This years Cribs ??

[George G]

We were up for a week of great fishing on the flowage. Revevs weedless jigs, fat head minnows , rapala's, night crawlers. Walleys were nice size, very few perch and only one crappie. It was a great week for fishing.

We went looking for the cribs that were made this year by the volunteers . Not to be found in the water, some people came up on a thursday and were turned away for their help. Hmmmm. DNR gal did not want to work a weekend to supervise placement. So there they sit months after volunteers built them. They are on the sand beech slowly sinking into the sand. So much for helping out with no results. That says something for the DNR's local person who managed this venture and careless attitude to say the least. Not good.

[sureshot612]

cribs seem to be something the flowage is going to, they help its not going to make flowage what it was . until you put in slot limits and enforce it you can run a place like the flowage dry . we don't like to think that why but you see it now. if you have to sit on top of a grib to catch fish with a sidefinder. then i can stay home and troll dead water till i find fish. one of the best things that hit the flowage in years was the tornato. that left down trees along the shores. there needs to be some changes made and i think its hard to do . you all want great fishing but don't want to give nothing up . lets put it this why if you have the fish people will come. all i hear when i go into a baitshop or store is that after the first holiday of the year that no one is up there . SO CHANGE IT. i don't want to stay in Chicago ,i want to retire in a place like Mercer , everything looks greener on the other side of the fence. ask yourself beside takin a limit of walleye what have i done for the flowage .OK SORRY FOR THE RANT AND IF WHAT TO HIT ON ME, IM OK WITH THAT BECAUSE I CAN TAKE SO BRING IT ON ,MAYBE THAT WHAT WE NEED TO BRING THE FLOWAGE BACK . PS to all good fish in and take a kid fishin its better then the streets .and my return to mecer will be late on 6-22 anybody got an empty seat in there boat . thanks to all.

[DonH]

Our group was up there the week before Memorial Day and the fishing was solid, even if the weather wasn't. We had no trouble catching walleyes and we also caught a ton of small 9" to 13" fish. We have never encountered so many small walleyes before. This has to bode well for the walleye fishing for the next few years.

We don't fish the cribs and have no problem what so ever catching walleyes, even in lousy weather. Anyone who calls the TFF "dead water" doesn't deserve to fish there. It's like any other large body of water. You have to spend the hours on it to learn it. We usually have 3 boats in our group and add a new spot or area to fish to our list every year or two. We will be heading up there in September again, and we'll catch a bunch of walleyes then too. Always do!

Speaking of taking a kid fishing, that's a great idea and exactly what happens on these trips. It's 2 or 3 fathers with their grown kids. Started bringing the kids along in the early 80's when they got to be 10 or 11 years old. We camped on these trips until about 2004 or
2005. Then we had a moment of wisdom and rented a cabin for a spring trip. On that first trip in a cabin, we had a night that got down to 23°, and have stayed in a cabin ever since. The time we spend together is really precious, and eating fresh fish isn't a bad deal either!

[NateDykes]

Don,
you mentioned above that its a great idea to bring kids fishing. I guess im not really a kid anymore, as i just graduated high school, but i have 3 guys in my group of 5 that arent much for fisherman. You seem to know TFF very well and im sorry for asking, but could you give me a couple pointers for some smallmouh/walleye on the tff? I dont mean to be rude, any little thing helps. Im leaving monday morning and they are skeptical on whether they want to actually go. It would mean a lot. Thank you.

[George G]

The Tornado did not help the flowage, it distroyed some of the camping sites that most likely will not be brought back to life.It hurt a lot of people in the area and was a terrible thing to happen. We all know we can't stop that. Your insiteful comment about the cribs from some one from a flat lander deserves to be addressed. Lots of people contribute their time to building those cribs to create further enviroment for the reproduction of all species of fish. The fact that people fish them is no different than a brush pile fallen into the flowage or the trees that have fallen into the flowage from age life or storms. Your testy , insiteful comment is not appreciated by those that participate in building those cribs for you to benifit from the existence of them and how they help the flowage survive and grow.

