Last Trouty Dance of 2018

I’d normally ensure I spent the last weekend of the Wisconsin Trout season on the water, but this year it wasn’t meant to be. When I say it wasn’t meant to be, I mean really, it seemed like Mother Nature and our social calendar were going to do all they could to conspire to keep me home.

For those not in the know, it seemed like for most of August and September a good part of Wisconsin, and the Midwest for that matter, were under heavy floodwaters, or forecasts of heavy storms. Bridges blown out, towns underwater - ton of damage everywhere.

We managed to find a small window, as things returned to normal, and took full advantage. In three days we managed to hit five streams, and I fished another solo. That solo mission was the most productive four hours of fishing I’ve had with a hopper in years. They were keyed in on the foam, and I took full advantage. I found a few of decent size, but more importantly, the fish I found were dressed in their Sunday best - shimmering in that buttery brown, with their blue cheeks and bright red spots. Unfortunately, I also went light weight and left the camera in the car. Though I missed some amazing fish, and the photos they’d have produced, the results have me wondering if I should be trying that more often.

From there, it was your standard buddy trip, hole hopping our way around the Driftless and finding fish every where you’d think, and in places you might never consider. Using the Gazetteer as our guide, it was great picking a blue line and finding a bridge, and starting another adventure.

It’s amazing how much fun end of year fishing can be - when the fish are keyed in on big hoppers, the brush is taller than me, and every cast could produce a giant. Though we weren’t able to dial in on anything of size, we had a blast, drank some good beers, and worked a ton of new water. As a guy strapped for time, it was exactly what was needed. (And Frank, see I told you I’d post the pics.)

When you’re looking at the pics, notice the banks and the impact the flooding had. The amount of water that passed through some of these smaller streams is insane. To see how quickly some of these watersheds recovered is absolutely amazing.

Driftless Early Season Opening Day

It's crazy to think that it's already Opening Day for the Driftless.  It seems like it was only yesterday we were soaking in the last few weekends of hopper fishing and late summer afternoons.  

The new early season schedule opens a lot more fishing time, but also leaves us vulnerable to the elements.  Traditions of fishing Opening Day have been tested in years past for sure, but this year seems to be ready to set a new bar.  With sub zero temps overnight most of this recent week, and a high of six degrees for Saturday, only the toughest of fisherman will be braving the temps.  

Starting another trout season in freezing temps isn't new, and always brings me back to an early season day with Jonathan Marquardt of Bad Axe Designs, chasing browns on top, nymphs and streamers.  We fought through single digit temps, caught some fish, and enjoyed the start of what was a season to remember.  

To all those braving the temps, you're more hardcore than this author.  Best of luck to all, be safe and stay warm!

A Summer That Was

Looking in the rearview mirror, 2016 was a year to remember.  Some for good and some for bad. The family went through some serious health scares, new responsibilities and much greater work load at the office, and lots of household projects.  All this led to the blog taking a bit of a back seat.  So here, we take a look back at a trip from late summer.  

One benefit of some changes at the office, was getting to head out to our new office in Denver.  With this in mind, ownership planned our annual sales meeting to be held in Boulder, CO this year, allowing me to sneak away for a day or two to get on the water.

Heading out a few days early, I dropped a line to a few fly shops in the area, hoping to find a fishing buddy.  It's funny calling a fly shop and trying to explain that you want to take one of their employees fishing.  I truly wasn't looking for a guided day on the water.  I knew where to find fish and had the confidence I would, but knowing I was headed to Rocky Mountain National Park, all I could think about was the photographic opportunities.  I didn't think so many people would think I was crazy!  

I had some luck when I called Kirk's Fly Shop in Estes Park, and connected with one of the shop guys, Ben Liddle.  After a quick call with Ben to introduce myself through the shop, we exchanged phone numbers and began texting about patterns and came up with a plan to connect my first day out there for a few hours in the afternoon.  

I arrived at Kirk's a bit early and took stock of the whole place.  From the fly bins to the shirt rack, I was impressed, and there was a ton to check out.  The place was a buzz of activity - people meeting up with their guides, customers buying rods and reels and getting direction on where to do, and a few guys just bumming around, soaking it all in. 

