Alma Fishing Float

A couple weeks ago you may remember that I took a trip down the Wisconsin “Great River Road”. In that story I fished on the Clements Fishing Barge in Genoa Wisconsin. If you missed it you can read about that trip here: http://www.crappie.com/crappie/conte...wisconsin.html

This day begins fishing the Mississippi River on the Alma Fishing Float in you guessed it, in Alma Wisconsin (www.almafishingfloat.com).


We board this "tank" of a boat that shuttles you over to the “float”. Whether it's a barge or a float, or a floating dock, it's kinda all the same. It's just a massive floating structure to fish off of. Like the Clements Fishing Barge, the Alma Fishing Float has all the amenities including a small cafe to grab a drink or a bite to eat.



Amazingly enough the Alma Fishing Float also has three bunk rooms they rent out. I took the following quote right off their web site: “While we have great daytime fishing, we also offer an enjoyable, relaxing, overnight stay. The float has 3 separate bunk rooms available- 2 rooms that can accommodate 4 persons each, and 1 room that accommodates 2 people. There are bunks with mattresses and heat or AC in each room. Bring your own bedding, clothes, fishing gear, food and drinks. You can bring charcoal and use our grills if you want. You can get your bait or tackle right on the float after you get settled in.” If this does not sound like a good time can be had here, I don't know what would.


The town of Alma. Now isn't that picturesque?


Owner Jim Lodermeier. Go there, tell Jim I said hi. Fish all the floats up and down the river and have some real fun. I guarantee you'll love it.


A fisherman shows off a nice Northern Pike caught.





Rebecca McCormick https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.mccormicktravel and Brad Uhl (Crappie World Magazine). We had a great time fishing together. It didn't matter what we caught as long as we caught something.

Although we only spent a couple hours on the float, we caught a lot of fish and had a lot of fun. We caught Bluegill, Bass, Drum and Perch. We seen other catch Northern Pike and Sauger. I invariably lost a big fish that we'll never know what it was. Always seems to happen to me! Lol


We seen eagles perched in trees. One dove down in front of us to pick up a gut hooked fish someone previously threw back. Of course the bird was too fast for me to get a picture of it going for the fish.


After lunch we took a Kayak trip on some of the Mississippi River backwaters. What spectacular scenery. Believe it or not, you can rent Kayaks at the local hardware store, Bay City Hardware and Marine (Www.baycityhardware.com)

Beautiful country side.


Check this waterfall off the paddle shot I got.


Daniele always takes a good picture. All she needs is a Crappie.com hat.


To top off the evening we visited the Villa Bellezza Winery in Pepin Wisconsin (www.villabellezza.com). Owner Derick Dahlen gave us a tour of the facilities.


Gorgeous place.


I also got to climb up and look into the fermentation barrel.


At first I thought it was weird that the top of the fermentation chamber was open. I thought maybe dust or something could contaminate it. But no way. It's another world in there. You could smell the yeast. It was tremendously overpowering. The fermentation was violent. It looked like it was on a hard boil. Nothing could survive all the carbon dioxide coming off the top of that foam.


Here's the same thing in miniature. They do experiments too! They test different yeasts extensively and measure their results. It really is a science.


If you get a chance, by all means stop by and see the mad scientist Derick. He really knows his wine inside and out. I've been on many winery tours and I have to say that this one was the best.