Yahara Fishing Club

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Editor: Tom Raschke tomraschke50@gmail.com Club Web Site: http://www.yaharafishingclub.org

June

2020

Well, this continues to be a very frustrating year. I had really hoped that we might be able to hold our June On-the-water

meeting, but with social distancing still a requirement we would not be able to put people together in boats safely. We

will hold out hope for July and continue to plan for our 75th anniversary celebration in September. In the meantime I

hope you have all been able to get out on your own or with family to do a little fishing. I was able to get out last Saturday

on Lake Mendota and to my surprise among all the boat traffic in the middle of the day got 2 bass and 6 walleye, includ-

ing one keeper just over 18 inches, on 8 consecutive trolling passes across the tip of Picnic Point. I hear there are some

nice fish being caught over in Lake Michigan right now, so I hope to get over there soon too. In the meantime the Board

has been able to keep a couple balls in the air while communicating remotely and will continue to stay ready to resume

our normal activities as soon as possible. Stay healthy everyone.

Membership

Without meetings, the pandemic has played havoc with our membership renewals. If you have not yet renewed for

2020, please use the form at the end of this newsletter and submit your renewal as soon as possible.

Lifer Survey

Not many have responded to the Lifer Survey yet. Send you best catches ever to yaharafishingclub@gmail.com! In the

meantime, here are a few to whet your appetite. See page 5 for pictures of “bests”. And check out the story contributed

on page 2 by Steve Hurst about one of his best catches.

• Jim Jensen - Marlin 385 #, Amberjack 60 #, Mahi 60 #, Musky 30#, Northern 22#, Walleye 6 #

• Keith Krinke - muskie 51 inches, Smallie 22 inches

• Phil James - 34 1/2" walleye, 16# Coho and 28# Lingcod, both caught the same day from a solo canoe in the Pacific

• Clay Russell - Muskie - 48", 30 #, Northern Pike - 41 1/2", Smallmouth Bass - 20 1/2", Largemouth Bass - 25", 10.3#,

Hybrid Striper - 10#, Striper - 10#, White bass - 15 1/4", Black crappie - 18 1/4", Catfish - 33", Carp - 28", Walleye - 27",

7#, Gar - 42", German Brown Trout - 14" on nightcrawler on creek near Barneveld on my 14th birthday in 1958

• Ed Halverson - Walleye -28", Largemouth Bass 26", Leopard shark, 36", Marlin, about 4 feet

Notes from the President

See story by Steve Hurst, Page 2. NEW Yahara dredging project, page 4. No June On the Water Meeting. No Kids Fishing Day in June.

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One of my Best Stories By Steve Hurst

Continued next page.

Once upon time I went Walleye shore fishing for the evening to Lake Wi.

On the way up from Madison I decided to get some Crappie minnow's at

the Bait shop at the Okee bridge on Lake Wi. It was late April and my hope

was to catch a couple of Walleye's in the early evening. I hooked up a very

brand new 6' beautiful red Zebco two piece rod with a brand new Shimano

2000 spinning reel with 325 yards of fresh 6lb. test Berkley Trilene line. I

attached a 1/4 oz. slip sinker and pinched a small split shot 16" from a # 6

plain Eagle Claw hook. I grabbed the first Crappie minnow and hooked it

through the lips. The cast was made 50 yards to the left lake side of the

Okee bridge.

What was amazingly strange was I had the entire place to myself. There

was nobody fishing on any of the four sides of the bridge at 6:00 pm. A

good thing there was nobody around. As soon as my line sank, I stuck a Y

fork tree branch in the rock's. Propped my firstpole tip up and tightened my

line up a little. Then I grabbed my other casting rod which I rigged with # 6

Black and Silver Rapala on 6lb. test. I cocked back my Rapala and before I

came forward with the cast. I had a small twitch on the first minnow line. I

dropped my other rod and before I could grab the first pole. The line jerked

hard twice and flew through the air toward the lake. I was able to snatch the

pole in mid air and set the hook simultaneously. The battle was on, and

only just begun.

The large fish ran 300 yards of line straight out toward the middle of the

lake then leaped 3/4 of the way out of the water to the right side. Then it

leaped straight up in the air. It then leaped again to the left side. At that dis-

tance away from shore all I could do was hold on. The behavior when

hooked reminded me of Musky's that I had caught in the past. If that was

the case I might have on a state record for or a world record for 6lb. test

line for sure. The large fish now took on a intelligent strategy for getting

free. My drag happened to be set perfectly. The fish swam back at the

shore with a great burst of speed. It took me 300 yards down the right

northeast side of the bridge. Right along the shoreline rocks and cement

chunks with rerod sticking out all over. It tried to get my line hung up and

cut me off ! Then the large fish turned and swam right at me staying close

along the shore rocks. It came past the bridge to the leftside moving west

directly at me. As it passed by me at 2 feet away I could tell this thing was

long as my 6 ' pole, but the murky stained water hid the fishes identity. The

fish kept moving past my left west 300 yards along the rocks. My pole was

absolutely doubled over and I could feel the full power of this fish. If there

had been anyone fishing the lake side of the bridge that night, like normal,

the fish would have had everyone's line's tangled up. It was not to be for

this fish.

