Musky attacks man in Wisconsin!
Musky Attack!
A Platteville police officer who caught a fish with foot last week will get to keep the 36 inch tiger musky and plans to have it mounted.
Dan Droessler paid $10.55 for a official state permit Thursday to keep the musky that attacked his foot as it dangled in the water out of a canoe on Twin Valley Lake located in Governor Dodge State park last Friday.
Droessler, who was on vacation, needed 60 stitches and was walking on crutches after the musky sunk his teeth into his foot. Droessler jerked his foot up, and the fish flopped on board.
Technically, the catch was illegal because Droessler didn't use a hook and line and the fish was too small - 40 inches is the legal size on Twin Valley Lake.
But Tom Van Haren of the Department of Natural Resources met with Droessler on Thursday and granted a special permit.
"He's having it mounted," Van Haren said. "I didn't hear whether he is putting a fake foot or toe in the musky's mouth."
A greeting on Droessler's telephone answering machine Thursday night said he wasn't available for interviews because of "the tremendous number of calls" from media outlets across the country.
Droessler chuckled at one point during the message. But he also wanted to dispel a rumor.
"I did not lose half my foot," he said.ARTICLE COPIED FROM THE WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL
Ice Surfers!WAUSAU- Two young fishermen escaped the frigid waters of the Wisconsin River by riding an ice floe in a harrowing ordeal caused by spring-like weather that has pushed temperatures to above 50 degrees this week. They became stranded Tuesday on a 10-foot by 15-foot chunk of ice that broke away on the Wisconsin River as they cast for fish in the current, authorities said. Chris Niewolny, 23, and Craig Standiford, both of Wausau, rode the chunk down the river nearly a half mile before it drifted to the shore, sometimes paddling with a chunk of ice. "I just broke this chunk of ice and started using it as a paddle and he said, 'dude don't stop, it's working,' " Niewolnmy said. The men tried to paddle with their hands but the water was so cold it felt like their hands were burning, Niewolny said. At one point, the floe broke in half and Niewolny jumped to the other chunk. "It sure got pretty frightening," Standiford said. "I do feel like an idiot but I'm kind of proud we used our brains." Marathon County Sherrif Gary Marten said the men made a dangerous but common decision during the first snow melt of winter by wandering onto the river ice to catch a fish. "We have one or two incidents like that a year," Marten said. One Dumb Mother!Neil Manke didn't like what he was seeing. This was last Saturday during the height of the wind storm that brought gusts up to 60 mph. Manke, who with his brother, Mark Manke, has been installing boat hoists and piers since 1978, was installing a hoist for a homeowner on Winnequah Road just down from the road from Schluter Park. Manke Enterprises is based in Lodi, though the brothers do a lot of business on the Madison lakes. "You learn to respect them," Neil was saying Tuesday. Saturday, Manke looked over from shore where he was working and saw a young family near the waterline at the park. "They seemed excited that the lake was open," he said. It was a mother and her young son and daughter. Manke learned later that they had visited Menards and bought a couple inflatable rafts. When Manke looked over, the mother was inflating the second raft. Her daughter, who Manke estimated to be 9 or 10, took the first raft out a few feet in the lake. "She must not have realized how strong the wind was," Manke said. The wind and waves sent the raft scudding towards the center of the lake. In what seemed like an instant the girl was 200 feet from shore. "She didn't have a life jacket," Manke said. "She had a swimsuit and that was it." The water, of course was bitterly cold. "Her mother started screaming from shore." That was when Jerad Adler, who was wearing waders, went after the raft. "But the wind kept taking her farther out," Manke said. At this point Manke piloted the large barge he uses in installations out towards the girl. He stopped briefly and picked up Adler. When they reached the raft, it was 400 feet from shore. Together they managed to get the girl and bring her back to her mother on shore. Someone had called the police and a Monona officer was there as well. Manke was asked if the girl was crying. "Actually, when we got her in the boat she was laughing," he said, and paused(must be too much chlorine in their gene pool, Ryan). "Just when I think I've seen everything on these lakes, something else happens."TAKEN FROM THE CAPITAL TIMES 
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