Curd Hoss

Dates: August 22, 2009
Location: Various parts of the Curd
Air temp: upper 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 6 (3 brooks, 3 browns)


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

Xan
QD


After scrapping a planned float due to bullshit hot weather and wind conditions, Quick and I decided to canoe the Canyon on this day. But, QD wasn't feeling well in the morning, so we decided to keep it simple and do a normal outing.

We went to the Curd instead, first going to QD's favorite run. We soon discovered it was really friggin' cold to be wet wading, but pushed ahead anyways. We didn't catch shit there.

Next up, was the Great Lawn. Finding a mouth-breathing family fishing from the bridge, we walked upstream to the first pool, where I was able to land one or two. We hiked up a bit, but low levels and the bright sun made for more futility.

To end the day, we decided to hit the EP spot. I started casting from the mousin' stations, and landed a brookie right away. QD went downstream and I went up. Landing a few more fish here and there, I made my way back to the stations, were I met up with QD, who unfortunately had gotten the skunk.

After the fishing was done, we went to town, where they were holding their annual summer festival. We saw the largest horses I've ever seen, paired up and pulling sleds laden with huge concrete blocks. We sampled various culinary delights, and then went back home, to tell all of the feats of strength we had witnessed.

Guilty Pleasures

Dates: August 2, 2009
Location: iRiver
Air temp: 80s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: 2 (1 bass, 1 pike)


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

Taffy
QD
Xan

As the heat of summer reached its shitty apex, it was once again time to leave the trout alone and focus on fucking with bass. So off to the iRiver we went, to taste its sweet fruits and do battle with stupid fish.

I was most excited for the raspberries, which I ate with frolicsome abandon as QD and Taffy were still setting up. After repeating last year's misguided path to the river, we finally got our bearings and found the spots with the goods.

While QD went downstream to fish some runs, I took Taffy, an iRiver virgin, to the area of my past conquests. Things started slow, as we flogged sections of a pool with our streamers. After tossing around my green bugger with no action, I decided to put some split shot on. My next cast landed by the bank, infront of a submerged branch, an area I had hit only minutes ago. I let the added weight do its thing for a moment, then a strip... boingo! As I fought the fish, it became clear that it was neither bass nor trout. It sported a beak-like mouth, long and lanky body, and darted through the water like a true killer. Getting it to the net, I found a 17" pike or muskie (fuck if I can tell the difference, probably a pike though). Neither of us had a camera, so we examined the beast for a moment and then let it swim off, hopefully to grow into a big and strong gosling eater.

A short while later, QD was by us when I began to drift an egg sucking leech through a run. I saw a flash go after the purple fly, and the showdown with Billy Bass was on. True to form, the roughly 16" bass put up a solid battle. It was Quick's turn next, as he fished a pool upstream from us, taking on a few bass of his own.

Things slowed down after that, as we cast here and there in vain. With all said and done, even though they weren't trout, I'd do it again.

Dog Days of Summer

Dates: July 19, 2009
Location: Warwick Falls
Air temp: 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: a few


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

Xan
Booter


Sorry for the lapse in posting. On this day, Boot and I went to the waterfall (again). Caught a few dinkers, only fished for a few hours, nice to be out, yadda yadda yadda. Like most things in life involving Booter, it was only mildly satisfying and ended prematurely.

It's LaToya's time.

Dates: June 26, 2009
Location: The Curd Rivah
Air temp: mid 90's
Water temp: ?
Hatches: some Lil guys, and the dreaded parsnip
Fish landed: 1(TAFKAY)


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

QuickDraw
TAFKAY

well it was another slow day on the river but we had a good time, It was hot, so we sought the shelter of the shade, we had a nice walk down river starting at the "family lands". We hit a few small runs on the way to our ultimate destination. Me and TAFKAY had a good day out eventhough the fish weren't biting.

I managed to find a bug that was completely covered in Flashback!!!!
Take that Booter! Take it all.

We capped off the day right with a stop to the EPB&G for a large order of their delicious Spicy curds.

RIP

May heaven be filled with P.Y.T.s.

