Trip Report: The Old Hunt 'n Fish

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow I planned to hunt-fish-hunt from sun up to sun down! Yesterday worked out well and although I didn't get a deer the fishing was great. I woke up to 20-30 mph winds and temps in the 20's so I decided to sleep in and spend the late morning and early afternoon raiding some deer beds I found yesterday. I only sat for a little while but with gusts hitting 50 mph I decided to hunt for only 2 hours.

This rock on the left acted as my perch yesterday and today. I had a great view the trough pictured above and a steep ravine that funneled deer through about 30 feet below me! It should be a good spot, there was evidence of deer activity everywhere.

I arrived at the parking area and immediately found a familiar face! My buddy Eric was suiting up and after some brief preparation we headed to a hole near a bridge. We strong armed casts into stiff winds and immediately tied into some trout. Eric used a fly rod I built him a few years ago and some flies he tied. I used my 3wt and a combination of my flies and a fly tied by Eric's girlfriend. We call it the Pink Panther. Although the wd40 started off strong the Pink Panther earned the distinction of fly of the day.

This was the most colorful fish of the day. Eric landed at least two dozen fish and I brought around the same amount to hand. Even though the winds were strong and the deer were hiding it turned out to be a great day for fishin'! Stay tuned, I hope to do the same tomorrow but hopefully with better hunting than fishing.

Trip Report: Small Flies, Big Fish

s This bridge is very photogenic. Two kids stood on the bridge just like my brother and I would have done growing up, spying for trout from above.

I arrived on stream at 10am with air temps near 30 and cloudy skies. I headed to a few spots in the park today and found cooperative fish at every stop. Fish ate the gray zebra midge, disco midge, quill body midge emerger, and matt's midge dry. Fish were most interested in size 22 and 24 flies but I managed a few on up to size 16's.

This rosy cheeked rainbow took a gray zebra midge bounced along the bottom under an indicator. I've found that in some of the more heavily pressured areas of the parks it's best to use small flies and light tippets. It is important to make sure your fly is very close to the bottom as such heavily pressured fish will often only bite if the fly comes within five or six inches of its face. Having a drag free drift matters as well, although giving the fly a few twitches at the right time often elicits a strike too.

 This handsome rainbow trout was the only fish landed on a dry fly. He took a sz 20 matt's midge dead drifted perfectly through the foam line. I tricked four fish into hitting but only landed the one.

This stout little guy came from an unassuming lie and put up a great fight. He took a size 24 quill bodied midge emerger tied on a light emerger hook. I had to nurse him to be sure the light hook didn't straighten out.

 Fish came to hand pretty consistently throughout the late morning and early afternoon. There was never any really consistent surface activity but fish remained happy to take flies subsurface.

This silvery bugger took a purple size 22 disco midge. A hole lot more fish came to hand including a few little brown trout. In case anyone wonders the reel seat and grip on this fly rod measures 10.75". I estimate that the biggest fish caught today may have hit 15 or 16". It was nice to get out again since I'll be hunting, working, and doin' family stuff over the next few weekends.

All flies used today were tied by me and are available at Whitewater Valley Flies. I fished with a 7' 9" three weight fly rod that I build. Those are also available @wwvalleyflies.

Trip Report: Cold Cold Cold

I had today off work because I was going to head to the Milwaukee area to see some family. I still plan to go but decided to wait until Sunday. With a day off work and no real plans I considered staying home to tie flies, then I thought better!

I arrived on stream around 1030am and headed to a quiet little run that always produces a fish or two. It yielded two little brown trout. Because I was fishing a State Park I decided to look around for where rainbow trout have been stocked. It didn't take long before I found 'em!

 Initially they came on a size 16 tungsten beaded WD40. After a while I tied on a Matt's Midge dry fly dropper in a size 20 and that took quite a few fish. The dry fly dropper is pulled under by the lead fly and gives the trout something a little different to look at which can be a game changer when fishing heavily pressured waters like our state parks.

This was the big fish of the day. I'd guess he measures around 15 inches. After fishing one spot for a few hours and landing a dozen and a half fish I moved to another area where they sometimes stock and sure enough!

This was the most colorful rainbow of the day! At this point I had switched over to a gray size 16 zebra midge with a tungsten bead. I could see a ton of fish through my polarized lenses and almost every dead drift caught fish for the first half hour of fishing at this second spot. Some of these fish looked pretty darn big too! 

With a cold wind blowing all day my hands were really cold. As I type this my fingers still feel a little clumsy. When I got too lazy to tie on 5x tippet the fish took notice and my catch rate slowed. I did lose a good number of flies due to light tippet and saturated fly line. 

 By about 345pm I decided to call it a day. Now I remember how much it sucks to have my fly rod guides ice up every three or four casts! It never got above 30 degrees today but the fish didn't seem to mind. I didn't try to catch any on the surface but a few fish did rise throughout the day. I notice no bugs in the air.

Trip Report: State Park Rainbows

I've been healing from a cold and today I felt great! The problem is that Friday evening I lost my voice. I was scheduled to work but being unable to talk I would be unable to fulfill my duties. This morning I felt great, minus the voice issue, so I laced up my boots and headed to the nearest State Park. Armed with size 16 WD40's tied with a tungsten bead and size 20 Matt's Midge dry flies I arrived on stream shortly after 10am.

First cast!

Second cast! Action slowed down a little after these two, but remained consistent for an hour or so. I could hear gunshots in the distance and although I love deer hunting there was no place I'd rather be this morning.

 Action really slowed after an hour, but then this guy sucked down the WD40 and put up a great fight on the 3wt.

I'm not sure if these fish were stocked a while ago or if they came from a different area of the hatchery than most. Most of their fins didn't have the characteristic gnarled edges that newly stocked fish have. They could also be holdovers (stocked months ago) but this area sees so much pressure I doubt they were stocked less than a month or two ago. After puttin' a hurt on the rainbows I hopped into the car and headed downstream in search for rising brown trout. I found 'em and landed a few on the Matt's Midge. I ended the day around 1pm with at least two dozen fish to hand, about half rainbows and half browns. The browns were all 8-12 inches and the rainbows between 12-16.