CABIN FEVER
Wolf River rafts are ‘home’ to some anglers
WEYAUWEGA – Most young Americans dream of owning a car.
But not Casey Schalkowski of Weyauwega. Born and raised just a long cast from the Wolf River, Schalkowski had his sights set on something grander.
He wanted a fishing raft.
“Always was tops on my list,” said Schalkowski, 29. “Who wouldn’t (want one)?”
So in the winter of 2009-10, he and a couple friends gathered a pile of materials and built one.
Schalkowski became the third generation of his family (including grandfather Ray Schalkowski Sr. and father Ray Schalkowski Jr.) to own a Wolf River fishing raft.
In so doing, he joined a unique part of Wisconsin culture forged by the ingenuity of local residents with a passion for the outdoors.
About 200 of the structures dot the Wolf each year, from Red Banks to Hortonville. The peak in raft use coincides with the spring walleye run in April.
“Home away from home,” said Casey Schalkowski, who works at Waupaca Foundry Inc. in Waupaca.
And sometimes, especially during April, it’s just plain home.
Schalkowski, his wife, Becca, his 16-year-old brother, Michael, raft partner Jason Lussendon and other friends and family might spend seven or more nights consecutively in the floating cabin.
“Nature,” Schalkowski said, describing his affinity for raft fishing. “You’re out in it.”
The rafts are equal parts Huck Finn, comfort station and fishing platform. Some are simple dome tents fixed to a floating deck. Others have insulated walls, electrical generators and flat-screen televisions. At least one has been fitted seasonally with a pool table.
Schalkowski named his raft “Da Fish Barn.” It features a 9-foot-by-12-foot cabin perched on a 12-foot-by-18-foot steel and wood platform.
Da Fish Barn’s cabin has a steel roof, picture windows, four bunks, a kitchen, propane heat and redpainted wood siding.
The whole structure is supported by blue, 55-gallon barrels.
Like all raft owners, Schalkowski was required to apply for a permit and his raft must conform to local ordinances. Each flotation barrel, for example, must be labeled in case it gets detached. He also is required to have onboard a fire extinguisher, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and life jackets.
The rafts can only be tethered to private property and with the landowner’s permission.
The custom led local townships to develop an unusual post — raft inspector.
Beyond that, the community of raft owners looks out for each other, offering a first-line of mechanical and even emergency assistance on the river.
Groups often gather to assist with raft launching and removal. Once the work is done, it’s common for the raft owner to throw a party.
“It’s a pretty tight-knit group,” said John Faucher, 45, of New London, a second-generation raft owner who also serves as president of the Wolf River Preservation Association. “We watch to see how everyone’s doing and step in to help if needed.”
Floating into history
The raft fishing culture evolved organically in the region.
The first one was built in 1948 or 1949, said Jerry Kuppernus, 76, of New London.
Kuppernus said a group of five men — Harry Allen, Gus Fuerig, Orville Jossie, Leonard Kuppernus (Jerry’s father) and Coke Simes — hatched the idea during a gathering at Allen’s barber shop in New London.
At the time, crowds of anglers would fish for walleye in spring from shore at the New London coal dock. The conditions were often cold and raw.
“As my dad and them were solving the world’s problems in Harry’s barber shop, they decided they’d also like to make something to fish from and get out of the elements,” Jerry Kuppernus said. “It started a little bit of a trend.”
The first raft was made on a platform of creosoted logs, similar to telephone poles, Kuppernus said. A wooden cabin, about 8 feet by 15 feet, was placed on top. A wood stove was used for heat, and a gas cook stove was used for meals. Windows allowed the anglers to watch cane poles set in rod holders on a wooden front rail.
The structure was “just big enough for four guys,” Kuppernus said.
The inaugural floating fishing cabin caught the attention of other local anglers, and, in the next couple years, others were built and launched on the Wolf.
The fishing rafts became a common-enough sight that a section of the river near New London acquired a new name: Shantytown Bend. The common fishing poles used on the rafts led to the moniker of another stretch called Bamboo Bend.
“I was just a little shaver then,” Kuppernus said. “But boy, what a treat it was to get out in that raft.”
The raft fishing tradition continued to grow over the coming decades.
Faucher, whose father built a raft in 1984, has fond memories of his youthful outings on the Wolf.
“The whole river was lit up with gas lanterns,” Faucher said. “People were laughing, cane poles were bending over, fish were coming in. Everything was ‘wow,’ like your first trip down Broadway.”
Few outside of Wisconsin know about the local tradition.
Brett McComas of Brainerd, Minnesota, is editor of a digital newsletter called Target Walleye and has fished over most of North America.
But until May, when he traveled to Wisconsin for the Winnebago National Walleye Trail tournament, he had not even heard of Wolf River fishing rafts.
He was invited for a tour and some fishing on one of the floating structures.
“Why would you ever leave?” McComas said, admiring the accoutrements.
The time-honored method of fishing — cane poles and artificial lures — used by many raft anglers is also unique. The long bamboo poles have just the right blend of limberness and strength to land fish on a relatively short, fixed length of line.
Schalkowski keeps 10 bamboo poles at the ready on his raft. The rods are most often used to fish a threeway (also known as Wolf River) rig, including a heavy sinker and a floating crank bait.
Different length rods and lengths of line allow anglers to control the depth and placement of the lures.
The artificial lures wobble in the current, enticing passing fish to bite.
White ping-pong balls or pieces of cloth are fixed to the end of the poles to help anglers detect strikes after dark in the soft glow of lantern light.
Although most rafts are used from late March to early May to target walleyes, some are in the river through summer to take advantage of the white bass run as well as catfish.
Regulations require the rafts be removed from the river by Oct. 31.
Most anglers in the region find it’s easier to fish from a boat. But for raft fishing devotees, there’s nothing like time at a floating cabin.
“It slows life down,” said Lussenden, Schalkowski’s raft partner on “Da Fish Barn.” “Life goes by so fast, you can’t even blink an eye, and it’s over.”
Lussenden also lives in Weyauwega and is also employed at the local foundry.
During the walleye run, he and Schalkowski often sleep and fish on the raft between work shifts. Much of the best fishing occurs after dark.
In addition to camaraderie and angling, a raft provides a platform to enjoy wildlife sightings along the river. Ospreys dive for fish, flocks of sandhill cranes fly over. Lake sturgeon, which also make a spring spawning migration up the Wolf, porpoise near the raft.
“This is something I want to pass down to my kids and my grandkids someday,” Schalkowski said, thinking ahead to potential fourth and fifth generation raft owners.
“I want to be able to teach them all about it.”