The fact that your hearing about problems of no one coming up to the flowage is not because of the fishing. The economy sucks and that is why people are not coming up to the flowage. So your discussion here is off subject to begin with. The question was why didn't the new cribs get placed where the DNR was to direct them to go. Stay on subject or start a new thread of your own. No one has come up with a reply from the locals that live on the flowage. Its a secret yet waiting to be answered by one of the locals, like maybe Tiny, he is a good source of reliable info. Have a nice day.

[DonH]

Hi Nate,

I was wondering where you will be staying on the TFF. We do most of our fishing in the southern portion. This would encompass Sweeney Lake to the north and Rat Lake to the south. Have also spent a lot of time in the Fourmile Creek area.

[NateDykes]

We dont know exactly for sure where we will be staying, simply because you never know which campsites will be taken. But we were thinking somewhere in the Beaver Flats area. So we plan on staying mostly south during our trip.

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

George,

I emailed Lawrence Eslinger of the WDNR on this question and his reply is that the cribs will be placed in their final locations sometime in "mid-late June".

I'm not sure about someone being turned away from helping with the crib project. The big snow storm of the year hit 2 days before the project, so many people that were going to help were busy with plowing snow on the day of the project. Help was needed and that is why they were not finished the first day.

This will most likely be the last of new cribs in the TFF per the DNR. They do nothing for fish reproduction, per the WDNR

Don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger!

[sureshot612]

George , why do always have to start with the flat lander thing . lets start with I'm 49 i have been coming up to the flow age since I've been 13 , think I've put in my time. in the years I've been there ,i have seen a lot and towed in a lot of boats . not all flat landers . i don't really care for cribs but thy are a tool to help out the fishery. its great that you are allowed to put them out. i just see them as a parking lot for fishing . i rather cast a down tree on a shore line .with the flow age not having a size limit ,you don't have anything to shoot for . on our lake it used to be a brooding lake for walleye eggs for the state. the size used to be 18 in. now they stopped harvesting the eggs and they went down to a 16in. size limit ,and it was great for 2 or 3 years. but now its to easy to catch a keeper . what I'm getting at is natural cover and a size limit is going to bring more to the flowage then you thing ,look gps when you put out gribs who needs it just fallow the boats .give me a bay with down trees and lay down logs is the bomb. with that I'm going to enjoy the 90 degree temps we are going to have here , and George if i come up there more then once a year to work on my property to fish a week and atv the second trip am i still a flat lander . i just think the flow age can get more back then what it is and us fisherman will spend our money on anything as long as there is a good fishtail to go with it .good luck to all and we will be up for some great eats on june 22 . [gotta mow the meadow] and atving . flat lander out . MAKE IT BETTER AND THY WILL COME.

[George G]

Bang, Bang, messenger, te he. My two friends went out of their way to try and help the Thursday they were their. Offered to come back on Sat or Sunday with equipment to aid in placing them. They were turned down . They live around Merril. Was a big sour note with them. Always looking for free help and then when it comes , no no, and bigger NO. Thanks for your always true blue effort Scott, you do a great job for the TFF assn. Now if you could break the ice and get Camp 1 involved, Dale is a great person. Not sure what went wrong their but Cathy and Dale are great Business people. We try to patonize all in the area so just a FYI on that. I am sure you know more than what you might care to say here . We all had a great week at the flowage. Even some crib fishing by others , results were not any different than fishing where ever. They do what they are suppose to do and that's that. Done deal.com.

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

George G.

You are right. Dale and Cathy are great people and we would welcome them with open arms if they wish to join the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage Association. We meet this Tuesday at 6:30 pm at Gateway in case anyone else cares to attend and join. Elections are at this meeting. Be careful if you attend as you may become an officer! Committee Chair positions are also available! LOL

I'm sorry that I do not have a fishing reprt this week, but I can say that there was a fair amount of boat traffic over the weekend (Nothing Like Minocqua).

