Hey John

OK, the temperature has dropped like a rock in a pool and yesterday the snownados danced across the open fields and pastures like there was a party all day long. The forecast is only to get worse. Damn, no trout fishing for this cowboy. I think I will tie some Zebras. First I need to email my friends.

This is a note I just sent to my buddies to get them to attend this years international Fly Fishing Film Tour event. I cleaned it up a bit so I could go public. The photo above was just after we had broken the world record for the largest brat and bun ever made. We were Brat Rollers. It was a pretty big deal. check it out 

OK fellers here is my pitch.

A blast back to openers past

Yes, it has begun. The first Saturday in January marked the start of the inland trout season in Wisconsin. At 2 weeks in this is a catch and release season provides a much needed outdoor break to the cabin fever that grips the masses of fly anglers(really a small group) in these parts of the frozen tundra. At present there is no snow blanketing the area and temps unseasonably mild. That will change this week.

Last week I was out on one glorious 30 degree day for about 4 hours. The wind was low and the water conditions were clear and 38 degrees. Signs of a recent high water event were evident. Rocks had been turned and scrubbed clean. The browned grass was laid flat and frozen pools of water, where the river had recently flowed, stood cold and solid. I remembered the rains that had come at the end of December, early January. This spot on the Rush, one of my favorite, had changed from the last time I saw it at the end of last years season. The sun showed brightly and its intensity told me we were on our way towards spring. I was warm. Two fish came to hand, both plump and healthy. I was surprised at their size. No lack of food in here. Happily, I headed to the truck. There was some place I needed to be.

In the recent past the fly fishing community has taken to developing relationships with every craft brewer, tap room or distillery and rotates each week from one to the next passing the coldest hours of the winter developing some of the most intriguing fish catching fabrications known to man. Some just drink the creations of the brewmasters, others just tie flies. But those who drink and tie most certainly create a special end product sure to catch the big one. It never fails, the company is good and the stories flow side by side with the spirits and sensations that spring from the vices of those who live in the Northland. Cheers!

Check out these film trailers https://www.flyfilmfest.com/films/   Mark  your calendar Friday March 8th 2019, River Falls, Wisconsin. More updates to come here and on FB. Be a Sponsor. Contact me here andy@graygoatflyfishing.com

Hi Andy!

Wondering your opinion of river levels on the brule and fishability.  A small group of us were planning on going up this weekend but the flows are currently at 430 cfs.  It might drop a tiny bit by Saturday but would that be a level you would even attempt to wet a line?  I know river crossings will be out of the question for the most part.  Thanks for any input!

Will

Hi Will

Continue reading this post…

Believe it! Memories are made every time you step in the water. For Jordyn, this was all hers. Two in one day. 24.5 and 21.5 Measured and released. I was told, as these bad boys slid back into the river they disappeared well under the woody undercut bank.  Likely they won’t be spending any time out in the light of day again. The end of April is usually the time. Nature is a bit behind in this neck of the woods this year.

The weather has changed between all the seasonal norms in the span of the last 2 weeks. My ability to predict what the trout and all the things tied to their activity is like spinning the roulette wheel. This week I was convinced Wednesday’s cool down/overcast/rainy weather was going to produce trout nirvana results. This was after a stint in the 80’s. Well although it was a good day on the water, the fish were not jumping in the net. Hatches were mysterious, sporadic and short lived. Nymphing with the old reliable’s was unreliable. We worked. We caught fish. None were under 12″. There was no free lunch. Swinging partridge and orange, CDC S.H. prince and purple prince worked. My standard dry caddis patterns, dark or light bodies, were eaten once, thats all, change flies. 1 eat, change flies. You know the drill. Most productive water was the fastest in the stream. Most productive technique was swinging. Today, It is colder. Catching may be easy or hard. Last week, skinny sandy water produced some nice fish. The week before dark and deep was the ticket.

