Trouterspace

Local Mixed Bag

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Andrew Jaworski

I am a whore when it comes to driving by any type of water. I take my foot off the accelerator and frantically scan the water to get a feel for it because any fisherman knows he’d be a fool to pass up any first-hand information on a potential fishery. When I’m with my girlfriend it drives her nuts, especially when my eyes are still glued to the water 100’s of feet later. It’s much like how you process a preview before deciding if you’ll go see a particular film.

I started working in downtown Chicago a few months back. About a month ago, on my Metra train commute home, I was on the upper level as we passed over the Fox River. I could just see over a tree line which normally blocks my view. From the elevated seating on the train I noticed a mega tasty series of interwoven channels I had no idea existed. Even from my far vantage point I could see stumps, dead falls, and hard to access water a boat with a motor just couldn’t fish. I knew it had perfect pontoon potential (intentional alliteration is an idiosyncratic quirk of mine).

The Fox by me is a place where people go to play with their water toys, and fisherman go to the dams or parks to sink 50 lbs of lead into the riverbed with a series of interwoven lines that even a contortionist couldn’t get through. In all fairness, they’re just trying to put food on the table, but it leaves zero room for bass or pike anglers to cast a lure. What I’m trying to say is this was an exciting local find for me and I was eager to see if it had any potential…it did. There was so much structure and channel options, I realized this “poke around” type of outing would take a full day to cover correctly but I had other commitments. The early hours yielded some good bass action on top. Shortly after, I switched to my 6wt and got into a respectable pike with the tried and true chartreuse/white Clouser. I’ll spare the cliches but boy was it fun. I couldn’t boat the damn thing despite my best efforts without a net, but I got a few crappy photos. What happened next was weird and a lot of fun. I was working the shallows with the same weighted Orange/Black Dahlberg the bass were into earlier and landed 3 Channel Cats in a span of 20 minutes. They were solid takes and fought like they always do…hard the first minute, low and heavy the second, and then they’re spent. A catfish on the fly was a first for me. Boats whizzed by all morning until I left at Noon. I was very happy that no fisherman seemed interested in this area despite the ideal conditions. During low water I bet some of the shallower spots turn into exposed muck.

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Kishwaukee River Float 5/25/14

Posted on May 28, 2014 by a_rosati18

Andrew and I both had some other commitments this weekend so we decided to stay closer to home on Saturday and fish the North Branch Kishwaukee River. We floated about 3 miles before I finally caught the first smallmouth. It was a nice fish about 16 inches that hit a deer hair diver. Then, about 2 minutes later another much larger smallmouth took the same fly. The fishing was tough. We casted to more fishy spots in those first 3 miles than you can imagine. Nothing but deep holes behind fallen trees. The perfect lies for pike or bass, but not a fish to show from that kind of water. Further downstream the river widens and is more shallow. Floating close to the bank in just a few feet of water I saw the first smallmouth redd with 2 nice fish cruising around it. I made an attempt and failed when one of the fish gently picked up my conehead bugger and moved it to the side of the hole in the gravel dropping it before I could set the hook. I didn’t spend much time bothering them, but I did have a realization that with bass spawning they were more likely to be in the shallower, rocky water, and less likely to be those deep, silty, log jam holes. Just another thing to keep in mind if your chasing smallmouth in local rivers right now… Deep, dark holes will hold less fish near spawning time. Focus your efforts around shallow (5 feet or less) water near riffles or faster current.

Categories: fly fishing, pike | Tags: bass, kishwaukee river | Comments Off

Pre Mother’s Day Caddis…Eventually

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Andrew Jaworski

Saturday was a solo outing with one thing on my mind…caddis. The forecast was very sunny and in the high 70’s. I made a later than usual arrival since I had dry fly fishing on the mind and didn’t have any obligation to head home afterwards. I was staying the night at my parents place further north since we were having family over for Mother’s Day brunch. I one up’ed my brother and got her flowers in a vase AND made my lemon zest pancakes. Oh yeah…fishing.

The morning began with a Driftless Right of Passage…a cow chase that has you lose your shit and scramble like hell!!! This cow eyed me up from 150 ft away with only a small feeder creek between us. I was quite aware of the potential threat but was so close to a fence, I felt my Spidey like senses would easily suspect a premature threat and I’d be on my way after hooking a trout in this bridge pool which treated me well on an earlier outing with Anthony. Suffice to say…my Spidey sense failed me. The cow trotted towards the creek at a quick pace. I reeled up as quickly as I could, there was no time to secure the fly as I legged it to my car and proceeded to hook myself.

I drove to the next access point and approached a familiar pool on my knees straight into a pile of fresh cow shit, even though there was no livestock in sight. This usually wouldn’t be a problem but I still didn’t have waders on b/c I knew I wasn’t doing any stream crossing the first few holes. Murphy’s Law soon came into full effect as I walked fishless back to my car while reviewing a landscape shot I’d took and veered into marshy territory and face planted in muck.

I changed creeks eager to see bugs popping, seeing as though it was sunny, warm, and approaching 11:00am. To my dismay, there were no caddis to be seen despite the presence of riffles, rocks, warm sun, and the usual surroundings. My brain then began to formulate plan C…new water. After I parked at my new destination and walked upstream, I was taken aback by what I saw…at least 16 fish stacked in a pool that were 14″-16″. Clouds then appeared out of nowhere, followed by a very, very light rain. I swung a large streamer their way and on my 2nd swing I was into a big fish. A large silhouette near the surface and two head shakes later, it was over. Suddenly, the bugs modestly made their presence known and I saw a few rises. I quickly launched a caddis into the pool, only to have a large brown wolf it and instantly snap my 5x tippet. I ended up getting the runt of the liter on a streamer and made a mental note of this pool stacked with biggins.

