WAUPACA COUNTY, Wis. — The annual walleye run on the Wolf River draws in anglers from all over in search of the prized fish. Some toss in lines from shore or a bridge, while others move from spot to spot via boat. However, another group takes a different approach.
Mick Beil, who goes by Maynard on the Wolf River Raft Fishing Facebook group that his wife started, is a self-described "river rat." It’s a term of endearment he uses for those who fish from rafts along the Wolf River.
Once the ice goes out, the rafts come in.
Beil has fished the Wolf since he was a kid.
After making a deal with the landowner, rafts get floated out and tied up for the walleye run. Prices vary.
“I said, 'Frank, how much?' I thought he said a bag of Cheetos, but it was a bottle of Tito’s. So we got that straightened out,” Beil laughed.
The Beils' raft is fully enclosed with an exterior deck for fishing and can only be accessed by boat.
Upriver, near Shiocton, Cayden Hertziger and his cousin recently bought and remodeled his grandfather’s raft. His shack is on land and connected to the raft, so Hertziger can drive up whenever he wants.
He loves the memories, fishing and tranquility he finds on the river.
“Me and my cousin, we usually like leaving it in for a while because we like the catfishing. This is our escape place. Besides our house, you know, this is what we do and kind of consider it our second house,” said Hertziger.
It’s a community out on the river. Neighbors come and go from the Beils' raft, sometimes for a game of cribbage when the fish aren’t biting. The raft holds beds, a wood burning stove and many other comforts of home.
Beil said that it takes a lot of work to maintain the raft, but he loves the community and the river life.
“Boy oh boy. If anybody would be in trouble, that's the whole thing. If any of these guys got in trouble, you'd have an army of them coming to lend a hand,” said Beil.
He said sometimes, traveling the river works better than the roads.
“We were down here for the storm back there when we got 20-some inches. They shut the highway down. They shut everything down and here the river was flowing. You could go to, New London, Fremont. You go anywhere you want, but you couldn’t take your car,” Beil said.
The Beils will occasionally use their car to get more firewood and groceries. But thanks to his wife, Jane, who had already caught a walleye, dinner was taken care of.
He said some people hold a negative view of the raft anglers, believing they are taking too many fish, especially pre-spawned females.
However, Beil said if he used his boat, he’d be more mobile and actually catch more fish, but he probably wouldn’t have as much fun on the water as being on his raft.
