The Gamiest Fish and Lost Pictures

It is hard to write about exciting fishing adventure when the photos of the trip disappear...not to mention the disappointment of the fisherman/photographer. That is exactly what happened to me yesterday, but here's the rest of the story...

I spent two wonderful days exploring NW Wisconsin with my friend Harold. We fished the small weedy spring creek for native brook trout on Saturday, with the lightest rods and dry flies. Yesterday, despite of all the tornado warnings in the area, we sneaked out several times during the afternoon in his fishing boat out on the lake Wissota, to chase ravenous smallmouth bass. Harold lives on the lake and knows its intricacies inside out. We concentrated our efforts on the rocky stretch known as "the bass alley." The fishing started slow and I got the first fish on the black & brown Clouser minnow, after switching from the traditional stop-and-go retrieve to the hand-over-hand, saltwater style retrieve.

The wind was dying and dark clouds were signaling the approaching storm. We drifted further downwind, and the fish were turned on. We were getting hits every several casts. I was using my "warmwater special" I built last Fall on the vintage Lamiglas blank. It handled precise casts required to place the fly tight to the bank, literally inches from the shore rocks. After several more casts, I switched to the floating fly-a version of Gurgler I tied some years ago (top photo). This combination of fiery colors and rapid movement fish found just irresistible. Perhaps the diffused light under the dark sky enhanced the fly's effectiveness. We snapped many photos of big, healthy bronzebacks. The short glass rod proved to be an incredible fish fighting tool-very easy to manipulate when the fish stubbornly sounded under the boat. Eventually we got caught in the quickly approaching rain and furiously ran for the dock.

Finally at Harold's home, we started downloading fresh pictures and quickly found out the terrible truth: the compact flash card from my camera was dead! All the pictures were gone, the memory failed irreparably, even though we were watching them just minutes ago on the camera's display.

I guess things lake this happen to everyone occasionally, so this part of the story will have an old bass picture of the fish I took three years ago in Waterloo creek in NE Iowa (left-first photo), while fishing for wild browns in August. The fish took a dead drifted leech imitation-it was an accidental catch on the prime brown trout stream. I will hopefully fish soon with Harold again, but it is hard to forget nice shots of beautiful gamefish lost forever, taken in the almost unreal stormy light.

Backtracking now...several days ago I visited my favorite trout stream (left-second photo) with a friend, and spent an exciting afternoon wet and nymph fishing for wild brown and brook trout. Fishing upstream, I took a single fish on a surface fly and switched to nymphs, fished upstream dead drifted, on the greased leader. In fast water pockets I used large Czech nymphs for quick short-line action, but this particular stretch of the stream has only several sections where this technique works well. On my way back, I experimented with single and multiple casts of wet flies. The system with three flies (two droppers and the point fly) proved to absolutely deadly in comparison to the single fly fished first thorough the same stretch. Sometimes two fish would smack the flies on the swing, even though there was no major hatch going on. The fish showed no preference to the particular pattern, and I believe that multiple wets create an illusion of artificial hatch, which can sometimes turn the trout on.

Even though I am not a big fan of tandems and multiple fly rigs, since they hinder casting, this was an exciting and eye-opening experience. I did use straight line connections (no loops) and short droppers, which helped reduce the tangles. Glass rods and wet fly fishing techniques are really made for each other.

Wet Sedges

Traditional wets-caddis imitations, with bodies made of shiny dubbing...

Umbrella CDC Cranefly

This pattern imitates small yellow craneflies (genus Antocha) common on some Driftless area trout streams in the spring and early summer. It can be fished dry or wet.

Hook: TMC 101, size 18;
Body: Pale olive thread under doubled single strand of yellow super-hair, wrapped;
Thorax/Legs: Pale ginger CDC feather, wrapped four turns (concave side facing front), bottom clipped;
Front hackle: Oversize moorhen covert feather, one and a half turn (concave side facing front).

You can see some of my large cranefly patterns here and here.

The River of Many Moods II

Spring wind, grannoms, yellow craneflies, glass and cane, finicky trout...

The River of Many Moods

Anticipating some caddis action, I went to my favorite WI stream on Monday. Beyond my expectations, I was treated with the magnificent caddis hatch-sort of a repetition of my last week's outing... Caddisflies were abundant along the rocky stretch near the bridge, and I was sharing it with only one angler. I did explore further upstream and got some fish on nymphs, but returned to the first location. Fishing dries and emergers over rising trout is really hard to pass by. Fish were slurping caddis in rocky eddies, behind boulders, and often tight to the bank stones. The trick was to throw a slack line cast and hope that the fish would grab the fly before the current would drag it away. It was a dry fly fisherman's paradise-trout wouldn't even look at my soft hackles which worked so well the previous week in SE MN.

