It’s More Than Just a Fish by Kevin Bushnick
Hello Round Lake fishermen, fisherwomen and fisherkids! As we head towards summer, I thought I’d share one of Round Lakes many fishing secrets. As fishery committee chair, my primary objective is to observe, understand, and protect the Round Lake fishery as best I can. My personal goal is to pass along this beautiful lake resource to our children and theirs. As property owners and more importantly stewards of Round Lake, we all know Round Lake is a pristine gem of northern Wisconsin. Let’s work together to keep it that way!
While Round Lake is difficult to fish for many reasons, the biggest reason of all is because it’s so healthy. There’s an abundance of food in Round Lake. Think of it this way; if you went to Robin’s Nest for breakfast, would you really be interested in a ham sandwich with hooks for lunch?
No offense to the pigs, I love bacon.
My best advice for successfully fishing Round Lake is to use electronics to find structure. Here’s a picture of some old cement septic tanks someone put out on the ice (and they fell through in the spring) likely decades ago. If you want to know exactly where these are, I’d be glad to tell you, so long as you take the kids or grandkids out there. Otherwise, this spot remains top-secret! And there is more than just this one spot!
Look for weeds or structure. Hot-spot maps can give you general fishing areas, but your success will depend on finding very specific ‘zones’. Even being 10 feet off a hot-spot, will make a difference in your success on Round.
There are ‘big’ fish to be caught. This is a picture of one of the beautiful Round Lake apex predators; the Muskie. This species of fish is very important to the overall eco- system and health of Round Lake. Do what you can to practice catch & release with these fish. There’s not many large Muskies in the lake, making it that much more important we take care of them. This will ensure in the years ahead we will have increased opportunities to catch trophy Muskies.
Most important, if we catch & release, it gives someone else an opportunity to catch one of these spectacular fish. If our kids catch one, it can hook them on fishing for a lifetime! Lastly, I want to encourage you all to get your kids and grandkids out fishing this summer. I read a bumper sticker once that stated “Kids who fish and hunt, don’t steal from old ladies.” Think about it; I think those words are very true.