The message here is get out and fish. Work the dry, work the dead drift, work the streamer. Swing some soft hackles. Test, test, test. Move, move, move. For the most part the trout are coming out of hiding. Big trout too!! This young lady caught 2-20″+ fish off the Kinni this last week.  They are shaking off the late winter doldrums and putting on the feed bag. This year, as the rhythms of nature go, our local trout streams are a bit late in breaking out.  Go find your water.

ESTATE SALE

A good friend of mine and retired fly fishing manufacturers rep for a number of fly fishings finest product lines is off on a new international adventure. He and his bride are on the move and they are shedding all their excess baggage. They are selling their Eden Prairie home and all its belongings. May 19th and 20th will be a days you won’t want to miss if your  looking for some bargains on fly fishing stuff. Here is the link to the photos.

https://www.estatesales.net/MN/Eden-Prairie/55347/1871760

A great sponsor

As a Pro-Staffer for Scientific Anglers since the late 1990’s, I occasionally have been asked to test new or developing products.  About 6 or 7 years ago some new tippet spools arrived in the mail. I was told the tippet was stronger per diameter than previous products. The letter in the package explained how the tippet spool was redesigned larger, to reduce coiling, and to spin more freely when nested with other spools of the same type. They product included spool bands to tame unruly small diameter tippet. The spools also incorporated a new feature, a built in cutter. I must admit that after being in the industry for over 25 years I had heard many claims from manufacturers in regard to bigger, better, faster, stronger, more accurate, limper, stiffer, more abrasion resistant, ultra-sensitive  and so on. It seemed no matter the product, each year, manufacturers claimed some sort of improvement. I get it. Competing products, growing markets, chasing numbers. It is a competitive industry. There needs to be a hook. Sometimes the hook is dull and there is no real advantage to be realized for the angler. Sometimes the truth is stretched. Sometimes the truth is realized!

Already sold on SA Fly Lines and using a wide variety of tapers and configurations on my guide and personal equipment, I was hopeful this new tippet was half as good as the claims. I must admit I was using another brand of tippet at the time. SA was focusing more on the development of their textured and AST coated lines and all was good in that market. Tippet seemed of little consequence. When the package arrived I ripped the top off the box and commenced testing.

At that time my system for nymphing was to run 4x fluorocarbon to my lead fly and 5x fluoro to the trailer. I never used 6x. Too tedious to tie. Also with my overactive hook set plus fishing around wood piles, the chances of breaking off $2 flies seemed certain. Weaker tippet would surely cost me more money There was another transition I had also just begun, my breakaway from fluorocarbon. After reading about the harmful effects to the environment in both processing and lack of degradation in nature, I began running mono to my trailer. It seemed like a small but meaningful contribution to the environment. I am now completely out of the fluorocarbon market.  I am noticing no less fish catching(don’t know how you would study that anyhow)…. And the breaking strengths per diameter of both materials seems to be getting closer together.

I jumped in with both feet and began running 5x mono to lead, 6x mono trail. No inordinate break-offs while fighting fish. No noticeable difference in snag retrieval break-offs. The spool bands preformed as billed keeping the small diameter tippet in order and spools buried in the middle of the stack unwound without turning the whole group. And then there was the cutter. Believe it! As a guide, I go through a boatload of tippet each year. New folks to this sport can go through a lot of flies, a lot of snags, a lot of rocks and a lot of branches equalling a lot of break-offs to procure the “magic first trout”. To achieve that goal may require a small moving van full of replacement tippet.  The cutter installed in each spool makes a difference in ease of installation of said tippet. After years and years of testing products to try and simplify this crazy, cluttered, gadget filled pass time, the tippet cutter works! The noticeable difference is that it is no longer necessary to go to my nipper for cutting each piece of tippet from the spool. In a 5S, lean manufacturing world, eliminating an entire step from the process is a big deal. Unbelievable!

