LAKE WINNEBAGO

Why is Lake Winnebago a good place to canoe? Perhaps because of its many moods and the feeling of wide open spaces it inspires. I have a buddy who has a place on the east side of the lake, and many is the time we've hauled a canoe down to the shore and paddled out into Lake Winnebago's vastness.

If the wind is high you will want to stay off the lake and enjoy the surf crashing on the rocks. On many hot summer days, though, there is little or no wind, and you may paddle miles offshore and hop overboard for a swim.

Sometimes the algae in the lake make it resemble pea soup. Hatches of several species of lake flies feed a wide variety of birds and other creatures.

If you find one of the reefs offshore you might pick up a walleye, sauger, or the furiously fighting sheephead.

In winter, the unbroken expanse of ice could just as easily be an arctic landscape.