Yahara Fishing Club

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March

2018

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

In this issue: March Outing information Page 2. Future Outings Page 4. Notes from the Prez Page 5. Giant Perch Page 6.

Fishing Expo 2018

Hello Yahara Fishing Club members, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all of our great club members who volunteered at the Fishing Expo this past weekend! Our booth looked fantastic and was well taken care of by so many of you! Our club made yet another great impression on the Expo staff and they also wanted me to let you know how appreciative they are of us. Final-ly I hope you were able to enjoy yourself there with the seminars and many fishing venders. Also thank you to all club members who participated in our raffle fundraiser! You all helped set a new record to help fund our charity and put a lot of smiles on kid’s faces as they learn how to fish and hopefully in-spire them to a lifetime of fishing! Thanks again to this great club! Jim Pankratz

2nd annual YFC picnic

Sunday September 23, 2018. More details to follow. See Gerald King.

Photos courtesy Gerald King

Yahara Fishing Club

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The next Club Meeting—March 14, 2018 YFC

Dave McCoy will be presenting techniques for spring crappies and bluegills.

March Raffle Items

A $50 gift certificate for Dane Co. Parks – you can use this for an annual lake access sticker, for county trail passes (ski,

bike, horse) and more.

A $50 gift certificate� �from Thorne Brothers, which is a huge tackle/fly fishing retailer just north of Minneapolis. You can

order on line or by phone.

A Pflueger quality spinning reel, a $40 value

Passes for Clements fishing barge.

A 3 pound box of Craiger’s fish breading. I personally use this product – it is excellent, easy to use and no MSG, about a

$25 value.

Plus a bunch more – tungsten jigs, plastics, lures, terminal tackle, etc.

Our thanks to the many companies who donated or discounted many of the raffle items which are used in this years’ raf-

fles. Please do patronize the following: Anglers Avenue(Sheboygan)* Clam products*, Craiger breading*, Dorn Sporting

goods*, Dane Co. Parks*, HT Enterprises*, D&S tackle*, Sure Set Ice Grip(Madison)*, Thorne Brothers*, Lee Tauschen

Muskie baits*, ASE plastics, Pro tour baits, Finecky Fooler, Uncle Josh, Acme, Beaver Dam, Kalins, Little Stinker, Brovar-

ney baits, JR’s tackle, Panfish plastics, Savage gear, and Woodcraft lures.

Full agenda is in the February newsletter. See Duffy Kopf.

Yahara Fishing Club

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WSA March 20 meeting - speaker Abe Downs of Great Northern

Flyfishing. Topic " Peacock Bass" . Meeting is at the Maple Tree

Supper club in McFarland

WSA annual auction - April 17

See Rich Conner for more information.

Wisconsin Smallmouth Alliance Information

See Duffy Kopf for more information.

Waunakee High School Fishing Club's effort to raise money for the Take A Vet Fishing Event.

Yahara Fishing Club

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2018 YFC Outings

SPRING FISHING HAS ARRIVED!!

We have several special outings coming up that you won’t want to miss!

Depere Fox River walleye outing: The ice just came off and club members are already fishing this first weekend of

March. Trips are possible anytime but more specifically 3/10, 3/17, 3/24 or the week of 3/26. If you’re interested let me

know and let’s use our knowledge from Dave McCoy’s excellent seminar and the hot baits we will have on sale at our

next meeting to fish the walleye run!

Clement’s Fishing Barge on the Mississippi: The barge will be opening 3/16 for sure but maybe even by 3/9. This is a fun trip to Genoa with a good chance at hitting jumbo perch, walleyes, sauger and who knows what else on the mighty river! Sign-up and have lots of fun without a boat on the barge! For more information check out this link: https://www.clementsfishing.com/faq.asp

Milwaukee Harbor: With lighter wind conditions this trip can bring browns coho, steelhead and more from your small

boat. The lake is opening up and fishing has begun! Sign-up if you’re interested and we will try to get out in March and

April.

