Only a couple more days left

With the regular trout fishing season ending Sept. 30, there are only a couple more days to get out. The rivers are in great shape, the fall colors are at their peak, and the fish are still willing to eat a fly. Get out and catch a few more before the temperatures cool and the season closes.

Fish of 10,000 casts wins again

With a couple of days off this week, I headed for northern Wisconsin and continued on my quest for a musky. I replaced the 4-weight rods littering my truck with a 10 weight, tossed in the musky flies I had tied, and employed the services of a couple top-notch musky hunters. My first stop was in St. Germain where I met up with my buddy Greg. The weather had taken a definite turn for the worse with northwest winds howling at 20 miles per hour and crystal clear blue skies ushered in on the heels of a cold front. We fought the conditions for four hours on a nearby lake and never moved a fish. The next day the winds had died down and the temperatures had warmed up to 70 degrees (still not ideal conditions for my chosen prey).  I managed to get two follows, one from a fish in the upper 40-inch class, and soaked in the peaking fall colors. By now, my casting arm was sore and my hand was covered with blisters from tossing the big rod and flies. Day Three brought more sunny skies and warmer temperatures. I met up with Bob in Hurley and we fished a nearby flowage in the morning and lake in the afternoon.  Neither of us moved a fish. The bad news is that, after three days, the fish of 10,000 casts had won again. The good news? I have an excuse to try again when my schedule allows.

Another week of fine fishing

September has offered a flurry of activity for me. Heavy rain last week literally muddied the waters, but I was (pleasantly) shocked at how quickly they dropped and cleared.  Randy and Tom arrived just after 3.6 inches of rain and we spent the first day in the drift boat chasing pike. Hitting a lake after the high temperatures have dropped 20 degrees isn’t always productive, but the pike still went about their business, albeit a bit more slowly. They certainly needed some extra enticement, but when that happened Randy and Tom found themselves holding fast to their fly rod as a mean toothy critter pulled on the other end.  The next two days we chased brook trout (which were still eating hoppers) and hauled in many brookies in the foot-long category.  Jim then joined me for a day of fishing and had a marvelous time catching rainbows in the morning and brookies in the afternoon. The rainbows preferred a girdle bug, while the brookies were still inhaling hoppers. Fall is definitely in the air and the roads are filled with bear and grouse hunters. The trees are nearing their peak which means if you want to get out one more time before the regular season closes, you had better hurry.

Rainy weather slows fishing

The past week has been a tough one for trout fishing. Copious amounts of rain brought rivers up, turning those running through clay soil into muddy messes and making those which remained clear hard to wade. It didn’t do much for the fish either as they were reluctant to eat. Caddis and hoppers were the best producers on top and black buggers proved the best below the surface. The finest fishing came in the form of pike, which remain in the shallows and continue to eat savagely. The first few days of this week will be sunny, but the bottom is scheduled to drop out Wednesday as a cold front will lower highs into the 40s and 50s. Next weekend looks to be better if the forecast holds. Regardless of the weather, there is still time to be out chasing fish.

Still time to make some memories

Our fall weather has definitely arrived and the rain gauge has been quite busy as of late. Whereas a few weeks ago, I was hoping for rain to cool warming stream temperatures, I am now wishing it would stop. Our larger rivers are back to being a bit challenging from a wading stand-point  (a simple way of saying be careful out there) and our smaller streams are inching their way up to the point where they should start fishing well again.

I began the week rowing Pete and Bob around in search of northern pike. It was a windy day and a challenge for both oarsman and angler. Fortunately both were up to the task and we had plenty of action from feisty pike willing to hammer a fly. Both Pete and Bob also landed a smallmouth, an exciting addition any time one eats. Pete and Bob visited me in July for some trout fishing and it was a joy to spend more time with them as I enjoy their fishing knowledge and sense of humor.