My friend Jeremy (casting on the picture) and I hit the same stream yesterday, hoping for the repeated action. The day was a carbon copy of the previous one-everything looked so right for the new explosion of caddis acitivity. We both fished 4weights (top photo.) Jeremy used his beautiful Norling hollow-built cane rod, while I fished the glass rod I completed last Fall on McFarland's Dry Fly taper blank. The familiar rocky stretch was teaming with anglers upon our arrival, and we decided to fish Jeremy's favorite location upstream instead.

The water had magical feel to it and pastel green banks were full of life...spring flowers, red-winged blackbirds, grey heron and the restless osprey-everything but the black caddis! While we got some fish, both browns and brookies, caddis were completely absent.

We found some BWO's and midge activity, threw everything from streamers to soft hackles, and had a wonderful time talking and making each cast count. On our way back, Jeremy explored the midge hatch with tiny flies and took the photo of emerging pale green midge (botom left). We walked toward out cars, while the moody trout were still rising along the silvery glide.

Spring Caddis

After the weekend snow flurries, today was the first nice day this week... and I was lucky to be able to spend several hours on the prime SE MN spring creek. Amy joined me for the trip, but decided not to fish, since the wind was blowing in 20-30mph gusts.

The stream was slightly high and little off-colored, but nothing too bad... We arrived around 11:30am, just in time for the caddis hatch. The first rises indicated fish taking emerging pupae, right under the surface. I love this type of fishing, since I can use soft hackles in combination with my glass rod, to swing them or fish them upstream, dead drifted or sometimes with subtle twitches. Very soon the fish were boiling everywhere... This particular stretch has nicely manicured banks, so I just grabbed my wellington boots and started casting. Fish would usually take the fly savagely. At moments there were so many naturals on the surface, that it would take several repeated drifts to get a trout. I switched to a bigger fly, one size larger (a soft hackle with bright green biot body, speckled brown hackle, and ostrich head), and noticed that bigger fish would often grab it.

Little later I put the waders on and explored some corners where I previously noticed swirls of larger fish-spots which weren't reachable from the shore. Towards the end, the emergence ceased and fish would still take fluttering adults on the surface. I ended the day with several fish caught on dries in a narrow fast flowing side channel, under the low-hanging branch. None of the fish caught today went over 13", but the numbers made up for the size... Two consecutive casts would often produce either a take or a miss.

I was trying to identify today's caddis and compared the photos at troutnut.com. SE MN hatch chart lists two common early dark caddis species: Cheumatopsyche sp. and Chimarra sp. As you can see from my photos, insects are definitely not completely black, but have dun/brown wings. My best guess would be the first of the two species-Cheumatopsyche sp. (Little Sister Sedge.)

Split Thread CDC Midge

A hatching midge imitation...

Hook: Curved TMC 2488
Body: Split thread dubbing loop with black CDC fibers
Wing: White CDC puff

Soul Painting

In today's mail I received some wonderful illustrations of my favorite gamefish, from a good friend. Mark is ornithologist, a talented painter/illustrator, and a passionate flyfisher! Visit his blogs: FLYINTROPICAL and YUHINA ILLUSTRATION for more wonderful images and interesting flyfishing-related topics!

Mayflies of Spring

I fished the western Wisconsin twice last week and spent the Saturday fishing NE Iowa, while visiting my in-laws. With three outings in a week, I finally feel like I am catching up with my fishing. The weather was gloomy for the most part of the week-I even got soaked on Rush river on Thursday. However, this type of weather is the greatest for fishing, and all three days were truly magnificent, with double digit catches on each outing.

Both Wisconsin trips started in similar fashion... I would drift buggers or weighted nymphs during the morning, occasionally switching to size 22 midges for bank sippers. Baetis hatch would start little after 11am, and fish would turn on. There were still some little stoneflies around, and I spotted very few Dark Hendricksons and a single black caddis. The river was slightly off color and little high.

On both days I found pools below riffles where stacked fish would gulp little olives. The feeding on rainy Thursday was so intense, that the churned surface full of swirls and boils reminded me of blitzing stripers on the NE coast...I don't think I ever saw that many trout feeding at the same time. While half emerged duns caught plenty of fish on Monday, PT nymphs and Starling & Pheasant wets took fish consistently on both days. It was greased line fishing in classic style: switch and single spey cast down and across, mend the line, follow the swing, and allow enough slack in the system to hook the fish successfully. Each cast would often bring a hungry trout. I didn't get any giants, but all trout were well conditioned and feisty fighters (notice the footprints of another "fisherman" next to the trout, photo above.)

Iowa creeks were not in the greatest shape, due to the heavy downpours during the week. Waterloo was murky and high, but I decided to fish it, since it can produce big browns when the water is slightly off-color. The visibility ranged from 6 to 12 inches-not great but still fishable.

I started the day with Waterloo Leeches, Siliclone Sculpins and the super-fast polyleader. Size 2 sculpin didn't prove too big for average Waterloo browns, fished off the bottom in slower pools.

