It's LaToya's time.

Dates: June 26, 2009
Location: The Curd Rivah
Air temp: mid 90's
Water temp: ?
Hatches: some Lil guys, and the dreaded parsnip
Fish landed: 1(TAFKAY)


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

QuickDraw
TAFKAY

well it was another slow day on the river but we had a good time, It was hot, so we sought the shelter of the shade, we had a nice walk down river starting at the "family lands". We hit a few small runs on the way to our ultimate destination. Me and TAFKAY had a good day out eventhough the fish weren't biting.

I managed to find a bug that was completely covered in Flashback!!!!
Take that Booter! Take it all.

We capped off the day right with a stop to the EPB&G for a large order of their delicious Spicy curds.

RIP

May heaven be filled with P.Y.T.s.

Generations

Dates: June 7, 2009
Location: Various parts of the Warwick
Air temp: upper 50s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: low double digits


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

Xan

It finally rained on Saturday. I stayed off the streams as the first good dousing in weeks replenished water levels, if only for a little while. On Sunday, I went fishing, though only after waking up rather late and finding it hard to motivate. The skies were overcast and the air temps were unusually cool, and I finally realized that I wouldn't see such plum conditions until September at best.

Because of my late start, I decided it would be a good day to hit lower traffic areas and perhaps explore a bit. I went to a spot well upstream on the Warwick, only to find a truck parked in the lot with a bumper sticker that read, "I fish, therefore I lie." I decided to give it a whirl anyways. This was a place I had found morels and hardy trout in years past. On this day, I would find neither, though I did land a few smaller trout here and there. As I made my way downstream, I came upon the presumed owner of the truck, an old mouth-breather who was stalking a large trout. In our brief exchange of chit chat, he made the remark that fly fishermen could not catch large trout. My retort consisted of the words, "You fish, therefore you die, ape fucker," coupled with a devastating chop to his temple. Actually, I ignored him and continued downstream until the trail disappeared and nothing looked very fishy, so I went back to the car.

At this point, it was exploring time. I studied the DeLorme to find spots between my normal Warwick haunts and my starting point. I found a few candidates and drove to check them out. My third stop looked the most promising. Walking down from the bridge, I found a few kids hanging out underneath. I asked if they would mind me wetting a line, to which they had no quarrel. The run looked promising, and sure enough, my first few casts landed fish. This piqued their interest, and they asked to get a closer look at my catch. Walking over to shore, I let a girl hold my brown trout, leaving you, my dear reader, to interpret that as you will. Not long after, some more kids and a couple adults arrived at the opposite bank, along with a dog not owned by anyone present. The dog proceeded to swim through the run, and one of the girls started yapping about her life story, so I got the hell out of there and went upstream.

I made my way up, finding my surroundings to be quite similar to the regions above the Canyon. Fish were landed here and there, though nothing of size. I explored for a while, until things started looking the same. After tiring of the lack of trails, I made my way back and went home.

Sorry, Dude

Dates: May 31, 2009
Location: Various parts of the Warwick
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: Caddis and such
Fish landed: low double digits


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

Xan


I woke up at the ass crack of 5:30, Sunday morn, and was on the river by 7:30. Like a moth to a flame, I found myself at the waterfall, only to find a mouth-breather fishing just below the base. Being a man of etiquette, I ceded the entire base area and climbed up to the second tier. As is the usual, I hooked into a nice fish, only to have it pop off. Things were a bit slow on the tiers, so I decided to climb up past the waterfall to see what I could find.

Wading and fishing upstream, I was landed the usual aggressive rainbows in small runs throughout the stream. I took a leisurely approach, enjoying the morning sunlight, seemingly catching fish at every run I tried.

Eventually, I made my way back to the falls, only to find an attractive, blond mouth-breathette fishing the base. I briefly fished the second tier, catching a bow, before moving on downstream to explore. Walking a ways, I didn't find anything worth wetting a line, so I hiked back to the car to try another spot.

I arrived at a lot upstream and found no cars. I hiked down to a money run/hole, and almost immediately had a fat 16" brown on. The fish fought hard, and took me roughly thirty feet downstream before I got a net around him.

A few more fish were brought to hand, and then the porker of the day appeared. I cast toward the opposite bank, indicator down, fish on. Another brown, between 16-18". It didn't fight as hard as the other, but it felt like a stone. I got it in the net and decided I had to take a picture. Fumbling around, I got my camera out and took a snap of him in the net. It just didn't do the fish justice. I decided to get cheeky, and setup my camera on a rock. As I tried to take the fish out of the net, he started to squirm. I wasn't able to get a good grip on him due to his girth, and he slipped out, hitting (I believe) his head on the rock, and landing in the water. At this point, I abandoned my desire to take a pic, and tried to revive him. After letting him go, he swam/drifted about a foot then sank to the bottom. Crap. I tried nudging it, and then could no longer see him through the murky water.

I fished for a bit longer, caught a couple more, then called it a day. I can only hope the fishing gods forgive my sins.

RIP

MLSRB

Dates: May 17, 2009
Location: Canyon
Air temp: ?
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 1

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

QuickDraw
Booter
Xan
TAFKAY
Scooter
McGlory

As is the trend these days, another member of the Guild, Scooter, has decided to procreate. To celebrate this conception, we gathered the canoes to float the Canyon. Considering how much Scooter fishes without child, we were also celebrating his final day of fishing ever. A retirement ceremony of his BWO will follow.

We left the Cities on a beautiful Sunday morning, gathering at McD's to eat and shit. Once those matters were settled, we drove to the river to start our day. It was planned that we would not start fishing until we had floated past trail accessible areas. Booter and I were in his canoe, and found ourselves to be much faster than the other slugs. After creating a sizable lead, we stopped just upstream of the Alpha hole to let the others catch up. It was here that I found a nice, smooth branch which I used to hit rocks. I called this game, stick-rock-ball. This game would provide much entertainment for nearly all involed, including a near scalping of TAFKAY at the hands (or lack thereof) of Booter.

Floating down a bit further, we setup shop by a nice looking run and the others took turns fishing it while I played stick-rock-ball. Despite the flogging the water took, multiple people were able to land fish.

We continued on to the beach, where we ate sandwiches, fished, and took turns hitting rocks.

So the day went, floating, fishing, and hitting rocks. A few more fish were caught, and many rocks were slapped around. We enjoyed a beautiful day on the river and no one sustained a massive head injury. Good times all around.

Booty Back

Dates: May 9, 2009
Location: New Spot & Various parts of the Warwick
Air temp: ?
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: A few

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

Xan
Booter

Booter finally got a chance to go fishing, so I showed him all the new spots from this season complete with dead gosling. As we got to the dam, we came upon a horde of bird watchers. As they shuffled along, Boot set to work at catching fish by the dam. We next went upstream to give the mini falls a shot. While Booter caught some small trout, I landed a few suckers. It was wonderful.

Of course, a trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Warwick Falls. As a mob of sightseers watched, we fished multiple levels of the falls, catching small bows. No real slabs were found, but it was nice to see Boot out there, catching him some fish.

Boot had to leave, and I had an engagement to attend in River Falls, so I decided to fish the dam at the head of the Canyon. Didn't catch shit. Ah well.