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Menomonie's best kept (fishing) secret
Prof knows his walleyes
Danielle Bleck
Issue date: 2/11/07 Section: Feature
Housed on the banks of Lake Menomin, the University of Wisconsin-Stout faculty staff and students use this body of water for recreation and its attractive scenery. The Water Ski team practices and hosts competitions on the lake. Students can rent kayaks or canoes and spend the day paddling around on its mirror-like surface. On special occasions the reflection of fireworks can be seen.
However, a little known fact is that Lake Menomin is actually an excellent walleye fishing spot, according to David A. Johnson, Ph.D.
Johnson, a UW-Stout professor and Operations, Construction and Management Department faculty member, said it houses one of the best walleye fisheries in the state. In fact, Johnson catches over 1,000 walleyes in a year’s time on Lake Menomin. Although this is a fishing hot spot, avid fishermen keep rather quiet about it.
“People fish out there a lot and do pretty well, but don’t always tell everybody about the fish they are catching,” Johnson said. However, Johnson, a member of the National Professional Anglers Association, isn’t afraid to share his favorite fishing spots.
Besides fishing on Lake Menomin, Johnson can be found in his 18-foot long Skeeter 1850, a boat made especially for walleye fishing, cruising along the Mississippi River between Lake Pepin, the Alma Dam, Pool Four and the Red Wing Dam.
“There is excellent fishing there,” Johnson said. The fish keep him busy as he catches 20 to 25 walleyes. On a good day he can catch up to 100.
Johnson came from a fishing-oriented family. He first got his line wet as a 2-year-old, hooked his first fish and his enthusiasm for angling grew.
“Fishing was a way of life, we didn’t have television and computers. We just went fishin’,” Johnson said. Little did Johnson know that this lifestyle would tie in closely with his career down the road.
Before he began at UW-Stout, Johnson worked at Iowa State University’s Center for Continuous Quality Improvement and was a consultant to Berkley, a fishing line, bait and tackle company. In the ‘90s, Berkely company merged with seven other companies, Abu Garcia, Fenwick, Stren, Mitchell, Johnson, Spider and Strand, to form Pure Fishing.
“Pure Fishing produces over 98 percent of all the fishing line that’s used in the world,” Johnson said. “It was fun to watch the progression of that company.”
Today, Johnson still works for the company; however, he does a lot less consulting and now does seminars instead. Each year he does approximately a dozen presentations for Pure Fishing and spends time in the store with customers selling the company’s products at local stores including nearby stores like the Hudson Fleet Farm and area Gander Mountains. To promote the products, he does give-aways and sometimes has drawings for products. “Doing these seminars is a way to put a person to an impersonal product” Johnson said. “It’s so much fun!”
Besides having a heritage of fishing, loving the sport and working for the world’s largest fishing tackle companies, Johnson also used to compete regularly in tournaments with his son Dave Jr. The father and son team began competing in 1987 and participated in nearly 40 tournaments during that time and placed in the top ten several times. However, their tournament career came to an end when Johnson’s son moved across the country to attend seminary school at Duke University in North Carolina.
Even though Johnson no longer competes in tournaments, his love for fishing has not subsided. He still fishes for walleye on a very regular basis and even has a new fishing partner – his 8-year-old granddaughter Chloe.
“She and I have fun times on Lake Menomin,” Johnson said. “She drives the boat and catches walleyes.” Even the cold weather doesn’t stop the fishing pair. When Lake Menomin is frozen over, Johnson and his Chloe still ice fish.
Recently, Johnson was interviewed by Adam Stapel, news anchor at Eau Claire’s TV Channel 18 WQOW. The interview happened on frozen Lake Menomin and Johnson shared a little wisdom about fishing technology for a news feature aired on Jan. 19.
Johnson told Stapel the most difficult part about catching walleyes isn’t catching them, but finding them, because if you can find them, you can catch them. He said it can be exhilarating when you see the fish using locaters and underwater cameras.
“You start seeing the fish on the camera and whether you’re an angler or not you get just as excited as a kid with his Christmas toy,” Johnson said.
However, a little known fact is that Lake Menomin is actually an excellent walleye fishing spot, according to David A. Johnson, Ph.D.
Johnson, a UW-Stout professor and Operations, Construction and Management Department faculty member, said it houses one of the best walleye fisheries in the state. In fact, Johnson catches over 1,000 walleyes in a year’s time on Lake Menomin. Although this is a fishing hot spot, avid fishermen keep rather quiet about it.
“People fish out there a lot and do pretty well, but don’t always tell everybody about the fish they are catching,” Johnson said. However, Johnson, a member of the National Professional Anglers Association, isn’t afraid to share his favorite fishing spots.
Besides fishing on Lake Menomin, Johnson can be found in his 18-foot long Skeeter 1850, a boat made especially for walleye fishing, cruising along the Mississippi River between Lake Pepin, the Alma Dam, Pool Four and the Red Wing Dam.
“There is excellent fishing there,” Johnson said. The fish keep him busy as he catches 20 to 25 walleyes. On a good day he can catch up to 100.
Johnson came from a fishing-oriented family. He first got his line wet as a 2-year-old, hooked his first fish and his enthusiasm for angling grew.
“Fishing was a way of life, we didn’t have television and computers. We just went fishin’,” Johnson said. Little did Johnson know that this lifestyle would tie in closely with his career down the road.
Before he began at UW-Stout, Johnson worked at Iowa State University’s Center for Continuous Quality Improvement and was a consultant to Berkley, a fishing line, bait and tackle company. In the ‘90s, Berkely company merged with seven other companies, Abu Garcia, Fenwick, Stren, Mitchell, Johnson, Spider and Strand, to form Pure Fishing.
“Pure Fishing produces over 98 percent of all the fishing line that’s used in the world,” Johnson said. “It was fun to watch the progression of that company.”
Today, Johnson still works for the company; however, he does a lot less consulting and now does seminars instead. Each year he does approximately a dozen presentations for Pure Fishing and spends time in the store with customers selling the company’s products at local stores including nearby stores like the Hudson Fleet Farm and area Gander Mountains. To promote the products, he does give-aways and sometimes has drawings for products. “Doing these seminars is a way to put a person to an impersonal product” Johnson said. “It’s so much fun!”
Besides having a heritage of fishing, loving the sport and working for the world’s largest fishing tackle companies, Johnson also used to compete regularly in tournaments with his son Dave Jr. The father and son team began competing in 1987 and participated in nearly 40 tournaments during that time and placed in the top ten several times. However, their tournament career came to an end when Johnson’s son moved across the country to attend seminary school at Duke University in North Carolina.
Even though Johnson no longer competes in tournaments, his love for fishing has not subsided. He still fishes for walleye on a very regular basis and even has a new fishing partner – his 8-year-old granddaughter Chloe.
“She and I have fun times on Lake Menomin,” Johnson said. “She drives the boat and catches walleyes.” Even the cold weather doesn’t stop the fishing pair. When Lake Menomin is frozen over, Johnson and his Chloe still ice fish.
Recently, Johnson was interviewed by Adam Stapel, news anchor at Eau Claire’s TV Channel 18 WQOW. The interview happened on frozen Lake Menomin and Johnson shared a little wisdom about fishing technology for a news feature aired on Jan. 19.
Johnson told Stapel the most difficult part about catching walleyes isn’t catching them, but finding them, because if you can find them, you can catch them. He said it can be exhilarating when you see the fish using locaters and underwater cameras.
“You start seeing the fish on the camera and whether you’re an angler or not you get just as excited as a kid with his Christmas toy,” Johnson said.
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