Around noon, a heavy hatch of Baetis materialized, followed by Dark Hendricksons. The unfavorable water conditions were responsible for the lack of intense surface activity, but in quiet eddies there were enough surface feeders to satisfy a dry fly purist. I fished my new Sceptre glass for the most part of the week, and it proved again to be very versatile stick. I switched from polyleader to furled thread leader and Hendrickson CDC Cripple dry. Wild browns from Waterloo, just like their Rush river cousins, were in excellent shape and hungry. The fish keyed on Hendricksons (title photo) after the Baetis (left) hatch tapered off. The egg laying spinners hovered over the riffles, while the duns were still emerging, often intercepted by red-winged blackbirds in the mid-air. Hendrickson umbrella duns with moorhen front hackle worked like a charm on selective feeders.

I had to leave around 5pm so I wouldn't miss the family dinner... Fish were still rising along the rocky bank, enjoying the mayflies of spring.

Small Wild Browns

I often fish this beautiful spring creek in early season... known for its cold water and smaller fish. Its upper reaches are kind of a place where you will use every casting technique you know. Tall dry grass, leafless branches and gusts of early spring wind play a wild dance with the fly line. You are using every bit of concentration to throw a pretty loop through the trees. The water feels like a melted ice and the fish are sluggish.

Suddenly, the sun is breaking through the clouds and the fish are lined up in sandy shallows like little soldiers. They are taking something from the surface-swirls and splashes are everywhere. Looking closely at the water, I see a tiny regatta of Baetis duns and midges skimming nervously across the water surface. It is midges they are after! Fish like my little emerging pupa, with banded body and CDC wing. The activity ceases as abruptly as it started. Little later, I watch early dark stoneflies near the faster, rocky stretch upstream, doing their egg laying routine. Little trout are going wild again, and a couple of them smack my bushy fly.

The sun is playing hide and seek and it finally disappears. The shadows deepen, while I take one more glance at my favorite open stretch. The wind picks up and I can feel the cold seeping through my waders. It is time to go...

Waspoodle

I played today with the Poodle fly style of tying and came up with this wasp imitation.

Waspoodle

Hook: curved shank
Abdomen: yellow dubbing ribbed with the black thread
Post and hackle: Orange antron with ginger/brown parachute hackle, front half clipped

Umbrella Hackle Yellow Drake

Umbrella Hackle Yellow Drake

Hook: 10-12 dry fly
Body: yellow and black Superhair strands over pale olive silk
Tail: microfibetts
Dry hackle: ginger saddle clipped on the bottom, four turns
Soft hackle: pale yellow mallard over olive moorhen feather, single turn, reversed/umbrella style

Getting a Grip...

Photo of grip shapes I used on my glass rods (L to R): Full Wells, Superfine, Half-Wells, Garrison, Cigar, Ritz. I sometimes get little bored with the Reversed Half-Wells shape, which is prevalent on contemporary graphite trout models.

Sceptre Rod Testing

After yesterday's snow, I decided to stop by the nearest trout stream and test cast my latest rod. The plan was to check out the stream conditions and the water clarity for the possible weekend outing. I did some test-casting in my backyard last week, but I wanted to try the rod on the water. Amy joined for the ride, too. She is responsible for today's photos of me casting.

I found the stream high and murky, on the blustery March day. Last season I was fishing dry stonefly imitations at this time of the year, and I was pleasantly surprised to find very sporadic scuttling stones with occasional small trout rising. This was by no means a full blown hatch, but it came as a nice surprise, considering the raised water levels and turbidity. The water visibility was about a foot.

I strung the rod with #5 line. Remembering that I tested it in my backyard with this line, I made some casts over an area where I saw a single, lonely rise. While the rod felt slightly underloaded on the shortest casts, it was deft and precise with more line in the air. This will be a very nice line choice for larger water and stealthy long casts with grasshopper imitations in the late summer and fall. The strong wind was a bit too much, so I switched to the DT6 line. I like testing rods in the wind-it is a real fishing situation, while it's so easy to make perfect casts on a windless day. The rod felt sweeter with the heavier line on the shorter 'presentation' casts, punching the loops into the cross-wind. One small trout smacked my dry stonefly, just when Amy got cold enough to get back to the car. After this little fish I had another swift take, before I was too cold to continue. This got my blood working and I can only hope that this wave of unseasonably cold weather will soon disappear. The trout are ready for spring, and so am I!

Speaking about flies-I've been experimenting lately with a moose mane as a body material for dry flies. It proved very easy to work with, and I have yet to test its durability. Here are photos of some flies I tied with it, with different colored backgrounds. Two hairs in contrasting colors create a perfect, flat segmented body.

Sceptre Glass Rod

I finished Sceptre staggered ferrule 7'10" #5/6 glass rod. The wraps are claret with tan single turn accents-depending on the light source, they turn different shades of burgundy. Unfortunately it's too cold to fish today, but I feel it will complement my Lamiglas 8' #5 perfectly. It won't be long and I will be able to test it on some spring creeks and make better comparison.

Reel Extreme

Different fly reels for different applications-extreme sizes (2.5" vs. 4.5" O.D.)