The Window

We got some serious rain a couple weeks ago.  Most local streams were just short of, or over flood stage after the three plus inches we got in less than two days.  But after a week, they were looking much better!  Still a little higher than average, but pretty clear, all things considered.  The local weather reports all talked about much cooler weather coming for the current week, but Sunday it was gorgeous, and I took full advantage of it, spending around five hours on the Menomonee River.

At an overpass in Wauwatosa, I spotted fish, and no other anglers.  I got my gear (I got a lot of fun new stuff over the winter) and went in.  Most of the fish were suckers, but there were trout as well.  One trout was rather large and easy to spot.  He showed interest in the flies I presented but was hesitant to strike.  I changed patterns and colors every few casts to keep his interest, and eventually he struck!  He threw the hook right away and took off upstream.

I took off right behind him, searching for him for a hundred yards or so, before it started to get too deep.  

He was gone.  There was no sense wearing myself out, so I started to head back, not being particularly stealthy.  In a shallow area I found a very interesting fossil.  I find a lot of fossils in the Menomonee, but this is one of the nicer ones.  I have no idea what this is.  If you do, please share!

Menomonee River Fossil

After stopping to pick up and wash the grime off the fossil, I started back down, and there he was again!  I didn't see him until I was only a couple yards from him, and he quickly darted off into a deeper pool with some boulders and a swift flow.  I tied on the heaviest Clouser minnow I had and made a few casts behind the first boulder in the pool and let it swing through.  I don't think I had made a dozen casts before he struck again, this time the hook held firmly, and the fight was on!  He came right to the edge of the pool right away, so I thought the fight would be over relatively quickly, but then he charged right into the swiftest, deepest part of the pool as I tried to maneuver him around the boulders and rebar.

The Menomonee is charming.

The fish went airborne a couple times, it was a spectacular fight!  He almost came to hand twice before finally admitting defeat.  I pulled him into a shallow, snapped one quick photo on my phone, unhooked him and shoved him back into the pool.

Menomonee River steelhead

I explored a nice stretch of the river without seeing any more fish, so I went back to my car and drove downstream by Miller Park.
There were many cars at the overpass, and probably a dozen people swinging rods at the water.  I walked downstream to the Interstate before even seeing any fish.  The fish were suckers mostly, hundreds of them, and occasional northern pike.  I kind of thought, "What the hell," and started casting.  The suckers would not move, and the pike would flee from my fly.  I was just about to leave when I found a school of more active suckers.  From my experience, the more active suckers will take a fly.  Today was no exception.  I broke one off and landed two in short order before calling it a day.  The two pictures below are of the nicer one.

Suckers on fly gear are fun!

A sucker on a Clouser minnow

So far, today is the only day it hasn't snowed this week.  I'm glad I got out before that window closed.  Who knows when it will open again?

Saturday Driftless Trip

I was on my way to Vernon County by 5:00 am this morning.  About half way, I had to pull over and snap the picture above of the gorgeous driftless sunrise.  I don't get a chance to get out there often, so I spent a lot of time scouring maps, looking for access.  There are so many streams in the Driftless that it is just overwhelming.  If you don't know about this unique area, click here for more information.  Of course there was a car at the overpass I parked at, but it was a pleasant surprise to find it belonged to Blake, the writer of Illinois Wisconsin Fishing.

I went a few hundred yards downstream from the overpass and found a lot of eager fish.  These are the nicest ones that I caught.  The third one wasn't so large, but the pattern on it is beautiful!

I caught most of my fish at the overpass, mostly on tan scuds and black Woolly Buggers.  There was a Boss Fight of a brown trout in the pool that wouldn't budge for anything.  I kept tying on bigger and bigger streamers trying to fool him and avoid the smaller fish.  I finally tied on some kind of a bead head rabbit strip leech which fooled a very nice sized sucker.  He really gave me a run for my money!

The fight with the sucker spooked all the fish in the pool, so I moved on.  It didn't feel like I caught a lot of fish, but I think I just got used to catching a fish every few casts.  When I went a ten minute stretch without catching anything, it felt slow.

Let the pictures below be a reminder to PINCH DOWN YOUR BARBS!  I took a size 14 extra heavy scud hook in the thumb half way up the bend of the hook!  I could see the pressure exerted by the hook point squeezing the blood out of the capillaries under my thumbnail.  I'm so glad it didn't go clean through the nail!  I kind of panicked and got the shakes, but I maintained my calm enough to photograph it for your enjoyment.  Your welcome.

Because the barb was pinched down, the hook backed right out relatively effortlessly with only the slightest elevation in pain.  It could have been much worse.

