Balls Deep

Date: June 23, 2008
Location: The Magical Land that time forgot
Air temp: 80s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 1 Big Fucker, 2 Small Fuckers

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

Quickdraw
Coach McGuirk (non F.A.G.)
Naaz (non F.A.G.)

yea another great day, I'll keep it short and sweet. first cast I caught the biggest walleye of my life right about 24" maybe a bit over that. that was at about 7:30 am fished all day saw a ton of big muskies and northerns maybe about 15 follows up to the boat.

Had lunch at roman's which was awesome, coach joined us after lunch and we caught some crappies and had more big follows. Coach and I left for home around 4 P.M.

good day.

Big Fucker.

Date: June 20, 2008
Location: The Magical Land that time forgot
Air temp: 80s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 2 Big Fuckers

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

Quickdraw
Coach McGuirk (non F.A.G.)

Well me and coach headed out to the magic lake around the azz crack of noon. it was just a perfect day to be outside about 80-85 degrees out. we got setup on the alpha hole and started our drift/casting for large toothy beasties. It wasn't long before we had multiple follows. the fish seemed a bit lazy though, not hyper aggressive.

A few hours later and I hooked into this big boy.
at first I didn't think he was that big, he seemed to be swimming at the boat for the beginning of the fight, he made a few strong runs and we hauled him in the boat(excellent network by coach). we did a quick measure on him and he was just over 40" and chunky. We took a few pictures and released him, he swam off really strong which is always great to see. Caught him on the eastern edge of the J-hole, near weed island on the edge of the backbone. That fish turned out to be the biggest northern caught by us so far on that lake. Also this fish qualifies for a Master Angler Certificate from the Minnesota fishing hall of fame, I'll be submitting this fish this year. Bow down to your master. Now working on a Grandmaster Flash Angler Certificate.

about a half an hour later I hooked this one. He was a scrappy little bastard, ended up measuring up at a respectable 30".


It was a good day.

Broken Record

Date: June 14, 2008
Location: EPB&G Spot
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 4 browns

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

Quickdraw
Xan
TP


Well, the water was still brown. Storms over the week had brought the Curd river to over twice its normal levels, with discharges over 1,100 cfs (normal is 100 cfs). The river rapidly recovered by Saturday, with gauge readings almost exactly the same as last Sunday.

Quickdraw, Timbo and I arrived at the EPB&G spot to find a horde of fishermen upstream of the parking lot. It appeared they were part of some sort of class. We approached them, displayed our credentials, and announced that when they were ready, they too could join the F.A.G. UMC. Actually, we didn't, but we should have.

Seeing a few other fishermen at the pool by the lot, we headed downstream. It was another slow day. I had a few fish pop off, and false hooked a few more. TP and QD landed a few here and there as we continued to march downstream. They headed further downstream than I did, as I made a futile effort to catch fish. After a while, I had lost almost every decent nymph I had. By the time they came back up, they had reported some decent fish landed. QD had a "state record" fish on, but it had popped off mid fight.

We decided to fish some runs as we made our way back to the car. I decided to try the nice, deep run that is upstream from the lot. With my fly box decimated, I was now left to dead drifting an orange bugger. I fished the lower portions of the run for a short while, then decided to hit the head, where it was easier to wade. After a long, frustrating day, I landed a decent fish on the tail end of a drift. I continued to cast upstream, where the riffle poured into the run, and hooked up a sweet slab. It was chunky enough where I had trouble handling it, and wasn't able to measure it up against my rod before he was able to wiggle free (when the fuck is my new net going to get shipped?). After a couple more trout, it was time to go. I was able to end my day on a good note, with one "tri-county record" brown landed.

That's what a hamburger's.... all about

Date: June 14, 2008
Location: ?
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: ?

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

Booter
Xan


Normally, I would have said my Saturday morning was starting out poorly. For starters, I had just brought my car to the shop. I should have been alarmed by the ominous fissure that ran completely across their narrow parking lot, but for some reason that worry simply didn't stick. Booter was coming to get me, and fishing was in store. The sun was shining and good feelings enveloped me.

Fruiter arrived and I hopped into Old Blue. I checked my cell and had eight texts, mostly from other fishermen eager to join us. Despite the prospects of bad fishing in low, clear water and sunny skies, and having my car swallowed by a sinkhole, life felt good. I literally did not have a care in the world. I was going fishing with friends, and that is all that mattered.

Or so I thought.

As we drove up 35W through Bloomington, Booter had to make a quick stop in the area to pick something up for work. Running on an empty stomach, we decided to hit up one of the local fast food establishments. Curving around the highway offramp, we came across a McDonalds. Duly noted, but we would look for a few more options before deciding. Only moments later, all was decided, and this good day shot through the roof to stratospheric levels. Right behind the McDs stood... an In-N-Out Burger. A MOTHERFUCKING IN-N-OUT BURGER!

