"Mlava" 7'6" 5wt Fly Rod

Fly rod "Mlava", built for an aquaintance in Serbia. It was named after the famous spring-creek in eastern Serbia, known for large, wild brown trout. The picture of the river is not very recent, since I haven't visited it for the past ten years... It shows the fairly open spring section. Further down the valley, the river becomes overgrown with trees, and its deep, emerald pools used to hold trophy browns, years ago...

Translated to English, the name Mlava would mean the Crushing River-due to the fact that after the snowmelt, it often becomes quite temperamental. It is a magical place, which holds many happy memories from my youth!

Casts and Boils

More jetty madness and more fish activity! Fish boiling, bait spraying, sometimes a vicious strike on each cast...and suddenly, everything would be quiet again. Most white bass caught were between sizes of the fish pictured. A couple of saugers were a nice bonus...

Lake Pepin Jetty

We visited a nice jetty on Lake Pepin today, and fished from it for a few hours. I was hoping to run into some white bass action, and even though I found some fish, the fishing was slow... I rigged my bass rod with slow sinking "hover" head and fished with small shad imitations-jig hook clousers, and craft fur minnows.

While I was fishing, Amy took a bike ride around the park. These cool looking blue bikes are available for everyone to use for free!

I saw several boils-whites were chasing baitfish, but very sporadically. This little guy came to my fly about 30 minutes upon my arrival. It was the only white bass for the day...

These guys were more common, bumping my fly often.

Just when I was getting ready to leave, this sauger attacked the fly in the rocky shallows... a pretty little fish!

On our way back, we watched a pair of cranes in the valley. We have been observing them already earlier this spring. They have been nesting in the valley for the past six seasons. Amazing birds, indeed! I took several pictures from the car, and even though not great (they were pretty far from the road), this one turned out the best. We'll be back on the lake soon!

Retrograph Rod: Graphite Hunter, Glass Heart

My latests build...a longer, light-line graphite rod with fiberglass soul :-)

Last Week's Fly

Caribou & Elk Caddis

• Body: Caribou hair (with under-fur)
• Wing: Elk
• Egg sack/hot butt: Green dubbing (optional)

As an afterthough, here 's another one, tied with caribou ...

Woodcock & Caribou Soft Hackle

• Tail: Wood duck
• Body: Caribou hair with under-fur
• Hackle: Woodcock

Scenes from the Caddis Blanket Hatch

Fishy Kid Writing Contest

Check out the Fishy Kid Writing Contest, with some great prizes for finalists! Grand Prize for the contest is a 10' or 12' NuCanoe worth over $900.

The River's Call

Windy, rainy, with thunderstorms-that's was today's forecast. We were ready for the river's call and by noon, the fishing gods were smiling. The rain stopped and the caddis hatch was on. Fish were lined up along the rocky bank.

The wind was blowing in strong gusts, and the greatest challenge was to get a perfect drift...

Little browns and one lonely brookie fell for caddis dries. We enjoyed our tea on the bridge after the fishing, while watching sporadic risers. The spring is finally here!

Orange-nose Minnow

A modern classic... Sculpted slinky fiber/flash blend, jig hook.

Easy Day Fly

I stumbled upon some of new Owner Wacky hooks in stealthy camo-green finish, and thought they would be perfect for slim sand eel imitations. I tied a few today, utilizing Liquid Fusion glue as a coating over the e-z body tubing... Nice and easy flies for Saturday afternoon!

This Morning...

I was getting ready...

To feed some hungry mouths! I found a typical spring scenario on the nearby spring creek: a smorgasboard of Early Stoneflies, BWO's, and some midges. Most fish took nymphs, but I had a couple of dry-fly takes. The weather turned blustery within a short time, but that is Wisconsin in the early spring!

Casting Fun

Lake water was still too cold and high, but I had alot of fun casting the bass rod from the wooden dock. Waves and wind made my casting platform oscillate and shake wildly! I was throwing Crystal Schminnows and small Jig-hook Clousers, without much happening. With nice temperatures we've been having, it shouldn't take much longer... On a side note, trout fishing has been good-I had some nice action on both dries and nymphs a couple of days ago on a local spring creek.