johnson 10hp that I changed a lot of "brass" on, hanging over the back of the transom. I always considered it a badge of honor to make it thru a week without replacing a shear pin, some years I didn't make it thru the Saturday we arrived.
This year, I FINALLY invested in a 5" Humminbird/LakeMaster chip combination, what a difference to see where the original river channel really is! But, even with my 75hp tiller chomping at the bit, I still happily motor around at 25mph or so, enjoy the scenery, and get back to the dock safely. Like others have mentioned, no longer does it take an hour to get back from Rat Lake, or the "big" jams, and having a 17'er gives a little more confidence and safety than a 14' resort boat.

dj, give the place another chance. I don't have the opportunity (or the funds) to make trips up to Canada, so the TFF is as close to the wilderness experience as I can get. Which is just fine with me. We stay at the Cedar Cove cabins, next door to Donners, the A-frames they have are some of the newer lodging available on the TFF. http://www.cedarcovelodging.com/ If you need a bigger place, certainly look at the Flambeau Vista units. http://www.flambeauvista.com/

HRG

[CincinnatiCrew]

Yeah I'd have to agree, you should definitely give it another try. We've been going to the TFF for about 5 years now. My grandfather and other guys from the family had been going to Wisconsin for 20+ years on a fishing trip. They were going to the smaller Butternut Lake over by Eagle River. Well, new owners eventually bought the pair of cabins we rented and priced us out of them within a few years. So I did some exploring and found the TFF and Tom McMahon's Lodge on Lake Bastine. It's one of the biggest cabins I've seen there and is able to hold our crowd that ranges anywhere from 8-12 each year. Even though you have to be careful of stumps and floating wood up there, we still love it. Oh and an important fact, we've yet to shred a prop. It's all about being careful and keeping a close eye as to where you're at. ;-) The TFF raises such a challenge to catch fish that it's actually fun. We just want to get out on the lake earlier and earlier each day to see if we can find that honey hole. Well, we've yet to find that one sweet spot but we will one day and we'll continue to return to the TFF as long as health and finances allow us. The magic of the TFF definitely has a hold of us. There's just something about that place.

[sureshot612]

HERE HERE if i had a buck for the ones i towed in i could buy me a place on the flowage not as bad as the old days but some days you never know. it is truly a great place and only we can make it better . SS612