Spring madness is kicking in for sure now, for the fish as well as the fishers. The nets are coming up heavy with fish, the buckets are filling up. The music is turned up. Whole families are out now, the kids half-interested, playing with whatever toys they find popsicle sticks, discarded license plates, empty pop cans. The traffic flow isn t all fishers and their families.
Smelt fishing is, in fact, one of Milwaukee s favorite spectator sports.
Take Rick, for instance. He s parked under the bridge in his big old Chevy. The Brewers are on the car radio losing to San Francisco. He has his coffee from McDonald s and a pack of Camels on the dash. He grew up in Missouri and came to Milwaukee to find factory work after the Korean War.