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Puke and Perseverance = Lake Run Fun

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Andrew Jaworski

After a big nap after work Friday I had plans to meet my lady at her friends place and get a fire going. I brought a six pack of one of my favorite craft beers Little Sumpin’ Wild Ale and a few select bombers for others to enjoy. Over the next 5 hours I had consumed 5 of my 6 beers around a nice bon fire and decided to call it a night. My belly gurgled the whole ride home and I thought it might be a good idea to have a midnight steak sandwich since I had steaks which were given to me by my girlfriend’s mother which would go bad soon. She has a knack for giving food in bulk and this whole beef tenderloin roast was no exception. I’ve also found a late night base helps ease a night of drinking the following morning. However, the next morning I was in the hurt box. I was feeling uncharacteristically hung over for drinking a reasonable amount of beers in a reasonable amount of time. For a heavy guy who can do some heavy lifting when it comes to consuming craft beers things weren’t quite adding up. I may have just caught a little flu bug. Knowing I had a christening Sunday and work all next week, Saturday was the only day I could fish for migratory fish. As more gurgling occurred in my belly last nights “good idea” pushed it’s way towards the top. I decided to just go with the flow and before I knew it I was bowing to the porcelain god. As I cleaned myself up I thought it’d be best to just crawl back into bed and admit defeat. I laid back down in bed and started tossing and turning thinking about the steady rain the Milwaukee had received these past few weeks and how the above average flows was making more of the water switch rod friendly. I finally rolled out of bed and decided to pound some tums and muster up a 2nd wind. 2 more tums, 2 aspirin, and a McDonald’s drive thru later my condition didn’t seem to get any better. I had to pull the car over in Richmond, IL and there went another meal. After cursing and contemplating turning around for 5 minutes on the side of the road I decided to persevere. “More time, tums, and water should do the trick eventually,” I thought. 75 minutes of nauseous driving later I almost immediately came out of it after I parked. This wasn’t the first time the joy of fishing has healed my body and mind. My late arrival had all the traditional runs and gravel spoken for on this beautiful morning but I was happy to see a long deep run which is usually overlooked open and waded into position with the switch. I tied on a red winged blackbird thinking, “If it’s good enough for Lani Waller, it’s good enough for me.” I was hoping to get into some fresh browns with a chance of Steelhead. Leftover Salmon was not on the list but if I got lucky with a fresh or aggressive one I wouldn’t complain. During my 2nd pass of the pool I got a WHAM mid swing. After one solid run I was in control of this fish and was so happy when I saw it flash. I knew it wasn’t left over salmon. It ended up being a nice chunky Chamber’s steelhead. After getting into my first fish and now having angler’s on either side of me I decided to put this fish on ice since my Dad hasn’t stopped hassling me for fresh fish and re group.

Getting into a fish early is a great thing. Not only does it give you confidence in what you are doing but it eliminates any sense of urgency and you can just let the day unfold with no regrets. Jet lag was setting in and I found my belly rumbling for the 3rd time but only this time I knew it would stay down and I needed a pick me up. Now one thing any Milwaukee River Angler should know is where to get an amazing cup of joe and a great quick meal and that place is Collectivo Coffee on Humboldt Ave, formerly known as Altera Coffee. They have some of the best artisan coffee and quick breakfast goodies around. Both quiches caught my eye and I landed on the jalapeno, potato, bacon quiche and it didn’t disappoint.

My favorite coffee here is the Costa Rican. It wasn't on tody's coffee bar menu so I landed on the Sumatra which didn't disappoint.

My favorite coffee here is the Costa Rican. It wasn’t on today’s coffee bar menu so I landed on the Sumatra which didn’t disappoint.

Finding solitude on the water proved nearly impossible after my 2nd breakfast but I eventually found it and got into a 10lb king. The take was solid but very little line was pulled off my reel. I eventually bounced back to my original pool and got a smallie stripping an EP Perch. I switched to my 9ft 8wt and decided to throw a white bunny strip with a chartreuse head and strip it somewhat quick for an aggressive fish and oh boy did I find that fish!!! This brown’s take was just frightening and water splashed everywhere immediately. I was into a 10 lb brown that was fighting like a Skamania Steelhead. During the next two minutes there were leaps and runs galore. I got the “fuck you” during the very last jump as I ducked my fly which flew out it’s mouth and ended up in the tree behind me. I couldn’t think of a better note to end on (except landing the damn thing) so I opted to pack it in early due to my health condition beginning to deteriorate again. It’s rare that I get rewarded when I make a bad decision to hit the water. Here’s to more bad decisions!!!

