Itu's Bones

By far the best story in fly fishing I've ever seen!

Itu's Bones Trailer from Sol Duc Buck on Vimeo.

COOL NEW STREAMER

I consider myself a streamer fisherman.  This pattern will be added to my arsenal.

The Bloodied Baitfish from Richard Strolis on Vimeo.

Got Bored.

So I decided to putz arround and see where I can find my fly on the interwebs for a bit.

Of course it's in The Fly Fishers catalog..

 http://www.theflyfishers.com/

Turns out feather craft carries it..

http://www.feather-craft.com

And you can see the white version in action at about the 40 second mark in this video..
Dudes from Evolution Anglers on Vimeo.

ORVIS' NEW HELIOS 2 AKA H2

The new H2's are sweet rods and I absolutely love the way they cast. But instead of me rambling on about them here s a video from Sharptail Media.

Helios 2 (The Second Coming) from Sharptail Media on Vimeo.

MOLDY CHUM SOTM!!!!

I'm in the running for slab of the month this month with my Musky from MN. Here's the link to Moldy Chum.

The 2012 Musky Hunt

Last week I headed up to Wildwood Float Trips headquarters up in Minnesota. I went up there a few days early to get some prefishing in and get to hang out with some old and new friends. The first day I fished with Kip Vieth of Wildwood and Jon Luke of Eastern Fly Fishing Magazine. Jon started the day off quickly with a little 30 incher. Later on I had a bruiser of 19.5 inch smallie inhaled my musky fly. Then about 3 minutes later this guy came straight up from the bottom and and scared the crap out of me.

Here's another shot of of us releasing the bruiser.

Thanks again Jon for those photos! The next day Jon and I fished with a cool bloke named Gabe from MN that is crazy about musky on the fly. Unfortunately we didn't hookup or land any musky that day but I did have a big guy follow my fly and follow the figure 8 around twice. Oh and I missed probably a dozen northerns and bass that all took swipes at my fly. Finally the next day I had clients in boat. I had some cool old timers in my boat. One of them, Jim, I've had in my boat before fishing for musky a few weeks earlier. Bill, my other client, moved a 40 plus incher pretty early in the morning but the hook never found it's home and we never got him to come back. Jim had a follow a little later and got into a couple of bruise bass to round off the day. The next day I had two guys from Chicago, Bubba (yes Bubba!) and Jeff. Bubba got lucky and got the front of the boat and we found Bill's fish and he wanted that fly again and just attacked it again.

Bubba had a follow a little later and Bubba got a couple of nice smallies to hand. en Jeff had an awesome eat from a musky which unfortunately cut through the 80 pound floro like it wasn't there. The third day unortunately was bust as far as musky go but some bass and northerns to hand.

THE NEW CHAPTER BEGINS

Wow do things change fast. At the time of my last post I was a fishing guide based out of wisconsin. Now I'm no longer officially guiding and in the process of moving to Chicago to be the new Fishing Manager at the downtown Orvis Store. I'll still be updating the blog and it will remain essentially the same.

It's that time of year.

Been getting reports and seeing these guys around for a while now.

Trico Spinner from Tightline Productions on Vimeo.

Cool steelhead video

I don't know if it's the heat or what but I keep thinking about cooler temps and fishing for steelhead.  I really wish I was headed to Idaho this fall to do some swinging but sadly I am not.  Here's too cooler temps and some tugs at the end of our lines.

DOOR COUNTY HERE I COME!

The little lady and I set aside a few days least week to head up to the cabin up in Door County for some much needed R&R.  I don't know about you but when I think about Door County I think carp and smallies!  There is one particular area which I consider my honey hole since I never see any other anglers there that I fish a lot but there is tons of water.  If you've never been up there all you need to do is find an access point and start walking the limestone flats.  Boat launches and parks serve well as an access point and I've found that most of the flats are on the lake side but there are some on the bay side.  I've found that I don't need to carry much gear.  I tend to carry a box of carp flies and two boxes of smallie flies when wading the flats.  Carp can be picky buggers but a good natural looking fly on some floro and presented well.  Smallies tend to like crawdad and baitfish patterns and of course top-water is always my preferred way to chase them.