Lake MI charter fishing outing in Port Washington: Here’s your chance to participate on a well guided charter with club member and charter Captain John Iverson. Early June is best for Coho salmon and steelhead. July-August is best for King salmon and steelhead. We need to book a trip fast as spots are filling up. Trips are available during the week and weekends. Let me know if you’re interested and your preference for early or later summer. Up to 6 people on each trip are possible with many hour options. Check out www.iversonsportfishing.com for more information.

Eagle Lake Onatario Canada: We have 3 great resorts to choose from at great rates! All kinds of trips are available

including a bus trip. After speaking to owner Jeff Moreau of Temple Bay Lodge and the Expo we could do the ultimate

club trip with our own boats for as little as $250 a person for a group of 6 or the ridiculously low rate of $167 per person

for a group of 9. A week in Canada at these prices is pure awesome so what are you waiting for?!

Help create YOUR outings for our club! Let me know what you want to fish for and where and I will try to set an outing

up. Better yet you can volunteer to lead an outing. Below is a calendar of likely and suggested outings for 2018. Thanks

and looking forward to our best fishing year yet!

March: Local pan fishing trip when the ice comes off. Possible Oshkosh white bass. April: Oconto river walleyes, Depere Fox River walleyes, Lake MI Coho/salmon, Clements Fishing Barge May: Big Bay de Noc smallmouth, Lake MI salmon, local outing, possible Door County smallmouth, possible Vilas Coun-ty smallmouth June: Green Bay walleyes, YFC on water meeting, local outing, possible Lake Winnebago outing July: local outing, YFC on water meeting, Canada Eagle Lake, possible Green Bay, Lake MI Charter August: YFC on water meeting, local outing, possible Lake Winnebago outing, Lake MI Charter September: Clements Fishing Barge, Lake Mendota northern, Lake MI salmon October: Lake Mendota smallmouth/northern, Lake MI salmon November: Tenney Park break wall walleyes December: local outing Guided trips on local lakes, Green Bay/Sturgeon Bay or others: Would you like to learn a lake better or techniques

with a guide and join other club members to get a better rate? Contact me if interested.

All outings above are open to club members, our Rock Valley Angler friends, your family and friends! We need

members with boats but you can participate even if you don’t have one. Sign-ups will be at club meetings but

also on Facebook or through club emails. As always you can contact me at any time to sign-up or if you have

questions or just want advice.

Jim Pankratz

608-709-6442 or jimannepan@aol.com

Yahara Fishing Club

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Notes from the Prez

Suddenly it’s spring, or almost. At least that’s what my

senses are telling me as I look out my window of late.

Where has the winter gone?

Actually, I think I know where the winter has gone. It has

flown by as the time has filled with a variety of activities,

many of which are associated with our Club. First, there

was the Club’s annual meeting in November, and the time

spent in getting the new Board of Directors (which fortu-

nately did not change very much this year) focused and

moving forward on the Club’s agenda for 2018. We count-

ed ourselves fortunate to find a new Board Secretary in

Jim Krause, who agreed to take on the duties of that posi-

tion after the retirement of John Pribek, after John had

contributed many years of very capable service in that

position. Then in December there was the Club’s annual

Christmas party, with thanks due to the many Club mem-

bers who contributed time, effort, and all the food required

to make that event a considerable success. Thanks also

go to Paul Zoch for once again taking the reins of the an-

nual Club fishing contest, and handing out the awards to

the winners. Next came the Kids’ Ice Fishing Day event,

which was a major success, thanks in part to good weath-

er and good ice, and in particular part to the leadership of

Phil James in organizing the event (not to mention all of

the time and help contributed by many other Club mem-

bers who rigged the fishing gear given to the kids, who set

up the tent and cooking equipment, who drilled holes in

the ice, who provided instruction on catching fish, who

made sure everyone had bait and buckets and knew

where to go, who set up the tent and cooked and served

the food provided to the kids and their families, and who

cleaned up after wards). Roughly 300 rods and reels were

given away, and this year brought more than the average

amount of fishing success for the kids. It was a very nice

event, I would say!