I sat there slack jawed like a mouth-breather for a few seconds, trying to process what I was seeing. It didn't look like any In-N-Out I had seen before, it looked like a converted IHoP, but the name was there, along with another large sign proclaiming $1 burgers. Joy rushed from my body to my brain and then back down to my lungs as I shouted, "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"

And then I woke up... on Friday morning... dehydrated and exhausted from all the drinks the night before... still trapped in a land where paunchy yokels worship Culver's pap and overpriced juicy lucys.

Fucking A.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Date: June 8, 2008
Location: Bridge & Great Lawn
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 3 browns

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

Xan
Booter
Scoot

Scooter, Booter and myself headed to the Bridge to play in the brown water. Recent rains had slightly raised the water level, while discharge was about twice the norm. The water was very murky, but fortunately, the river wasn't blown out and the fish were feeding.

We parked by the bridge itself, and started to make our way up the stream. I was able to land a decent trout just in front of the bridge to start the day. Reassured that the day wouldn't be a complete bust due to the water color, I continued to nymph the run, much to my future dismay. The prior day I had spoken at length with a fellow fly fisherman. The topic of suckers came up, and I happily declared that I had yet to catch one this year. Naturally, I hooked one the very next day. My second fish quickly splashed the surface when I set, giving me the false hope that it was troutish. It kept low for the remainder of the fight, though after seeing it flash a few times through the murk, I started to get a bad feeling. As I brought it to the surface after it tired out, I let out a shriek of disgust. I had on a large, disgusting sucker with my stone fly impaled through its inflamed sphincter of a mouth. Still awaiting my new net to be shipped, I was faced with the prospect of handling the putrid bag of mush with my bare hands. However, I got lucky, and the large fly I had been using was easily accessible, and I was able to pop it off without having to handle the shit eater. After the unpleasantness, I moved upstream to find fish of repute.

Fishing was slow all day, with few rises due to the brown. We worked the immediate area and then headed to the Great Lawn. We stuck close to the immediate lawn area, and each of us pulled a few fish here and there.

Scooter pulls in a nice brown.

Once we were tuckered out and hungry, we decided to forgo the EPB&G and try out the Lawton Bar for a change of pace. The Lawton had been closed for a while, but was now open again. It is a very simple bar, with a small menu of mostly burgers and fried apps. We tried their curds and had a few burgers, but were not overly impressed.

The Return of the Fruit Boot

Date: June 1, 2008
Location: Club
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: skank

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

Xan
Booter


After missing the early season while in Asia, an aborted first trip, and a few additional weekends out of town, Fruit Booter made his triumphant return to the hallowed waters of the Curd. We headed to the Club to hit the evening hatch, and Booter got his groove back post haste. At the run by the car, he landed his first fish of 2008.

We made our way up to the great pool, and pow-pow-pounded the hole with streamers, but couldn't stir a fish. Booter fished the run just up from the pool, and continued to catch fish. He switched to his nemesis, the dry fly (a caddis, which I loaned him), and caught a few more. Later, true to form, he pulled a Booter and fished a run I had been fishing, while I was sorting out a tangle. At least this time he didn't catch a fish there. It's good to have that bastard back.

Born On the 31st of May

Date: May 31, 2008
Location: Posturepedic
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: shit loads of something
Fish landed: 1 brown

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

Xan
TP


Timbo thought it was time to check out some new water. Either the Driftless region or a famed river in the northern part of Wisconsin. Given that the Curd has turned into a zoo since the regular season opener, I agreed. Due to recent rains, the Driftless was blown out, but up north had not gotten much precipitation, so north we went.

This is a long river, with the lower half being great smallie water, and the upper portions holding trout. From reading the interweb, the trout here are supposedly the biggest on average in the state. Finding them turned out to be another matter. We drove to many different spots and fished a few of them. After a few hours of effort, the only fish either of us had landed was a 2" brookie that I hooked.

After much futility, we decided to check out a spot where TP had seen cars parked at in the past. This was located right outside the town of mattresses, and right along the highway. I walked a ways downstream, while Timbo fished near the car. There were bugs all over the water, and the only fish that were rising were chubs and tiny trout.

I was skeptical, but kept at it, and soon my indicator twitched. After setting the hook, the battle began. A chunky fish began to dart around, giving my arm a nice workout. The fish didn't jump, and when I would see it flash in the water, its fins looked reddish. I had a bad feeling I had hooked into a red horse, and I had no net to deal with such a disgusting creature. Still, I had called out to Tim to give me a hand, and when the fish tired out, I was pleased to see I had caught one of the fattest 16"ers of my short career. TP was nice enough to snap a pic.




Next, it would be Timbo's turn. He returned to the run he was fishing, and then all hell broke loose. The hits started coming, one by one by one. He hooked and lost three potentially huge trout, but mined the run for probably every fish that was there, catching roughly 6 or 7, if not more. Inch for inch, all of these fish were heavier than anything we've seen on the Curd.






We fished a bit more, to no avail, and then called it a day and made the long drive home.