Scott

[The Tiny Fisherman]

Hi George, as for locals I try not to get in the middle of these threads. There are good things said by all, I will not commend on the negative. Scott has done a great job in explaining the status of crib placement. I felt bad as Scott mentioned, there was too much snow to be cleaned up, to give a hand on building cribs. I saw first hand how the folks struggled working in the deep snow. Do I think cribs are good?.. yes all the more structure the better. I will not fish a crib for my own personal reasons. As for the tornado being good, NOT, we're still cleaning up from that and the wind shear last year. In the last two years we had over forty thousand dollars in damages (not cheap living up Nort).

On the bright side fishing was excellent this last weekend,

[George G]

Thanks Tiny, time moves on , can't dwell on the negative, you running for office for the TFF Assn, time on your hands. ?? We had a great week Memorial Day week. Back up when ever I can make it. Creatures take over my hunting shack when I am gone, was in good shape this spring, no mice available for snacking , kind of crazy to say the least, depressing actually look forward to choclate dipped mice, yummy in the tummy. Have a great week . P. S. Got to fish at the dam for one day only, two walley, Beaver Flats was great !!. :p

[sureshot612]

ok ,ok, what i said in my reply may have been a little strong , BUT i do it from an outside view. look at so many other places that fell pray to gribs . i don't what the flow age that way. the place is more then great , and i like to know that its going to stay that way. read the last part of this thread You had volunteers to help that could not be used . so that is like saying that if i let the flowage come and make gribs with some of the wood on my property ,that it just may go to waste. what I'm saying is the tornado did and added wood in the water that it is hard for the TFFA, to get done . its great to read the reports , is great to see tinys pics of the wolfs and don reports on what he is using . i will be up there at the end of the month to atv , would i like to jump in a boat and hit the water . [ come on you have to ask ] . the flowage is a great place and if i could do more i would , i would hate to see it get like other places,and thats just me talkin . so if until the next post , may the mayflies be done and you have some fish in fun ...... SS612 OUT....

[BlueRanger]

For those who don't know, it might be useful to clarify that there are two different associations that get mentioned on this site from time to time, and SS612's last post attributes the crib project to the wrong one.

The Turtle Flambeau Flowage Association (www.turtleflambeauflowage.com) is made up of TFF business owners - kind of the Flowage chamber of commerce/tourism bureau.

The Turtle-Flambeau Flowage - Trude Lake Property Owners Association (www.tfftl.org) is the group behind the crib project as well as other volunteer programs for invasive species and water quality monitoring that many people might not be aware of.

[sureshot612]

Blue thanks and can you fill us in on both .

[Musky Mauler]

When I saw "SS 612" I thought of submarines. I know a guy who was a Radioman First Class on the SS-343 "Clamagore," a WW-II class diesel sub. But, I doubt that the numbers got up into the 600-series for those types of boats. Nowadays, they're all nuke-powered and I believe they're all "SSN." (Don't hold me to that because I wasn't a Navy man.) He likes to chime-in with "DBF!" That's his way of saying "diesel boats forever!" Somewhat of a forlorne cry, I'd say. Although the past does have a way of repeating itself, so who knows?

He would be the kind of guy who would still use a Junebug spinner and a mud minnow to catch walleyes - - and would probably still do a fair job of it. 'Ya know - - I might even try that old standby one of these days. What the heck, do you think the walleyes know that its now the 21st century?

I'm not a fan of the cribs. No scientific reasoning for this stance. It's just that the flowage didn't grow up that way. I'm also not in favor of the designated hitter. And, for exactly the same reason: baseball didn' grow up that way. In fact, I wasn't sure that it would work when the took the propellers off airliners. But, by golly, those planes still manage to get from "A" to "B." So, I guess there actually is something to this thing called "progress." However, I'm not sure that cribs can be considered in that same vein.

I think that when I become king, I'll be tempted to decree that nothing over 15 horsepower will be allowed on the Flowage. Maybe that would bring back those plaintive wolf calls on the big island. Then again, maybe some changes just can't be changed back again. Sure would be nice to hear those wolves again, though.

