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Last week I wrote about the joys of autumn fishing. I may have spoken too soon. Yesterday a friend and I tried to go fishing on Lake Onalaska, and we never got a line in the water.
The afternoon started out fine. It had rained all morning, but twenty minutes before Buzz was scheduled to pick me up, not only did the rain stop, but the sun came out. We drove to a bait shop and then continued on to Fisherman’s Road. That is where the chain of unfortunate events began.
Fisherman’s Road is a mile-long paved roadway that winds around the backside of the La Crosse Airport. Along the west side of the road is the 12-foot chainlink fence that surrounds the airport. To the east is the last stretch of the Black River before it flows into the Mississippi. The only features along the road are a city well, an unsupervised beach, and my favorite boat landing.
Fisherman’s Road was closed when we got there. Actually it was blocked by a guy sitting in an airport security van. I got out of our vehicle to ask the man why we couldn’t go in. He said that the airport staff was trimming brush from the edge of the roadway, and they would be done in two hours.
I didn’t believe the guy. He was friendly enough, but there was no need for him to be there. For security reasons, Fisherman’s Road has an automated gate, as the airport does not allow unauthorized vehicles on the road after dark. If the situation was no more than a road crew trimming brush, closing the gate would have been enough to keep us out. Instead a guard was stationed there. I suspect that security had been stepped up because a high level government official had flown into town on a private plane. Wisconsin District 3 has a tight Congressional race, and politicians from both parties having been showing up to endorse their candidate.
The reason for the closure did not matter. Our favorite fishing spot was only fifty yards offshore from the Fisherman’s Road boat landing, but now we couldn’t get there. Instead we had to go to a different landing three miles away and fish unfamiliar water. That was actually okay. It made for an adventure.
The new landing, on the north tip of French Island (the airport is on French Island) was in shallow bay. That may have contributed to our problems, as the weeds and mud near the landing might have gummed up the cooling jets on the outboard. We put the boat in the water and slowly worked our way through the weeds to open water. Once beyond the vegetation, Buzz gunned the small 25-horse power motor, and for about a mile all was well. Then, out in the middle of Lake Onalaska, the outboard died. The engine overheated, and the electric starter wouldn’t engage. After ten minutes of puttering with an engine that Buzz and I knew nothing about, we each grabbed a canoe paddle and started to paddle our way back to the landing. The wind was working with us, but it was still going to take an hour to get back.
The only other boat in sight was a quarter mile away, but the lone fisherman in that boat spotted us from across that distance. He motored over and towed us in. Almost before Buzz and I had a chance to thank him, he turned his boat around and headed back out to fish. The only good thing about the entire day was this reminder that there are good people out there.
I would have thought that a dead motor would be worst part of my day, but I was wrong. While putting the boat back on the trailer, I took a step into the water to guide the boat in. The concrete incline beneath the surface of the landing was coated with aquatic slime, and I slid four feet down the ramp before my legs went out from under me. I wouldn’t have minded, except that I was chest deep in lake water with my phone in my back pocket. I don’t make calls when I am on the water, but I’d brought my phone with me in case I wanted a photo for this week’s blog. I won’t do that again.
As soon as I was able to regain my footing, I tossed my phone up on the adjacent dock. When I got home, I took it out of its faux leather case and tried to dry it with a hair dryer. Everything except the number four seems to be working. Of course, I have a four in my passcode.
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