Atop, under and around the Winneconne bridge
The fun in Winneconne includes fishing and cards, of course, but also dining in quaint local restaurants that time (or is it taste?) forgot, such as the Fin 'n' Feather. But camaraderie is always on the menu.
You can learn more about the town of Winneconne, including its mildly amusing publicity stunt of ''seceding'' from the state of Wisconsin when it got left off the new road map, on the town's Web site.
Take a gander at Doug Nelson's Wolf River House site, but don't expect a lot of dynamism. Unlike the well-maintained Bellyboys site, Doug's was apparently put up and forgotten. Doug, of course, may have better things to do with his time.
His son Critter, however, regularly udates his version of fishing conditions on the Wolf River and adjacent lakes. If you love reading good fiction, turn to Critter's fishing reports every week.
The vagaries of spring, 2004
It is a rare treat for the Bellyboys to experience the full range of Winneconne weather in a single visit, but that’s what happened May 13 to 16, 2004. Thursday, the 13th, when only one boy fished, was a mild day with mid-day sunshine, Friday was cold, rainy and windy, Saturday saw the onset of a cold front, and Sunday was beautiful…after the boys headed back to Illinois.
The vicissitudes of weather combined with the Boys’ usual ineptness to hold down the fish count – in the case of several boys, to zero.
While all the boys were really ready for this trip – the winter fishing was scratched and most of us had not felt a tug on the end of the line since fall – John Lux was the only one able to get up during the day on Thursday. He fished from 10 a.m. till 5 and had four white bass to show for his efforts. Jeff Wilson and Jim Olsztynki arrived at cocktail time, Jeff after visiting his ailing mother in Reedsburg, Wis.
Showing their age, the trio had pizza at the village pub and hit the hay at a record-setting 9 p.m. so they could get up at dawn to take advantage of the fishing. Jeff showed his maturity by suggesting that he keep watch over the cabin after Jim and John left at 5:30 a.m. and meet the boys for breakfast at 8 at the Fin and Feather.
The two trolled both north and south of the bridge and had some luck early, landing a couple of walleye and few white bass. But by breakfast the fishing petered out. Don Frost, Paul Bauer, Jim Masek and Gary Van Moffaert arrived near noon and all fished after lunch, but with no luck. Ski and John caught a couple more fish and left the water early. Jeff headed back to visit his mother.
The six of us went for a quick supper at the broasted chicken place at the west edge of town and, our memories being what they are, none of us remembered till we had ordered that the place was below even Winneconne standards. Poker was a salvation for some, however, notably Paul and Ski. As Ski put it, "I ended up $35 ahead for the night despite a slow start and the incredible dumbass blunder of throwing away a winning full house hand. Allah is indeed merciful."
As the cold front blew through Saturday most of the boys were skunked…Jim and John did manage to catch a few white bass and bluegill. Then there was Don's "catch of the weekend." As Don tells it, "Gary dropped his fishing rod bracket overboard and, on its way to the murky depths of the Wolf River, I snagged it literally on the tip of my minnow-baited hook. Sad to say, it was the highlight of the weekend fishing for me."
Ski left in mid-afternoon to do some paperwork at home and prepare for his Sunday morning golf game, his real passion.
Saturday night was a big event at the Fin and Feather, a buffalo buffet (see picture above left). Braised, stewed, on skewers, the tough stuff was offered in many guises, some of which were appetizing. Four chose the bison, but John and Paul thought beefsteak was a better option. Saturday night’s poker saw the rich get richer.
The highlight of the trip for Paul must have been the hour and a half he spent figuring the bill on Sunday morning. The pain was exquisite for us all as he realized he had forgotten the AC adapter for his laptop and his carefully prepared Excel spreadsheet was useless.
As bellies yearned for a greasy breakfast his Univac-like brain crunched number after number until the truth was finally reached…truth that Doug Nelson revised slightly and truth that finally set us free to eat breakfast under the picture of the chief at the Arrowhead (top photo).
Is this a fishing trip or eldercare?
Bob Jones (known familiarly as Dirk Cherokee), left, and Jeff Wilson, right, showed they know a thing or two about healthy alternatives to actually fishing on the most recent Bellyboys excursion, Oct. 16-19, 2003. It was a good thing they found something other than walleye and white bass to enjoy: Because of circumstances beyond their control bluegill were about the only fish to be had on the cool, clear weekend.
On the other hand, there was nothing wrong with the sunshine, poker and big meat restaurants, either. It was a record turnout this trip, with 10 boys total making the trek north. Two left on Saturday after breakfast and two arrived for lunch Saturday, so boys were able to share beds without actually sleeping together.