It rained hard on my long walk back to the car.  There was even some lightning.  I headed  to the town of Viroqua to dry out a little.  I bought some flies at Driftless Angler, and had a Two Hearted Ale and a grass fed burger at the Driftless Cafe. Everything in this town revolves around trout.  I loved it!

Driftless Angler

Brook trout mural in the alley
of the Driftless Cafe

Two Hearted Ale in
a mason jar

I visited several other streams I had never fished, but didn't pick the right ones.  They were either dry beds, or sandy bottom streams with no cover.  I wish I had more time, but I had to start heading back.  Hopefully someday I'll get to spend a weekend or more in the Driftless and explore better water.

Season Opener Report: It Was Rough

After my pre-season run-in with a decent sized smallmouth in my local stream, I was determined to catch more.  Saturday, I donned my vest, grabbed my spinning gear, and took my little girl fishing again.
I didn't realise we had gotten so much rain!
Upon seeing the swollen flow of coffee where the Menomonee River ususally flows, I almost just turned around and headed home.  But I decided I could use the walk anyway, it couldn't hurt to try.  Right near the first bend under the Wisconsin Avenue bridge, I started seeing the suckers.  Lots of suckers.  I made a few casts with a lead head "Woolly Bugger" jig I tied for spinning gear and I caught a couple suckers.  As I put the first sucker back, my little girl told the fish "Bye bye."  It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.  I wanted to find some game fish though.  We walked a long way, not seeing anything but rough fish.

Much higher water than last week

Very fast flow

My hand tied "Woolly Bugger" jig

Sunday, I went out again.  But this time, I went with rough fish on my mind.  You can only catch what's there, right?  I rigged up a purple Mister Twister, went down to the river with a half hour to kill, and I absolutely slayed the redhorse!  In 30 minutes, I caught eight suckers!  I literally spent more time unhooking fish than I spent fishing.  A couple of them were bruisers too!  A couple were foul hooked, but most took the Twister right in the mouth.

Monday I went out with about a half hour to kill again before work.  There were much less suckers, but the ones that were there were nice sized fish.  There were a lot more carp up that far though.  On my first cast, I caught a nice sucker that caused the carp to scatter.  Too bad, I really wanted to catch a carp on my medium action hand-me-down rod with four pound test.  I caught one other sucker before heading home.

I did some research, there are a lot of different species of suckers in the Genus (Moxostoma) that includes redhorse.  It's hard to tell some of them apart without actually opening them up.  I'm kind of curious how many species there actually are in the Menomonee.  It's obvious that I caught several different species.

Urban Fishing in Milwaukee; or, Save Gas, Fish Local

The first of May was such a gorgeous day.  I had to get out and do some fishing while the weather was still nice.  Currently, we are down to one car.  My wife had taken it to work, so I had to stay local and take my baby girl with me.

I don't fly fish when I fish with my little girl, so I gathered up a few lures that work in most situations--  a Mepps assortment in case I saw steelhead, and Mister Twisters for everything else-- and packed them into my fly vest.

I put my girl in the carrier, and we walked out our front door and down into the Menomonee Valley.  The river is supposed to undergo improvements to restore it to a more natural state, but for now, it's as urban as it gets.  It appears more as a sewage ditch than a naturally appearing ancient river that used to support Native American life with abundant wild rice.

The sucker run is apparently in full swing.  The fish were so thick that I didn't even notice them until they scattered from my overpassing shadow.  I made a few casts with a Twister and hooked up with a foot long sucker.  Great fun on my fairly light tackle.

I continued downstream, casually casting to the heads of schools of suckers, letting my jig swing through, just as you would with a Woolly Bugger.  A cast toward nothing in particular (there isn't a lot of cover in this particular stretch) resulted in a tremendous strike.  I thought it could have been a northern, or a bigger sucker, possibly a steelhead.  But as the fish tired and came in, I saw that it was, in fact, a nice sized smallmouth bass.  I actually yelled out loud "It's a smallmouth!"  This was a first for me in the Menomonee River.  I guess nobody told him that bass season opens this upcoming weekend, oops!

We continued to walk a ways.  We saw tons of suckers, half a dozen small pike, scores of carp, and a snapping turtle the size of a spare tire.  Not one steelhead though.  

My Little Cleo was getting tired of fishing, so we started for home.

My Little Cleo plays in the dirt, Miller Brewery in the background

One thing I love about urban fishing, the element of mystery and surprise.  I never expected to catch that smallmouth in the concrete.

For more information on the Menomonee Valley, check this link.