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Like father, like son — sort of
6/19/2010 5:13:06 AM
CAMP LACUPOLIS — Lake Pepin
turned its back on Mark Kubal.
It tantalized him with hot fishing
the night before, including a 29-inch
walleye, but the next day, for no
obvious reason, it cooled off.
The Naperville, Ill., angler had to ask himself: "What would
Joe do?"
He learned to fish the lake from his dad, Joe Kubal
of Illinois, who had a summer place at Wabasha for
many years. His dad loved to fish the lake, especially
near the red buoy at Camp LaCupolis, where the lake
again becomes the Mississippi River. He loved that
area so much that when he died a year ago, his ashes
were sprinkled near the buoy.
His son still fishes the river and Lake Pepin, bringing with
him memories of his father. "We had fun together and laughed
together, and I was with my dad at a special time," he said.
Last year, after his father's death, he said he felt his dad was
still in the boat with him. More than 30 years of memories
will do that to you. The lessons were that powerful.
"I feel grounded when I fish," he said. "Dad taught
me that."
So it was no surprise that when the fishing slowed down,
he thought about his dad. He knew exactly what he would
have done: Go in, relax, maybe watch a Chicago Cubs' game.
"The fish will always be there tomorrow," he would say.
Patience, he would counsel his son. Have patience.
Kubal has learned patience, but he's patient in a different way.
When fish turn off, he fishes harder, he keeps at it. He knows
he can get them to bite. Call it a persistent patience.
"My dad knew when it was time to quit," he said. "I never
figured out that concept."
He's a technology lover, so his walleye boat is loaded with
GPS, planer boards, and an I-pilot that automatically steers
the boat. He has charts that tell him exactly how deep certain
lures will dive at certain speeds when there is a certain amount
of line out. Of course, his reels have line counters. His boat
proclaims he's a "Dr. of Fishingology," a degree he conferred
upon himself.
"I really like the technical side of things," he said. "I
like everything
about fishing."
On the day after the 29-incher, he started fishing early,
when fog still hung low on the lake. He started with Big
Jon Mini Disks, which get line down faster, and flutter
spoons or a jointed crankbait. Kubal was optimistic — maybe
he'd have a morning like one when he and another angler filled
out on 18- to 24-inch sauger by 7 a.m.
Not that day. The fish weren't biting. He'd catch a small sauger,
or white bass or hammer-handle northern now and then. The
concept of quitting, however, never entered his mind.
He kept at it, trying different places, depths, lure, planer boards.
He refused, however, to try live bait or jigging. It's what his dad
loved to do, but the "Dr. of Fishingology" loves the challenge
of
technology.
It's fun to figure out fish. "That's what keeps me coming back,
constant challenge," he said.
He has a zoology degree and once did research, but now teaches
biology. He also is working on a program to teach
youths to fish. He sees himself as "Custodian of the earth, teacher
of knowledge and facilitator of self love and self worth."
That desire to improve things also came from his father. His dad owned
a business that recycled automotive batteries. It was hard work, dirty
work, work he didn't especially love.
"He would get up not wanting to work but getting up
anyway," Kubal said.
Through deeds, not words, he showed his four children
the value of work and living right. "Just do the right thing
every day, getting up, going to work," the son said.
Fishing was his way of relaxing. "My dad liked being
out on the water, period," he said.
He often took his son with him, beginning when he was
10. That was more than three decades ago, and lessons
linger, even if techniques and persistence have changed.
On that slow day, the son, by hook, savvy and persistence,
scratched out a meal of small sauger. It was kind of disappointing,
if he looked only at fish caught.
When he looked at time on the water, time when memories
of his dad kept popping back, it was a good day.
"The best days in my life I have had for fishing have
been with my dad," he said.
John Weiss is the Post-Bulletin's outdoors writer. Contact him at weiss@postbulletin.com.
Mark as a guest on Chauncey's Great Outdoors Show
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