Fish are waiting
in reservoir near Rochester
By John Weiss
weiss@postbulletin.com
Bob Cross had to change his dinner plans Monday.
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He was thinking of thawing out some venison steaks, but thanks to a short fishing trip, he instead dined on fresh perch.
The rural Byron angler and his fishing buddy Nico Thorp of Rochester stood in the miserable drizzle and chill and caught perch after perch from the Cascade Creek reservoir, called KR-7, a few miles west of Rochester. Some fish were tiny, several were pushing 10 inches or better. The two kept maybe 15 or 20.
Thorp was thrilled. "They really surprised the daylights out of me," he said. He didn’t think the perch would grow that big around here. The reservoir is part of the city’s flood-control system that includes seven reservoirs to hold back flood waters and slowly release them.
What made the trip easier, or at least safer, was that they don’t have to park along a Kalmar Township road west of the reservoir, as was previously the case. With the approval of the Kalmar Township board of commissioners, a new parking lot was built this fall and opened in the past few weeks.
Cross said he likes having convenient places to fish close to home instead of having to go to the Mississippi River. "There aren’t a lot of decent fishing areas, not for down-home, plate-sized fish," he said.
Now that the parking lot is open, the township will post its road with "No Parking" signs to make it safer for drivers.