What else comes to mind? There’s the Club’s Expo Raf-

fle, largely organized and conducted by Jim Pankratz, and

once again a big success financially due to folks like Jack

Hurst and Gerry O’Brien who solicited prizes to be given

away in order to attract ticket sales, and who sold amaz-

ing numbers of raffle tickets, no doubt urged along by the

thought of winning the generous reward sponsored once

again by Don Hammes for the greatest number of tickets

sold. There was the Club’s participation in the Fishing Expo

made possible by all of the many Club members (with apol-

ogies to all, members too numerous to mention by name)

who volunteered time and effort to help the vendors and

exhibitors unload and set up their display items, to help the

organizers of the Expo in various capacities, and to staff

the Club’s booth during the Expo. There was the time and

effort contributed last month by Charlie Grimm and Karlette

Schoen to editing and arranging for the printing of a new

version of the Club’s Shore Fishing Book, a wonderful re-

source which the Club provides free of charge to interested

people in the community who are looking for information on

where to fish when a person doesn’t have a boat. And

speaking of Charlie and Karlette, thanks to Charlie for his

swan song as auctioneer at the Club’s annual February

auction of donated fishing gear, and to Karlette for contrib-

uting her voice and the contents of her wallet to bid for and

to buy a lot of the gear offered at the auction (where does

she keep all of that stuff!) and helping, along with many

others, to make the auction a big success again this year.

The auction raised a considerable amount to be used to

fund the Club’s charitable activities. I might add that Char-

lie had some very able assistance at the auction from our

auctioneer-in-waiting, Tex Torgeson, whose obvious tal-

ents as an auctioneer will help us in future years to contin-

ue the success of this annual February meeting event. And

I don’t want to forget to thank Jim P. also for organizing

one of the Club’s big outings for the year, namely the Feb-

ruary ice fishing trip to Sturgeon Bay in search of the elu-

sive (at least for some of us) whitefish.

So, what’s on the horizon, other than being able once

again to get our boats out of storage and onto the open

waters of our area lakes and streams? Be sure to attend

the March Club meeting for the return visit of one of our

most popular and knowledgeable speakers, namely Dave

McCoy of the Rock Valley Anglers. If past is prologue,

Dave will have more information than we have time in or-

der to hear all he has to say about catching fish on area

waters. He is a terrific speaker, so don’t miss this one on

the 14th of March. Gard

Yahara Fishing Club

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Jim Kusuda caught and released a 10 3/4” bluegill on Mendota on a late ice afternoon. It was caught and released in a 7” hole.

WOW!

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

Yahara Fishing Club

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The next YFC meeting is Wednesday, March 14th 7:00 pm at the VFW Hall 301 Cottage Grove Road Speaker Dave McCoy of the Rock Valley Anglers

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Board of Directors and Officers

Gard Strother, President Tom Wilke, Speakers Tex Torgeson

Phil James, Vice President Karlette Schoen, Treasurer Mark Riederer

Gerald King, 608-513-8573 Larry Reed

Ken Terrill 608-358-0453 Jim Krause

April Events

April 11, 2018, Regular club meeting at the VFW hall at 301 Cottage Grove Road

April 14, 2018, Take a Vet Fishing Fund Raiser at the Waun-A-Bowl in Waunake, See Page 3.

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!

March 14, 2018, Regular club meeting at the VFW hall at 301 Cottage Grove Road. Speaker is Dave McCoy from the Rock Valley Anglers who will speak on techniques for spring crappies and bluegills.

March 17th—Muskie School at Waunakee High School. See Ad Page 2.

March 20—Wisconsin Smallmouth Alliance—see note page 3.

March Events