Hello!

 It's been over a year since I have written a post. I'm sorry to my few regular followers for my long absence, it has been such a busy year.
I live in West Bend now, which is about 30 miles north of Milwaukee, and haven't found quite as much time to fish as I'd have liked, but the Milwaukee River flows through town and offers plenty of opportunity.

 I have a new little girl, she's just over a year old, I will call her Olive.  She's been fishing with me since she was less than a month old.  Her and Cleo get along so well most of the time and Cleo has been such a good big sister.  I love these girls so much!

I also met a girl that I have been dating since April.  I helped her catch her first fish this summer, and I hope to catch many more with her.  She currently lives in Michigan, which makes things hard, but Michigan isn't that far. We had many great times over the summer. I call her Panda.

I have been wanting to post more for quite some time now, and hopefully I'll be able to find more time to update in the near future.  I'm going to post some of my favorite pictures from the end of 2015 to the present.  Thanks for following!

 

Ghost Pepper Fail

It seems like they're throwing around the term "ghost pepper" pretty loosely these days. I just ordered Wendy's "Ghost Pepper Fries," opened them up to find Wendy's standard (delicious) fries covered in a cheese sauce and sprinkled with some sort of diced green pepper, seeds included.

I've never seen a green ghost pepper in my life.  I'm not saying they don't exist. They just don't exist in this dish.

I cautiously popped one of the peppers, ready for the worst, only to taste the ever so familiar jalapeño.  This is probably for the best. I've eaten ghost peppers, they aren't the best tasting peppers, they kind of have a piney taste, but let's be honest, nobody uses ghost peppers because of the great taste.

Bottom line, if you're going to make a "ghost pepper" dish, it had better be pretty damn spicy!  I make spicier chili I serve without hesitation to my three year old daughter. I call it mild. Wendy's Ghost Pepper Fries are delicious, but are no hotter than your standard, run of the mill jalapeño.

Sorry to all my regular readers for my absence. I don't have regular access to a computer that I can post updates from, and I've been hesitant to try to write an update from my phone, as I did today. This past fishing season was one of the worst ones I can remember, and I took quite an off-season. I hope to make up for it this year.

Two Week Long Slump

Wednesday was my day off of work, and I was determined to spend as much time as I could trying to end my slump.  I planned on fishing in the Menomonee for rough fish, possible late steelhead and whatever warm water species might be in there.  I got a new reel for my 9wt and I'm yet to break it in.

I picked up my little girl and started for the river just after 9:00.  It wasn't long before it was raining, but we continued.  As we got closer to the river, it became apparent that the crews were working at the improvements again.  And they were working right where we usually find access.  The rain really started to fall, and we were forced to seek shelter under the Wisconsin Avenue bridge over the valley.  The Menomonee would not be fished today.

The storm really raged.  Thunder and lightning, hail, and a raging torrent where the Menomonee flowed calmly minutes before.

With my morning plans ruined, I dropped off Cleo for her nap and made for the Cafe Hollander for lunch.  I had a wild boar sandwich with ginger sriracha barbecue sauce, sweet potato fries, and a Chimay White.  Truly a world class beer and a great meal all around.

Round two, we headed out to Oconomowoc for some trout fishing.  All I could do was hope that all the  streams in Southeast Wisconsin weren't totally blown out by the storm.  I know this stream rebounds quick, but how quick?  We were going to find out.

The stream flowed clearly, but the surrounding land was swamped.  Walking along the stream was a miserable experience.  I was ankle deep in muck much of the time as spot after spot failed to yield any fish.  

Finally, the stretch above gave up one trout.  Cleo said "I love that brook trout."

The slump is over.

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.