Jeff and Ski had to go home then, and Bob Rowley and Tom Cosgrove replaced them at the dinner and poker tables on Saturday.
Chris Remele was the newest guy on the trip, and he proved himself a pretty good fisherman and poker player. He was kind enough not to win the sturgeon pool, thank heavens. He was pleased to share a boat with Paul, the other cigarette smoker in the crowd (until Rowley got there). There must have been some magic in that old Pall Mall they found, for once they put it on their hook the fish would dance around, to paraphrase "Frosty the Snowman."
Chris Rauser had some fun fishing for a change on this trip. He had bought a new rod and reel, and once he swapped out the 20-pound test line the kid at Sportmart had put on he caught quite a few bluegill. John had fun with the little guys as well, and caught a few small but pretty crappies in the bargain.
The locals didn't even bother to fish that weekend...must have been a big bowling tournament in Oshkosh. Actually, they told us the current had been too slow most of the year and the water didn't get cold, and so forth and so on. They could have stitched a fisherman's excuse sampler.
With three nights of cards to fit in, it was a good thing the Bellyboys didn't have to get up early to worry about catching fish. The highlight of the cards for John came on Saturday in a game of five-card draw. When it came his turn to draw, Rowley finally got to growl, "I'll play these," and was surprised when John said the same. When the showdown came Rowley laid down a straight...and John showed a full house.
Success for the Boys
Tom Cosgrove, left, shows off a nice mess of fish caught on the Bellyboys spring trip, May 15-18, 2003. The trip saw a magic moment for Jeff Wilson (right): It was the first fish he had caught since 1965. Of course, had he gone fishing sometime in the intervening years it might have been a different story.
Nine Bellyboys made the spring trip this year, about the most who have ever ventured north at once. Arriving Thursday morning were Bob Jones, Chris Rauser and John Lux. Trying to live up to the "Three Men in a Tub" image, the boys set out in a single boat to test their mettle against the wily walleye and white bass.
Doug Nelson, affable owner of the Wolf River House resort, had as usual told the boys that the fish would be there this weekend, and this time he was right. While the fishing wasn't as fast for the level of angler so well represented by the boys, we caught fish, and lots of them.
By the time Jim Olsztynski and Jeff arrived Thursday night, the early arrivers had caught some nice white bass, like the one John is beaming over at right. Bob "Dirk" Jones was well on the way to catching the most walleyes he'd ever taken out of the Wolf, but Chris Rauser had had no luck at all.
Ski was perhaps the most ardent fisherman of the weekend. As the photo at left shows, his catch was not limited to piscatorial delights, but he enjoyed all the North Woods had to offer. On Friday the rest of the boys made their appearance in Winnebago County: Tom Cosgrove, Don Frost, Jim Masek and Paul Bauer, who worked most of the day Friday but got out on the water Saturday morning.
For a change the boys got up early in hopes of really killing God's little fishies, and both Friday and Saturday saw us on the water by about 6 a.m. The tactic worked better on Friday than it did on Saturday, which dawned foggy.
While Dirk and John (left) seem pretty pleased with the size of the white bass they've caught, all the boys agreed that Ski took the biggest fish of the weekend. The photo at right looks like one of those snapshots of the Loch Ness monster because it's a detail of a long-distance picture enlarged to show Ski and a Northern pike that measured 26.0001 inches. (No one thought to photograph it on land before Ski cleaned it, so this is the best record he has of his personal record.)
Don Frost is not so easily satisfied with so common a species, however. To make life a little more interesting, the Boys have come up with a sturgeon contest that may live longer than the boys themselves do. Don wrote the rules, which were unanimously accepted when no Bellyboy bothered to dispute them.
The key requirement is merely hooking and landing a sturgeon, but that won't be so easy. Only one sturgeon has been caught in a dozen years of Bellyboys fishing. The pot should grow to awesome proportions, even with the bargain-basement assessment of $1 per outing. It was the size of the overall catch that mattered to the boys who wanted to take fish home for a change. The cleaners set up a sophisticated triage system in the cleaning house at Pinecrest. Well, it was about as sophisticated as a scene from "The Jungle." Jeff was the dispenser of swift mercy (above left), using a rigid rubber hose with clamp attached to dispatch the victims. Dirk then used his electric filet knife to remove the tasty slabs of meat (center), and John finished the job by removing the rib bones. Jeff couldn't stop singing, "There was blood and whiskey in the fish house, but I didn't hear nobody pray."
