Fish Like a GIRL

Is it just me, or do the years seem to go by faster the older we get? I always say the days go slow and the years go fast. But it seems as though they get faster. I would suppose it makes sense. When we are 10 years old, one year is a tenth of our life. At 50, then, it is 1/50th of our life, making it seem much shorter. That timeline idea was brought up at an editorial meeting at the Times many years ago, and the idea has not left me. It makes too much sense.

But when I look back on a year, as short as it may have seemed, reviewing all of the things that happened puts it into perspective a bit more. A ton of things have happened, and I have a lot of great memories from the year. I am not sure where to even start.

One of the coolest things I got to experience this year was becoming a Master Naturalist. For anyone who is into all things outdoors, I would highly recommend taking the time to go through this training. I did mine at the North Lakeland Discovery Center and we had an awesome group of people. We got to know each other throughout the training and had a great time learning from one another, too.

One of the biggest things I remember was heading out to a bog, which Susan Knight told use later was actually a poor fen, but I digress. We walked out and looked at pitcher plants and their contents. We learned about all of the flora and fauna that utilize the bog and got to know so much more than I think any of us knew. I grew up playing in what I called “the swamp” near my house, so I have always had a love of wetlands. But I think the last time I actually walked out onto a bog was when Tom Doyle took my fourth-grade class on a field trip. It was a really cool experience. 

There were so many other great experiences throughout those few weeks of training. And now I look forward to volunteering and keeping up with my citizen science work to keep my certification.

I also got certified as a Pollinator Steward, as some readers may know. That certification was done through The Pollinator Partnership, and we had people in the virtual training from all over the United States and Canada. At the end of the training we each had a “quiz” of sorts highlighting what we had learned in each of the modules. After that we had until September (I believe the training ended in February, if I remember correctly) to complete our projects and send photos and documentation in to the Partnership. That was a good experience as well, but did not have the same kind of camaraderie of the Naturalist program.

I also got involved with the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation this year. I am currently an associate director for District 4 as well as their editor for Wisconservation, their bi-monthly newspaper. I cannot say enough good things about the people I have met since getting involved with that organization. Everyone involved is passionate about the state’s natural resources, and everyone has their favorite activity, of course. Some of them are dog people, some bear hunters, others are anglers. There are trappers in the group, and some are very into shooting sports. Many of them are also involved in other organizations. As an organization we do everything we can to support sportsmen and women, but also all people who care about the state’s resources. We express our support for or opposition to various bills in Madison and help over 200 organizations have their voices heard around the capital.

One of the coolest events I got to attend due to my affiliation with the Wildlife Federation was the Midwest Outdoor Heritage Education Expo, or MOHEE. It was presented by The Outdoor Heritage Education Center (OHEC) and was held at the MacKenzie Center in Poynette. The Federation supports the event and many board members were there to help teach kids about various outdoor activities. There was a BB gun shooting tent that was always busy, kids could learn archery, how to call turkeys, how to cast, how hunters use dogs to retrieve waterfowl as well as upland birds, and so many other activities. There was even a station where kids could use the old backpacks used by Department of Natural Resources (DNR) firefighters. It was a great event and seeing the kids excitement at learning new things at each station made me feel good to be even a small part of such a great event.

I also was nominated for a seat on the Lumberjack Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council as the Vilas County representative. This is a great organization that I feel is one of the best kept secrets around. 

Lumberjack awards community conservation grants each year and is the fiscal sponsor for several non-profit conservation organizations. We are also involved in invasive species control and Lumberjack holds the contract for forest inventory for the State of Wisconsin. It is a great organization that is also full of people who are passionate about our natural resources.

What can I say about the rest of the summer? We did fish a bunch of tournaments, but we did not get in as much pre-fishing as we would have liked. Truth be told, after Chet’s heart attack last year, we were happy to just be back on the water together. Without a lot of time on the water, our tournament season was not what we would have hoped for, but we still had a ton of fun and made some great memories. Really, that is what it is all about, I think. We got to hang out with a bunch of our fishing family and do what we all enjoy the most. 

We were also involved in the Veterans on Water event on Lake Mohawksin in Tomahawk where tournament anglers take out a disabled veteran for a day of fishing.

And there was the garage project. The project that would never end (which, as of this writing, is almost done! At least almost done on the outside). The project that tested us both. But we got it done — with the help of friends and family. It is always “fun” to add on to a building that is a few decades old when everything is so super straight and square ( Yes, that was sarcasm), but we jumped over each hurdle, not to mention three different city inspectors who all had different ideas on how things should be done, and it is really turning out to be a pretty impressive building, as far as garages go.

I also had quite the year gardening for the first time in the raised beds here at our new home. I have never grown a tomato plant horizontally… it was ridiculous the amount of tomatoes we had this year! But we put them all to good use, canned in tomato sauce, salsa and chili. I basically just planted a little bit of everything to see what would do well and what I might want to skip next year. Oddly, everything seemed to grow really well, so next year I need to pare that down based on what we actually use up this year. I will skip all forms of squash next year, that much I know for sure. I have more squash and zucchini frozen than we could ever hope to use over the winter. It is actually laughable! But a good learning experience nonetheless. 

With all of those adventures behind us now, I am looking forward to even more adventures in 2024. We have some big things in the works for the bait business as well as some other endeavors. We will hopefully have more time for fishing, and I somewhat expect to have even most of the inside of the garage done. Whatever 2024 brings, I am excited for all the things we have planned and we will roll with anything else that comes along. 

Here is to wishing all of our readers the best in 2024!

Beckie Gaskill may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].