MORE COW BELL! I’VE GOT THE FEVER!
Cabin Fever that is… 
The staff of IDO was treated to the next In-Depth Outdoors TV show that will be airing this Sunday. That started it. That and it didn’t help being at Wigwam last weekend. The show is the first of the open water shows, walleye that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. A show that even this cat guy got wound up over! Was it the size of the fish or the open water…’ell both I ‘spose!
I watched it again before work this morning…then…
..my partner in crime started talking fishing…open water fishing for cats and sturgeon. I was quiet mostly…and let him talk the 15 minutes to work. All I could do was smile. I knew I was on the edge and April is just too far away yet. He’s got it too, he’s on the door step of being hooked…I just don’t think he knows it yet.
Lunch time comes around and the fishing talk starts up again…open water sturgeon and cats. 
A full half hour of stories of Hanson with his mouth on the bottom of the boat when “the big one” cleared the water by 5 feet, Dan hollering as loud as he could after “composing” himself after the 58 pound flat and a 10 pound walleye night.
I started drinking some of the slightly stronger afternoon coffee…and that pretty much did it.
I was talking with a customer from NE Iowa…I suddenly heard the words “you catfish on the sippi” come out of my mouth…I couldn’t believe it…there they were…yup, I said it! Lucky for both of us he was a trout fisher….we only talked fishing for 15…or 30 minutes more.
The 15 minute ride home over sky blue St Croix…wait!, I must have been day dreaming of fishing off of cannery point because the Croix has to be frozen yet…doesn’t it?? I thought I saw the healing waters of the Croix lapping at the shore line. No, must have been the coffee.
Almost missed my turn off to home, thinking about the night that Boone and his friend tied up there boat next to mine. After landing a dandy 50 plus in sturgeon, they put away the bass gear. Now that I think about it, it’s funny that I made it home…45 minutes straight ahead and I would have been at Everts. 
February is a short month. I’ve got to get in all the hard water fishing I can…even when I’m staring at the Marcum, my thoughts will be on the rod tip over the side of the boat…was that a light hit..or just a hyper bullhead??
The call of open water is getting stronger, anyone else hearing it?