Contests ad absurdam aren't the only way the contemplative Don, left, displays his unique personality. He mixes a batch of Manhattans at home in Rolling Meadows to bring up to Winneconne (we know Chicago water is better, but Chicago vermouth?) and always adds a new silver dollar to the tip at every meal on the road.
(For a little movie of a guy who wished he hadn't won the big-fish contest, click here.)
The picture above right shows the boys doing something much harder than fishing: figuring out the bill. Actually, Bob Jones is doing it with the help of Jim Masek while the rest of the boys take it less than seriously. To see why Dirk got an "A" in accounting, click on the link to the bill .
Bloodied but not belly-up
The Bellyboys fall trip to Winneconne Oct. 4-6, 2002, was the scene of one of the most frightening -- and heroic -- events in the history of white bass fishing in America. Here is a first-person account of the Battle of Bluegill Channel.
By Don Frost The sky was angry. A vicious west wind whipped the whole sea white. Were Don and Jim worried? Were they frightened by the elements' determination to sink their frail craft? They were not.
Suddenly, in a voice crackling with tension, Jim said, "I think we're moving."
Sure enough. The anchor had broken loose and the malevolent wind redoubled its efforts to cause the boat to founder, driving it relentlessly into perilous shallows.
Instinctively, without need for verbal communication, the two veteran fishermen hauled in their lines and bent to the task of saving their vessel - and themselves. With a sickening crunch, the boat rammed the bramble-studded shore.
Then a boat appeared on the horizon. It was John and Tom.
"Need help?" John hailed, keeping well clear of the treacherous shallows.
"No!" Jim cried out. "Stay back! Save yourselves! Leave us!"
John and Tom went back to the cabin and had a beer.
The valiant crew was saved. With the engine's prop encased in a ball of weeds, they limped into port.
And the wind howled its wrath, its impotence.
After the Storm
Despite the weather, a few fish were taken on the weekend. Dirk, at left, displays a fine example of the steadiest provider of anti-skunk insurance, a sheepshead. The silvery guys always seem willing to take even the most poorly pressented bait on the worst day of the year.
At right, John holds a bluegill, an example of our other favorite fallback species from the channels behind Wolf River House.
There's also the added pleasure when fishing near the homes on the channels that you can watch homeowners struggling with yard work, storm windows and fall painting while you drown a worm.
Saturday was an especially tough day for fishing, but the cold and windy weather did provide a lot of sunlight to illuminate the fall scene on a channel in the Wisconsin woods, below left, a pleasant contrast with a sheet of Don Frost's Bellyboy toilet paper at right.
. Paul Bauer, right, was in charge of early morning fueling of the Bellyboys, and here he is drinking his first cup of coffee of the day. Newby Tom Cosgrove, left, got his first experience of Winneconne fishing the hard way. He managed to catch some bluegill and a sheepshead or two on Friday, but got only a tiny white bass on Saturday.
As for other indoor activities, Bob Jones was the biggest winner at poker. Characteristically, he maintained this was his first winning weekend since he was 16 years old, and even if it wasn't, he deserved it.
The fact that most of us even found our way to Winneconne this time was something of a surprise. The State of Wisconsin saw fit to take down the Winneconne exit sign off Hwy. 41 because Hwy. 110 was blocked after the town of Winneconne. When Doug Nelson called to tell the state this made no sense, he was accused of using logic and was ignored.
Following the detour signs to Neenah, Tom Cosgrove found that there was no way to get back to Winneconne on the detour route because the road was blocked north of Winneconne. He eventually took his chances by going back to 110 and arrived two hours late.
The Boys of spring
Bob Jones is fond of saying that the word Winneconne means "the wind that brings no fish" in the Winnebago language. On the spring trip in late May of 2002, it meant, "weather that freezes a carp's cojones" in any language.
While the boys at right are putting on a show of courage in this picture taken by a passerby outside Ted's Grandview Lodge in Fremont, it was the warmth that came from within after a good dinner and a touch of restorative spirits.
The intrepid boys are, left to right, top to bottom, Chris Rauser, Jim Olsztynski, Bob Jones, Paul Bauer, Steve Chapman, John Lux, Don Frost, Jim Masek and Bob Rowley. It was the biggest turnout ever for a trip, and for sound patriotic reasons: If we stop going fishing, the terrorists have won.
Despite the bitter cold, some pretty good fish were taken, such as Jim Masek's nice northern pike at left, and John Lux's rare Wolf River chime fish at right, caught in a gift shop in Fremont. In accordance with the regulations of the Department of Good Taste, it was immediately released.
