Muskie Flies and Business Cards

Two quick pics for you. 

First - Matt got me an awesome birthday present - new business cards.  I think they turned out great - thanks Matt.



Second - my new Muskie flies arrived from Bill Sherer at We Tie It Fly Shop. It's a new pattern he is selling called the Tandem-Eight.  Really it is 2 flies combined into one but it makes a nice big profile for fall fishing.  Can't wait to try them out in a few weeks.

Lake Vermilion 2011

We had our annual work trip to Lake Vermilion over the weekend.  The trip is always after the September 15th corporate tax deadline and we stay at Rod's place on Birch Point.  Lake Vermilion is a pretty impressive lake but I highly recommend using a GPS - a map doesn't cut-it because you can get turned around pretty quickly (look it up on Google.maps)

The real story is the trip up there.  We were going to use Matt's Green Machine but there was a trailer part snafu that required us to get my boat late Wednesday night - we took my boat off the lift in Minong at midnight (fortunately the sheriff wasn't called).  Matt and I hung out for 2-3 hours and then drove up to Tower, MN getting to Rod's around 5:30 am.  Got our gear in order and launched the boat for a full day of Muskie fishing.  Since the temp had dropped to 28 degrees, there was little fog. 

As the fog lifted we started moving around the lake trying new spots - we cover a lot of water over the 2 days.

We saw 5 fish the first day and 2 the second (and caught a nice pike).  Some of the follows were pretty aggressive but we couldn't get any hook-ups.  I know it makes for lame blogging when there aren't any fish pictures so I included Gary's 26.5 walleye (he was with the group).

Overall it was a great trip - we Muskie fished much more than past years and it was interesting being up for 42 straight hours but we survived.  Next year will be the year we boat a nice 50 incher.

Another St Croix year in the books & Gus's 19 inch SMB

Labor Day weekend pretty much marks the end of smallmouth fishing on the Upper St Croix.  In the next week or two most smallies will start their migration downstream to the reservoir portion above St Croix Falls/ Taylor Falls.  I've tried catching them later in September, even during stable warm weather but they're gone. 

Another sign pointing to the end of summer is the MN State Fair (I think Henry enjoyed it?).

I took the boys out for their first trip in the drift boat Friday with Blake chaperoning us.  On Gus's 2nd cast, he landed a 19 inch smallmouth bass (now on referred to as SMB - it's funnier when kids say it). 

We got a bunch of fish but the water was definitely down and we hit a lot of rocks.  Blake finds it very humorous that I laugh every time a SMB takes a top-water.  We also enjoy coming up with household references during a good cast like - "you just put that one in his living room" or "right on the kitchen table". 

Blake, Matt L and I did the stretch from CCC down to Riverside Sunday.  That was the day the weather turned.

We started catching quite a few and Matt even hooked a Muskie (I think - it rolled and was fat with a white belly and red fins).  The river has changed since the heavy rains earlier in the month.  It moved sand a half mile from where it was before and improved some sections.  Not to mention that Riverside looks completely different losing 3/4 of its trees.  Rowing out the winds picked up - not easy rowing the boat and defintely not good for top-water.

The Mississippi is getting back into shape so hopefully that fishes well into October otherwise we've got Brule steelhead but really I'm looking forward to early November Flambeau Muskies.