Seasonal change is in the air

Over the last six months or so I've watched some friends taking off for the woods with their chain saws and axes.

Their mission was to cut as much firewood as their truck could transport. These are the people who relish an evening in front of the fireplace sipping a beverage or two and meditating about times past.

In some parts of the country heavy snows have fallen. Elk have come out of the high country out west, and in the southland the annual migration of the human-kind has begun in earnest.

But here in the rust belt, as I like to call this area, the quest for big fish continues for anglers draped in heavy garb and boots. These are the ones who refused to be intimidated by falling temperatures. They are the stalwarts whose hands are weathered by years of devotion to outdoor passion.

It's the time for big muskies and walleyes to eyeball the flashy lures and jumbo suckers tossed their way. It's the time for the jumbo crappies to outrace each other to get to a minnow suspended under a slip-float.

And every time it rains the rivers rise up a bit offering fishermen a better chance of finding a chunky smallmouth bass hiding behind the boulders. Dreamers sometimes have a tendency to appoint human traits to bodies of water, wishing they could share their centuries-old secrets with us mere mortals.

Oh, how I wish I still had that cabin off the gravel road separating Ontario and Minnesota. It was a special place that offered a recluse an opportunity to commune with winter and nature in more of a real sense than being in a city environment.

The firewood was stacked alongside the outside wall of the place and covered with an old tarp. The cupboards were stocked with various canned goods, and the LP gas refrigerator hung on to its last hold of energy while valiantly struggling to keep the meat and cheeses from turning into wolf food.

This is the kind of northwoods place where snow shoes were more of a necessity than a wall decoration. And for me it was the enjoyment of the autumn season before the snow, knowing full well that once the heavy white stuff came around, I would be back to sequester myself with books and brandy, along with food for thought as well as home cooking for the old, wooden table.

I now ask myself what happened to those days of a misspent youth. How did that $20 watch manage to spin ahead so quickly? The answer is all too simple. Many of us have been consumed with earning a living and raising families.

I have a friend in the Santa Rosa, Calif., area that I speak with several times a week. We shared with each other how we both went to work at an early age delivering groceries on a bicycle. We saved almost every dime we earned and then celebrated with small chunks of our financial stash by purchasing a new lure from the local tackle shop.

Babe Winkelman's father recently passed away, and I happened to see one of Babe's television shows where he pieced together video segments of he and his father fishing and hunting together. It was truly heartwarming.

I guess it all boils down to a simple personal philosophy.

I will keep putting a log on the fire as long as I can. I will continue to heft the shotgun until it becomes a burden. And I will keep on casting away for those big ones until my wrist and arm tells me to hang it up.

In the meantime, I will celebrate these times and cherish the moment.

Free, and wild: As we sit down at the dinner table today and celebrate a holiday that has meaning for millions, I am thankful that my family is around me while U.S. military personnel are overseas helping to keep us safe.

I can remember Thanksgiving days in the past when I suggested the dinner menu would be made up of wild game, like grouse, pheasant, mallard duck and the like.

At those times it was symbolic for me to feast on the offerings of the wild while appreciating the opportunity to roam the woods in order to bring home the fabulous tasting treasures I so dearly love.

Area fishing report

The best news for the end of the week is the walleye fishing in the area has really taken off.

Fox Chain: Guide Darrell Baker has been scoring big-time with jumbo walleyes. Most of the catches have been coming from the northern lakes in the Chain. Excellent bluegill and crappie angling right now on Pistakee Lake, while Bluff Lake is giving up some good catches of crappie and white bass.

Fox River: A few good catches of smallmouth bass near South Elgin.

Bangs Lake: Early evening walleyes being taken on minnows, nightcrawlers and spinners.

Lake Michigan: Best spot for jumbo perch on the far south end as well as Indiana.

• Reach Mike Jackson via e-mail at angler88@comcast.net, and catch his radio program 6-7 a.m. Sundays on WSBC 1240-AM.