Lake Chippewa Flowage Vacation

Back in the 1970’s there was a pair of anglers know only to the author as Julius and Dugan. Julius and Dugan stayed at Baumgarten’s Resort and were primarily walleye fishermen.

This is way back before motor trolling was allowed on the flowage so the pair would row silently “with the wind” from a bit east of Hell’s Half Acre to just north of Baumgarten’s sand bar. This technique only worked when you had the wind out of the west/southwest to help you with your pass.

They would use a very stiff steel rod, a larger reel, and what they called the “Flatfish Lure”. The flatfish was like a Lazy Ike with double hooks.

One person rows, one person holds the rod. The bail is opened, lure is set into the water, about 50′ of line is let out then the bail is closed. If all goes well a back-and-forth shake of the lure can be felt as it runs-deep, just above the lake bottom. Many times the lure would get snagged due to the diverse bottom terrain and the amount of snags still on the lake bottom at that time.

On one of their passes on a late fall evening they hooked into something very large. At first they thought it was a snag (all the stumps still on the bottom at that time) until it began running south towards the narrows. They both took turns fighting the fish for what seemed like hours. The fish had hit just as it was getting dark and there was no moon that night along with a crispy 45 degree air temprature.  With both anglers being in there 90’s and tired as “Hell’s Half Acre” they decided to tie the line on the oarlock so they could rest. Little did they know that fall night they were going to take a “Chippewa Flowage Musky ride”!