Hello friends,
This week I spent three days camped on an island on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage with my golden retriever Red. This trip was a bit unique as I hit some pretty harsh weather but still had a very nice time while camped at a place where I have hundreds of positive memories.
I think it is important to write that starting in 2026 all campsites will require preregistration and a fee.
Monday, June 2 - High 73°, Low 46°
This adventure was a bit different for me as I literally came from another which means I met the field work for two deadlines in six days.
As usual I put in at Murray's Landing on the east end of the flowage. My canoe was very loaded, which for a guy with thousands of miles under his belt in a canoe, did not look very professional. My plan was to paddle to a campsite about two miles away and paddle troll for three days just pulling Salmos, which is a very effective crankbait. My other plan was to do as little as possible at camp.
There was some solid stress in the form of a headwind that made forward momentum difficult but I reached my goal and as soon as I made it to my island, I noticed that there were several painted turtles that were staring at me from the water. At this time the wind also became so strong that paddling a canoe was not meant to be.
It was midafternoon so I built camp and for the next five hours watched my world which in this case was several turtles climbing up a steep bank and attempting to lay eggs, literally within feet of me. I moved one back to the water as she started digging her nest in the sand within inches of the fire ring.
About 20 years ago I was camped about a mile from this location on a bow hunting and musky fishing trip. I had caught a 41-inch musky on a Suick the day before and the hunting was good as well. I was driving my boat to a hunt and decided to make a cast directly at the shoreline at what is now my home for three days. On the first cast I had a hard hit and soon landed a 47-inch musky which was my biggest. I tried releasing it and that did not go well. I even got in the water with it and it was obvious she was going to die.
I made an executive decision to drive to Mercer and find a tavern that would let me put what was now my trophy in their freezer. I was successful and had so much fun that I slept in my truck instead of putting the key in the ignition.
Just before dark today, I got off my lazy butt and on my first cast with a Salmo had a hard hit and landed a 17-inch smallmouth bass, this release was a success.
Tuesday, June 3 - High 57°, Low 41°
This morning, I woke up to the densest smoke that I have ever witnessed from a forest fire in Wisconsin. The smoke was from fires in Manitoba but it seemed like the fire could literally be just miles away.
Soon after breakfast a steady rain began that would become an absolute soaker and I was literally stuck inside of my tent until 6:00 p.m. with my pal Red. If you want to learn a bit about yourself, think small tent, all day, lots of rain, no book or radio.
I had nothing but time and had plenty of thoughts about this place like when my dad started bringing me here back in 1970 for what would be the opener of Wisconsin's fishing season. We were as low budget as could be but did not care.
Our adventure was always living on an island that had excellent fishing from shore and we would also drift fish a lot using June Bug Spinners and holy moly did we catch the fish. These were Friday through Tuesday trips and pure quality of life living. P.S. on that thought, our outboard was a 6 hp Mercury.
I took my daughter Selina and three of her friends here a number of times and it was always lots of laughter and adventure.
The last day of this experience the skies were clear, the wind was low and I did not catch a fish and I simply did not care!
Live large,

Sunset