The Long Cast/Getting Skunked

I have some hand tied flies all packaged up, ready to ship to a friend in Oregon.  Congratulations to Ken, a new fly fisher, For guessing the number in the Early trout season giveaway!  I'm so happy to think about some of my flies going and catching fish out on the west coast.

Quote of the day: "Really, fishing is just larping isn't it?  Out there trying to catch pokemon."

I said that to my wife when I got home from getting skunked today.

Last Day To Participate in the Giveaway

You have until midnight tonight to participate. Click here for full details.  Good luck!

Scouting Waukesha Trout Streams

Early trout season is almost upon us.  Though I doubt I'll actually make it out for opening weekend, I'm itching to get out soon.  It has been a long time since I've actually fished a small trout stream.

I started asking questions about Waukesha trout streams on a local fishing forum and got some nice responses, though nobody else had fished them.  The verdict: Access is spotty, the trout are overlooked.  I circled a few overpasses and access points on a map, intent on finding nice trout water within an hour drive from Milwaukee.

This morning, I had some errands to run after work in Waukesha.  UnFortunately, everything is still closed when I get out of work.  With an hour to kill, I unfolded my map, and made way for the proximity of Rosenow Creek, this creek doesn't even show up on my map.

This is what I found:

There was a parking lot big enough for about ten cars (or eight SUVs) with a nicely developed trail.

The stream flows from East to West, mostly a dark bottom, rarely over two foot deep, and almost narrow enough to jump across.

Manmade tracks give way to deer tracks a few hundred yards downstream.

The fishing upstream looks to be a little more technical.

The stream looks promising. I didn't explore it too much, I'll come back and explore more thoroughly with my gear.  There were a couple other streams I wanted to look at, but they were rather far away.  I'll look at those another time.

Just a reminder, there are still a few days left to enter the giveaway!

Early Trout Opener Giveaway

I was cleaning out some old, broken and rusty flies and saving them in a baby food jar so I can reuse beads, hooks, or whatever else I can salvage.

THE CONTEST: 

Look at the picture below and guess how many hooks are in the jar.

Click to enlarge

I don't know how many are in there myself.  I say hooks because it would be hard to count the actual flies since there are likely pieces of hackle, chenille, and all other sorts of pieces flies in there.  

TO ENTER:

Leave your guess in the comments below before 11:59PM, (central time) on Friday, March 1st.  You only get one guess, so make sure you're happy with your number.  If more than one person guesses the right number, the person who guessed first will be the winner.  If nobody guesses the exact number, the winner will be the person with the closest guess without going over.  The winner will be selected and announced around noon on Saturday, March 2nd.  The winner will be notified by email and will be announced on the What The Karp!?! facebook page, you can click the Facebook badge in the right hand column.

THE PRIZE:

An assortment of 14 of my hand tied flies, including streamers, nymphs and dries.

The prize

One olive and two tan scuds, size 12

Two size 12 Flashy Pants nymphs.

Two size 16 and two size 18 Elk Hair Caddis.

Two size 10 bead head Woolly Buggers, one black, one black and grizzly.

One size 10 Force Choking Leech.

And two size 10 Black Barbers, the actual two pictured below.

I will ship them as soon as possible.  Good luck, and have a happy early trout season!

Blood and Needles, Paper and Ink

     I start my new job tomorrow.  Things will probably be hectic for the next couple weeks, but I'm working on some stuff so I can continue updating regularly.
     I found a journal that I had written in since 2010 with some fun fishing stories in it.  I had another one-- a Moleskine one-- that went back a few years, but I lost it.  I had labeled it with my address and everything, and updated it every time we moved, but then on the Reward line, I crossed out Reward, and wrote "Punishment," then I filled in the blank with "HARSH JUDGEMENT."  I guess it's no surprise I never got it back.
     Anyway, I'll be transferring some stories from my hand written journal to my blog.  They will be mostly fishing related, but probably not entirely.
     I'm also working on a giveaway that will be coming up in the next couple weeks.  Keep checking back for more information.