 

 

 

 

BEEN A WHILE

Been a while since I've updated the blog so this is overdue.  Been working the day job a lot so my fishing time has been hurting and the high winds we've been having aren't helping as well.  I've been fishing the local lakes and rivers with some pretty good success.  One of my favorite places to fish just happens to be full of gar and I have them pretty well figured out and man do those buggers fight.  I've got some footage of some gar action but I want to compile a little bit more before I share it.   So far it's mostly me loosing some fish at the boat trying to land these beasts on my own.

Trout fishing around the state has been pretty good and fish have been taken on terrestrials already.  Fishing has been best early and late.  The usual suspects are also catching fish like pink squirrels and scuds.

Got a report from Peter and Jarred at the shop from a carp trip they took to door county last week and it seems like the carp on to post spawn conditions.  I'll be heading up there for 5 days in the beginning of July and hopefully I'll have plenty of footage from that trip as well.

ACT FAST!!!

For the next week I am going to offer a discount on my rates! For the first 10 trips booked between May 24th and May 31st  I am going to take off $75 any full day trip or $50 off any half day trip! 



To make sure I am clear here are the stipulations.  I am only going to offer this discount only to the first 10 trips booked.  There are no date restrictions for the trip so it can be for any time of the year, but the date must be put in my books between the time period stated.  Also there will be some limitations on location of the trip.  Unfortunately I cannot include Door County carp trips in this special.

Also please keep checking in as I am working out some details on package/multi day discounts as well. 

MORE MAY BASS FISHING!

I've been pretty swamped lately at my day job but I have been out fishing and guiding a little bit.  About a week back I had a day trip for smallmouth bass with a client.  The fishing was slow and the water a little high which made wading to some areas difficult and the bass were in a funky mood.  spotted some nice fish hanging out shallow but couldn't manage to make them eat anything.

The local small lake I like to fish has been fishing very well.  It gets a hatch every may and june of a species of Hex which gets the panfish and bass going crazy.  Also had the frustrating experience of having a very large bass literally watch me.  Any way I'll let my pictures do the rest of my talking for me. 

Here's one of the big mayflies.

And the very nice 5-7 lb largemouth just staring at me.  Had this guy swinging around my boat for a good hour.

And one of the hand sized bluegills I've been pulling out of the lake on dry flies.

BLUEGILLS!

After seeing some friends post some pictures of bluegills up I decided it was time to step away from the river and go to a small local lake and hunt for some bluegills this morning.   Man was it the right decision!  Bluegills and bass everywhere in the shallows.  Of course I couldn't target the bass which was killing me, especially when I saw some bruisers swimming around.  I did end up getting a few smaller bass eating the small nymphs I was throwing to the gills on the 4 weight which was a blast.  Looking forward to doing this some more and come saturday we can target the bass.  Unfortunately the storms forced me off the water a little earlier then I wanted but it was fun and gave me a taste of why I made the decision to stay home this season and guide here. Here are two I-phone shots of what I was getting as far as the gills are concerned.  

2012 MAIDEN VOYAGE

Took the boat out a few weeks ago down a river I plan to guide on some this summer.  Water temps were a little low for the bass but the water looks great with lots of structure.  There were also plenty of carp up on some of the flooded areas but damn were they spooky and the vegetation was too thick for the flies I had with me but it was fun none the less.  Saw plenty of sandhills and waterfowl as well.

F3T IN MILWAUKEE WEDNESDAY NIGHT!!!!!!

Just so you all are aware F3T is being hosted by The Fly Fishers at the Sprecher Brewery on Wednesday the 18th.  Go to the fly shop and buy tickets ASAP!  There will be great prizes given away that night..... including a stay at The Mayfly Lodge with (that's with!) a day of trout fishing with yours truly!

 

BUNCH OF GEAR FOR SALE!

Abel

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300686068131?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Sage reel

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300686081700?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Orvis Battenkil

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300686084794?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Mystic
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300686087799?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649


Custom 4 weight
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300686092301?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Pat Ehlers' Crazy Craw

One of the top Smallie flies out there!

BANGER!

This has me thinking bass big time! Can't wait to get the boat on the water.

ANOTHER MIDGE PATTERN

Another great fly tying tutorial....  Matt's Gnat

The Fly Fishers Open House

It's a month away! Time to mark your calendars and save up some dollars to get a great deal on some gear and meet some company reps, eat some brats, and most of all watch me tie some of my signature patters along with some flies you must have in your box.  Click on the link below for details.

