TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL
9- year- old keeping up family fishing tradition
Zach Stall started fishing for muskie when he was 5. That was the most hopeful thing I heard Saturday during the Illini Muskies Alliance meeting, which included a depressing report from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The meeting was held at the Muskie Expo Chicago at Pheasant Run in St. Charles. I will process the bad news another day, probably Sunday.
First, let’s grab hope where we can.
Stall, a 9- year- old thirdgrader in Lake Villa, gives it to me. He was there with father Eric and grandfather
Bill. If an outdoor lifestyle is to continue as a viable tradition, it needs to come organically out of families and/ or friends.
Yes, it helps to have organized boosts, such as the Illinois Muskie Tournament Trail’s Youth Honor Roll. Stall was there to receive his plaque and rod- and- reel combo for those 10 and younger. Several years ago,
Howard Chambliss and Bob Kerans started the IMTT youth program.
Cam Riedesel, the son of a fishing friend, was honored several times in the program. It’s a good idea, one that works because of family involvement.
Stall’s big muskie— 45 inches— came this summer from Catfish Lake on Wisconsin’s Eagle River chain. Most the family’s muskie fishing is done around Eagle River.
It mademy morning when Stall lit up after I asked him about his favorite method ( topwaters, with lures such as the Top Raider, the Cannonball or Dr Evil). It also mademy day that he crappie- fishes with his grandfather and fishes for bass at a nearby pond.
Stall’s grandfather came to muskie fishing around 1970. He was out with the owner of a resort on Cranberry Lake, and a muskie was caught.
‘‘ I got the bug,’’ said Bill Stall, though it was the next year before he caught his first— a 26- incher with its own story— on Cranberry.
That ‘‘ bug’’ can be passed on and was. He began a muskie tradition with his sons with a trip to Canada for Eric Stall’s graduation in themid- 1990s. It was so successful that the trip has reached 22 consecutive years.
Again, a family tradition. There’s a theme that works.
Hunting
The second late- winter antlerless and CWD deer seasons are Friday through Sunday. Archery deer and turkey seasons also end Sunday. If updated harvest figures come in before then, I will post them online. . . . Canada goose season in the north zone ends Thursday. I suspect birds will be flying.
Recast
Kevin Otte caught the big walleye featured in the Fish of the Week on Jan. 4. His fishing partner had been erroneously listed.
Stray cast
Bet the Cubs Convention will resemble an Islamorada Party Fishing Boat more than usual this year.