North of Milwaukee

These are some shots from this past weekend.  Karsten and I got out on some water north of Milwaukee looking for smallmouth.  The hot weather really seemed to really throw things off and had the water flowing VERY warm.  Karsten got into a small bass and we both missed quite a few working the far bank with poppers.  I tied up a crayfish pattern about 4" long and got hammered throwing to some downed branches.  I figured it was a pike but then the fight just kept on going and going and going.  When we finally got the fish to surface we saw a ok sized carp which was awesome because of how hard it hit.

Big fly little mouth.

Until next time...

Great read - "Thoughts about the rod"

I found this article on the Clan Rods website and really enjoyed the thoughts that it shared.  It gives a very traditional take on the incredibly popular use of "short" spey/switch rods as well as short lines that have taken over the 2-handed market.  It's interesting to read the perspective of a master rod builder who speaks only of rods above 15' all the way to 22' in length.

Being as that I'm really on a "traditional" trip and really enjoying casting longer rods (13-15') with lines of 55-100' in length, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

Follow the link for the reading:

http://www.clanofsweden.com/documents/Thoughts%20about%20the%20rod.pdf

Cheers,

Adam

It's Friday, grab a Schlitz

Yuengling, a beer I grew up with on the East Coast.. rad idea.

O Canada! Ontario Fly in

I returned last night from my 1 week stay in Ontario. I am excited to share some of the photos I took during my adventure. We flew in to Highrock lake with Gordy of Melaire Ltd. A well experience bush pilot with a 1960's Dehavilland Turbo Beaver. We promptly unpacked our cargo and he departed with a wave. 

So there we were, 4 men with a lake all to ourselves. One week deserted on an island in Ontario, no communication with the outside world and nothing to do except fish. 

                       

Riding Shotgun in a Turbo Beaver

See you in a week!

Home sweet home

First Canadian Smallmouth... on a topwater. Bob Ross Approved, Happy Trees, Happy Fish

18+ inchers all day long\

 Different fish, seriously

 Toothy Critters

 GO LONG!

 The crowning glory of the trip. Closing day, I managed to boat this Walleye. Measuring in at nearly 30 inches this is by far a personal record for me. On a inland lake none the less. If it weren't for my good friend Eric who netted this beast for me, I never would have landed her. My 6lb test line popped just as the fish hit the net. 

 \

 The Duke watched over us every night

Atop a "High Rock"

 Lady Slipper

This trip was one of a lifetime to say the least. Hopefully it is the start of a lifetime of trips just like it. My experiences in Ontario far surpassed my expectations. Ontario offered some of the best warm water fishing I have ever experienced to date, not to mention I was among great company as well.

A midst the double headers, bent hooks and broken lines,  I managed to pull off what I ended up calling "The Ultimate Ontario Grand Slam". One fly rod, one fly, one day, 3 species: Walleye, Smallmouth and of course our toothy friend the Northern Pike.

I never anticipated catching so many Walleye on the fly rod. What a feeling that is. 

I hope you  enjoyed the photos so far. I will get some photos up of the most successful flies during my stay.

Hoh River Steelhead

My cousin Adam, who lives out in Washington was fortunate enough to get out for a late birthday camping/fishing reatreat. He swung  these beauties up fishing the Hoh. I have taken the liberty of sharing these great photos. 

(I think I smell a small family reunion in the works)

Slammin' Fatties

Some recent pics of some fish I landed the other day.  With the hot weather the carp are getting into the shallows and starting to do their thing, however, they do feed while they breed.

A tip for anyone out there who cares...make sure your line is CLEAR of any hazards prior to hooking into a freight train.  I did not follow this advice and had stepped over mine line and upon hooking the fish in the second pic and watching the line burn out through my hand and hearing my drag start screaming only to suddenly have my fly line slam up into my boys.  (This was NOT a pleasurable experience and fish apparently can't hear you say "timeout") Anyhow, after some pretty sweet gymnastic moves on my end I was able to get the line untangled without taking a swim.

