Ticks, Ticks and More Ticks, Fucking Ticks

Date: May 28, 2007
Location: Super Awesome Double Secret New Spot
Air temp: high 70s
Water temp: ???
Hatches: Didn't notice any
Fish landed: 4 (browns)

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

Xan


Memorial Day was scouting day, as I drove all up and down the WI heartland looking for new spots on the Warwick. The mosquitoes have yet to show themselves in great number, but the black flies and fucking ticks are a plenty. During the periods of my search on foot, I found many of both.

After finding nothing new of interest, I drove to the "new spot." As I headed down to the run of my previous successes, I spotted the gastronomical jewel of the Great North, morels. Along the stream side of the north facing bank, which was the backyard of a house, were 7 or 8 prime fungi, 4 or 5 which were bunched together.

I was now faced with a morel dilemma (Thank you! I'll be here all week). Is the side of the bank public or private land? Would the homeowners set my car on fire if they saw me taking their precious? There were cobwebs on a few of them, so they must have been there a while, meaning the homeowners had no idea they're there...

I chose to fish and decide later. That decision never came as I didn't really give a shit and forgot about them.

I was able to pick up a trout from the get-go, and proceeded to get numerous strikes and land some browns. I'm not sure as to the cause, but this season, nymphing has been difficult. Whether it's been a change in my perception, or the physics of my current tackle, my strike indicator rarely makes a pronounced movement when a fish hits. I've noticed frequently that when it slowly starts to sink, a fish is on the other end of my line.

The light bulb finally fired up, and I started to set the moment it even slightly submerged. This led to many fruitless sets, but also a number of flipped fish and a few to hand.

I tried some of the pools upstream with no luck, and after de-ticking myself, called it a day.