The shop was impressive, with homemade fly bins stocked full of local favorites.  Walls of Kirk's Fly Shop t-shirts, fly fishing themed goods the kitchen, camping gear galore, and of course, plenty of hats.   

As Ben sent a text, letting me know he was on his way, I finished up buying a couple dozen local favorite flies, a few shirts, and of course my license.  I scurried out of the shop with my new goodies and headed to the car, where I'd meet Ben.  

Waiting for Ben, the parking lot was buzzing, with lots of people coming and going.  I stuck out like a sore thumb, changing clothes and rigging up a fly rod as every car passing hoped I'd be instead, pulling out of the valuable spot I occupied.  It wasn't too much longer before Ben arrived, and we were off to grab a quick sandwich and head off to the Big Thompson to chase some trout. 

Having never been to west of the Mississippi chasing trout, I wasn't sure what to expect, but was in awe as we rolled in to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I pinged Ben with questions, and was impressed with all he knew and his acumen in the outdoors.  Ben was studying to work in the outdoor industry, and spent a lot of time with his family growing up, developing a passion for all nature's wonders.  

As we made it down to the river, I let Ben take the lead and figured I'd pick up a few things watching him fish some of the pocket water.  This stretch was similar to some Driftless streams in it's width, and similar to the Pere Marquette and other MI rivers with it's pine tree lined banks.  The current however, was considerably different, and I quickly regretted leaving the felt sole boots at home.  I proceeded to test my balance and nerves as I played a real life game of Frogger, clumsily making my way across and upstream.  

We worked deep pools, runs and riffles and managed to a fool a few in to eating.  Landing a decent brown trout, I mentioned to Ben that maybe it was the "city guy" in me, but the clouds looming over the mountains didn't look too inviting.  I don't think it was fifteen minutes before we were running to the car as rain and hail pounded down, and lightening quickly approached.  As we made it back to the car, we debated heading out and calling it day, or sticking it out and giving it some time to blow over.  

And as quickly as the rain came, so too did the blue skies.  Hopping out of the car and making our way back to the river rays of sun poked through the trees and I had a sudden appreciation for patience.  I looked at my watch, and the rain storm hadn't cost us but an hour, and now we were heading back out to finish what had already been a great day.  We went back and forth catching fish until just before dusk.  As we rolled out of the park we came across a valley that perfectly framed the mountains and the beautiful, never ending sky that the West is famous for.  

A big thanks goes out to Ben who was crazy enough to be willing to hop in a car with me and be willing to show me around.  Looking back on the reactions I got when I called, I'm surprised he stuck with me.  So for that, Ben, I appreciate it, and hope we get another chance to fish again next year.  

North to Chasing Smallies aka Sancho's last stand

It started out as a possibility of chasing trout, when someone threw out the idea of heading to WI to chase bronze instead.  Everyone hopped on board quickly, and before we knew it, we had a few boats and began developing a plan.  

We'd head north and float a little piece of water known for it's smallies and the possibility of some toothy critters.  We'd heard it would be a popper game, thus the reason Du Page Fly Co. was out of Boogles for a small period of time earlier this summer - I'd swear we bought all they had.  But we also threw in a few streamers and figured it would be better to be prepared and have options.  

We launched Friday morning and headed north, chock full of excited nervousness.  Having checked in with some of the local guides, we had high hopes the bite would be on.  

With perfect temps and beautiful days, Friday and Saturday yielded some great fish on top and a few on streamers as well.  Overall it was a great trip, finding new friends and enjoying the benefits of having buddies with boats.  

 

Cozad's Driftless 1 Fly

As many of you know last year was a tough spring for me, nursing a broken ankle and then having the needed recovery period.  I don't like having to sit still and not being able to skate and play hockey, missing the Early Season opener, and especially missing Pete Cozad's First Annual Driftless 1 Fly tournament, drove me slightly insane.  Just ask my wife.  

So when Pete Cozad threw the details out and began to gather names for a team drawing, I didn't hesitate to get my name in there as a captain.  I was confident the rest would fall in to place.  

Our four anglers came together quickly.  Led by Jonathan Marquardt of BadAxe Designs and Yeti Cooler folk lore, he was joined by Bill Kazenberger of Skinny Water Culture and DuPage Fly Fishing, Jason Puls, the man, the myth, the legend, and myself, the dead weight.  

