A few weeks ago, before heading up for a trip to Hayward, I asked Bill Lodi of Rippn-Lip Guide Service for a few tips on Lost Land and Teal Lakes. As he has done before, he gave me his best support. I am very grateful. His advice helped make for a very productive trip. The following is the text of a reply I sent to him upon our return.

"My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, but with all the unfortunate events of this week, so little seemed important.

But I would guess that it is important for all of us to get back to doing what we do. There is some continuity to that. So, here goes.

Thank you again for the incredibly detailed report on fishing the Quiet Lakes. It really helped us zero in on our spots. My wife and I and another couple arrived at Empire Lodge on Lost Land Lake on Saturday, September 1. Although the lake was windy during the first few days, that fact offered us a variety of fishing opportunities. Utilizing the wind to drift over the flats off Green Point produced nice walleye. Wind protected bays were rife with nice sized bluegill, while anchoring about 100 yards off Empire Point again produced outstanding numbers of large perch and crappie. Although we did not fish for muskies on this trip, we saw a 44 inch beauty taken off one of the cabin docks at Empire Lodge, smack in the middle of the morning and several others taken from boats off both Green Point and Empire Point. Also, off one of the docks, a neighbor of ours, casting a small Mepps spinner, landed a 8 1/2 pound walleye at 11:30 in the evening. These catches were very exciting.

Although most fishing on Teal Lake was spotty, good numbers of large crappie continue to be suspended off deep points. These were the largest crappie caught on the trip. It took patience, but the fish were there.

For the walleye, we drifted with crawlers and minnows and diving crankbaits. The walleye wanted the live bait. For the crappie, perch and bluegill, we used, exclusively, what I consider to be the finest panfish jig on the planet. The Mini-mite, in chartreuse or glow. We tipped them with spikes (which work even better in the summer than in the winter). We packed about 3000 spikes with us so that we would not run out. We also occasionally tipped the Mini-mites with small minnows. This did not noticeably change the size of the fish caught.

We also caught the typical aggressive northerns, casting early morning from the dock at our cabin. We used Super Vibrax spinners, the Spin-E-Miny from Yakima Bait, and of course, Mini-Mites tipped with minnows.

We returned to Chicago on September 8. It was a great trip, thanks in no small part to your well thought out advice. Again, I will certainly recommend you to anyone traveling to southern Wisconsin. If there is anything I can do to support your work, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you again and God Bless America."

Bill and I went out on the Fox River 4/10. Weather was sunny and cool. The water temps were 38-39 degrees and the walleye were staging for spawn near the DePere dam. The fishing was slow because of a cold front that had come through the previous days. Bill worked very hard to get us fish. He moved constantly, checked my lines for abrassions, swithed baits often and because of his hard work we caught 7 fish. The largest being around 25". All were released as we both are CPR supporters. The only downside to my trip was a sunburn that will leave me peeling for days. I would recommend Bill to any fisherman of any skill level as he is very experianced and takes the time to explain the what's and why's of fishing.

Bill was a great guide with a great attitude. We caught awesome walleyes on a day when everyone else wasn't catching anything! I would highly recommed Bill to anybody looking for a great time on the water or wants to learn more about fishing. I look forward to fishing with him again.