This fish had been on now for 20 minutes. I could tell it was just getting

started. It went where ever it wanted to. All I could do was try to hang on. A

audience of people were walking by or driving buy watching me battle this

fish. Some stood on the road for awhile in the middle of the bridge. Looking

down at the 6 to 8 foot circular boils the fish made at the water surface. The

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fish was now digging down toward the bottom of the lake and rolling. An-

other new tactic employed to set itself free of me. I still could not see this

fish after a hour and 20 minute's of fighting. If figured my line might break

at any moment from the powerful surge's this fish had been running. With

a young man's spirit I was not going to give up yet. I wanted to know what

I had on here. Two guys my same age came by in a pickup truck. They

pulled over and parked then walked to the bridge. They saw me battling

the large fish and were curious as to what in the heck I had on my line.

The two late aged teen's stood up there and watched me. Still dressed in

their camo and wadder's from a day of early trout fishing. They stayed for

about 45 minute's. Finally, the fish started to tire out.

When it turned belly up we could see it was pure white on the bottom.

Then it surfaced with it's back exposed. We could the classic dark grey

skin, humps, and bumps on the back of a Lake Sturgeon. One of teen's

said you have to let that go the season is closed on those now. I said,

yes, I know that and I will unhook it right away and turn it loose. I quickly

laid my pole length along the Sturgeon's side nose to tail tip 72" long ex-

actly. I estimated the weight to have been 60 to 75 lbs. I grabbed my nee-

dle nose plier's out of my pocket. A gently tug and the hook was out of the

huge vacuum mouth. The fish could have shallowed a softball sized piece

of food. It was barley hooked in the tip of the lip 1/4" inside the mouth. I

turned my prehistoric giant Sturgeon up right side up and gently rocked it

back and forth. Watching the breathing and feeling for power restoration.

Never removed this fish from the water. I gripped her with wet hands just

in front of the tail and supporting the underbelly with my other hand. As I

rocked it back and forth I marveled how amazing and old this fish must

be. I could feel the sand paper feeling of the scales. 10 minute's later I

successfully released this fish back to the wild. My watch told me the fight

lasted 2 hour's and 20 minute's. Had to replace the new reel as the Stur-

geon wore the drag out.

Check out Facebook

Lots of good stuff from Dave McCoy, Chris Spierings, Gary Schutte

Yahara Fishing Club

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Dane County Starts Multi-Year Project to Help Yahara Lakes Better Handle Heavy Rains, Reduce Lake Flooding Risk

May 21, 2020

Ariana Vruwink, 608-267-8823

County Executive

Hydraulic Dredging Kick-Off Marks Start of 11 Miles of Sediment Removal to Improve Management of Lake Lev-els During High Water Periods

Today, County Executive Joe Parisi joined Land and Wa-ter Resource Department staff at the Lottes Park Boat Launch in Monona to announce that Dane County has offi-cially begun the first phase of its Yahara Chain of Lakes Sediment Removal Project. This first phase of the project kicked off this week, with dredging equipment now in the water, working between Lakes Monona and Waubesa. The County hopes to remove approximately 40,000 cubic yards (or more than 3,000 dump truck loads) of sediment in the project’s first phase. The $3.25 million project will help im-prove water flow, flood storage capacity, and fish and wild-life habitat in the Yahara Lakes.

“We are excited to kick off this first phase of our flood miti-gation initiative in the Yahara Chain of Lakes,” said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. “Climate change will continue to bring heavy rains to our area. With this initiative, we hope to improve the flow of water through the Yahara Lakes system and help mitigate future flooding risk.”

Currently, water comes into the Yahara Chain of Lakes faster than it goes out—taking two inches of rain over two weeks to leave the Yahara Lakes system. The efficient movement of water downstream can be undermined by sediment loading. While sediment movement is a naturally occurring process, accumulation of sediment in the Yahara River and Lakes is greatly increased by human activity, including urban development. It is estimated that over 8.5 million pounds of sediment enter the Yahara River and Lakes each year from urban runoff.

