Dates: March 21, 2009
Location: Upper & Canyon
Air temp: 40s?
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 3
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
QD
Coach
Xan
I met up with Quick and Coach at the parking lot of a spot above the Canyon. It was a bright and sunny Saturday morning, and the only other folks around were a group of kayakers. Water levels were slightly low, with a bit of a tint. QD and I walked upstream a bit, where I began to fish. While casting and conversing with Quick, who was on the bank setting up, I noticed a plastic water bottle wedged into the crack of a tree by him. I pointed it out, and upon his investigation, Quick reported that it was a geocache. In true Guild fashion, QD left his signature mark on the cache, and we continued on fishing.
With little action, we decided to head to the Canyon. We found many other fishermen there, but pressed on regardless. We hiked and fished our way past the alpha hole, with little reward. Coach caught one, while I caught three, neither of us getting anything of size. Regardless, I was triumphant over the mouth-breather.
Date: April 19, 2008
Location: Lower Curd and Upper K
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: BWOs
Fish landed: 10 (browns)Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
Quickdraw
Jess
Xan
TAFKAY
Scotty Mac
Whether it's court imposed or not, community service embiggens the spirit of the Guild. The Fly Angler's Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter joined the call to clean the Curd River. Sponsored by a few of our fellow local fly angler societies, over a hundred forty folks gathered to clean vast swaths of the river area.
Suck the teat, gently
We didn't find anything too unusual. Wisconsin waters tend to be well respected by their visitors. Nonetheless, we made a decent haul of items, found along the lower stretches of the Curd.
After cleanup, we had some chili, provided by the sponsors. Figuring the Curd would be packed with fisherman, we headed to Lunds to stock up on flies. QD and Jess parted ways with us, and the remainder went to the Upper for some hot dry fly action.
While many of the fish caught were little guys, sent flying across the stream during hook sets, there was surface activity all day. After trying a BWO parachute and a white mayfly, I finally settled in on a grey and brownish mayfly pattern and caught fish at a regular pace. By the seventh fish, I finally started landing fish of decent size, but alas, no piggies.
All in all, a fine day of the dry.
Date: September 29, 2007
Location: Upper and Warwick
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ???
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: Skunk
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
Scotty Mac
Fruit Booter
Xan
To close off the (Wisconsin inland) trout season, we headed out to the Upper. Scotty Mac was making a rare appearance to one of our fish socials, so we made him drive.
The second weekend into the (early) season, Scooter caught a trout. Over six months later, with only six trips in that span, that stood as Scoot's only fish of '07. Much like President Bush, he took April, July and August off and spent time at the ranch. When pressed, he would exclaim that he "sucked." What, we don't know (the Senator involved was evasive, and is now trying to change his plea). What we do know, is you aren't gonna catch many fish if you only go six times.
The Curd River had not produced in recent weeks, so we decided to hit the Upper. According to vague information (I think someone read it online) we now hold as fact, the Upper holds impressive totals of fish per mile, in the ballpark of 4,000. They are smaller on average, but sometimes quantity trumps quality, usually when you're desperate.
The overcast, drizzly skies and forecasts of God's wrath gave us hope for a haul o' trout. We got skunked.
We decided to regroup and formulate a new plan. The decision was to head to the land of aggressive bows and chubs, the Warwick. We arrived at a familiar spot, determined to put Scooter on some trout. Making the short walk to a money run, we put him in place and set him to task. He made us proud.
The view from my sunglasses:
Scooty landing another one:
After we had fished out the run, we called it a season. And on the seventh trip, Scotty Mac landed trout.
A Season In Review:
- Quickdraw learning the arts of woolly buggery
- TP showing us the use of windshield wipers as rod holders
- The Great Flood (of the Early Season)
- Shady Grove
- New spots on the Curd and Warwick, exploring the Apple and V
- Walter from the V
- Ticks
- Success with mouse patterns
- Learning the double haul
- Beaver!
- Batman!
- Beer! (Fat Tire)
- Bozeman!
- The beginnings of the Great Muskie Hunt
- The Return of the Jazz Hands
- Smallies on the fly
- Raspberries and plums
- Jazz Hands catching ocean fish... and his head
- B-Chubnut, shaking it like he never left
- The retirement of the yeti suit
- First steelie on my line
Not a bad season.
Date: June 3, 2007
Location: Upper
Air temp: high 60s
Water temp: ???
Hatches: little brown things and very little brown things
Fish landed: 10 (browns)
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
Xan
A gloomy day for the average Joe is an ideal one for fisher-folk. The past few days brought some much needed rain, though not enough to blow out the streams.
After consulting weather.com's animated radar, it appeared that most of Sunday morning's rain would hit Grand Old Day in St. Paul, and move south, avoiding Western WI and giving me hope I would not be electrocuted by God's wrath.
I headed off to a McDonald's in WI to fuel up with a #5 meal and "make sure the pipes were empty." Deciding where to fish that day, I chose somewhere close, "The Upper," more specifically, the spot that runs along the county road. I had not fished any spot on the Upper this year, so I figured it was time to check it out.
The weather would be overcast the entire day, and when I saw the stream was cloudy, I knew a productive session was ahead.
The start of the day, however, was slow. This was despite the fact the fish were active and eagerly striking my flies. A lack of concentration led to many missed connections, tangles and snags.
After a while, I started to land fish. The trout were rising with some frequency, but I stubbornly stuck with nymphing. My lack of tactics did not matter. The weather, water and fish conditions were ripe, and I was able to pick up fish all over the river.
I went upstream further than I ever had before. Normally I stop at the large pool, but a worm-dunker had already claimed that spot, so I forged on. After a while, I found myself fishing in the backyard of a couple homes, their well trimmed lawns leading all the way up to the water. A man and women, each on riding lawn mowers, were making their rounds along each property. They provided an audience as I continued to catch fish, occasionally stopping their mowers to comment on the trout I was landing. This area, and a little further up, had runs where the fish were piled up.
After I hit an official 10 (not counting false hooks and trout that got away right before I could get them to hand), I called it a day. As I made my way back down the stream, I saw a fellow fly fisherman in the same spot when I was heading upstream. When I first saw him, he said he hadn't had much luck landing fish, but was getting many strikes. By the time I saw him again, he reported landing roughly 20 fish, all in an area of about 100 feet.
It was a great day to be out. Afterwards, I met up with the gang at Grand Old Day, where we paid $5 for the privilege to buy $6 beers, and listened to shitty bands.
