Gotta Catch ‘Em All: Angler After All Species In WI

With roughly 15,000 lakes and over 84,000 miles of rivers and streams, there are plenty of opportunities for Wisconsinites to fish around every corner. 

Free Fishing Weekend is coming up this weekend – Jan. 16-17, 2021. It’s the perfect opportunity to give ice fishing a try. Grab some gear and find your adventure on any water bodies in Wisconsin where there is currently an open season. All other rules and regulations apply. Learn more at bit.ly/WisconsinFFW.

On this episode, we spoke with Emily Edge, a self-proclaimed “die-hard fishing lady” and the 2020 Wisconsin Women Fish Rookie Of The Year.  Emily talks about her unique fishing mission, tells us some pretty incredible fishing stories, and discusses what’s so special about fishing in the Badger State. 

Follow Emily on Instagram at @the_reel_em_angler.
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TRANSCRIPT
ANNOUNCER: [00:00:00] Welcome to Wisconsin DNR's Wild Wisconsin "Off the Record" podcast. Information straight from the source. 

KATIE GRANT: [00:00:10] Welcome back to another episode of Wild Wisconsin Off the Record. I'm your host DNR's Digital Communications Section Chief Katie Grant. With more people finding their adventure outside in 2020 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, the DNR also saw a large increase in the number of fishing licenses purchased. And we expect that trend to continue as we start out the new year. Thinking about giving it a try? Now is the perfect time to grab your gear and hit the ice. Our annual Free Fishing Weekend is coming up January 16th and 17th. That means you can fish for free. No license or trout stamp required on nearly all Wisconsin waterways. All other normal rules and regulations apply. Check out our website for more information. 

To celebrate this upcoming event, we sat down with 28-year-old Emily Edge, a self-described diehard fishing lady to get her take on what's so special about fishing in the Badger state. Emily was born and currently lives in southwest Wisconsin and has fished all over the US. While she's been fishing her whole life, she got serious about it around three years ago when she revisited her childhood pastime in honor of her late uncle. Emily was named the 2020 Wisconsin Women Fish Rookie of the Year. And her ultimate goal is to catch all of Wisconsin's fish species. Sit back and listen in to learn why this hobby is about way more than just landing the big one. And maybe even get inspired to give ice fishing a try yourself. 

Welcome to the Wild Wisconsin Off the Record podcast. Why don't you go ahead and get started by just telling us who you are, what your name is? Um, a little bit about what it is that you do and where you're from. 

EMILY EDGE: [00:02:03] Yeah. So my name is Emily Edge I go by the "Reel Em Angler" and I am pretty much a die-hard fisherman or fishing lady.

Um, I'm from southwest Wisconsin, um, and that's where I currently reside. 

KATIE GRANT: [00:02:17] How long have you been fishing? 

EMILY EDGE: [00:02:18] Um, so I've been fishing my whole life. I grew up doing it, however I wasn't big into it, back then I kind of thought it was like dumb or silly, you know? And then when I got to be a teenager that definitely was not a hobby of mine.

Um, but I've been fishing religiously like I like to say the past three years now. So since 2017, when I moved back to Wisconsin. And I grew up fishing with my mom and my uncle. They're big into fishing. My mom likes to catfish, so that's kind of what I grew up doing. And then now it's ventured into... I do all sorts of fishing for all species and all types of... all types of fishi