Rain Rain Go Away...

Areas in the DA were/have been receiving 4"+ of rain... Which can only mean one thing... Chocolate milk.. And not the kind that I like.. Might have to take a road trip later to try and find some lesser hit areas.. Or might just stay in town and try and find some warm water action...

Another Day In The Water..

Had the day off yesterday so I decided I would dedicate it to the fine art of fishing... Woke up.. Got my head ready.. Gear packed... And headed south.. Decided I would check out a couple spots.. Unfortunately it is that time of the year where Wild Parsnip dominates the road sides and accesses to numerous holes until roughly August when it dies off... So right then and there had my options been cut down..

Unfortunately I ran into a second problem.. Cars at all the accesses I wanted to fish at.. I know that wouldn't stop some people from fishing.. But me personally.. I prefer peace and quite and no one in sight.. So I continued on.. So I ended up back at the creek I had fished the last couple times out.. It's a great "go to" stretch for me when I just want to get out and catch a couple trout without having to hike all day long to find them.. Was rather slow.. Managed about 3 browns with one rainbow mixed in.. All of which were Catch & Release..

Later on in the evening I was feeling hungry for some fish.. So I headed down to the local lake to slay some bluegill.. Sarah awhile back said that she wanted to learn how to clean/fillet fish.. And more than willingly agreed.. You'd have to be slow to not want someone else to clean your fish.. Or maybe to agree to cleaning fish you didn't catch.. Just kidding ;) ... So I took a dozen nice gills in the 7-8" range and brought them home.. Sarah was definitely a little hesitant at first.. Fish that are still alive.. *WACK!*.. excuse me.. were alive.. That made her uneasy.. But after walking her through how to cut and fillet them.. She was off to the races and filleted the 9 gills that I left her.. For a first timer she did a pretty good job.. Ended up with a nice pile of meat.. She tells me when she was all done "That wasn't too bad.. Now don't expect me to clean fish every day.. But once a week is not bad".. I don't think she knows what she signed up for.. But I'm not complaining!

That's a real nice walleye!

You can see more pictures of amazing... fish.. yes fish.. here

Highway 43.. Aka The Highway to Heaven

Hwy 43 is probably my most traveled highway by far.. All things good and beautiful can be found down this highway.. And rarely is there any disappointment along this road...

Got out for a couple hours earlier today to wet a line on one of my favorite streams... It was windy to say the least.. But that didn't stop me from lining up the 2wt today.. Temp was in the low 70s...

The wind was a slight issue and definitely played a part in some of the frustration I had today.. When the wind is blowing.. Grasses are neck high and you're flinging around a 7'6" 2wt... Things are bound to piss you off now and then... Lot of tangles in the tall grass from gusts and sloppy casting today.. But was able to hook into 3 trout.. 2 of which I took to hand.. A 5" Brown.. And a ~12" Bow... With one Brown that was in the 12" range that bit me off while I was trying to get my net unhooked.. I cannot tell you how much I wish my new Rose Creek net release was here.. So I can finally stop dinking around with the crappy release that came with my net..

A Few From Tonight

After a weekend mostly dominated by graduations and painting the living room... I finally decided to get out of the house this evening from 8-9:30pm... Caught some nice sized gills with a bugger tipped with an Alive! Maggot... Very fiesty and put up a great fight!

Free Sh*t!

Everyone loves FREE.. and for a limited time Trigger X is giving away free samples when you sign up for the Rapala emailing list. Check it out! Free stuff is good stuff =)

http://www.triggerx.com/giveaway/

Triple X-Rated Carp

.. Viewer discretion advised.. =)


Carp were in a spawning frenzy this morning on Lake Winona.. Some of them had size to them as well...

New Drawing @ FishCreekSpinners

They're giving away more spinners over at the  FishCreekSpinner's blog.  I recently was lucky enough to win a set of ultralight spinners and now they are doing a drawing for an assortment of walleye spinners.. So head on over there and sign up for your chance to win a set of sure to be amazing spinners.

Since it's too hot to fish...

Here in the DA today it is supposed to reach a scolding 103F with a heat index around the 110F.. Cannot wait to be a slave to the grill tonight... But from what I'm reading today it's 80's Week according to a couple fellow bloggers here and here.  So I was born in 81.. making me 8 at the oldest during the 90s... Baseball, Fishing with my grandpa, and Music were what was cool to me and Slash, Hulk Hogan, and Kirby Puckett were my heroes....  And my life revolved around my 8-bit Nintendo.. So here are a couple flash back videos to take you back to the 80s at FnF!