We began to develop our plan - where to fish, what fly to fish, what beer to bring along etc.  Everything seemed to be looking great.  Things got knocked off track on a trip up to Iowa County as Jason and I worked on solving all the worlds problems.  Turns out he finally got the call he was waiting for, and the job he was praying for finally opened up.  Unfortunately that meant he was moving to Portland in three weeks and the 1 Fly was out of the question.  Turns out he was destined to be a spey guy, I guess.  (Jay - can't wait to swing up some steel with ya bud!)  

With a spot open, I called my ace in the hole, Keith Webster, the Great White Ninja of Bettinardi lore.  I wasn't 100% sure he'd be off the IR, after recent reconstructive surgery to his ankle, but he was riddled with cabin fever and quickly said he'd find a way to make it happen.  

Back to a team of four, we tossed around all kinds of ideas in the days leading up.  But with a lack of direction from our team captain (I guess that was me), we decided a day of prefishing would do us all some good, and hopefully help us uncover some keys to finding fish.  

Our merry band of Anglers - (from left) Bill, Keith, Jonathan, and I'm the tall one on the end.  

We got up Friday morning, meeting up with Pete to do a bit of work with the drone, while Keith ran off with Zach and Jan, from Team Longshots to hit the water.  We all headed up to the Coulees and throughout the day, everyone found a few willing fish.  Well that is everyone but me.  Getting skunked on your prefishing day doesn't exactly leave your hopes high.  I didn't even get to test the flies I tied just for the tourney.  I was quite frustrated and unsure of what to do.  But I knew at the very least it was going to be fun and as we called an end to day at the Driftless Cafe, we laughed and drank our beers discussing the excitement that was to come.  

As we broke for bed, we made our decision on where to fish, and I tied on a new leader, some fresh tippet, and a fly I whipped up Thursday night - jig hook, black pheasant tail nymph with a big ol' bead.  

As we woke and packed up the truck, the parking lot came to life. Stream judges, competitors, fly shop reps, license plates from four different states - it seemed there were quite a few people heading to the Driftless Angler, HQ for the Driftless 1 Fly.  

We arrived at the shop to a whirl of activity and familiar faces.  It's always great when an event like this can bring people together from so many places to raise money for such a great cause.  As everyone milled about, chatting and sipping coffee out of their Yeti tumblers, Pete and his team worked quickly to catalog and interview the teams and gather everyone's flies to be donated to local teaching efforts for youths.  At eight am we'd have a shot gun start, with everyone leaving the shop and heading to their streams of choice.  

We got lucky and found our chosen spot empty.  Our stream judges were Curt Rees and John Porter, two local guys who were kind enough to volunteer, but were unlucky enough to pull our team.  (Curt and John were both great guys and excellent fisherman.  I got to spend some time with them after we broke off and hope to get to spend some more time on the water with them again.  It's guys like them that make events like this a real success.)  I'm sure they had no idea they were in for the craziness we had in store.  

We chose to break up, and fish in two man teams, with one group working upstream, and the other walking down and working back upstream.  Jonathan and I would go downstream and walk back up, while Keith and Bill started at the car and worked up.  When we scouted the night before, we saw two anglers working their way up, which led me to thinking it might be a bit challenging, but confident in both our skills to get things done.  

Laughing, busting some serious chops and joking all morning, Jonathan and I worked a few holes and were able to produce about thirty fish between us, with Bill and Keith coming up with around ten.  We got in to a rhythm that at one point had us catching fish every three or four casts.  As we laughed and kidded each other, it became apparent we were secretly trying to outfish each other, recasting after releasing a fish before the other could get a line wet.  As Jonathan played up his celebrity status, I could only relent and allow him to keep fishing.  His three consecutive fish over 14" made it pretty easy.  

We met back at the car and chowed down on some sandwiches and regrouped.  With lots of good water still to fish from the morning, it was agreed Keith and Jonathan would head upstream to a beaver dam and try to entice some players with his "meat", and Bill and I would head back down and see if we can find some more players and then finish working our way upstream.  