The hooded and begloved Bellyboys were almost ready for the weather, but not quite. As Steve Chapman put it, "It became clear to me on this trip why Wisconsinites love ice fishing--because it's warmer than spring fishing. Ski and I thought about setting our boat on fire to ward off hypothermia." Generally you don't expect to need long underwear the weekend before Memorial Day.
Cold as the weather was, the boys must have learned something in 10 years of fishing Winneconne, because a few nice piscine specimens were boated over two and a half days. That includes a clam that gave Bob Jones one heck of a tussle, and a beautiful catfish taken by Steve Chapman.
As Jim Olsztynski said of his boating partner, "Chapman impressed me with his fishing prowess landing the big cat without breaking a line or falling out of the boat, which would have been a more
typical BB experience. Hats off to him, especially since he also contributed to the poker fund."
Bob Jones was the most consistent of the fishers, picking up this good-sized northern as well as a mess of white bass.
We call everyone's attention to the photo at right, one of the rarest pictures in existence: A shot of Bob Rowley actually holding a fishing rod.
All he'd done in previous Bellyboy trips was clean us out of our poker stakes...this time he finally went fishing, THEN cleaned us out of our poker stakes.
The pickings weren't so slim that the boys feared going hungry (does it look like they ever missed a meal?). Below, holding his prize as near to the camera as he can to make the bag look bigger, Ski displays his fillets below at left. And after watching Ski struggle to divide a lunch check, Bob and Paul decided to cut him out of the figuring of the Wolf River House bill. Here they burn the midnight bourbon to make sure Doug Nelson gets his due from the Bellyboys.
Bob Rowley may not have caught fish, but he did capture some choice moments on camera.
In a picture that could have been an outtake from "Nanook of the North," Bob's fishing partner Don Frost tries to preserve his body heat without benefit of brandy.
At right, the triumphant John and Bob show off a hard-won basket of white bass at the end of the day.
THE BELLYBOYS were born on Lake Erie and weaned on an overloaded pontoon boat on Lake Galena at Eagle Ridge, but they matured fishing for white bass on the Wolf River in Winneconne, Wisconsin. The white bass, well described on the Field and Stream site, has been a formidable adversary, given the boys' skill and knack of choosing the worst days to go fishing.
The group photo was taken just after breakfast Saturday by a teenaged waitress at the Arrowhead restaurant. The boys, from left, are Chris Rauser, Jim Olsztynski, Bob Jones, Paul Bauer, Jeff Wilson, Chris Remele, John Lux and Don Frost. The comment of one wife upon seeing this picture was typical of the lack of respect the boys get: "Boy," she said, "you all sure got old."
The key point, which all the old boys like, is that size doesn't matter. For the full set of rules, and a picture of a sturgeon in case you never actually see one live, click on this link.
When it was all over, the boys who remained on Saturday night celebrated at Holtz's Supper club: Standing, from left, John, Paul and Chris; seated, Jim, Dirk and Don.
Bellyboy Staff Correspondent
On they pressed in their quest for the wily white in normally sheltered waters. Anchored in mid-channel off Lake Winneconne, they cast about with worm, minnow, and brightly colored artificial lures. All to no avail.
Skipper Don started the engine, threw it into reverse, and gave it full throttle. Nothing. The boat continued to grind along the shore. There was nothing the engine could do. To put it in forward gear would be to drive the two gallant seamen deeper into the shallows.
Miraculously, with a combination of deft handling of the oars and by poling, Jim and Don managed to turn the boat into the wind, its bow pointed toward deep water and salvation.
With a furious yank on the rip cord, the motor sprang to life. Don threw it into gear and floored it. It became the little engine that could. The prop bit into the weeds and, churning muddy water, slowly, inch by inch, the boat eased out of danger.
The inside story
Bellyboy photos by Jim Masek and John Lux
Bellyboy photos by Jim Masek, Bob Rowley and John Lux
The noble white bass
Our headquarters on the Wolf has been Wolf River House, owned by the affable Doug Nelson, who sometimes has been known to be right about where the fish are.
Besides the current gang of BBs -- Bob Jones, Jim Masek, Paul Bauer, Gary VanMoffaert, Jim Olsztynski, John Lux, Steve Chapman, Chris Rauser, Bob Rowley and Don Frost -- part-time members included Bill Beaver, Paul Camp, Rich LaSusa, Chuck Fox, Augie Pilati and more -- any of whom are welcome to renew their membership at any time.
Go to the early Winneconne page for the story of trips in 1999 and earlier.
Return to main page.
Go to the Canada page.
Some other Bellyboy experiences.
