#12 Dresses & Can Cans

“My sister and my mother were not interested in fishing. So it was my dad and your dad and the boys. And we’d have brandy when we’d catch a fish. My dad would open the big green tackle box and bring out this silver flask and we’d all have to have a snort of brandy. Bill would light up a cigar, my dad would be lighting up a pipe. And my dad would be cold out here and we’d be fishing anyways and he’d reach into the tackle box and bring out this bottle of camphorated oil, and we’d all be rubbing our hands with camphorated oil because that’s supposed to help make our hands warm.” – Patti Kulig reflecting on fishing with her father.
This week, we head into the sloughs and backchannels of the Mississippi River near Fountain City, Wisconsin. I joined an old family friend, Patti Kulig for a day of bass fishing.
My grandfather, Bill, and Patti’s dad, Ed met through the local bar association after World War II and quickly became fishing friends. And every Veteran’s Day, they’d load up their fishing poles into their john boat and make the trek down to the Mississippi where it separates Wisconsin from Minnesota. They did it to honor the friends they lost during the war. They did it because the court house was closed. They did it because the fishing was good.
The date I met Patti on the river was November 11, Veterans Day. And every 11/11 for the past 70 years, an Adler and a Kulig have fished this stretch of the Mississippi. Ed and Bill have since passed so it was up to Patti and me to keep the tradition alive.
Many thanks to our sponsors, Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Scott Fly Rods for their continued support.
To read more about this trip, visit our website:www.drakemag.com/drakecast/1836-the-drakecast-flyfishing-podcast-12-mississippi.html