A few years ago SA began calling this product “The Truth”. I suspect this stemmed back to the fact that there is no industry standard for labeling the actual breaking strength of this product category. There are no breaking strength police. Some manufacturers use the value of the highest breaking strength of a tested batch for their product labels. Some use and average breaking strength value. SA has always labeled their product with the truth, the lowest breaking strength tested. This assures the consumer there will be no deception or skulduggery in the labeling of their product. This is the truth. I liked it.

In the end, Scientific Anglers tippet and tippet spool has been a welcome addition to my fishing and guiding system. The product has lived up to all the claims. With fake news all around us and few places to turn to find out whats real,,,,,, Long Live The Truth. Here’s how to get some free stuff.

Details

• This limited-time promotion will run throughout the spring and summer—from March 15 until August 31, 2018.
• Cashing in on this screaming deal is ridiculously simple: just mention this email at your nearest SA dealer. That’s it. If they do ask to see anything, just show them this email.
• This deal applies to Freshwater and Hard Mono AR 2-pack leaders (9’ and 7.5’) and 30 meter tippet spools.
• Sorry everyone, Fluorocarbon leader and tippet does not apply.

Finally………..

After an unusually long snow breakdown, the landscape of Western Wisconsin is beginning to show its face. Don’t get me wrong the winter scenery and fishing has been fantastic but it seems to have taken forever to reduce the snowpack, find some sunny spring temperatures to bask in. And even more, to fish in.  The best fishing this year came in early to mid March. Moderating temps brought stoneflies and midges to the waters edge and stream side snowbanks. Early mornings fished well with midge larva of all colors, #18 & 20 P.tails, Rainbow Warriors and/or Pink Squirrels. The 11am to 2pm warm-up section of the day showed trout heads taking those bugs in various stages of life and there was some fantastic dry fly/emerger fishing to be had on most streams if you found the sneaky pods of trout in the softer water.  These were not big fish but they were not shy to bite if the fly was drifted correctly. The pull on my rod was stimulating after the long winter drought.

In the last week conditions have gone to pot. Not sure exactly what this means but my Mom used to say it when things went bad. The continual daily melting and nightly freez-ups caused the gullies and lowlands to accumulate standing water/ice. The pouring rain last weekend followed by warmer temps caused the run-off to begin last Monday. I cancelled a guide trip with my longest standing client on Wednesday. The waters kept rising. The Kinni was at 400cfs by Thursday and the Rush River was “Bank Full”. The waters are coming down today but stream temps will be cold and waters a bit angry. I am not expecting the weekends catching to be great but who knows unless one tries.

Last week while guiding I lost my net. The bungee on my magnetic release gave way and my client noticed the net gone when I returned to the truck. The Net is from LDH Nets out of Duluth, MN. They are the only nets I use. On my back for Steelhead, in my drift boat for Smallmouth, and on our streams for trout. I have never seen a finer hand crafted tool for fishing. This net was made from a piece of Cherry from the Kinni Watershed. Clicking the link above will show you a picture of it. I cannot recall if my name was on the net or not.  The location where the net went missing was 570th street on the Rush River, upstream of the Bridge. The net may also have ended up in the water so if you find it, and return it there will be some kind of cool swag reward for it. Lloyd, looks like I may need another net. Special thanks to Ben McKean for some goat Photos in this post.

Last but not least is Me. Pronounced “Eme”. She came to us a week ago and has been a 8 month old handful of puppy. As an old person I forgot how much energy a puppy has. We have been walking and walking and walking. Expect me to look a bit thinner next time you see me. At the very least, my right arm will be noticeably  longer than my left from being pulled toward every bird, squirrel, deer or pile of doodoo in the forest. I am praying for a quick learner to enable my own survival.

A great sponsor

It has been a busy week so I will keep this short and simple……..

A historic moment for the Kinnickinnic River was reached on Tuesday with the city council passing a resolution to eventually remove both remaining Dams.  The Lower dam(Powell Falls) by 2026 and the upper dam(Junction Falls) a long ways off at 2035-40. Although there is still much more to come on this topic, including whole bunch of fund raising and political wrangling, we are moving in the right direction. Certainly feels more like the turtles pace than the rabbits though.

