Wisconsin Fishing Opener

I took the week off to work on cabin landscaping projects - which also happened to coincide with the Wisconsin fishing opener.  Everything was shaping up perfect except the rain.

Saturday Matt, Gus and I hit the St Croix way up by County Road T for a short and successful float (Gus really tested my knot-undoing-abilities - he's 7 and loves bombing casts).

 Matt's musky took a size 9 shallow shad rap in black and white right on the seam of this pool - it really whacked it too.

I caught this walleye in the middle of pool with a clackin-minnow.  The clackin-minnow in firetiger really works well on walleyes this time of year.  We also caught a few smallies on the smaller version of the whopper plopper which is a blast to cast.

Then the rain came.  This is the graph at Danbury and it was already a little above normal which happens depending on rain - but the increasing river levels and cloud cover cooled the fishing for Sunday. 

Sunday I missed on a nice smallie but that was it.  On Monday the fishing was better again and we hit the river right after lunch - which is really the best time for both visibility and water temp this time of year.  A few more smallies, a walleye and nice pike.

Otherwise for the rest of the week it was back to the landscaping and other cabin projects.  I broke free after lunch a few times and really hammered crappies and bluegills with the fly.  It's a real blast watching panfish slam a tiny popper or rubber ant.

Anyways, a very successful week - especially because I didn't get hurt - even though it was close.

Post Tax Season Fish

Matt and I finished up tax season last week and took Wednesday off for some Western Wisconsin trout fishing.  First we hit the Willow Race without Luke, who had made the rookie mistake of drinking with JFT at the tax party (it never ends well).

We didn't spend too much time on the Willow - probably 10:00 to 12:00.  The water was definitely off color and we only managed 3 fish.  I did however get a great brown (I think about 16 - judge from the pictures) on a size 10 black and olive woolly bugger twitched through a run. 

Matt and I ate our sandwiches in the car and took the short drive to the Kinni at F.  We had big plans for the GoPro.  We hit the first run and Matt couldn't wait for me to get everything setup so I didn't get his spectacularly jumping brown.  He did however do some great camera work on this nice brown.

Overall we had about a dozen a fish on nymphs and streamers.  The water was off color so the bigger and brighter flies really worked.  It was a lot of fun because the fish were in skinny water hammering bugs. 

Sure Brian said he had 50+ on Sunday with about 2 dozen on dries -

Kinni Sunday

Brittany and the boys took off Saturday to Arizona for spring break while I stayed home and diligently worked to finish up tax season.  Well I guess I took a little break and hit the Kinni with Brian and Matt Sunday.  I didn't want take any pictures so there wasn't proof of me having a good time while my family was gone, but Matt got some great pics - especially since it was probably my biggest trout on the Kinni.

Look at this great panoramic shot - he happened to time it perfect when I set the hook.

That brown took a size 16 olive hare's ear.  All three of us caught fish, hare's ear was the best fly but pink squirrel, sucker spawn, and pheasant tails also worked.  Flows were good and the kayakers were out in full force.  Be careful with the trees in the water - we witnessed one dump.

Matt and I are fishing again the 18th (day after tax season) - but we are going to try to do GoPro footage.  Stay tuned.



Klickitat Booked

I just booked my trip to the Klickitat for late August with Brian.  I've caught about a dozen to two dozen wild fish on the Brule and a few Loopers on the North Shore but as my buddy Pete says "they're not steelhead unless they taste salt".  Well here's my shot - which per my latest video project couldn't come quickly enough

Here's my time lapsing project of what my days have been like.

Fun with Video

I've been a little slow in posting, especially since I've been on a fly/lure making rampage.  But besides that, I got a GoPro for Christmas (from myself).  I took some great video at my parents over Christmas bird hunting but couldn't edit it with my basic software because of the HD quality.  So I got Pinnacale at Best Buy ($130) and put this little piece together.  It still isn't coming through quality wise like I want.  It is much crisper on my PC then loaded through the web - anyway let me know what you think.

http://vimeo.com/35351074
(Can you get Vimeo links to show up like YouTube??)

As part of the software it came with a green screen.  I've never worked with one before so this is my Green Screen Try 1 with the boys

Birds and Big Flies

This is obviously a horrible time for fishing but that's fine - it's a great time to shoot birds and tie flies.  We had a good day last Friday shooting some birds in Pine City at Wings North.

I've also been tying some really big flies - I got some great foam heads from the We-Tie-It shop in Boulder Jct.  Asher helped me out.

Flambeau musky

Matt, Pete, Brian and I hit the Flambeau River east of Winter off Hwy 70 Saturday and Sunday.  We had planned on flyfishing most of the time but the wind came up and I wimped out after banging a 6/0 sailfish fly off my head a few times.  For the most part weather was good and as usual I should have taken more pictures.  We did manage some nice fish - and the motorbike worked great.

We had been fishing for a few hours not seeing a thing Saturday.  Matt and I switched over to gear as we came up to a big deep hole.  On about my 10th cast I had a good hit on a jerk bait but it was on the "jerk" part of the motion and I couldn't get tight for a good hook set.  We continued to fish for a while - getting more frustrated (I'm not that good of a musky fisherman yet).  I launched a cast into the trees and pissed off I reeled back in as fast I could.  Bang, this 33 incher comes out of no where and slams the Jimmy.  We got some nice pics but Pete thought it was better watching me still shaking from a great take.

Ten minutes later this 36 incher comes in and slams the Jimmy.  It got airborne and had a few good head shakes.  Right away we thought it was a bigger fish but it was still fun.  Notice the lack of pectoral fins?

Sunday we fished a stretch just up river.  The first half by Nine Mile Creek looks great and it was good to float different water.  The fish were right where we expected them to be but a little more cautious.  Pete had a really good follow and I missed a nice fish on the same "jerk" portion but after Pete inspected the hooks we later determined that cheap hooks hitting rocks for 2 days can really dull a lure.

Brian did manage a nice pike on the fly (which we are lobbying for Pete Jr. to be named).  Too bad I didn't mange a better picture.





Overall we managed 3 muskies in the boat, 2 missed takes and saw another 3.  I have fished this stretch of river 4 times and managed a musky every time.  It was a great weekend and a good getaway for all of us - a fantastic way to finish up the year.