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Reflecting Back at Mirror Lake
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Posted Sunday, June 2nd, 2002 to The Bass Pro Diary
The Mirror Lake State Park Open House proves to be a Zip-a-de-do-dah good time, despite questionable weather and spooky fish.
June 2nd, 2002
My ventures today sent me off to do some product demonstrations on behalf of one of my sponsors, Bitzer Creek. Bitzer Creek manufacturers a blade bait known as the “Zip” lure, and it is a wonderful product to demonstrate to the public as not everybody has used a blade bait before. It also makes the training seminar easier by being able to demonstrate a product that I believe in and have seen results in my own fishing adventures.
I was scheduled to take part in the Mirror Lake State Park’s Open House (in Baraboo, WI) that went on all weekend. What made this event even better is that the open house fell during the State of Wisconsin’s Free Fishing Weekend, where anglers (and non-anglers) could take the day and go fishing without needing to purchase a DNR fishing license. There were several novice anglers there who appeared to be taking their children out fishing for some important time of bonding, maybe even for the first time. These are the kind of people who need to be taught the importance and enjoyment of the sport – and I made it my goal to do that.
The weather presented itself to be a bit of a scare in the morning (we canceled our morning session due to the potential risk of rain), but managed to clear up for a wonderful mid-afternoon training seminar on the Zip Lure. Our seminar was originally set to take place in the park’s amphitheater, but after making an important (and very beneficial) executive decision, we moved the seminar down to the part of the park where the boat launch ramp, boardwalk, and fishing pier were located. In moving the location, we were able to double the size of the audience who participated in the seminar. Bitzer Creek was also able to provide each participant in the seminar a complimentary Zip Lure! What even sweetened the deal was having a seminar participant in the crowd who has a few Zip lures in his tackle box. He made sure to announce to the audience how successful (especially during ice fishing) his Zip lures have been for him while fishing Walleye. Well, I guess not everybody is a bass angler - but I was very willing to take the bonus pat on the back! It only helped out my cause and strengthened my pitch.
Besides taking the time to demonstrate how to use the blade bait, I had the opportunity to discuss (one-on-one) with people the art of bass fishing and answered all kinds of questions ranging from knot tying to color preferences. I was even asked more unique questions such as how to put live bait onto blade baits. No matter what question was asked, park ranger Gerald Trumm and myself were able to put our heads together and produce answers for all of the questions set before us. On an additional note, I wanted to mention how wonderful the Mirror Lake State Park’s team of rangers, office staff, maintenance people, and volunteers were. If you are ever in the Wisconsin Dells/Baraboo area - stop by the park. You will find a beautiful lake loaded with bass, beautiful scenery, and the nicest staff of any park I have visited.
This is the sort of event that makes my day. In my eyes, there is nothing more enjoyable that taking an afternoon of casual fishing (no tournament pressure), and being able to help out people who have sincere questions about improving their fishing skills. It is also wonderful when you can take a couple of minutes to directly discuss some basic fishing techniques with a father and son who are new to the sport. I can only hope that the efforts I put forth at Mirror Lake will only help nurture this father/son team (as well as everybody there) and give them the desire to continue on in the sport once the “free
fishing” weekend has come to an end.
Curt S. Strutz
The “Bassmeister”
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