Last month, Dane County released its community-wide Climate Action Plan, which included newly published cli-mate modeling by UW-Madison scientists. The modeling predicts southern Wisconsin will continue to get hotter and

wetter over time. When looking at rainfall patterns, the modeling indicates it is highly likely that large pre-cipitation events will continue to increase in frequency and intensity.

This location between Lakes Monona and Waubesa is one of six sites the County will target in five phases to improve water flow, with each phase being carried out as Dane County secures permitting. Dredgit Cor-poration was awarded the $3.25 million contract for Dane County’s first phase of the project last Decem-ber. The goal is to complete the majority of the dredg-ing by late summer, pending any changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project will use hydraulic dredging to remove between two to three feet of sediment about 50 feet wide and approximately 1.5 miles long. The material will be pumped approximately 3 miles away using a series of booster pumps to land owned by the Madi-son Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD). MMSD is allowing Dane County to utilize its land for the du-ration of the project. A dewatering basin will be built on this land to collect the sediment.

The type of sediment removal that will take place dur-ing this project is comparable to the County’s “Suck the Muck” initiative. Nearly a month after historic rain-fall in the summer of 2018, water levels on Lake Monona were still 8 inches higher than Lake Waubesa. Sediment removal in this location could improve water quality, habitat, navigation, and the rate at which water leaves the Yahara Lakes in the wake of heavy rains.

In addition to this investment, County Executive Parisi has included money in his 2020 budget to create a sediment removal crew and purchase the equipment needed for the County to do its own hydraulic sedi-ment removal. This will ensure for years to come that Dane County has the equipment and staff expertise in-house to manage work demands created by the new realities that pose unique challenges to a quickly growing area with diverse water resources.

Yahara Fishing Club

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Duffy Kopf’s bests

Ron Kastperski’s best

Yahara Fishing Club

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State Parks, Trails, Forests, Recreational Are-as and State Natural Areas

Restrooms and Buildings

• A limited number of day-use area restrooms at park properties will reo-

pen for public use beginning Wednesday, June 3. Visitors are reminded

to plan ahead as well as bring hand sanitizer in the event it is not availa-

ble at facilities.

• All other Facilities will remain closed, including towers, shelters, play-

grounds, nature centers, headquarters, contact stations and concession

buildings.

Attractions where social distancing cannot be achieved will be closed as

needed at various properties.

Updated May 26, 2020 at 5:00 p.m.

As the prevalence of coronavirus (COVID-19) increases in Dane County, we are using the best information we have to take proactive steps to protect the health of our community. We know that outdoor spaces are critical to the men-tal and physical health of our community, now more than ever. As of now, all county park properties are open. To help keep them open, the public must fol-low public health guidelines (including physical distancing) in addition to regular park rules, such as not littering. We are monitoring how the closure of some state parks is impacting our park properties and will update this page if there are any changes or closures of Dane County Parks.

Some quick tips:

• We are unable to disinfect park amenities including playground equipment, tables or other surfaces so please come to the park prepared with items you may need, such as hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes. We suggest bringing a plastic bag and using it like a glove if you need to touch any sur-faces, such as gates.

• Use parks and trails early in the morning as they tend to get busier later in the day.

If a park or trail is very busy head somewhere else. Follow physical distancing protocols of 6-feet distance from people that do not live in your household. We encourage you to wear a cloth face covering if you plan to visit an area where you will be in close proximity of other people (such as at the dog park or biking/hiking trails). Visit Public Health's FAQs page for more information on cloth face coverings.

Dane County

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The June10 Meeting is cancelled.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Board of Directors and Officers

Phil James, President Tex Torgeson Myron Kebus Jim Krause, Vice President Ken Terrill Karlette Schoen, Membership Kathy McGee, Treasurer Gerald King Tom Wilke, Speakers Larry Reed, Secretary Rich Connor

Mary Regel Helps Us Again

Once more Mary has donated

$500.00 towards the Kids Fishing

Days from the Rod Regel Memorial

Fund.

Thank You Mary!

June 2020 Events

July 2020 Events

July On the Water Meeting—July 8th—stay tuned

June 10th, 2020. On the Water Meeting—Cancelled.

Kids Fishing Day, Cancelled

Yahara Fishing Club

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PLACE STAMP HERE

Yahara Fishing Club Membership Form

P.O. Box 3271 Madison, WI 53704

Annual Dues are from January 1 to December 31. Please print. *** ESSENTIAL

Name *** ____________________________________________________________________________

If Family or Youth, Additional Names ______________________________________________________

Email ***_______________________@__________________________________

Street Address ____________________________________________________ State __ Zip _______

Phone Number and Area Code *** ______ - ________- ____________

Individual…………… $35.00

Family …………….. $45.00

Student……………….$10.00

Youth Members are free with other paid membership.