Middle Dam

There is a special place not far from here, known by many as Willow River State Park. Before I had ever been there, I knew it as Middle Dam.   My grandpa was a retired teacher who fished a lot, and often talked of this place.  Surprisingly, for how much he fished, he never once set foot in a boat.  His fishing haunts were comprised of various locations in western Wisconsin, mostly in the Hudson/River Falls/ Somerset area.  For a shore fisherman, it is hard to do better than this area, there is a multitude of streams, rivers and lakes offering access to good fishing for the boat impaired.  Grandpa lived in the Twin Cities, and I would spend much of my summers at his house, and we would travel to the various Wisconsin haunts on many summer days.   On the trips there and back he would often tell tales of fishing with his son or with some of his students, many of the stories I had heard so many times I think I knew them better than him.  One common theme from these old stories was fishing at a mythical place called “Middle Dam”.  Based on the info from these stories [these stories mostly took place in the 60’s], Middle Dam had populations of fish beyond what a ten year old could comprehend.  I imagined what a mecca this fantastical...

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