Generations

Dates: June 7, 2009
Location: Various parts of the Warwick
Air temp: upper 50s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: ?
Fish landed: low double digits


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

Xan

It finally rained on Saturday. I stayed off the streams as the first good dousing in weeks replenished water levels, if only for a little while. On Sunday, I went fishing, though only after waking up rather late and finding it hard to motivate. The skies were overcast and the air temps were unusually cool, and I finally realized that I wouldn't see such plum conditions until September at best.

Because of my late start, I decided it would be a good day to hit lower traffic areas and perhaps explore a bit. I went to a spot well upstream on the Warwick, only to find a truck parked in the lot with a bumper sticker that read, "I fish, therefore I lie." I decided to give it a whirl anyways. This was a place I had found morels and hardy trout in years past. On this day, I would find neither, though I did land a few smaller trout here and there. As I made my way downstream, I came upon the presumed owner of the truck, an old mouth-breather who was stalking a large trout. In our brief exchange of chit chat, he made the remark that fly fishermen could not catch large trout. My retort consisted of the words, "You fish, therefore you die, ape fucker," coupled with a devastating chop to his temple. Actually, I ignored him and continued downstream until the trail disappeared and nothing looked very fishy, so I went back to the car.

At this point, it was exploring time. I studied the DeLorme to find spots between my normal Warwick haunts and my starting point. I found a few candidates and drove to check them out. My third stop looked the most promising. Walking down from the bridge, I found a few kids hanging out underneath. I asked if they would mind me wetting a line, to which they had no quarrel. The run looked promising, and sure enough, my first few casts landed fish. This piqued their interest, and they asked to get a closer look at my catch. Walking over to shore, I let a girl hold my brown trout, leaving you, my dear reader, to interpret that as you will. Not long after, some more kids and a couple adults arrived at the opposite bank, along with a dog not owned by anyone present. The dog proceeded to swim through the run, and one of the girls started yapping about her life story, so I got the hell out of there and went upstream.

I made my way up, finding my surroundings to be quite similar to the regions above the Canyon. Fish were landed here and there, though nothing of size. I explored for a while, until things started looking the same. After tiring of the lack of trails, I made my way back and went home.

Sorry, Dude

Dates: May 31, 2009
Location: Various parts of the Warwick
Air temp: 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches: Caddis and such
Fish landed: low double digits


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

Xan


I woke up at the ass crack of 5:30, Sunday morn, and was on the river by 7:30. Like a moth to a flame, I found myself at the waterfall, only to find a mouth-breather fishing just below the base. Being a man of etiquette, I ceded the entire base area and climbed up to the second tier. As is the usual, I hooked into a nice fish, only to have it pop off. Things were a bit slow on the tiers, so I decided to climb up past the waterfall to see what I could find.

Wading and fishing upstream, I was landed the usual aggressive rainbows in small runs throughout the stream. I took a leisurely approach, enjoying the morning sunlight, seemingly catching fish at every run I tried.

Eventually, I made my way back to the falls, only to find an attractive, blond mouth-breathette fishing the base. I briefly fished the second tier, catching a bow, before moving on downstream to explore. Walking a ways, I didn't find anything worth wetting a line, so I hiked back to the car to try another spot.

I arrived at a lot upstream and found no cars. I hiked down to a money run/hole, and almost immediately had a fat 16" brown on. The fish fought hard, and took me roughly thirty feet downstream before I got a net around him.

A few more fish were brought to hand, and then the porker of the day appeared. I cast toward the opposite bank, indicator down, fish on. Another brown, between 16-18". It didn't fight as hard as the other, but it felt like a stone. I got it in the net and decided I had to take a picture. Fumbling around, I got my camera out and took a snap of him in the net. It just didn't do the fish justice. I decided to get cheeky, and setup my camera on a rock. As I tried to take the fish out of the net, he started to squirm. I wasn't able to get a good grip on him due to his girth, and he slipped out, hitting (I believe) his head on the rock, and landing in the water. At this point, I abandoned my desire to take a pic, and tried to revive him. After letting him go, he swam/drifted about a foot then sank to the bottom. Crap. I tried nudging it, and then could no longer see him through the murky water.

I fished for a bit longer, caught a couple more, then called it a day. I can only hope the fishing gods forgive my sins.

RIP