#1 Cow

Dates: April 24, 2010
Location: New Curd spot
Air temp: ?
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: a few brookies

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

QD
Xan


It was time to do our part.  Quickie and I went out to help clean up the Curd river.  We were assigned a short stretch downstream from the Club, where we picked the area clean of cigarette butts, cans, and the random car axle.  After a lovely lunch of chicken and dumpling soup, it was time to fish.

We decided to find some new water, away from the other cleaning hordes.  We found a spot between the Gallery and Methtell, and wandered around in a light rain.  As usual, I caught some dinky, but beautifully colored brook trout, and one of a somewhat respectable size.  Every decent trout I had on popped off.  The action was about the same for QD, who also landed a decent brookie.  The highlight of this area was our close encounter with some milk cows.  Here, you see the tail end of a cow urinating.  And that, my friends, is where curds come from.

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.

Sky Carp of A Feather Die Together

Dates: May 8, 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


A very sincere apology to my reader for the great delay in getting posts out. I can't say I'll be better in the coming months, but with the lack of rain, I can say I probably won't be fishing as much. With that said, on to some blog updates.

Through the power of the Interweb, a few new spots on an old river had come to our attention. With the use of the latest in satellite imagery (Google Maps), I was able to locate a baby waterfall and dam just above the Canyon. There were a couple of folks fishing the falls when I arrived, so I decided to check out the dam. While I didn't find many fish, I did find a gosling massacre. Climbing around some rocks, I almost stepped on a wounded gosling that was struggling to get away. A few feet away, I found another that had gotten its neck caught in a branch along a rock wall, effectively hanging itself. Good times!

As the fishing was slow, I decided to head over to the Warwick to fish a run I had made a mental note to hit a few trips ago. A caddis hatch was going on, and I was able to land my season's first trout on a dry, which also happened to be the only fish I would land on a dry that day. As the fishing slowed again, I headed toward the waterfall, only to find a mouth-breather and his son had been fishing the area since the morning. I was able to land a few fish, though nothing of size. I did, however, find fish on the third level of the falls. After an honest day on the rivers, I called it and went home.

Silent Night

Date: July 5, 2008
Location: New spot, Bridge & Lawn
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 1 brook

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

Booter
Xan
Scooter


Needing a healthy restocking of flies, I headed out to Lunds late on Saturday afternoon. After dropping a healthy amount of dough on a wide assortment of dollar flies, I decided to check out a spot high up on the Curd. QD, Timbo and I had driven here once, but did not explore the area as the river was high and muddy. Now, it was slow and clear, so I set up and headed upstream. The river was mostly wide and slow. The few riffles I saw were quite shallow, though I did scare some fish here and there. After a ways, I headed back and went downstream from the bridge to find more of the same. I tried fishing one riffle, but didn't get any strikes.

Having some more time to kill before Booter and Scooter would join me for some night fishing, I went down to the EPB&G spot to see if I could get some casts into my favorite run. Alas, the area was crawling with fishermen, so I got back into the car and headed to our rendezvous area, the Bridge Spot. The sun was setting behind the bluff, and I made a quick nymph run along QD's favorite spot. There were fish rising here and there, but I was too lazy to tie on a dry, and found no interest in my copper John.

Walking back to my car to get my headlamp, Boot and Scoot pulled in, and we had a beer. After finishing our round, we hit the river as the last bits of sunlight faded into night. I was able to pull a small brookie on a hex dry before I could no longer see my fly on the water. Now, it was mousing time. The absence of moonlight made the fishing even more difficult, and the action was slow. Perhaps the uneven barometric pressure or lack of moon had some effect, as the hits were few and far between for all three of us.

After fishing around the bend from QD's spot, we headed to the Lawn, where we fished two areas. More of the same. Tired, we called it a night and headed back home.

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.

Demon Chub

Date: April 22, 2007
Location: Super Awesome Double Secret New Spot
Air temp: high 60s
Water temp: ??? (I really need to buy some new batteries)
Hatches: Didn't notice any
Fish landed: 4 (browns) and scads of hefty chubs

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

Xan
Quickdraw


The last time I was at Mr. F (the Woodland Critter Murder Mystery), I chatted a bit with a local who was fly fishing from the banks (no waders). He was quite talkative, and told me of the recent history of that area of the river. Legend has it, a big manure spill killed off most of the fish a few years ago, and the population has yet to recover in that area.

Of more interest, he asked me if I had fished at another spot on a nearby stream. I told him I had never been to that particular locale, and he very proceeded to very kindly tell me how to get there. He regaled me with stories of huge fish caught, brookies over 20", larger browns, etc... He claimed that he preferred to spin-cast in that area.

So today, QD and I decided to try and find this land of pigs. After a couple quick consultations with the map, we arrived at what we believed to be the spot. We parked by a bridge and started upstream. The river was of decent size, though large portions were quite slow (indeed, ideal for spin-casting). The delicate aroma of cow manure wafted through the air, seemingly carried by the humidity. There were a few riffles and small pools. We both hooked into some large chubs. Some had horns on their head. If there is a Hell, those fuckers will be there.

After our fill of chub, we decided to check out the area downstream of the bridge. We both landed some smallish trout (8"-10") as we made our way down. After a report from base informing us of incoming rain, we slowly made our way back up. QD landed a nice and plump brown. Our opinion of the spot was starting to improve. I hit a nice run an upstream riffle was feeding. Then, the fun began. I was fishing a couple mid-sized nymphs, and hooked into a nice 15"er. I had brought my 5wt with my 4wt reel, and even on the 5wt, the fish put up a very nice fight.

QD was nice enough to snap a pic:



Not long after, another connection and another great fight. Yet another 15", though this one was nice and chunky. After a few strikes and missed fish, I was able to land another decent fish. Probably the best fight was the last fish I had on, though he released himself on his own.

All in all, a good day and definitely a place to check out again. Curiously, as we were packing up in the parking area, a car pulled in driven by an older gent. He asked us about the fishing and told us how he used to fish there long ago. He even told us of another area to check out nearby. Not long after he drove off, another fellow drove in to ask us about the fishing. Very friendly folk out there in WI.