 

The Most Beautiful Things In This World...

Today was a beautiful day... Sunny with a bit of overcast... And it must've gotten into the mid 70s at least today... It was a little windy and my first choice of water for the day turned out to still be blown out and mudded up.. Kinda getting ridiculous that I cannot fish my favorite trout stream in southeastern Minnesota.. But what can I do but just keep on keeping on..

Well this meant finding another stream that I knew off the top of my head that would block me from the 10-20mph winds that were churning up today from the east.. So I headed down 16 to another stream I knew and had only fished once previously.. Turned out to be a good choice.. Got to my destination.. Lined up the 7'6" 2wt.. Anything longer would have made for difficult.. If not impossible fishing.. Very overgrown area with tight casting lanes... Tied on a #14 Guide's Choice Hare's Ear and a #18 Pheasant Tail.. Turns out that's all I needed.. March Browns flying around but no trout rising..  Ended up taking about 4-5 browns to hand mostly in the 6" range.. And a chunky 16"+ that decided he did not want his picture taken when the time came and jumped out of my grip(typical story, right?)

As I was getting near my exit point.. I was walking through some very thick brush... Step.. Step.. Step.. Step.. BRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAKS.. Whoa.. Almost stepped directly on a fawn laying in the brush.. I could not believe my eyes.. I had never came across such a thing.. And the beauty and cuteness of it all had me star struck for sometime...

 

As I headed back home I decided I would stop by another section of stream that I love fishing.. Turned out to be a very good decision... Got stream side.. Started out with a tandem nymph setup which landed me one dink.. Few risers.. Then a few more.. And a few more... They were not interested in any nymphs.. Reached for my dries case and switched it up.. Took me a couple different flies but soon I found the key and the trout loved it.. Was rather windy.. And didn't have floatant on me.. Note to self  "buy floatant as I have lost mine"  So with no floatant I found it best that I make a couple cast up stream until the fly got water logged and then I would cast down and across and skitter the fly along the top.. Which turned out to work perfectly!  Another 8-10 trout to hand.. Mostly browns with a couple bows in the mix.. Very VERY aggressive fish on this stretch and even smaller fish gave me a run.. Most were in the 12" range... Overall turned out to be an amazing day!

The past couple days...

Over the past couple days I have been able to get out here and there.. fish are biting.. gills have moved in and are starting to spawn.... but are not nearly at the level of aggression I prefer.. meaning they are not hitting the poppers that hard yet.. but anything else I throw at them they haven't thought twice about... Carp have been cruising the shallows.. but still have yet to have my go with one yet.. and the bass are there.. but they have definitely been small... and I've finally broke my 8wt's cherry... very happy with it.. was able to withstand yesterdays very gusty day with gusts ranging from 15-25mph it held up like a champ... have been catching a majority of my bass on it... but like I said.. smaaaall... but beggars cannot be choosers.... and in the end.. I really just like catching fish no matter the size

Also as a side note.. I think fly fishing is becoming quite popular on the local lake... this year I have seen a fair share of people with the long rods... back when I started 4-5 years ago.. I NEVER saw a fly fisherman on the pond and today I had seen 3 or 4!... The masses are figuring out the secret!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Would like to throw a shout out to Fish Creek Spinners and thank them as well as I have become a recent winner of their monthly blog drawing for a set of free Ultralight Spinners.. Have yet to use their products but they look to be put together very well...

So if you want a chance to be a lucky winner like myself... be sure to head on over to their site and enter for your chance to win!

Bird Brain'd

No fish worth posting about... though the fishing has been alright.. nothing epic..

This guy was a little perturbed that I was fishing near him...

Review Time! Wonderfurl Furled Leaders

So ok.. This may be a little biased.. Wonderfurl are the ONLY furled leaders I have ever tried using.. But.. When something works so well.. Is it really necessary to try another brand??  A couple months back I started asking people what their thoughts were on Furled Leaders and got two answers.. Either it was "I've never tried them" or it was "I don't like them"... Both of which answers came with little to no explanation.. So I was stuck with having to truly just go ahead and buy a couple and see what I personally thought about them.

