Last ice, first fish

Have you been fishing yet? What does your lake hold? If it has walleyes, and if the ice has gone out, those walleyes in all likelihood are moving into the shallows to spawn. Their timing is dictated not by the calendar but by the water's temperature, and three very warm days since ice-out have kicked that up quickly here on Birch Lake. Putting in the pier two days ago, I was surprised that the water didn't chill me through the hip boots.

When I bought walleye minnows (fatheads) yesterday at the bait store in Lake Tomahawk, the attendant advised me to fish no more than 10 feet from shore, in water as shallow as a foot. I shoved off from the pier at about 7 p.m. Being a little hog-tied by habit, I first tried a deeper-water brush pile where I have caught many early-season walleyes. I found none this time and so took the counsel I'd been given.

A great thing about fishing your lake this time of year is the quiet. If it's not a weekend, chances are good you'll be alone on the water, or nearly so. The only other angler I saw was standing in waders, about up to his waist in the water, a couple dozen yards in front of his cabin. He told me he had seen no walleyes but had caught a nice smallmouth bass. He also, as it turned out, could make a very credible loon call, blowing into his cupped hands. (I guess I'd have to say not credible to the loons, who declined to play call-and-answer with him.)

I moved along the lake's southeast shore (where our cabin stands), tossing a minnow on a chartreuse jig into shallow, gravelly areas -- along the edge of a rock bar, next to a white pine that toppled into the water last summer, and finally off a point of land where logs and branches lay in the water. And here I felt the season's first twitch of life transmitted up the line, through the rod, to my right hand. A quick snap of the wrist and I had a fish on. Right away it felt too heavy for a Birch Lake walleye (they don't run too big here), so it had to be a smallmouth bass. And so it was -- about 17 inches, a female plump with spawn. I unhooked and released her.

I hadn't really expected to catch anything -- just wanted to get out on the water, since it was a perfect warm and overcast evening and the forecast called for a cold front overnight. So, bringing in a fish was a bonus. Here's hoping your first outing of this new season is fruitful. Try the shallows for walleyes.