As Bill and I found a few more fish willing to eat, Keith and Jonathan did the same and then made their way down towards us.  As we each broke off, Jonathan found himself the last man standing, fishing what barely resembled a Slumpbuster, with pretty much only the rabbit strip tail remaining behind the bead.  We all watched intently as Jonathan continued to work different holes, as if we were all huddled around the 18th green of a major, watching someone putt out, not knowing how the scoring would work out.  

At the end of the day, for a team that just wanted to have fun, I couldn't be more proud.  We finished with 50 fish total as a team, finishing third as a team, and with Jonathan finishing sixth overall and myself in seventh overall individually.  

Pete ran an awesome tournament that brought in some great people, raised a lot of money for the local youth fishing efforts, and I had an absolute blast.  My hat goes of to Team AZN - Jerry Khang, Ger Moua, Jacob Khang and Mitchell Khang.  Their team managed to double the score of the second place team, and from what I heard, Jerry, the individual winner, caught something in the range of 75+ fish on the day.  That's truly impressive!  To all the new people I got to meet, fish with (Jan, we need to do it again ASAP!), and ran in to at the Driftless Angler, thanks for coming out and helping to make this a tremendous weekend.  

Thanks Pete for putting together a great event and I hope we can be a part of it, in some way, next year as well!

Austin Ties! - DuPage Fly Tying Class

I make no apologies for promoting Austin Adduci whenever and wherever possible. He is not only a good man but a hell of fisherman and fly tier. I do however like to bug him with my camera because he’s one of those honestly humble guys and isn’t big on being in the spotlight. Even though I like putting him in it.

He is doing a series of  tying sessions at DuPage Fly Co. and Brad and I went to visit (bug) him on the 17th of February.

Austin doesn’t do the “you sit and watch me tie then you tie” type of lecture. He hands out the materials and you tie as he ties. It fits in with my philosophy of tying, that is, if you tie while the instructor ties, you will learn faster. Muscle memory and small motor skills go hand in hand. Although if you’re tying a big stuffed animal fly-small motor skills aren’t a problem. He also ties more than one fly. Also a good thing.

Austin and the group tied up a couple of interesting and what I’d call guide flies: minimal materials, quick to tie, catch fish flies. So the first one was a damsel/dragon fly type of pattern. Tied on a streamer hook. X-large or large bead chain eyes, marabou tail, excess marabou wrapped up the shank and tied off behind the bead chain eyes, then a schlappen feather is wrapped like a collar behind the bead chain, tied off, add a whip finish and you’re done. About a size 6 hook, so you could tie it on a 4-8 sized 2x streamer hook and you could tie up a dozen in about an hour. Maybe more.

The second fly was quite unique and Austin was looking for a way to solve the problem of getting a weighted fly to sit horizontally on the bottom, weighted flies often sit up and there are times when you want the fly to sit flat and move along the bottom of the lake bed. The solution, tie on bead chain eyes in the front and x-small lead eyes above the hook point. Add a small amount of pearl crystal flash, Marabou tail, dubbing for the body, add a pinch of rabbit hair for a wing and a single strand of rubber for legs and you’re good to go.  Also tied on a 4-8 sized streamer hook. This makes for a small but bottom hugging fly with a lot of action from the rabbit hair and marabou.

These flies can be tied in olive, black, white, rusty brown, or brown and you’ll have effective patterns for smallmouth bass or your local carp.

Austin ties guide flies, he’ll go through a lot of them during the season, that is his clients will go through them and so when he designs or comes up with a fly his patterns remind of Bob Wyatt patterns, sparse, quick to tie and catch fish. So if you felt compelled to add a rib, sure, you could, or more flash, maybe or an extra rubber leg, but if you don’t need them, don’t add them as the more you add to the fly, the more time it takes to craft it and the more money you spend on it. Now if he’d just name the things.

Bob Wyatt said that he liked fishing more than fly tying so he’d made his flies as simple as possible. Austin loves to take people fishing, and so his job is to put you on fish. You do that by knowing the river, lake, the area, and the best places to fish. If you tie beautiful complicated flies, do you really want to fish them or think that the pea-sized brain of a fish is discerning about whether or not you have six versus eight hairs?

So check out DuPage Fly Co. at: http://www.dupagefly.com/

And check out Austin at: http://www.grabyourflycharters.com/

 

And then come and tie with Austin or any of the tiers coming to DuPage Fly Co.

 

 

Stuart Van Dorn