I am quite glad I decided to check ebay and come across an auction for a "Wonderfurl" Furled Leader.. I liked the concept of only really having to replace 1-3ft of tippet instead of replacing a whole leader here and there... I also heard that furled leaders help turn flies over easier..  Overall I am really impressed with these leaders.. they are very limp and do not kink at all.. have NO MEMORY.. which other leaders when I was done for the day.. Instead of taking the leader off. I just wound it up into the reel... which would leave me with a coiled leader the next time I was out(even with higher quality Umpqua and Rio leaders).. The furled leaders would come out limp and straight.. I have never had a single wind knot in the leader.. They definitely do help turn over a fly much easier than your standard tapered leader.. As if I was suddenly gifted with Jedi Mind Tricks I could place a fly anywhere I wanted to.. and these guys last.. I am still using the very first Wonderfurl leader I bought.. And it's not looking like it needs to be replaced any time soon.

They make a couple different types of leaders in a multitude of colors for all your fishing needs.. The Mono floats very high when dry flying.. and lays down on the water in a very delicate manner and sinks at about the same speed as your normal run of the mill mono tapered leader.... The Flouro sinks like a rock.. great for getting down and down quick... They both come with 2 options of connections.. 1st is with an extender section.. which is just one strand of equally matched line with a loop at the end to tie your tippet to.. the 2nd is a tiny metal ring for which to attach tippet.. The 2nd type I have yet to use but do have one on the way to test out.. I imagine the ring would add a flash that trout may not care for.. But I could see this being fine for warm water species...

Overall I will be continuing to buy Wonderfurl leaders as I find them to be the cream of the crop when it comes to a very top notch leader.. Like I said.. It may be biased.. But until I feel I need to try something else.. Or they go out of business.. Why fix what's not broke? or Why change that that does not need changing?  For as low as $5 w/ Free Shipping.. Or Buy It Now for $10-14 w/ Free Shipping.. It cannot be beat.. I have bought them on a bid for as low as $5.. and I have also bought a few for $10-14.. Definitely worth every penny.. If you're looking for a leader that'll not disappoint.. Check them out HERE

***As a note I own several of these leaders in all sizes from as small as 4.75#(pannies and small streams) all the way up to a 30#(carp/northern/big bass) and they all equally perform excellent.. Also in case you were wondering I have used these successfully with Thingamabobber strike indicators.. When the indicator is removed after a cast or two any resemblance of a kink from the indicator is gone

May 23rd

Got out for a couple hours Monday morning with a buddy of mine.  Managed between the two of us to take about 10 trout to hand in just under 2 hours...

Missouri

Sorry It's been awhile.. Have been out of town.. and well fishing hasn't been all that exciting.. or at least not exciting enough to really pull out the camera and use it.. Here is a couple pictures from the trip me and the girl friend took to Missouri 2 weeks ago... Went down to Wentzville to visit some of her family.. got out fishing a couple times.. but all I ended up with was one teeny tiny warmouth.. Overall the trip was a nice.. It's nice to get away for awhile that's for sure!  Just wish the fish were more cooperative than they were....

My $42.00 fish...

Hannibal, MO

 'Lovers Leap' in Hannibal

John A Latsch State Park

The Maiden Voyage!

About 2 weeks ago I put in an order for a Creek Company Super Sport XR1.. I decided upon this one because it was reasonably priced.. not too cheap.. not too expensive.. the reviews on it were more than welcoming as well.. So yesterday I drove to Cabela's in Prairie Du Chien to finally pick it up.. When I woke up this morning I immediately looked at the weather to see if I could get my new toy into the water for its maiden voyage.. and to my luck.. it had stopped raining and radars showed nothing in the area... Overall I'm very comfortable in it.. One of my key points when purchasing a pontoon was to make sure I would be comfortable and feel safe in it.. As I cannot swim.. can tread water but that's it.. The learning curve for rowing is definitely steeper than i had imagined.. and wasted more energy than distance traveled.. but that will change as I get use to it.. Overall.. I think it was a great investment and it will definitely get a workout!

On a side note.. Winona Park Rec offers FREE kayak and canoe rentals 7 days a week.. at the Lake Lodge.. Mon-Fri 3-6pm and Sat-Sun 1-7pm April 15-May 25th.. and then they also have summer hours as well..