Anglers eager to get out on water for beginning of general inland fishing season

CRIVITZ, Wis. (WFRV) – Excitement is building for the general inland fishing season which begins on Saturday.

There were lots of vehicles hauling boats through Crivitz on Friday afternoon, heading northward on highway 141. Jeff Dunn said he has a summer home in the area and came up from Milwaukee on Thursday in preparation for the start of the inland fishing season.

“It’s going to start getting busy up here,” said Dunn.

Local 5 News met Dunn at a boat launch site on the High Falls Reservoir in Crivitz. He told us that he wanted to make sure he took the boat out on Friday to make sure everything was running smoothly for the start of the inland fishing season.

He said he’ll be out on the water at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday.

“It’s good to get out on the water,” said Dunn. “It’s a good time and the season begins.”

Dunn also prepared for opening day by picking up some fishing supplies at Popp’s Resort in Crivitz.

“(This weekend is) the first chance for some good fishing, days like this with the sun shining and the lake warms up,” said Leon Popp who owns the resort.

The resort sells fishing supplies and rents out boats to people as well so opening day of fishing season is a big deal for them.

Popp said his grandfather homestead the property in 1904 so his family has some experience with opening days of fishing.

“It gets really busy especially early until noon we have two or three people in the bait shop and it makes us hustle,” said Popp.

He said he thinks it’s going to be a good weekend for fishing and that there’s plenty of bass and bluegill to catch in the water.

The folks at Gateway Bar and Grille in Crivitz also said they’re loving the extra crowd of anglers who will be in the area this weekend.

“Like a little pre-start to summer, a lot of people coming up are going fishing, but they’re also opening up their cabins and bringing their campers up,” said manager Brandon Schmidt.

Anglers and small business owners alike hoping for some big bites on the water and lots of people around to share some fish tales with.

Some locals who Local 5 News spoke with on Friday afternoon said they expect there to be a lot of boats on the water this weekend. Some of them told us that they’re going to go out fishing on Monday or Tuesday once people start to leave and things calm down.

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