That was a trip down memory lane for me. As many of you know, I grew up less than 5 miles from the fish hatchery and know that area extremely well. Did you happen to get the name of the person working at the hatchery? I'm sure I know them.

I'm probably one of the only people that was legally allowed to fish the ponds outside of the hatchery. The man who used to run it was a Lt on the fire department where my dad was the assistant chief. I've turkey hunted a good many times behind that building. There used to be a fire truck filling station next to the hatchery as that was one of the only places that you could literally dump 5000 plus gallons of water in no time flat.

The boon grocery is obviously known for it's cheese and there is quite a history about it and how it came to be. You should have picked up some pickled eggs while you were there. Another one of my favorites. They are also known for having the coldest beer around. I'm not sure how they do it but they are known for it!

The minute I saw the photograph of the water, I knew exactly where you were at. I recognized the point in the background. A lot of things have changed as it has been more than 19 years since I activly fished that location. From the pavilion to the boat launch, the cabins, the fish cleaning stations, store, you name it. I went to school with a kid who's grandfather used to run the place in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. I went to medic training with the guy that took over when the name changed to Northern Exposure (might have given away too much)! I can tell you that it has come a long way since they took over. First issue was getting rid of the 100's of people that had yearly sites. There used to be very few spots for other people. The beach is totally different as there used to be a rather large bank before going in to the water.

As I said, it has been almost 19 years since I have been on that water however, I have thought of it often. I never caught crappies on this body of water but, back during that time, I wasn't fishing for them. Rarely did we have the opportunity to pickup minnows and during that time, I didn't trust much of the aftificial baits out there that we have now. I fished a ton of perch and walleyes in this impoundment (another clue) and it boast a rather large small mouth fishery. I've seen pike at 46 and 54 inches come out of here and the catfish they planted years ago have really taken to the area.

I could go on for days about the area as it was my home town. Back when there were actually things in town!