The rivers are still in fine shape as of today. Crystal clear and seemingly low is the norm for this time of year.  The 40 degree temps are doing their best to run cold water into the streams and there is plenty of snow to turn liquid. Hard to say when flow will spike but I imagine gullys and depressions are filling up, with the big jump in flows just around the corner. I fished in the morning this week. Water temps remained in the high 30’s with the warmest temps just before midday. Catching for me was spotty and subtle. Watch those indicators like a hawk and set often. The bite is soft. The usual characters(small stones and midges) were all over the snow banks but I observed no surface feeding. P. Squirrels, soft hackle olive and #20 P. tails all took fish. Fish were in normal spots both deep and at the lips heading into deep water. Have fun this weekend.

Film Festival next Friday in River Falls. Be there!

We are excited to announce the 2018 R4F(River Falls Fly Fishing Festival). BOOM!!!! Mark you calendars for Friday, March 9th for an evening of fun, food, prizes, auctions, crazy good fly fishing films and community. In an effort to keep the fish fresh this year we will be showing films from the highly acclaimed International Fly Fishing Film Festival. Yes, this is the IF4 not the f3t. Believe it or not there are two great selections of films that have taken the fly fishing world by storm. Between the two sets of films and the name of our group(R4F) there are more F’s than you can shake a stick at. The IF4 has gained great popularity in the last two years with its film selections and we thought you might like to see it this year. In addition, The f3t films(the other set of films) will be shown in Minneapolis on the following night on their annual tour stop.

In 2014 the R4F raised $2,500.00,  2015- $12,000.00,  2016- $16,000.00,  2017- $21,275.00 for a total of over $51,000.00. Those funds have gone directly gone directly to The Kinnickinnic River Land Trust to help protect the health and beauty of this awesome resource. It also brought you the live camera feed of  river conditions 24 hours 7 days a week on the USGS site.

This year R4F, The Land Trust and Obsessed Artist/Trout Bum Josh DeSmit have teamed up to bring you the incredible image pictured above. This image has been emblazoned on 75 stainless steel, dual walled, 20 oz. travel mugs. Those who procure this Limited Edition, Commemorative Mug will also have the opportunity to have it signed by the artist at the event. Mugs are free to those who become new members of the Land Trust at the $100.00 level or purchased outright by existing members for $50.00. A bargain either way, and a great way to support a great organization.

As usual the Fly Fishing Community, A bunch of Awesome Sponsors and numerous Local Businesses have joined once again to support this event with prizes and fanfare. Artist Bob White will paint at the event. Dave Norling Fine Cane Rods has donated another $1200.00 bamboo rod. There will be a Canoe, Stained Glass Trout, Guided Trips and Fly Tiers. My friend and former UWRF Professor Clark Garry will be there with his new book about the Kinni. There will be rods and reels and some of the coolest new flies. There will be bucket raffles and giveaways and fly fishing stuff and BEER. There will also be a ship ton of other prizes. Word has it there will even be a goat.

So make your reservations at Country Inn River Falls for a special 20% off room rate called the Fly Fishing Film Special. Stow your gear in your room and slide over to the University Center for the films. Doors open at 5 pm. Plan on fishing your face off on Saturday.

Tickets, like every year,,,, are almost gone.
Miss this one and your milk toast.
Done.

Two weeks left. She has been a bit fickle. I love her anyway.

Hey Andy –
Been way too long my friend. Did you make it to the Brule this fall? It sounds like you’ve been a busy guy. I sympathize with you there. I had a very lean year of fishing. Mostly out with my 7 year old, casting for panfish and bass.

I am going to make it to the Brule this coming weekend thankfully. It’s a little later than I usually make it there so I had some questions for you. I know, i know, there are no real answers. It’s Steelheading. But I wanted to pick your brain regardless. Thanks bud! Hope to see you again soon.