Categories: Milwaukee river, steelhead, switch rods | Tags: milwaukee river, Steelhead, switch rods | Comments Off

Michigan Rivers Part II – The Big Manistee

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Andrew Jaworski

This recent trip to MI was more like a recon mission than a fishing trip. Over the next 5 years I promised myself I would try and explore as many MI, WI, and local waters that have piqued my interest either from books, friends, other fisherman, or blogs I’ve read. I’m essentially looking for beautiful scenic places to fish that arise the same passions I feel when I go out west. My local IL waters fail to arise that kind of passion but I haven’t given up on them yet.

As I concentrated on stopping my own momentum making my way down a steep gravel path on The Big Manistee I didn’t know what to expect. When I got to the bottom I was stopped cold in my tracks by what was in front of me. A beautiful scenic river with tree laden bluffs starting their annual blaze of glory and prime spawning gravel laden with Salmon. I instantly felt like I was on a western river and it was one of the most beautiful river I’ve seen. I knew this was a big river and after finally becoming a half decent switch rod caster, I saw the Manistee as one big playground. Covering big scenic water with a switch rod is easily the most fun I’ve had with a fly rod. The water I was fishing was somewhere below Tippy Dam and I am eager to see what the Manistee has in store between Hodenpyl Dam and Tippy Dam and the fabled Fly Only stretch of the Manistee closer to it’s head waters. There’s actually a back packing trail that follows the Manistee River between Hodenpyl and Tippy that I’m dying to do too. During my 6 hours of blissful fishing I didn’t get a single tug but it didn’t matter the slightest to me. I also spotted a half dozen browns in the 14″-18″ range. It’s clear this stretch of river breeds lunker browns and you will find them concentrated around spring feeders and tucked under large sunken debris. The river was also quite powerful and I found I needed to use a pretty heavy sink tip to get my fly down. One cool thing I saw and forgot to take a picture of were Kings stacked in a feeder I crossed which was no more than 5 feet wide. You could have noodled them.

027

You can’t beat swinging a deep run in front of a bluff with jumping salmon

Categories: Michigan Fishing, skagit, switch rods | Tags: Michigan Fishing, skagit, switch rods | 2 Comments

Michigan Rivers Part I – Pere Marquette

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Andrew Jaworski

Last weekend my fishing buddy from work Jim and I took a few days off to visit the Pere Marquette and Big Manistee River. As we reached Manistee National Forest I could hear one of the many Tim Allen “Pure Michigan” ads in my head. I really didn’t know what to expect since the Salmon Run was in full swing in Michigan’s NW Rivers and this was my first visit to both Rivers. I knew I had to see the fabled Fly Only stretch of the PM but feared the worst during the Salmon Run. As we pulled up on a weekday to one of the many access points on the PM it was clear the zoo was in town. I had never seen anything like it. Dying to see how the water looked and not having much daylight left after we setup camp, I set aside the more than unfavorable conditions and headed to the river with 2 sticks. One to egg behind redds for browns and one to swing weighted flies in deep holes. Jim and I were greeted by two gentlemen who were just finishing their glory shot of a 20 lb salmon and said, “The hole is all yours. If you got an egg sucking leech it should do the trick.” I smiled and we helped push them off the shallow water. After 30 minutes of fishing I was already into my first salmon and it was definitely not fresh. I was actually egging behind a redd looking for a brown when I got my hook-up. Hooking a salmon on a 5 wt rod with 8 lb tippet was not fun for me or the fish. Suffice to say, I didn’t land the fish.

Jim eventually fished the same water where I got my hook-up and when I returned 2 hours later I helped him land the same fish that I broke off and I even got my egg pattern back! When I came across Jim he was already 30 minutes into the battle and man was he relived to see me (please note you shouldn’t play a fish that long). After exploring the area we were fishing my mood began to plummet as the Angler count reached 50 in about a 2/3 mile stretch of water. Even though it was an angling zoo the amount of courtesy the angler’s showed one another was impressive. There could be half as many people on a bigger stretch of water on the Root River back home and “Angler’s” would be throwing fists at one another. So day 2 I came up with a plan B which was much more rewarding.