[George G]

Hi Musky Mauler, the wolves are their, bigger than ever, just about to allow taking some of them away by a wolf season. I am for it. As we all get older our sense's all diminish. One of the first to go is our hearing. You want to hear wolves, see wolves, want to do away with wolves, come on over to any of the woods surournding the flowage. They are their bigger than ever. Part of the changing landscape that we are a part of but some times have no power to cure or stop or nurture. Time moves on with or with out us. The flowage is a really nice place with the cribs and they were installed for a reason. Those that don't like them can ignore them, we still have floating logs to watch out for so beware those with all those high powered motors thumbing your nose at a log is not a win, win situation. Lets go fishing, june bug spinner and all. Have a nice week all.

[BlueRanger]

Sureshot, I'm not sure exactly what you're asking. I'm not in a position to speak for either association. If you have specific questions, you can address them to the contacts on the websites.

Mauler, here's a little something I did last fall that your friend may enjoy: http://tours.grandviewvirtual.com/public/vtour/display/35509

[Hot Runr Guy]

I think that when I become king, I'll be tempted to decree that nothing over 15 horsepower will be allowed on the Flowage.

And ONLY motors with shear pins! If you haven't changed a pin by leaning over the transom, while your brother is hanging on to your belt, all the while praying that you don't drop the prop or the nut in the water, you haven't lived!

HRG

[BlueRanger]

Sureshot, I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but I'm not in a position to speak for either association. If you have specific questions, you may want to address them to the contacts on the websites.

Mauler, here's a little something I did last fall that your friend may enjoy: http://tours.grandviewvirtual.com/public/vtour/display/35509

I have a little problem with that 15hp idea, but I have to say that I used to catch a lot of fish out of a 12' Mirro with a 15hp Johnson, and that little boat spent a lot of time in a lot of places an older and wiser person wouldn't have taken it. At the age of 18 or 19, that rig was freedom, and there are times I wish I still had something like it as a backup for occasional adventures to smaller waters.

[timk]

I remember hearing the wolves at night too . They were with the Bears in the Dump ! I am not sure if it the senses that change or maybe it was being a certain age that made it sound or sight ' look ' better . As for smaller boats , I know it was youth that took me through the culvert pipe into Trude Lake . At least half way in before I got stuck in the pipe . I believe the culvert pipe was slightly tilted downward ( toward Trude side ) . The pipe was widest ( center portion ) on the flowage side and the boat ( width ) fit going partially in ! It was the same youth that I never had a problem with walking on the log in the log jams too !

[sureshot612]

timk when were you at abeam dump last i used to enjoy going to the one by camp 1 [a long time ago] , i enjoy stuff like that . when we were up in may had a big one cross the road stand and scratch its back on a power pole 7ft and at least 400 lbs gone to quick for a pic. And Blue no certain ? just thought you may know and by the way the pic.s and and slideshows you do are great keep up the good work

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

Sureshot,

Blue Ranger is correct that the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage Association (TFFA) is the business arm of the TFF. It is primarily comprised of the owners of the resorts, rental cabins and restaurants on or near the TFF, along with area guides; however, we also have a number of Associate Members that assist us just for their love of the TFF. Please see www.turtleflambeauflowage.com for more information. We also work closely with the Turtle Flambeau Flowage - Trude Lake Property Owners Association(TFFTLPOA) by providing support when needed and requested. Most members of the TFFA are also members of the TFFTLPOA. Both groups are dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the TFF.

I am the President of the TFFA. If you or anyone else has questions about about the TFFA, please feel free to email me at www.reinhard624@hotmail.com or call me at 715-762-4612. You can email me as well if you wish to have the contact information on the TFFTLPOA.

Enjoy the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage, Wisconsin's Scenic Wilderness Waters Area.

[sureshot612]

thanks will check it out we will be up on the 22nd for a long weekend