Way cooler than the carp was catching  a freshwater drum.  It was a nice surprise and was the first one of that kind I had caught.

Til next time....

Some recent fish and randomness

I was able to get up to the Northwoods last weekend and fished the Cisco Chain for Walleye but didn't come up with any.   We then switched over to smallmouth and started crushing it but have no pics of course.  The lake our house is on produced some fantastic popper fishing with good size gills and crappie and even a nice largemouth which was a good time.

Also had the chance to capture some loons and almost got them in the boat thanks to the "Loon call app" my brother installed on his droid phone.  We literally had them 5' from the boat and watched them diving and saw one come up with a crayfish.  It was way cool. 

I also managed to grab a long exposure of the northern lights which was cool considering it was my first real attempt at night photography.

More recently,  I headed out to a small creek near my place here on the north shore and was able to grab this little carp.  It was without question one of the lamest carp I've hooked and only took a couple  5' runs.  Still fun none the less.

Filmmaker Mark Titus asks the question “Have we learned enough from our past mistakes to save the last, great wild salmon runs on the planet?”

Update

Fishing for me has been non-existent lately which has been a bummer but it's insane how much other stuff I have gotten done!

Anyways,  I've been out once for some largemouth and did pretty well for how early it is for them in the season and yesterday I blew 2 chances and some actively feeding carp.  Things should get better as I'm heading up north this coming weekend to fish walleye and pike on the Cisco Chain.

A buddy of mine informed me that he blasted a turkey about a week ago and I quickly jumped on the opportunity for a hoard of free feathers.  I grabbed the entire tail spread and all of the wings as well as a good amount of breast feathers that I plan on burning into spey hackles.  

We may be gone as of late but we will hopefully not be forgotten.  Things should start heating up here for us in the coming months.

Dee flies anyone?????

More spey wings!

Here are a few photos that pretty much wrap up our spring steel heading....

Anthony giving the local tress the business

And last, but certainly not least....

Milwaukee River Still life.

Cheers!

Gone AWOL

So it has been a while since we have had any blog activity. I assure anyone out there who cares (Which I am sure most of you don't) that we are still alive and well.

I have a busy month ahead of me. With two spring turkey tags to fill, possible travels over the big pond to our east, and in the first week of June I will be headed on an epic fishing journey, into the bowels of Ontario. This special fly in trip, sort of fell into my lap thanks to some extremely generous friends of mine, who happen to suffer from my same condition. (Fish on the brain-isidous).

I have been at the vise almost every night for the past week or two, trying to build up enough quality flies to bring with me. Attempting to cover all my bases for top water and sub-surface has become an entertaining challenge. Not to mention I am tying for multiple species including but not limited to Pike, Smallmouth and Walleye. With that said, posting photos of my progress at the wee hours of the night has not been my top priority. I will however, take inventory and post up some flies.

For now here is a picture of our destination; an island, on a lake, only accessible by float plane.

The Old Man and the Sea

Cool stop motion, saw this on Moldy Chum and had to repost..

No turning back

I've fallen victim to the long line.

I picked up the 15' spey rod with a traditional long belly line and I don't think I will ever have the same excitement using a shorter two-handed rod for a long time.  The shear size of the rod and its power being able to lift almost 100' of line out of the water is something that is truly amazing.  I cannot seem to erase the slow and delicate nature of its cast out of my mind.  Something about the gracefulness of the line unfolding at such a long distance and peacefully landing on the water is something that I could go an entire day doing on the river and not even care about catching a fish.

While everyone seems to be on the switch rod and short spey craze I guess I'm going the opposite direction.

Quillayute produces!.....

...Just not the intended target, it was nice to feel something on the other end though!

Quillayute

Here's a couple of Quillayute flies I tied up this morning. Most angling literature states Syd Glasso as the originator of the fly, however, some argue it was actually originated by Dick Wentworth. Either way, I think it is a great looking Steelhead fly, and I hope it fishes as good as it looks.

 

I played with the head color, to add a touch of brightness. Maybe it will wake Mr. Steelhead up.