High water marks first Leppert family fishing outing of season Rain and melting snow makes flooding conditions for some, fishing conditions for others

Rain and temperatures in the mid- and upper-30s may have caused some flooding on the Skunk River, but the Lepbert family was out fishing Sunday afternoon.

Rob, Lisa and Chris Lepbert hadn't heard about the flooding when they came out to Oakridge Park off Oakland Mills Rd. on the east bank of the Skunk River for fishing on March 10, but it didn't dissuade them from missing their first opportunity to go out fishing this year.

'It's finally time to start fishing,” Rob said. 'We've been waiting for months.”

He didn't do any ice fishing this year. Not because he doesn't enjoy it, but 'it's not the same.” Huddling on the ice in the cold isn't as enjoyable as casting a line into moving water.

According to Rob, the high water will sometimes make for better fishing, but he and his family were out because the ice is finally gone. The family hadn't been fishing since last fall and were looking to catch catfish, which in the past they've caught as big as 95 pounds.

All of them have been fishing their entire lives.

'Fishing with your family,” Rob said. 'It's what you do.”

Later in the year, when it gets warmer, they plan to come out on the river with their boat to fish.

'It's nice fishing on our little river here,” Rob said.

Though their favorite place to fish is the Mississippi for its catfish population. Last year, they spent a few hours taking their boat up Skunk River out into the Mississippi to fish.

After their first 10 minutes, Chris is the only one who's regaled anything in, and that was only a stick.

'I had a fish, but I lost it,” Chris says. 'So this stick is my reward.”

According to Lisa, May is when fishing on the river will be at its best.