Fish & Bird

Date: April 27, 2008
Location: Famous Original Ray's
Air temp: 50s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 19 (18 browns, 1 brook)

Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:

Xan


The WI inland trout early season came to a close recently. If I'm not allowed to fish for 5 long days, then you best be sure I'll take advantage of the WITES closer. Car trouble prevented Quickdraw and Mark for joining me, so I fished by myself, very much so, as it turned out.

I decided to hit the Original Spot, a place (along with Eagle Pass) that I had yet to fish this year. While I arrived to find one truck in the parking lot, I never saw a fisherman the entire day. For 8+ hours, I had the entire stretch of river all to myself.

Starting at the pool just downstream from the access point, I started picking up fish and losing flies in a quick fashion. 4 fish and 4 flies later, I began to make my way upstream. As I was making my way up to the big pool, I came across this fellow:



Focused on the river in front, I didn't notice the sky carp behind me until I was startled by its unwholesome hiss. As it was, I did not have the tool to reply with the hiss of hot lead, so the winged shit-factory was left unharmed, though unhappy, while I continued to fish.

I decided to explore that day. Moving past the gallery, I hiked and fished all the way to the next access point. I didn't really find much good water, though I was able to pick up trout along the way. But, good to do it once, I suppose.

Hiking back down to the great pool, which I had not bothered to fish the first time around, I sat on the bank and gave my weary legs a rest. In a daze, staring at the water, I realized that this was the only spot, on any west central stream, that resembled Montana water. Deep and with a healthy current, I had never caught much here. Realizing it was time to use Montana tactics, I adopted the mantra of "Big Fly, Big Fish" ("Big Fish, Big Fly?"). I tied on a large stone fly nymph I had purchased, but not used, for the Brule. With a small emerger dropper, #1 split shot, and wooden orb of an indicator, I started extracting decent (though not piggish) trout from the depths of the run and pool. Four fish later, I called it a day.

The Garbage Man Can (Fish the Dry)

Date: April 19, 2008
Location: Lower Curd and Upper K
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: BWOs
Fish landed: 10 (browns)

Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:

Quickdraw
Jess
Xan
TAFKAY
Scotty Mac


Whether it's court imposed or not, community service embiggens the spirit of the Guild. The Fly Angler's Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter joined the call to clean the Curd River. Sponsored by a few of our fellow local fly angler societies, over a hundred forty folks gathered to clean vast swaths of the river area.

Suck the teat, gently

We didn't find anything too unusual. Wisconsin waters tend to be well respected by their visitors. Nonetheless, we made a decent haul of items, found along the lower stretches of the Curd.






After cleanup, we had some chili, provided by the sponsors. Figuring the Curd would be packed with fisherman, we headed to Lunds to stock up on flies. QD and Jess parted ways with us, and the remainder went to the Upper for some hot dry fly action.

While many of the fish caught were little guys, sent flying across the stream during hook sets, there was surface activity all day. After trying a BWO parachute and a white mayfly, I finally settled in on a grey and brownish mayfly pattern and caught fish at a regular pace. By the seventh fish, I finally started landing fish of decent size, but alas, no piggies.

All in all, a fine day of the dry.

Flowin' and the Wind

Date: April 13, 2008
Location: The Great Lawn
Air temp: low 40s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: BWOs
Fish landed: 5 (browns)

Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:

Xan
Timbo
Quickdraw


We, of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, formally change the name of the "above the bridge" spot to: "The Great Lawn."

And so it is done and recorded.

Anyways, we went to the Great Lawn to test our luck after recent rains. Saturday's expedition was canceled due to high water levels and strong winds. By Sunday, both had receded enough to allow for some fishing.

We finally (this season) came across another car in the lot. Two gents were fishing the actual great lawn area, so we decided to hike upstream to water we had yet to visit this year, fishing the usual spots along the way.




The day was windy, with healthy flow rates and brown water making the faster runs tough to fish. As we made our way up, we started to pick off trout here and there. A few nice browns were landed, and many, many flies were lost by all.




