Trip Report: Yakin' the Root

Yesterday a friend and I got up early and fished till late out of the Kayaks. Last time I did this trip the caddis and mayflies came off and fish rose consistently. Yesterday was even better! We pushed off by 9am and I was on to fish right away. Most fish were 8-10 inches but the colors were spectacular.

 We fished from the kayaks and got out to wet wade frequently. Fishing the wet wading was easy but fly fishing out of the kayak proved a little more challenging. After catching a few on the Quill Bodied Mayfly Emerger I tried the Pink Squirrel of Prey fished under an indicator. No luck. I switched between a Gray Skittering Caddis and the Quill Bodied Mayfly Emerger for the rest of the day.

 All of the nicer fish I caught were around this size, maybe 12-13 inches. We caught mostly brown trout but also landed a few rainbow trout. The battle they put on is more ballistic than brown trout.

 The rainbows were all around the same size. Rainbows are stocked in this river and these two were probably stocked this spring judging by their fins. When rainbows are freshly stocked their fins are still warn off from the concrete raceways at the hatchery where they are reared. These fish have healed fins. If they hold over through next spring there fins will look healthy.

This brown came while fishing from the boat! My buddy fished with spinning gear and landed a few on a Brown Trout Rapala and tried out the fly rod, landing 2 or 3 on the fly. I must've landed at least 40-50 trout by the time we pulled the Yaks ashore after 7pm. It was a blast to catch so many fish on dry flies and I can't wait to do it again!

Trip Report-From the Sand to the Driftless

Yesterday my adventure to the Central Sands region of Wisconsin continue as I chased trout around without my camera. All my wading left it temporarily out of commission. I tied into one 14-15 inch trout that I failed to land and caught around a dozen smaller browns. My buddy and I took his new boat "The Guppy" out on the big river to play with. It was a beautiful night but we didn't catch anything. I got up this morning and hit the shore on the Wisconsin before my trip back to the Driftless.

This bass was fun to fight. I had an audience as I fished along a river walk. After landing a few bass and having a bunch of people stop to tell me their stories about fly fishing I tied into a real beast. I was fishing a 2.5 inch gray bunny leech. About 15 feet from shore my line tightened and I set the hook into something thick. After the beast realized he was hooked he took off. The fish hit the surface once briefly and I could see it was a muskie. It was through all of my fly line in no time. I was nervously watching my reel as the backing spun. I tightened the drag a few times but I wasn't using a heavy leader and I didn't want to horse him too much. After a mad dash my backing disappeared off the spool and with a sharp bend of my rod the 8 lb test broke and the rod straitened. The fish must've been 40+ inches! A few people had stopped to watch and everybody was disappointed he didn't come to hand. After landing a few more fish I decided to head home to mow the lawn. As I headed back I decided to put off the lawn and go trout fishin!

I started off right were I left off on Sunday. Slayed 'em. The Pink Squirrel of Prey fished low and slow was key. Most fish came from soggy, muddy, deep water and takes were subtle.

No monsters today but a great average size to these fish! When we get a week or two of cold nights a sense of urgency comes over all of the woodland and water dwelling creatures. They start to put on the feed bag in preparation for a long and cold winter.

After landing this beast I decided to call it a day. Tomorrow I plan to do some kayak fishing with another friend, stay tuned.

Trip Report-From the Driftless to the Sand

I've been fishing a little here and there prior to this week. Fish have been eating size 18-20 bwo dry patterns and I've had a few 20-30 fish days, all 6-13 inches long. This week I took vacation and planned to fish both in the Driftless and in the Sand Counties in Wisconsin. Before I headed to the streams of the Central Sands I fished with my buddy Kentucky George. We met up at one of my favorite local waters at 7am and trudged in to a spot that I was planning to fish for a long time. As we hiked in I turned to Kentucky George and said "I think we have a 50/50 chance of catching a 20 incher today".

 Not a 20 incher. I was super happy to hook into this fish though. The indicator slid through the slow current in a deep chute with my Pink Squirrel of Prey trailing five feet down, bouncing on the bottom. This fish put up a great fight on my Whitewater Valley Flies 9ft 4wt. After a few quick pics (thanks Kentucky George) the fish was released. I would have been content if this was the fish of the day.

This was the fish of the day! Kinda skinny but I'll take any bigass fish I can get! Not sure exactly how big she is but I'd guess a solid 20 inches. Same scenario as above. She swam back and forth covering a distance of about 15 feet, probably 7 or 8 times before going on two long runs. George put the net on her like a pro too. He got a video of the fight and got another after we netted her. 

 George was a patient photographer. He landed a few small fish but for some reason lady luck shined on me today! I landed around a dozen fish, almost all decent. 

Around 11am I headed toward the Sand Counties to chase brookies.

 I arrived around 3pm and trout fished until 7. The waters I fished ran with a dark tannin stain that concealed my movements well enough to fool a few little browns and brookies.

The browns were all around 10 inches and came with ease at most bridge crossings at a rate of 2-3 per bridge. This brookie took a Pink Squirrel of Prey. I only landed three brookies. One of the streams I most looked forward to fishing was running too high for me to wet wade although I tried. After easing into the water at thigh deep I took two steps forward and found myself balls deep in an ice cold, spring fed, Sand County trout stream. After two more steps I was over my belly button and it got a little tough to breath I took a few steps back, waited to acclimate, then continued upstream. I landed this guy before getting out of the water and scouting from shore. Problem was the whole area was really marshy. The area has received a lot of rain throughout the summer so waters int he marshes and streams is running high. I trudged around a bunch before deciding to focus more on bridges. At around 7pm I headed to fish the Wisconsin River before meeting up with a friend around 830.

I got this brute of a bass (smallmouth) on a little experimental streamer I tied up. I landed a few more before heading in.

Flies!

Today I was given the challenge of tying up an order to size 22 and 24 Quill Bodied Mayfly/Midge Dry/Emergers. Challenge accepted...

 I also added the Quill Bodied RS2 Emerger to the inventory at Whitewater Valley Flies

Fly Fishing Sale @ Whitewater Valley Flies

Today through Saturday at midnight Whitewater Valley Flies 20% off all flies and fly rods!!!