My final destination was also new water and it was one of the most beautiful stretches of water I’ve seen in the Driftless. As I drank it in, there it was…rising fish in a pool 2oo ft downstream. It was just around 4pm when the sun came back in full force and the caddis hatch exploded where I was. Boils, airborne fish, and the sound of bugs being slurped were quickly processed in my brain and the result was pure joy. I started getting whacks, bringing every 3rd fish to hand while soaking in the beautiful surroundings of this new stretch of water which just shot to the top of my favorite Driftless spots.

This day was very special. It started off with every little thing going wrong and it ended up being a pure fly fishing experience. Exploring new water, finding large fish to target at a later date, and finding a great hatch on new waters in a picturesque setting with complete solitude. This was a very special type of happiness that only discovery and success bring, which is one of many priceless fishing moments we all love to feel.

Categories: Driftless Area | Tags: driftless area | 2 Comments

A Pike For Justin

Posted on May 8, 2014 by a_rosati18

Spring has finally sprung and the popper bite is heating up. For years, before I got hooked on the fly rod my buddy Justin and I would celebrate his birthday on the 9th of May by floating the Kishwaukee River in Boone County, IL casting surface lures. Ever since I’ve marked the beginning of May as the beginning of top-water action on my local waters. Today, I took my nucanoe out for first time this season and scored a couple really nice fish on our favorite local river. A huge smallmouth slammed a black popper and very nice pike took a big yellow and red deer hair diver. I’ve caught a couple pike larger than this one, but not on the fly, and I don’t remember them being as strong… this fish was pissed! Justin has been living in northen California for the last few years chasing steelhead. On the water today he was definitely missed and I look forward to the day we get to float the Kish again popping for pike.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: bass, fly fishing, kishwaukee river, pike | 1 Comment

Grip it and STRIP IT!!!

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Andrew Jaworski

Sunday I headed to Grant County to get my Driftless fix, in hopes that I might find some caddis hatching despite the cloudy forecast. After poking around the earlier hours with a small streamer I only had one rainbow to show for it. As I moved around and waited for the sun to gain momentum in it’s battle against the clouds, the tide really never turned. I eventually came crawling back to a favorite creek Anthony showed me where I could get my confidence back. I tied on a grizzly wooly bugger and started tossing it in a few familiar holes. After an hour of no results and varying my retrieve, a light bulb went off in my head as I pulled my fly out of the water. The last few casts I’ve noticed movement in my peripheral vision as I’ve pulled my fly out. Right as you pull your fly out of the water to make your next cast is a very quick movement, and the fly darts for a very short moment. Ding! Ding! Ding! These fish are in the mood to chase the fly! Not a quick retrieve, a run like hell one. Not even kidding, the very first cast I ripped back got slammed by a brown. Not even kidding, this continued for another 3 fish before the streak burst. I moseyed around and continued to pick up fish just absolutely ripping the fly. I see a sunny caddis filled sky sick day coming soon.

Categories: Driftless Area, fly fishing, Uncategorized, Wisconsin trout | Tags: driftless area, wisconsin trout | Comments Off

May Caddis in the Driftless

Posted on May 5, 2014 by a_rosati18

Every spring around the end of April my angling focus turns toward caddis hatches in the driftless area. These hatches have provided me with some of my most memorable dry fly experiences. I know that to people who are lucky enough to travel, or even live out west where large stoneflies and mayflies get more attention a caddis hatch may just be an everyday occurrence on some stream somewhere, but I have a problem that I’m sure I share with many fisherman…. not enough time to fish. In the last five years I’ve learned a little about what kind of water and what conditions caddis will hatch around southwest Wisconsin. Somewhere between the end of April and the beginning of June when the sun first really starts to feel warm is usually when I start to see the unmistakable moth-like flutter of caddis around shallow riffles. Dead drifting a deer or elk hair caddis around riffles and along cut banks usually gets the job done, but whenever I stumble upon a big flat pool skating the fly seems to get more attention. Yesterday, when Brett and I started on our drive to a favorite spring creek all I could think about was if the timing was right and if the bugs would show. We warmed up with a few fish on nymphs and streamers while the sun was low and the temps were still cool. As the afternoon sun warmed up we started to see a caddis here and there and got a few fish to rise. By mid afternoon the air temp was in the 60’s and sun was feeling hot. We came up to one long stretch of shallow riffles and noticed quite a few caddis dancing around the surface of the water. Strangely, there were no fish in the riffles feeding or in the run downstream. After another minute of observing this stretch of water I noticed the long flat pool above the riffles was dimpled with rises. Then it hit me. The wind was blowing gusts around 15 mph by now and was blowing the caddis upstream from the riffles where they were hatching rather than the flow of the water carrying them down stream to the run below the riffles where I more commonly see the feeding activity. Just like past years a basic deer hair caddis fooled about a dozen trout, and of course right when it got fun I ran out of time. The caddis party should be on for a few more weeks and I hope I’m lucky enough to be there at the right time once more this spring.

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Categories: Driftless Area, Uncategorized | Tags: driftless area, fly fishing | Comments Off