Jim’s 30 minute Salmon on 11lb test

We camped at Sulak campground and I’ll let you in on a little secret…it’s a nice campground with 12 sites and it’s FREE!!! Noticing on a map the surrounding area was public land, I knew we could roam the banks and avoid the crowds down river. We quickly found a fisherman’s trail and were glad to finally see the PM the way we envisioned: Beautiful water, solitude, salmon holding and jumping in deeper pools, and rising browns!!! I freaked when I realized I forgot my dry flies. I probably subconsciously thought I’d strictly be egging for Browns, stripping streamers, and swinging flies. Luckily I had one beetle in my egg/nymph box. I quickly tied it on and my 2nd cast yielded a PM Brown. I quickly went 1 of 3 after before losing my beetle on the edge of a log. Hoping the trout may be eager for an egg or nymph since I was dry fly and terrestrial-less, I quickly rigged up an egg with a nymph dropper but couldn’t shift their attention. I then focused my efforts on a deep quick run where giant Kings were leaping so I tied on a tungsten cone head leech. After a half dozen casts I was in to the biggest, baddest, nutty King to date. Running from one log jam to the next, up river then charging me, breaking water and just kicking my ass!!! This fish was red hot and was a 25 pounder with anger management issues. After 10 minutes of my tackle being tested I lost the fish due to the hook bending!!! That was a first for me.

The toughest part about fishing the PM for a 1st timer is that ALL the water looks so good. There are so many log jams, deep bends, spring seeps, gravel runs with dips and holes scattered everywhere you would be shocked not to find fish in all of these areas, but from what I observed you, should raise your standards on what you consider trouty water to look like and use your eyes to locate fish if possible. Maybe I was doing something wrong but I couldn’t locate or move fish in a lot of good looking water. I would never go to the fly only water of the PM during the salmon run again but it’s nice to know that even during the most intense fishing pressure you can still find a little bit of solitude on the PM.

This deep bend with log jams on both sides of the river which I couldn't fit into the shot yielded Browns and Kings. The Browns rose for over 2 hours

One of many deep bends on the PM

Categories: brown trout, Michigan Fishing, Pere Marquette, Salmon | Tags: brown trout, Michigan Fishing, pere marquette, salmon | Comments Off

Driftless Season Drifting Away…..Salmon and Steelhead Are Moving In… Get Out Now!

Posted on September 25, 2013 by a_rosati18

The end of September marks the end of the inland trout season, and the beginning of the lake-run trout and salmon season making for some difficult decisions for anglers who like to chase both. It’s go big or go home on the great lakes tributaries with long days of combat fishing the crowded rivers for maybe a single bite, or take a stroll along a quiet spring creek where hungry trout are eager to eat a well presented grasshopper all day long. I enjoy them both depending on my mood, so I juggle the two very different types of fishing during this month. Whenever a few tough days of fishing start to bring me down there’s no other place that picks me back up like Southwest Wisconsin. It’s not that the fishing is always easy there, but it’s always rewarding. Trout are almost always eating. Holding in current seams waiting for their next meal to float by. If the fish don’t seem to be cooperating you usually just have to look closer. If you find what they’re eating the fishing turns on instantly and it does in fact seem easy. This time of year I don’t put a ton of thought into fly choice… I just tie on a grasshopper. It may not always get the most trout, but it does get some quality trout and some exciting takes. It will also draw trout out of unexpected lies more than any nymph or small dry fly can. The trout simply cannot let that much protein pass by, so they move away from their comfort zone to eat a hopper. Trout feeding on hatches will often stay in the same lane and rise in perfect rhythm without moving more than a couple inches to the left or right. I’ve seen a trout move about 5 feet to take a hopper!

One of the prettiest browns I’ve brought to hand.

Walking up a spring creek at dawn does resembles what I imagine heaven to look like.

Walking up a spring creek at dawn resembles what I imagine heaven to look like.

