Mother Nature can be generous and ornery

WABASHA, Minn. — Some relationships are complex.

At least that's been my experience during the 41 (or it might be 42) years I've been married to my wife, Nancy. By now, she accepts my passion for the outdoors. Heck, she even encourages me to go fishing at times, although I head to the river and inevitably get a phone call a day or two later wondering when I'm coming home.

Sometimes I just change the subject. Sometimes I try to bribe her. Sometimes I can even reason with her.

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My relationship with Mother Nature isn't so amenable. While I am in awe of all she brings to the world, I also understand she couldn't care less. She is both gentle and wicked, wildly unpredictable, generous and selfish. She constantly lets us know we are always at her mercy.

Ma and I were on good terms during the spring on the Mississippi River. There were many days of gorgeous weather and plentiful walleyes with trophies up to 29 inches.

Then she showed her contrary, cantankerous side. When we were looking forward to normal water levels and manageable flow, it rained. The river rose, and it remained three or four feet high for a month. Any time it began to fall, another round of rain upstream came rushing through.

Thanks a lot, Ma.

The June and July wingdam bite in the lower reaches of Pool 4 never really took off. There was too much current to hold many baitfish in the main channel and it was all but impossible to effectively fish many of the dams. The walleyes were scattered.

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Lake Pepin, where the current was much milder, provided a productive option for a while, but that got difficult, too.

August and September saw many days with just one or two walleyes. Some of the local guides even began steering their clients to different species.

Thanks again, Ma.

"We need to get the water down to 7 1/2 or 8 feet," we kept saying.

Meanwhile, we took what Ma would give us — smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, white bass, northern pike, crappies, bluegills, perch, catfish, drum and a carp here and there. There were days of 50 fish or more and days when we hooked into miscellaneous monsters of the Mississippi. One morning, my buddy Randy Randall and I tag-teamed a flathead catfish we guessed to be close to 50 pounds. Another day, a buffalo carp pushing 30 pounds ate my hair jig.

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Walleyes, however, were few and far between.

Eventually, the river level was perfect, but the water was pushing 80 degrees.

"We need some cold nights to get that temperature falling," we noted.

Mother Nature didn't cooperate. She teased us with a short stretch in September when the river cooled into the low 60s only to send us another run of 80- to 90-degree days that pushed it back into the 70s.

Thanks for nothing, Ma.

"Wait until October," everyone said, looking ahead to a month when cooler weather typically improves the walleye bite.

Things did begin to change with shorter days, less sunlight and cooler temperatures, but progress remained slow. In mid-October the water was still in the 60s and concentrations of hungry walleyes were hard to find.

Enough, Ma.

Finally, by the last week of the month, it began to feel more like normal with some 35- to 40-degree nights and days in the 50s and 60s. The water temperature plunged into the 50s and stayed there. The walleyes began to show up in predictable places, and they were hungry and aggressive.

Some anglers still are enjoying the fall bite up and down the Mississippi. Some of us have decided it's time to clean and winterize the boat, organize and store tackle, repair damaged equipment and look ahead to ice fishing season. Will there be good ice? Will there be excessive snow cover to limit angler access?

Be good to us, Ma.