Somehow I could not face the long, dark winter without a little more fishing, so I pestered Herbie until he let me come up again to camp out with the deer hunters and fish the first few days of November. It was quite an experience. The boat was an ice palace every morning despite relatively mild temperatures for this time of year. There was nobody else out there and everything felt very wild, like the lake is waiting for winter to close in. It was obvious that I didn't want to fall overboard, for sure. But there was a real scene happening in the water. There were ciscoes on the finder from the top of the water column to the bottom on many of the reefs, and there were huge arcs lying around them. The fish were gorged and had tremendous girths, but they weren't very interested in artificial baits. Of the thirty or so follows I had in four days, not a one even hinted that it was going to hit the bait. They came in like ghosts and just disappeared as soon as I went into the turn. I felt like I was intruding on a natural wonder, a privileged observer of the fish going about one of the most important and little seen cycles of their year. I loved it and felt that my understanding of the lake increased a great deal. Obviously, with fishing like that, the live bait Travis had over the side on the days he came out with me was the key item and we caught a very beautiful, clean, heavy fish, and a 46" pike that was built like a cinder block. Thanks for indulging me, Herbie and Travis. What a treat!
Bill Hedden