Late in the day, Timbo found a run far upstream and laid waste to the trout armies. In a single stretch, he quickly got into double digits.

We hiked a bit further up, but eventually heeded the siren call of the (spicy) curd. After we departed the spot, I came to know why we perform the Scotty Mac Memorial Walk Around when we are packing up. We of course had neglected to do the Scotty Mac Memorial Walk Around, and my reel fell off my back bumper at a "T" in the road. This delayed our EPB&G visit, but I was able to recover my reel, and a newfound appreciation of the Scotty Mac Memorial Walk Around.

Even if Scotty Mac is a douche who never fishes.

Pork Pork

Date: April 6, 2008
Location: EPB&G spot
Air temp: mid 40s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: lots of something
Fish landed: 7 (1 brook, 7 browns)

Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:

Xan

Non Members:
Mark


The early season continues to kick ass. Not realizing the Curd had been blown out just a day prior, we arrived at Eagle Pass to find Timbo's car. We also found 5 other cars, so we decided to seek out calmer waters. We got to the EP Spot to find the lot empty.

I started fishing the slow water by the access point without much luck. As I moved up, the rain started, and so did the fish. I landed a couple browns pushing 17", and a 16" by the head of the riffle.

Fishing a nice, deep run just upstream, I was able to land a couple more, before calling it a day. When I met up with Mark, he told me of his banner day, roughly 17 fish landed.

Reports from Timbo and his friend also indicated a spectacular haul. All hail the early season and the Curd river.

Chub Chummin'

Date: April 5, 2008
Location: River of curds
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: BWO's
Fish landed: O (skunk Ape)

Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:

Quickdraw
InMyPants

Well, it was a day after the brule trip and I was to head to the Curd river for some hot brookie action.

we started of at the spot that has become known as "my spot". From the car the river looked a bit high but the water of the small tributary, didn't appear to be too stained so I was initially hopeful.

when we got down to the river we saw the reality, it was completely blown the Fuck out. It was so blown out that the only safe way to cross the river all day was to go over the bridge.
well we threw everything we had at them to no avail, oh well, it was a great day to be on the river and outside. we tested a new fishing technique perfected by centuries of mouth breathers, it's called Chub Chummin'. I've been aware of the technique since last year's "F.A.G. way out West trip". This video outlines the pinnacle of mouthbreathism notice the container of maggots next to the lawn chair.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

Date: April 4, 2008
Location: Brule
Air temp: mid 50s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: something
Fish landed: 1 (steelie)

Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:

Quickdraw
Timbo
Xan


While the south central streams have thawed out, the Great White North is just teetering off its winter axis. Last weekend was steelhead opener at the Brule, with reports of cold weather, ice below Highway 2, and a few fish here and there.

QD, Timbo and I decided to beat the crowds and drove up on Thursday night to the Brule. Waking up bright and early on Friday, we went to Red Gate, only to find a bunch of cars of the blue plate special variety.

The morning started off well, with a bit of snow, a chill in the air, and a really slippery hill. Timbo was nice enough to let me use his 7 weight Sage XP. I promptly snapped off the tip on our way to the stream, in what would be one of five or six spills I took trying to descend the f%$*ing hill. I also cracked my net into two pieces.

A great start morphed into a predictably slow morning session. The water was cold and the air was colder. Using a spare 6 wt I had brought, we fished the bend where Timbo had caught his beast from our last trip, but didn't get any hits.

QD and I headed a bit upstream to find some good runs. The water was brown and flowing well. A recent up-tick in temps have started to thaw the area out, bringing the river dangerously close to being blown out.




After more of the same, we headed back to find Timbo still fishing the run. The sun was shining and temps were quickly getting into the 50s.

I decided to give the area one last shot before heading downstream. After numerous casts, the river gods smiled upon me. My strike indicator twitched, I set, fish on. The fish quickly came to the surface, and I had confirmation: Steelie, a smallish hen. A quick yell of "fish!" brought Timbo to my aid. After a short fight, I guided the fish toward the bank, where he was able to secure the fish and take a pic. After seven or eight sessions, my Brule cherry was finally popped.