Argus News Editor
Caledonia’s abundant trout streams, magnificent bluffs, and hardwood forests are going to be showcased on several outdoor TV programs viewed by persons throughout the Upper Midwest in May.
Veteran TV journalist Bill Sherck spent several days last week fly fishing several trout streams in eastern Houston County. Sherck has enjoyed fishing the Winnebago and other trout streams in Houston County for a number of years and decided to share his experiences with his viewers.
Television viewers know Sherck as “The man about the woods.” He is an Emmy award-winning outdoor reporter and show host. Viewers can catch Sherck’s stories on several of the country’s most popular outdoor television programs including, “Backroads with Ron & Raven” on The Versus Network, “Legends of Rod and Reel” and “Pheasants Forever Television” on the Outdoor Channel, “Minnesota Bound” on NBC in Minnesota and “Due North Outdoors”, which Bill co-hosts on Fox Sports Network (North & Wisconsin).
Sherck frequently co-hosts “Outdoors Live”, a weekly radio show on WCCO 830 in Minneapolis.
“This is one of the best trout fishing areas in the state,” Sherck said last Wednesday morning, as he moved along a section of the Winnebago. “There were a couple of fishermen who fished here earlier this morning. That might be why I haven’t had a lot of hits yet.”
About the time the words were leaving his mouth, a trout hit Sherck’s bait. The battle was short-lived, however, as the wily fish spit the hook.
“It’s that much more challenging right now,” Sherck said. “We’re still in the catch and release season, so I have to use barbless hooks.”
After working a couple more swirls, Sherck had a small brown trout on his line. This fish wasn’t able to spit the hook, and the veteran fly fisherman gently reeled the young trout in and posed for the still and video photographers, before releasing it back into the cold clear waters of the Winnebago.
Sherck’s journey to Caledonia was two-fold. Besides doing a story on Houston County trout streams, he was also doing a story on a new airplane being marketed for outdoorsmen by Wings Aviation of Eden Prairie, Minn. Wings Aviation is promoting a light sport aircraft called the Remos GX. The aircraft has been around for more than a decade in Europe, but was introduced in the United States just a couple years ago.
“The folks at Wings Aviation think this airplane could open huge doors in the sporting world. Frankly, I agree,” Sherck explained. “I first ran into the Remos at the St. Paul Sports Show earlier this year. Wings had a big booth with the plane (they sell helicopters too) set up right when you walked into the show. They’re trying to sell this little aircraft to folks who like to hunt and fish.
“First off, you don’t need a full pilots license to fly the thing,” Sherck continued. “If you have a driver’s license, can pass a quick medical exam and you have a minimum of 20 hours of training, you can fly this plane. It’ll take 650 pounds of payload, which means a couple of guys at 200 pounds apiece still have weight left to pack a little fishing or hunting gear.”
Sherck took off from the St. Paul Airport with Wings pilot Jeff Dalton and landed at the Houston County Airport near Caledonia less than an hour later.
“We had a great flight down,” Sherck said Tuesday afternoon moments after landing at the local airport. “We followed the Mississippi all the way to La Crosse and then took a right. Now I’ve got to teach Jeff and Josiah (Ellis, who flew a larger single-engine plane with camera man Cy Dodson and much of the gear the foursome would need for several days of trout fishing) how to fly fish.”
Sherck said the Caledonia trip will be aired in mid to late May on both the “Due North Outdoors” program on Fox Sports North and Wisconsin, and also on “Minnesota Bound,” which airs on NBC affiliates in Minnesota, including KTTC-Rochester.
“I’ll drop you a line letting you know the airing times and dates, as soon as I know, so all the folks down here can hear all the good things we’ve said about the Caledonia area,” Sherck concluded.
You can contact Charlie Warner at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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written by John Benton , April 14, 2009
written by John Benton , April 14, 2009
John Benton, Chair
Houston County Airport Commission (KCHU)