This weekend I was visited by Dean and Eileen. Dean is yet another of the fine Trout Unlimited volunteers who ventured north this summer. We began the day in search of brook trout which were, admittedly hard to come by recently. Nonetheless, both caught fish. I was quite impressed by Eileen’s casting, mending and overall fly fishing skills. While still a young angler by many standards, she learns quickly and has skills I didn’t learn until I was much older than she. This was especially evident in the afternoon when we shifted gears and jumped into the drift boat. Despite having never held a 6-weight rod, thrown a sinking line nor casted a pike-sized streamer, she performed admirably in windy conditions and boated her first northern pike. I didn’t get a chance to fish with her father Dean in the morning (as he asked me to fish with Eileen), but I quickly realized the apple had not fallen too far from the tree. Dean’s casting prowess brought multiple grabs and a number fish to the boat. Bald eagles nearby and a few crimson maples added to the experience, one I will remember for a long time.

This is the last month of the regular trout season, so get out there and enjoy the fall while there's still time to make some memories of your own.

Fall makes an early entrance

The weather this week took on a fall-like look with highs in the 60s, drizzly days and foggy mornings. Some trees are starting to take on red colors, especially those in wet areas. The cooler weather has helped stream temperatures retreat from the upper 60s into the lower 60s, good news for the fish. The inch of rain we received, however, has not done much for the smaller streams which continue to trickle north toward Lake Superior.

Hoppers remain the go-to fly for brook trout as they are looking up for that meaty meal even on rainy days. Larger rainbows and browns have been hard to come by, despite near-perfect streamer and nymph weather.

I fished with Tom this week and found clear evidence of that fishing report. Our morning resulted in a lot of water covered with streamers and nymphs for little reward, our mid-day garnered many nice brook trout on hoppers, and our late day on skinny water found us challenged by small brook trout that would only eat size 20 Adams Parachutes. Fortunately Tom was a superb caster and quick study who endured the lulls and relished the mid-day flurry of activity. 

The next month promises to provide a rainbow of colors courtesy of the trees and the brook trout, both of which will soon be sporting their fall colors.

Beginner's luck only strikes once

As a fishing guide the word beginner can have a number of different meanings, the most likely to come to mind is that it’s going to be a long day untying mistakes and retying flies. Western guides are used to it as beginners show up in the fly shop dressed to kill in Orvis gear and ready to experience The River Runs Through It. However in my neck of the woods, where a common bumper sticker reads “The Upper Peninsula. Where the Middle of Nowhere is Somewhere,” beginners aren’t usually part of the guiding game.

I have known Jeff for a couple of years, as he is a local contractor who has built a couple of buildings for me. During our last project together, he expressed an interest in learning to fly fish and we spent one lunch break with an impromptu fly-casting lesson. Jeff is one of those few genuinely nice people you meet in life and I really looked forward to fishing with him. Before we parted ways, he told me to call him when I had a day off.

With the hopper bite in full bloom, I called Jeff late last week to see if he had time in his schedule to do a bit of fishing.  One of the first things you should learn is that if a contractor can show up right away, he’s not the person to hire. Jeff, who is always busy, said he had to work Saturday morning but would be interested in a trip after he got done with work. He showed up with job trailer in tow and an old fiberglass rod his dad had used, a 7/8 weight that would have been fine if we had been looking to fish steelhead but was a wee bit overkill for the brook trout we were targeting.

Following a relatively short hike to the stream (relatively in these parts means a half mile), a quick refresher course in casting, and ten casts, Jeff had hooked his first trout on a fly rod. He nearly fell backwards into the stream in the excitement of it all, but the enthusiasm he openly showed said it all … another fly angler had been born.

We fished three more hours, during which Jeff caught any number of brook trout approaching 12 inches. He did eventually make the literal plunge and I’m not sure if the look on his face was a look of panic or surprise at the 11-inch fish on the end of his line (which he did land once I pulled him up from the sitting position as water ran into his waders). He marveled, as we all do, even those who have caught hundreds of fish, at the slow, methodical rise of trout to his hopper and the ear-to-ear grin he wore as we stepped out of the river said it all. My only thought was to offer two apologies … one to his wife and the other to his bank account. 

As for the fishing, it continues to be great. Big fish are chasing streamers even in the mid-day heat. That heat and the lack of rain has some streams approaching the critical 70-degree mark so carry a thermometer and find another stream if the one you are on gets too warm. I did that Sunday night and chased muskies for the first time with a fly rod. I didn’t catch any fish, but did have a heart-stopping follow by a nice fish. I just wish I would have had Jeff’s beginner’s luck but alas, that luck only struck once.