1) Historically most of the fish have entered the river by mid-October. Where is their ultimate destination? Do they pick spawning grounds all throughout the river, or are they congregating together further upstream? Would we be better to target areas further upstream or still fish the full length?

2) Water is higher this year than I’ve fished it in a long time. I assume this will mean fish are more dispersed and not just holding in deep pools?

3) I wanted to give swinging fly’s with my single-hand rod a try this year. Historically I’ve been a nymph rig/indicator angler. Do you swing at all? And if so, would high water call for it more so than low water? Or will i be better off sticking to indicator fishing with high water?

Greetings Jake
Good to hear you are getting your boy out!!
I was up Oct.10-13, 17-19 It was as crowded as I have seen. Both times there was reasonable precipitation just before I arrived there. At flows above 250 the catching/hooking success was almost nonexistent in my favorite stretches. The water just becomes big, angry, and characterless at 250 and above for my style of fishing. Wading and crossing becomes dangerous. Clay, standing water and high traffic made the trails to, from, and along the river treacherous for walking. Many anglers I talked to had taken a fall at some point. I hope the freezing nights have made the trails more navigable. Flows below 220 and dropping were the best. Most days I fished from 11AM to dark. First lighters are stumbling around in the dark trying to beat each other to the prime water. I heard about lawn chairs, sleeping bags and 4AM arrivals.
Not my game!

1) I am not sure of their ultimate destination. Someone else may be able to chime in with that info.  To clarify, as far as I understand, It is just the largest push of rainbows that enter the river during the mid-October time period, not most of the rainbows. I am told that some come in and go back out to the lake. Some come in and stay low on the river. Some go straight in past Brule to the upper river and some won’t come into the river until the spring, when they spawn.

You have browns(beginning or spawning now), salmon and rainbows all milling about. Many end up above Brule where we cannot fish to them.  I am not near as familiar with the upper part of the Brule and what locations/habitat the different fish require to spawn or hold over. Through the Meadows section which is still below Brule in the legally fishable water I  have spent very little time on because previous trips to this area were unsuccessful. There is just a lot of river to explore and I believe one would need a life time to become familiar with it all. You lucky locals:)

Most folks only have a limited amount of time on the water. I still believe you fish the water you are intimately familiar with. The water where you know every rock, back eddy, pool, snag monster, seam line, drop, cut, foam pile and shore line will be the most productive for you. On this water you spend the majority of your time. The fish are there. On one day or a half day, you explore new water. This allows you both to expand your horizons and still be comfortable/confident in a sport where hooking-up to a steelhead can be as elusive as truthful politician.

2) As I write this to you flows are at 238cfs. Looks like some precipitation must have come on the 27th of Oct. At 230cfs the edges are just beginning to clear on the sections of the river I most often frequent. I believe some of the fish move to these edge locations under high water conditions. I think we used the term “diluted” over beers on the tailgate discussion one evening. This means the same number of trout have more places, or maybe better said, “other places” to hold than when flows are at 160cfs. The deep pools can be more difficult to fish if you are trying to get to the bottom. More debris, stronger currents and more weight on your line can all add to the challenge of figuring out the correct drift formula. So, yes, to question 2.

3) It is a personal question and yes I will admit to being a swinger. Hell Jake, I am a rebel and wish to experience all that life fishing has to offer. There is not a day where I do not add the swinging technique to my repertoire. I am convinced that pulling out all the stops, throwing caution to the wind, breaking bad, circling the wagons, so on and so on is the way to approach this type of fishing. The more techniques you can master or reasonably employ, the more adjustments you can make, the more thought processes you can conceive of, the more chance of success. There are lines I draw on an ethics of fly fishing basis but all in all I do everything I can to win this battle. Landing and releasing, unharmed, one of these rare wild treasures is dope. End of story.

Have fun!!! and shoot me a report when you return.
A