The Fly Fishers Open House Newsletter!

RIVER SMALLIES

Short vid of the Feenstra crew over in Michigan doing the same as what we do here is Wisco!

OPENING WEEKEND

Got out for a day and a half of fishing for opening weekend with my good buddy Hunter. First day was really just us driving around and very little fishing and no fish were caught. The second day was another story. Hunter, Andrew and myself went to some old haunts and some new ones. I decided to bring two rods one with nymphs and one with streamers so I didn't have to re-rig at all. Worked out pretty well. some fish were brought to hand by all along with a really nice 21ish brown which ate a streamer I threw into a deep slow pool.

I have to credit Hunter for all these shots and I'm stealing them from his facebook page.

NEW BUSINESS CARDS

Me new cards finally arrived.. they're simple but get the job done and have a picture of a huge Bull Trout a client caught last season

I LOVE CLEAR CURE GOO

Yeah that's right I said it.......what are you going to do about it?

More on this to come once I get some pics and tie some more patterns with the stuff... I've only had it for about 8 hours at the moment.

MORE BOAT WORK

I'm working on some rod protectors and some new non slip plates for the boat. Running into some snags with the plates but the rod tip protectors are essentially done besides a few more coats of finish.

The goods:

Before:

A coat of undercoat:

After Paint....it's a little too soft:

So I scraped it all off and put some paint over the thin layer of undercoat left over and we'll see how that does.

And here are what the rod tip protectors are going to look like. The holes are for the screws to attach them to some pieces of wood that will be attached to the boat. Painted tan to blend into the boat.

BOAT WORK

Did some work on the boat today with the nice warm weather we had. The Boulder now has cup holders for the anglers and now I am working on a protector for the rod tips in the rod holders. The downfall to boulder boat are their rod holders. I really don't like how these were designed so I'm making them better.

NEWEST CREATION!

This is my latest creation which may be sent off to Rainy's. It's a great looking baitfish imitation and will work wonders on the bass around here.

OH yeah sorry but I'm keeping this one underwraps since I plan to submit it to Rainy's. Guess you'll just have to come fishing with me to get a better look at it.

TIME AT THE VISE

Just like many other guides out there my off season is often spent behind the vise stocking up on the necessary flies for next season. And just like many guide I have ADD when it comes to tying, I can't keep tying the same fly over and over again for the most part. Every now and then I can sit down and whip out a dozen or two of one fly and then move on to the next pattern. Well lately I have been working on some bigger flies and thinking of toothy critters. Here are just a few of the creations that have come off the vise the last few days.

OLDY BUT A GOODY

Here's a photo from way back in 2007 and the first GAR I ever caught I was poling along in a small lake in my canoe and I had known there were gar in this lake for a while and that day I was determined to catch one. It was a long day out on the water and I caught my fair share of bass and a few pike but the gar had eluded me up until I finally spotted a pod of them hanging out in the shallows. I made a long cast with a CF baitfish off to the side of them slightly to not spook them but withing sight and began stripping in the fly. It got some attention but none of the gar would commit and eat it. Finally I decided to strip in the fly as fast and I could and WHAM! This 40" ish gar just nailed it as hard as it could and the fight was on. These gar fight incredibly well and for a long time. Unfortunately as I was alone and in a small canoe by myself this is the only decent picture I got of him before he was released.

AWESOME TYING VIDEOS

I recently came across these amazing tying videos on vimeo. I highly recommend you watch them all even if it is a fly you already tie well this guys has some really neat tricks. Bellow are three of his videos be sure to check out the rest. I'll post more of them here in the future as well.

RS2 Fly from Tightline Productions on Vimeo.

Double Standard from Tightline Productions on Vimeo.

Pumpkin Head Midge from Tightline Productions on Vimeo.

SPENT ANOTHER DAY ON THE PONDS

I headed over the the spring ponds nearby once again when the weather was above freezing again. This time I had a bit more success with the way I like to fish these ponds. Sorry I'm not divulging my techniques that easily, not that it's anything special. Anyway I got myself several browns a bow and a hand full of brookies as well rounding off the day catching all three of the available species in the area. Didn't take too many pics but here are a few of the ones I did take.