Whiteout is Coming Soon

www.danbomkamp.com

Those who are fans of my books have been waiting for this one for a bit longer than usual.  Normally I have a new book ready each fall but I got a little behind this past summer and didn’t get Whiteout finished on time.  But I’m happy to announce it’s now finished and being printed as we speak.

I’ll have copies of it for the Morel Mushroom Fest in Muscoda on May 14 and 15.  Each year I sit near the Muscoda Theater and sell my books to local folks and visitors from other cities and states who come for the festival.

Whiteout is a fictional version of the great Armistice Day Storm of 1940.  The storm which killed 167 people in Wisconsin and Minnesota bore down on the area on Armistice Day that year.  The morning started out in the 60’s and hundreds of duck hunters set out for the marshes dressed for warm weather.  By early afternoon a blizzard blew in and the temperature dropped and whiteout conditions caught many people unprepared.

I think the readers of my books will enjoy my account and my characters in this telling of the story of the Armistice Day Storm.http://www.danbomkamp.com/about

Strong Current but Some Fishing Action

Despite strong currents in both the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, there are a few fish being caught.  At the dams on the Mississippi they are getting white bass and still getting perch behind the long wall of the dam.  These are 12 inch perch and bigger so they’re really worth the effort.

On the Wisconsin the current is still very strong but the water has dropped back into the banks of the river.  My brother tried it this week and got one smallmouth and a real surprise, a brown trout.  While trout are very rare in the river, they do show up in the spring, often after a flood.  They get washed out of trout streams and the river water is fresh and cool enough for them to survive.  Catching one is quite rare but it does happen.

We need some warm days and nights to get the water temperature up a bit and then we’ll see much better fishing.  Next weekend is Opening Day for inland waters and hopefully the weather will be better for a lot of anglers who will be heading out to the lakes and rivers.

post by: Dan Bomkamp

The First Turkey Season

To those who had the first hunting period for turkeys…..my sympathy.  Wow, I don’t think there could have been worse conditions.  I hunted in the same type of weather many years ago and it was not fun. 

Turkeys are hard enough to hunt when it’s nice out, let alone in the conditions we’ve had this past week.  The only way a hunter could have been remotely comfortable was if he had a pop-up blind.  Then with a little heater it would have been ok, except for the fact that the turkeys probably didn’t make a peep.

Turkeys do not like windy weather and we’ve had wind, snow, sleet, rain and cold all week.  If you could design the worst conditions for turkey hunting, it would be what the hunters had this week.  It makes it pretty hard to crawl out of a warm bed at 4am to go out into the woods.

But, not all is lost.  There are still left-over permits available for the 5^th and 6^th seasons.  You can buy them at license stations or online at www.dnr.wi.gov .  They cost $10 and you can buy one per day until they are all gone.  The way the year started out, those late seasons may be some of the best we’ll see, so you still have a chance.

post by: Dan Bomkamp

www.RuralPropertyPro.com

A Flood Is Not All Bad

Right now the Wisconsin River is out of its banks and even the river bottoms are running full and with quite a current.  It makes fishing very hard if not impossible.  But this flood will make things much better in the coming months and years.

Anyone who runs a boat on the river during the summer knows how hard it is to navigate.  The sandbars are sometimes nearly from bank to bank with a small channel or none at all.  A good flood will scour out those bars and create a new channel that will be deep and easy to run next summer.

The same thing happens in the bottoms when the water comes up and a current runs through the normally quiet waters.  The current will loosen big chunks of bogs and move them out of the sloughs.  It will also scour out some of the weed beds clearing places for the fish to hide and lay eggs.  Instead of a solid mass of vegetation, many of the sloughs become small lakes with open water for much better fishing.

The current will also wash out some of the smaller bluegills and bass and those that are left behind will have more food and a better chance of growing up to be a “keeper” fish.

Floods are nature’s way of restoring things in the water world.  While they sometimes are inconvenient, they do a lot of good too.

Wisconsin River Properties For Sale

post by: Dan Bomkamp

Turkey Hunting for the Kids

This weekend is the Youth Turkey Hunt.  It’s a great time to take a young hunter out and let them have a chance at a Tom.  The regular season opens next Wed. so this gives the kids a chance before the birds have been shot at.  And there are lots of birds out there.

The past week has seen many Toms standing in the fields all puffed up strutting for any hens that will watch them.  The weather is going to be beautiful this weekend so there should be lots of chances for a successful hunt.

Any hunter over age eighteen can accompany two youth hunters that are between ages ten and fifteen.  The kids must have a valid carcass tag for ANY season.  The tag must be for the zone they are hunting though.  If they don’t get a bird in the youth hunt, their permit is still good for the regular season.

If you’ve never taken a young hunter out…do so.  You get all the fun of the hunt and then get to see the excitement of a youngster when they see that first Tom.  It’ll be something you and your young hunter will never forget.

post by: Dan Bomkamp          Wisconsin Hunting Land

Trade That Jig Pole for an Ultralight

It’s time to put away your ice fishing poles and get out your spring fishing gear. But you don’t have to wait for spring to come, you can go right back to where you were fishing on the ice and keep right on fishing. Those fish are still there, they haven’t gone away. If you had a good spot on late ice, there’s no reason not to fish there now also.

Rig up your lightest rod and reel with the same jigs you used on the ice, and use the same baits and go right back to your favorite spot. In some cases you can fish off the shore, and others you’ll need a boat. But to think the fish are gone is a mistake. Whatever caused those fish to be in that area in the first place is why they’ll still be there. And with a little change of gear, you can go back and catch more of them.

It’s been a banner year on the Mississippi for big perch. Late ice had many fishermen at Cold Springs catching 12 inch beauties along the railroad tracks. If you’re willing to take a little hike down the tracks I’d bet you can come back with more of those golden beauties.

Choose your favorite spot and then give it a try with your light poles and the jigs you used through the ice. And now you don’t even have to drill a hole to get to them.

post by: Dan Bomkamp

http://www.ruralpropertypro.com/