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Fishing the pits
A few are little more than summer mud holes. Others resemble farm ponds. Some swallow 100 or more acres. Many are stunningly deep, clear and, in a few spots, surprisingly cold. Nearly all are fishable. "A couple of the lakes have trout in them," said Rob Rold, assistant fisheries biologist for the Department of Fish and Wildlife's southeastern district. "They're deep enough and cold enough to support them." My fishing partner John Durbin and I weren't looking for trout. And even if we had it would practically have taken downriggers to reach them, and we were armed with a couple of handcrafted bamboo fly rods from Durbin's workshop -- tools not really designed for deep-water probing. If the fish weren't near the top of the water column, they would remain safe from us.
A Fisherman's Friend Can Often Break Ecologists' Hearts
There may be plenty of unwanted fish in the sea for government ecologists, but often those invasive aquatic species are a boon to local anglers. Take the brown trout. A European native, the trout was introduced into America in the late 19th century and can now be found in bodies of fresh water from coast to coast. Though they may might provide tasty meals after lazy summer afternoons, new fish species come at a cost greater than a bucket of worms. "There's a number of either purposely introduced, or accidentally introduced, species that have provided quite a recreational resource," said George Madison, fisheries supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for the Western Upper Peninsula. "So while smelt can be desired by people, or brown trout or rainbow trout, it's very clear that they out-compete the native species." In the Great Lakes region, the introduction of salmon has changed the aquatic landscape, displacing native fish such as the coaster brook trout, a minnow forager.
river people at heart
But, while owning a fly-fishing shop helps pays the bills, Mann and Williamson are river people at heart. They study rivers, fish them and praise them. "The Flambeau is as good as rivers get,'' Mann said last week, while he operated the oars on a drift boat on the Flambeau River. "It has smallmouth bass, muskie, catfish. The Flambeau ranges from lots of fish to big fish. It's loaded." We had met at the Flambeau with two drift boats, lots of fly rods and plenty of bottled water to endure one of hottest summer days in years. Williamson piloted one boat with Dave Carlson, a television outdoors reporter from Eau Claire, Wis. Mann operated the other boat, where I would fish with wildlife artist Bob White from Marine on St. Croix. A bounty of rainfall in northern Wisconsin has pushed the Flambeau River to normal levels, a stark contrast to conditions earlier this summer.
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