A good day in the Driftless area

This week I had the pleasure of serving as a fishing host for a couple of Trout Unlimited (TU) members as

TU is holding its annual meeting in Middleton. I was lucky enough to have two seasoned anglers and great guys placed with me.

At first, I was a bit less than optimistic about our chances. I arrived in Westby on Monday afternoon and, while I was able to coax a few fish into biting, was less than successful on the Timber Coulee, where I had planned on taking my guests. Low water and high angling pressure had made the fishing quite difficult throughout the area and, being late September, the fish definitely knew how the game was played. To make matters worse, I managed to walk right into a barbed-wire fence late in the day and turned one leg of my Simms waders into a colander.

I fixed my waders and headed out early Tuesday morning to see if things were better on the Bad Axe. While the fish were still quite selective, I managed to catch a number of nice fish on streamers and scuds. Later in the day, I headed over to Coon Creek only to find it quite silted due to stream improvement work being done on Spring Coulee Creek. I decided to go upstream from the work as I assumed the fish would migrate there to avoid the turbidity. They had and I caught a number of really nice browns

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I picked up Paul and Michael the next day in Richland Center and made Reads Creek our first stop. It took a bit to find fish that weren’t spooky, but when we did both gentlemen caught fish on scuds. As I mentioned above, both are experienced anglers and excellent casters which really made my job easy. About noon, we decided to see if the hopper bite was on. It was lunchtime and, being limited on time, we did what every hard-core angler does … we turned my vehicle into a rolling restaurant and hit the road.

Paul’s first two casts into Coon Creek yielded fish, the second a beautiful 14 inch rainbow. (A rainbow is a rarity in the Driftless area and, when I heard him yell that he had a rainbow on, initially thought he couldn't tell the difference between a brown and a rainbow. When I told Paul that, he said his ichthyology students would have enjoyed that comment. Paul is a retired fisheries expert and knows his fish.) He disappeared upstream as Michael and I found a different stretch for him to fish. Michael’s first fish was a 14 inch brown and, by the time I got back to Paul, he had a huge grin on his face from the fun he had been having. Michael put another fish in his hand in the limited time we had before I had to get them back to Richland Center. Despite being a short day, I believe they had a very nice introduction to the Driftless area. I know that I had fun fishing with them and couldn’t have asked for nicer guys to spend the day with.

Every angler and conservation-minded person should be thankful that there are groups like TU. Its members are dedicated and volunteer their time and money to ensure that waters are protected and restored. TU was founded on the principle that if you “take care of the fish, then the fishing will take care of itself.”  Based on my day with Paul and Michael, our waters are in good hands.

1,000 miles of memories

It has been a busy past ten days for me and, after more than 1,000 miles behind the windshield of my truck, I have come to two conclusions. First, fall is here and second, there are some very special people in this world.

I pointed my truck east late last week and headed to Lower Michigan to plug my new adventure and to do some fishing. I turned off the key in a small harbor town on Lake Michigan where I had the pleasure of joining a group of guys for their annual “Pink Salmon” outing. (They no longer fish pink salmon but the name stuck and you don’t mess with tradition.) Letting a new guy into a long-established get together is always risky, especially when the chemistry is already perfect, but Randy, Dave, Bill and Tom welcomed me into the fold with open arms. Over the next three days, they fed me, tied some of their favorite flies for me, and took me to their secret spots in a nearby state forest where I heard a true sign of fall, bugling elk (a sound I had not heard since a backpacking trip to Yellowstone in 1998).

I returned to the U.P. to low temperatures in the 20s, geese flying overhead as they made their way south, snow fence being installed and with just enough time to fish a few streams in advance of a trip with my client, Sue. Pictured above with one of the many brook trout she caught, this one a 13 incher, Sue is an accomplished fly angler, a true world traveler, and a great person to spend two days on the water with. Having visited more than 100 countries (including time in a base camp high upon Mt. Everest), the week flew by quickly as she recalled stories that brought a smile to your face one moment and put a lump in your throat the next. Add to that the yellows and reds of the changing leaves and the equally brilliant hues of fall brook trout decked out in their spawning attire and I ended the ten days with memories to last me well into the upcoming winter months. Thanks to all these special people for sharing their time with me.

No joy in Mudville

I have had a number of folks ask me to let them know when the fall salmon run begins, so I spent a whole day behind my windshield yesterday checking out Lake Superior tributaries for signs that it has begun. Alas, there is no joy in Mudville.

I was actually a bit encouraged on my first stop as I saw a bald eagle feeding across the river. Unfortunately, the river was too deep to cross and I couldn't get a good look at what it was eating. I was then lucky enough to run into two gentlemen from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources who told me what I suspected … they have heard no reports of fish in the rivers except for one person who told them he had caught two fish near the mouth of the Presque Isle.

I still had a fun day scouting the water and even had a chance to visit with this goose. He or she (I can never tell which is which) was alone and swam off when I began to throw a few casts.  Stay tuned to my blog and I will let you know when I have better news.

Just a rumor

As a general rule, I try to steer clear of streams during major holiday weekends and so I didn't get out until Tuesday afternoon. Based on the foot traffic, the river I fished had not seen many anglers and so I was optimistic the fish would be receptive. They were. Over the course of two hours, I caught and released more than a dozen brook trout. Most were in the 11-inch range and none were smaller than nine inches. The largest fish measured 13 inches. All came on hoppers.

The next day I hit a nearby lake with the drift boat to see if the pike were willing to eat. They were as long as red and white flies were offered. One particularly hungry fish came out of the water to destroy a deer-hair popper.

I also heard that the lake-run fish were moving in and so I spent Thursday scouting that rumor. Unfortunately, it turned out to be just a rumor as I only caught a few smaller, resident rainbows. It shouldn't be long now in any event and I am looking forward to breaking out the spey rod and catching some bigger fish.