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.

Double Dippin'

Date: May 25, 2008
Location: Great Lawn
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 0

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

QuickDraw
Timbo

well as we were heading out the radio was blaring about the storm of the century. the skies were stirring up a big ol' mess of shit stew. we were trying to figure out when we would be hit, how much time we'd have on the river before things got messy. our best guess was an hour and a half.

as we pulled up to the great lawn there were 3 cars there. we headed up river in search of uninhabited water, as we got up around the first bend and got ready to cross the river, the skies opened up on us and started raining. yay, "I guess we're fishing here". Which really wasn't a bad spot except for the fact that we were sandwiched between 2 anglers that probably weren't happy with us for fishing there, but oh frickin well.

we fished for a while and tim caught a decent brown who was really colorful, with bright red spots and a red belly, sweet fish. The weather wouldn't stop acting weird and I was really paranoid so we called it a day early.

Date: May 24, 2008
Location: Cannon
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: worms and leeches
Fish landed: 3 Walleye
2 Smallmouth Bass
2 White Bass
2 Freshwater Drum
1 Sauger
1 Goldeye

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

QuickDraw
Marker(non F.A.G.)

This was my first Excursion to the Cannon, It was a pretty interesting day, just fun to get out on a float trip, we were do float about 5-6 miles. We were quickly fishing and although the first spot was fruitless, we were fishing and the day was young.

we soon moved down river to the next spot, we were fishing off an island which was pretty cool, and I saw a ton of big suckers, we tried to catch the suckers but they didn't seem to be interested, we moved down river again, the third spot was kinda interesting, we were soon catching walleyes just a foot or two off shore. it was a fun spot, caught the majority of my fish here. We were having lunch in this spot when a canoe rolled by and it was my good friend Patrick, WTF? what a weird coincidence. cool nonetheless. also some girls asked us to "show us your tits" which was funny, as me and mark were just discussing the finer points of this phrase. another coincidence.

we moved down river and caught some more fish and also caught a goldeye, which was the first time I've ever seen or heard of this fish which was really cool, caught my first silver bass and first goldeye on this trip. on the way home we stopped off at the creamery and had some $1 shakes(use to be $.50 shakes, damn arabs and their oil).

Two Quick Posts

Date: May 18, 2008
Location: Great Lawn
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 6 (4 browns, 2 brooks)

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

Scotty Mac
Xan


Another early morning, another day at the Curd. We arrived to a bridge without any cars parked by it. Once set up, we began covering the watery expanse along the Great Lawn itself. Cast after cast, after cast, after cast... after cast. Nary even a hit, for either of us, as we slowly moved our way upstream.




Finally, along the bank, protected by overhanging branches, I was able to land four fish. We kept on, fishing our way to the large pool, and even further up past the second major pool. I was only able to land a couple more, that was it.






We ended the day by the first, smaller pool from the lawn. The fish were rising with regularity, but not interested in our dries. Worse, they were taunting us by occasionally rising just behind them. After a good deal of futility, we called it a day.



Date: May 17, 2008
Location: Eagle
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 4 browns

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

Xan
TP


TP and I set out early on Saturday hoping to beat the crowds. After encountering a refugee camp at the EP Spot, we arrived at Eagle to find no cars. Things started well, as I was able to land a few just upstream from the bridge. We then traveled a ways downstream, to the first big pool in the area between Eagle and the Club. It was slow going for the both of us, with a few fish picked up here and there. The water was low and clear, and in a few hours they were swarming with other fishermen. After a meager haul, we went and got some spicy curds.

Left Hand Blues

Date: May 11, 2008
Location: Great Lawn and Bridge
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: Caddis!
Fish landed: 6 (4 browns, 2 brooks)

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

Xan


Sunday was sunny and windy, with waters sadly unaffected by the recent rain. The water at the Great Lawn and Bridge were low and clear. The primo conditions of early season are quickly becoming a sweet memory, as the water level drops and the fauna rise. To make matters worse, the start of the regular season is bringing added pressure to fish that are learning once again to be more wary.

Most tragic of all, Booter's triumphant return to the streams ended before it began, most likely due to some South Asian scourge. The only thing that could save this day would be the later season's saving grace, juicy hatches.

Caddis, followed later by tricos, grasshoppers, hex, mice, etc..., are a solid hatch throughout the warmer months. A heartier meal than the tiny mayfiles of early season, they will offer a steady rise throughout their convergence to the water's surface.


I was lucky enough to arrive in the middle of a hatch. I started catching fish not far upstream from the Lawn's access point. I lingered at a few runs, picking off trout here and there, but had the hankering to keep moving up. I was curious to fish the large pool not far up, but saw some folks from the Lawn Compound already there. I headed back to the car and went to the Bridge. The caddis had died down by then, and with that, the action. I hit a few runs, but quickly called it a day.

Date: May 12, 2008
Location: The Great Lawn
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: little bwo's
Fish landed: SkunkApe

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

QuickDraw

well I headed out to the river for an early morning fishing excursion. I wanted to fish my spot but as I pulled up i was surprised to see 2 cars there and people fishing at 8am. so I headed to the great lawn. When I got there there were 2 fisherman there so i started heading up river, i walked a long ways up because I wanted to fish alone. about 10 minutes after I started fishing, I started seeing more fisherman. I saw a total of 5 guys fishing the great lawn. got skunked, though I did have one fish hit my caddis. I was quick on the draw, but it was not to be.

I was also surprised that there were still no morels yet. Double SkunkApe!

Muddy Club Lounge