My friends fishing the tribs this week have reported a steelhead and some lake-run brown trout being caught. Of course kings are present but not as aggressive in the rivers. Triggering a chinooks defensive or predatory instincts by stripping streamers in close proximity to redds (not over them or you’ll snag) is a good way to find the aggressive fish. Dominant males will snap at anything swimming too close to redds.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: driftless area, lake-run trout, Steelhead | Comments Off

Summer Bassin’ From The NuCanoe Frontier 12

Posted on September 19, 2013 by a_rosati18

Early this spring I sold one of my old toys and picked up another watercraft. After browsing the web for weeks I finally had found what seemed to be a very versatile fishing vessel. For a long time now I’ve watched kayak fishing become more popular and the demand for boats suitable for fishing has brought on a number of great looking yaks. I ended up settling on the NuCanoe Frontier 12; the canoe/kayak hybrid. Every “fishing kayak” on the market these days has countless accessories and arrangements for different situations, but where the NuCanoe seemed to excel was in its stability. The wide deck and grooved hull design combine the best of stability and easy paddling. The boat also has a track system running the length of the boat for adjusting seat position and adding accessories wherever you want. For me a stable, open deck, free of snags, is what I love about this boat. I’ve fished from pontoons for a couple years and found that while they’re great for paddling in rougher water they’re not so good in stillwater, and can be tough to fish from. You sit lower to the water and I’m the only person I know who’s feels comfortable standing on my pontoon seat, so many times it’s easier to get out and wade once you get to a spot. With the Frontier I sit higher above the deck in the 360 degree swivel seat making it very easy to stand up and make some cast while floating. I can also paddle into a head-wind on a flat body of water without much trouble. There will be more to come on this boat in the future, but for now I give it two thumbs up.

Fishing one person from NuCanoe’s Frontier 12 is spacious and the open deck is perfect for fly casting. Throw in a casting bar for extra stability and you have one fine watercraft for the fly angler.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: bass, NuCanoe | Comments Off

2 Books: Improved Trout Waters of Wisconsin & Improved Trout Waters of Minnesota and Iowa

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Andrew Jaworski

These are two books I would recommend to any Driftless Angler, especially if the Driftless is uncharted territory for you. These books outline where your trout stamp dollars have gone. More importantly, they tell you where stream improvements have been done, what improvements were done, and when the improvements happened. These improvements can allow a stream to hold up to 40-60% more trout. The next great feature about this book are the maps. These maps are the perfect size using a 1:75,000 scale. The scale on these maps are exactly twice as large as the Gazetteer which uses a 1:150,000 scale. Finally, the most handy feature of these maps are that they chart State, County, and DNR easements. It tells you exactly where you have access!!! It can be a headache finding out if there is public access to the trout streams you wish to fish and these books do all the hard work for you. Iowa DNR maps are far by the best when it comes to quality maps and charting state and county lands but even those maps do not include areas which have DNR easements which provide additional access. Don’t ever head out to the Driftless relying on your GPS or tablet because you will be disappointed over and over again. It is important to have tangible maps with you. Yet another reason I love fishing. It makes you do things the old fashioned way. Another cool feature of this book is it directs you to where you can find the stream in your Delrome Gazetteer. It also shows several feeder streams the Gazetteer doesn’t show.

Now I do have a few critiques of this book. This first critique is really more of a caveat. DNR easements aren’t forever so it is possible you may be disappointed when you head to one and find out they no longer have it. These books recently came out with newer editions so the DNR easements for the Iowa and Minnesota book are as of 2011 and the Wisconsin book is as of 2008. Next, I didn’t like the fact the maps used 3 different shades of blue to indicate the class of a stream. Without looking at the legend in the beginning of the book it was hard to tell which class I was looking at on any given stream. They should have used the same coloring as the DNR. Also, the maps do not include a scale so I found it hard to gauge how many miles of stream I was looking at and how far access points were from one another. It should also be noted that the WI book contains roughly 250 streams and the MN & IA book contains roughly 200 streams. Remember, this book is specifically where most of your trout stamp dollars have gone.

This link should give you a flavor of what the book has to offer visually. The maps are much easier to read in the book than the example cited near the top of the page too.

http://www.whereamipubs.com/pb/wp_b8ff220c/wp_b8ff220c.html

Categories: Books, Driftless Area | Tags: Books, driftless area | Comments Off