3-16-03 - Oak Creek at the mouth. It's so small it's almost just a drainage ditch!

Continued to see "pluming" rivers at their mouths. Look at the distinct line formed between river & lake water!

OK, for those of you who don't believe the size of some of those "bergs" on the shores, consider this picture. Also consider that those bergs were mostly melted down.

I do admit that Oak Creek may have a charm to it.

End of the LINE! That is, unless you know a steelhead with a 10 foot vertical....

Back at the good old trusty Pike mouth. Not much had changed in 24 hours.

3-16-03 - Anxiously Optimistic, but my enthusiasm is just a bit early!

Rivers Fished: Milwaukee, Oak Creek, Pike River Mouth
Fish Caught: 0
Outing Date: 3-16-03
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Thin Overhead Clouds towards evening
Air Temp: 60's, may have dropped to 45F by dusk
Water Temp: 34F in Oak Creek, the rest 33F
Water Level: Up UP UP from weeks past
Water Color: Muddy
Fish Species: none sighted or taken
Pattern Fished: Black Heron, Popsicle, MP's Pink Attempt, MP's Egg Spey
Pattern Color: Dark & Bright Combos
Fishing Quality: NADA!

3-16-03 - It seems that often I have the "intention" of hitting the Milwaukee River on any given day, but I just never make it 'cause I get bogged down fishing the other tribs. Today I decided that if I was going to do it right, I'd head as far north as I was willing to and then work south. Even so I only hit 3 of the 5 areas that I wanted to, but knowing that conditions would not improve much between yesterday and today I considered this outing a "scouting" trip with fishing intermingled.

Started up at Milwaukee at 1:00; the river is still mostly frozen. I drove Estabrook peering at the river where you can; it seems that the vast majority is still frozen. Moved further downstream thinking that a particular spot could be open...and it was for about 12 feet! Took a quick water temp; 33F (well, actually probably 32.5F!).

Scouting Scouting Scouting! Hit Oak Creek today. TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. The creek is only .5 miles fishable! It reminds me of the picture of a Lake Superior Trib on page 108 of Matt Supinski's "Steelhead Dreams". OK, so it's not that bad, but this is a TINY creek. It is stocked with comparable levels to the Pike, so I suspect that runs are thick and quick.

I started at the mouth and tossed for a while...very reminiscent of the Pike Mouth but slightly easier access. When you think of Oak Creek, think of the word CREEK. Everything about it is small. Fishable area at the mouth is SMALL.

Anyways, I spoke with a few local anglers; the runs go quick in this area. I'm betting the place is a zoo on the magnitude of the Root River X 10 because instead of five miles, you have .5 miles! Folks, best leave this one to the locals...a run could literally occur in 1 day on a river like this. I did take the time to do a temp; 34F.

I should mention that throughout my scouting in the last 48 hours, it seems that most of the tribs are clear of ice upstream but the downstream sections are frozen solid. Maybe this week's continued warmer temps and rain will remedy this.

After finding and leaving Oak Creek around 3:00, I headed back to the Pike Mouth...with various pit-stops and local roads it took almost an hour to get between the two. I fished the Pike Mouth again, no significant change in the landscape although the flow seems just a bit reduced. After an hour of tossing speys in the lake and lagoon, I called it a day.

Next week surely is the ticket, right? ;)

  MP