Double Dippin'

Date: May 25, 2008
Location: Great Lawn
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 0

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

QuickDraw
Timbo

well as we were heading out the radio was blaring about the storm of the century. the skies were stirring up a big ol' mess of shit stew. we were trying to figure out when we would be hit, how much time we'd have on the river before things got messy. our best guess was an hour and a half.

as we pulled up to the great lawn there were 3 cars there. we headed up river in search of uninhabited water, as we got up around the first bend and got ready to cross the river, the skies opened up on us and started raining. yay, "I guess we're fishing here". Which really wasn't a bad spot except for the fact that we were sandwiched between 2 anglers that probably weren't happy with us for fishing there, but oh frickin well.

we fished for a while and tim caught a decent brown who was really colorful, with bright red spots and a red belly, sweet fish. The weather wouldn't stop acting weird and I was really paranoid so we called it a day early.

Date: May 24, 2008
Location: Cannon
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: worms and leeches
Fish landed: 3 Walleye
2 Smallmouth Bass
2 White Bass
2 Freshwater Drum
1 Sauger
1 Goldeye

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

QuickDraw
Marker(non F.A.G.)

This was my first Excursion to the Cannon, It was a pretty interesting day, just fun to get out on a float trip, we were do float about 5-6 miles. We were quickly fishing and although the first spot was fruitless, we were fishing and the day was young.

we soon moved down river to the next spot, we were fishing off an island which was pretty cool, and I saw a ton of big suckers, we tried to catch the suckers but they didn't seem to be interested, we moved down river again, the third spot was kinda interesting, we were soon catching walleyes just a foot or two off shore. it was a fun spot, caught the majority of my fish here. We were having lunch in this spot when a canoe rolled by and it was my good friend Patrick, WTF? what a weird coincidence. cool nonetheless. also some girls asked us to "show us your tits" which was funny, as me and mark were just discussing the finer points of this phrase. another coincidence.

we moved down river and caught some more fish and also caught a goldeye, which was the first time I've ever seen or heard of this fish which was really cool, caught my first silver bass and first goldeye on this trip. on the way home we stopped off at the creamery and had some $1 shakes(use to be $.50 shakes, damn arabs and their oil).

Two Quick Posts

Date: May 18, 2008
Location: Great Lawn
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 6 (4 browns, 2 brooks)

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

Scotty Mac
Xan


Another early morning, another day at the Curd. We arrived to a bridge without any cars parked by it. Once set up, we began covering the watery expanse along the Great Lawn itself. Cast after cast, after cast, after cast... after cast. Nary even a hit, for either of us, as we slowly moved our way upstream.




Finally, along the bank, protected by overhanging branches, I was able to land four fish. We kept on, fishing our way to the large pool, and even further up past the second major pool. I was only able to land a couple more, that was it.






We ended the day by the first, smaller pool from the lawn. The fish were rising with regularity, but not interested in our dries. Worse, they were taunting us by occasionally rising just behind them. After a good deal of futility, we called it a day.



Date: May 17, 2008
Location: Eagle
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 4 browns

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

Xan
TP


TP and I set out early on Saturday hoping to beat the crowds. After encountering a refugee camp at the EP Spot, we arrived at Eagle to find no cars. Things started well, as I was able to land a few just upstream from the bridge. We then traveled a ways downstream, to the first big pool in the area between Eagle and the Club. It was slow going for the both of us, with a few fish picked up here and there. The water was low and clear, and in a few hours they were swarming with other fishermen. After a meager haul, we went and got some spicy curds.

Left Hand Blues

Date: May 11, 2008
Location: Great Lawn and Bridge
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: Caddis!
Fish landed: 6 (4 browns, 2 brooks)

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

Xan


Sunday was sunny and windy, with waters sadly unaffected by the recent rain. The water at the Great Lawn and Bridge were low and clear. The primo conditions of early season are quickly becoming a sweet memory, as the water level drops and the fauna rise. To make matters worse, the start of the regular season is bringing added pressure to fish that are learning once again to be more wary.

Most tragic of all, Booter's triumphant return to the streams ended before it began, most likely due to some South Asian scourge. The only thing that could save this day would be the later season's saving grace, juicy hatches.

Caddis, followed later by tricos, grasshoppers, hex, mice, etc..., are a solid hatch throughout the warmer months. A heartier meal than the tiny mayfiles of early season, they will offer a steady rise throughout their convergence to the water's surface.


I was lucky enough to arrive in the middle of a hatch. I started catching fish not far upstream from the Lawn's access point. I lingered at a few runs, picking off trout here and there, but had the hankering to keep moving up. I was curious to fish the large pool not far up, but saw some folks from the Lawn Compound already there. I headed back to the car and went to the Bridge. The caddis had died down by then, and with that, the action. I hit a few runs, but quickly called it a day.

Date: May 12, 2008
Location: The Great Lawn
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: little bwo's
Fish landed: SkunkApe

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

QuickDraw

well I headed out to the river for an early morning fishing excursion. I wanted to fish my spot but as I pulled up i was surprised to see 2 cars there and people fishing at 8am. so I headed to the great lawn. When I got there there were 2 fisherman there so i started heading up river, i walked a long ways up because I wanted to fish alone. about 10 minutes after I started fishing, I started seeing more fisherman. I saw a total of 5 guys fishing the great lawn. got skunked, though I did have one fish hit my caddis. I was quick on the draw, but it was not to be.

I was also surprised that there were still no morels yet. Double SkunkApe!

Muddy Club Lounge

Opener 2008

Date: May 3, 2008
Location: EPB&G spot and below the mighty DAMN
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 2 (browns)

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

QuickDraw
Xan
Gutmang

Well it's damn tradition, WI opener! Traditionally the crappiest day of fishing all year due to the thick stench of mouth breath, mixed with the smell of stale crawlerz. This year was no exception, although the conditions were far from ideal, we thought we'd harden up and brave the weather for tradition's sake. Hell it's opener forchristsake!

opener started out a few days earlier this year with me ridiculing anyone who was not "hard enough" to fish the opener, I finally convinced Xan to go, I will never question his hardocity again. Friday night at the poker game we convinced Gutmang to go with us. it had been raining for the better part of the night, but before leaving the Kremlin we checked the gauges and all looked grand, the river was at about 3.53' and holding steady( a little over the average of 3' but not bad).

we headed out to the river at about 9 after making a trip to McD's for some breakfast and a McD. when we got to the river it looked like a carnival had come into town, there were some ol' ratty tents pitched and spincasters in lawnchairs lined up on the bank. the river didn't initially look too bad, so we decided to hit it. I got settled in my first spot and discovered that the water was rollin' high, fast, and dirty dirty. Soon after I started fishing I hooked into my first fish a 10" brown, I hooked him in the slow water on a Hot Pink Squirrel he hit super lightly. 2 minutes later I had 2 anglers set up about 20' up river of me, uh, yea, thanks guys. 2 minutes later I caught my second brownie, looked exactly like the first. I took a few more casts and decided to head down to Xan and Gutmang.

When I got down there not much was going on, we fished for a little while and decided to move on to the next river below the Great Damn. we figured that we had a better chance at fishing calmer waters.

when we got there we decided to check out the Dam and to our surprise there were about 6-7 guys fishing with bobbers about a foot away from the dam. the view was great, lots of water spilling over the edge.

We headed down river and fished to slightly calmer waters, but no fish would bite.

we ended up going to Dick's bar where they had 4" of sand covering the floor for their "beach party" uh yea, great. anyways that was opener '08 in a nutshell