First Skunk of the Season

Yesterday was a pretty rainy day, but the temperature wasn't all that bad.  I studied the radar and saw a brief opening in the rain at just the right time to give me approximately an hour of trout fishing time.

Rosenow flows clear and swiftly with virtually no signs of life.  I only saw two fish, one a nice size, and one very small.  They both darted under a log jam as I made my approach.

I seem to have better luck on Rosenow on sunny days. It sounds like the weather Sunday is supposed to be pretty nice.  I'm sure I'll find myself out that way again.

Rosenow is a tricky creek, but it's so rewarding when it all comes together.

The Highs And The Lows; or, Losing The Fish of The Season

I had one of my best days, if not my best day, of the season fishing for smallmouth in the Milwaukee River earlier this week.  I got up early Thursday morning to fish the same stretch hoping for similar results.  Instead of fish on back to back casts, I got the skunk.

It was cold that morning, mid 50s.  The water was in the 70s, and as high as it was Monday morning with a similar rate of flow.  It was actually relieving to escape the coolness of the air by wading wet in the warm water.

The wild card seems to be water clarity and multiple hatches.  I'm not sure why the water was cloudier Thursday than it was Monday right after the rain.  Maybe it just takes all the silt that long to wash downstream from the headwaters.  There were little white mayflies and tricos everywhere.  The bass may have fed on the hatches all night.

I found a pool with what I thought were fish feeding on the surface, but learned that they were carp.  I made a few casts into the pool and hoped for the best, but... I continued down to the same spot I caught so many fish earlier but never even had a strike.

I made my way back up and fished one final pool, a pool that is usually good for a fish or two.  On my first cast I had a strike and a good hookset.  But this was a big fish that I never got the upper hand on.  I had a hard time pulling the fish from its lie with my five weight.  When I finally got it out of the pool it rose near the surface.  I saw a flash of green through the cloudy water, so I'm sure I had a decent sized northern pike on.  Once it was out of the pool, then the fish let me know I was not even close to having the upper hand. my reel hissed as the fish peeled off line, making a beeline for the weeds.  My line tangled, the fish broke my 5X tippet easily.

The streams will probably not be great for fishing for a while with the rain we are expected to get over the next few days.  On the plus side, if the weather stays cool, overcast and rainy too much longer, we might see an early salmon run!

Glacial Landscapes

Some pictures from today's trout stream exploration.  Note the lack of fish.

I had Rosenow to myself

I was actually behind a hatchery truck

Scuppernong River, Kettle Moraine State Forest

I thought I heard a trout rise.  It was ice falling in.

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.

Milwaukee River Fishing Report

I managed to get out and fish today.  Does this count as ice fishing?

It's a Three Piece Now!

Tragedy

While walking along the concrete bank of the Menomonee, I slipped and fell.  I didn't hurt myself at all, so I dusted myself off and continued walking.  Then I noticed a small twig entangled in my leader.  I reached to untangle it, then I noticed that it wasn't a twig at all, it was the tip of someone else's fly rod that had been tangled in my line, how strange!  It's really not too surprising, there are pieces of broken rods all over down there.  Then I had that sick feeling in my viscera, I looked up at the tip of my rod to find my suspicion correct, the tip hanging from the leader was in fact, mine.  It's not even a nice fly rod, it's just all I have!  I turn around and head home, fighting back tears.

Comedy

The next day, I start dreaming of having unlimited gil, and start looking at rods online.  I am mostly just talking to myself, but my wife knows how upset I am, so she's trying to care about my hobby.  I'm showing her which rods I wish I could afford and which ones I'll probably have to settle for.  I said something about wanting another two piece, but maybe a four piece would fit in the trunk better.  My wife says "I thought you had a three piece."  I respond "It's a three piece now!"  My wife bursts into hysterical laughter, I chuckle a little myself.  You have to laugh in these situations to keep from crying.

My rod was a Cabela's 8'6" 5wt Wind River With a Three Forks 4/5/6 reel.  I caught a lot of fish with it.  Mostly smallmouth bass, but plenty of trout too, and some pretty big salmon.  I think it's time to save up for a big boy rod now.

Keepers

We went fishing as a family this Thanksgiving for only the second time.  My wife doesn't actually fish, but she makes a great photographer.  You can check out her blog if you want.

Lilyhammer hides from the sun

Christina does not like fishing

The Menomonee River

Lilyhammer loves daddy's hat string

Amazing graffiti

...F stands for failure

Not the most scenic stretch of river

The fishing was slow and I didn't even have a bite, but I still have a couple of keepers.

Skunked

Last week I got to spend an evening with my beautiful little girl.  She loves being outside, and I had not taken her fishing yet, so I decided we needed to find out if the salmon were running in the Menomonee River yet; maybe I could unlock some of those remaining achievements.  She's just six months old, so I wasn't planning on doing any really serious fishing.

After her nap, we made the two and a half mile trip to the more natural stretch of the river, and she was already being fussy and crabby.  I put her in the carrier on my chest, grabbed my gear out of the trunk and walked to the river.

This picture was taken at an earlier date,
the water is even lower now.

The water is terribly low still, but there is a pool where the water cascades over rock, if there are salmon this far up, they will be bottlenecked up in the pool for sure.  My little angel had a good time when we got to the bank, she loves the water, and there were some ducks and frogs for her to see.
I didn't anticipate how much wearing a baby on my chest would effect my cast, but I still managed to get my lure where I wanted it.  I think my girl's favorite part of fishing was watching the reel spin as I retrieved my line.
I managed to fish for ten or fifteen minutes before baby turned into crabby pants and we stopped fishing without so much as seeing a single fish.  We started walking, and she calmed right down, so I dropped the gear back in the trunk and hit the nature trails.  My sweetie fell asleep instantly, I continued to explore the beautiful Jacobus park as she napped.

Tiny stream.

Very nice trails in the park.

She wakes up! 

Baby had a fun time

She eventually woke up and was a happy, cute little angel.  Even though I got skunked, that was the best fishing yet this season.