a mid november recap

salmon bones - all that is left from the run

I don't find myself having to play catch up here on my blog very often, well actually ever. This past November was of course filled with lots of hard work at the office, time with friends and family, Thanksgiving, black Friday shopping, launching a new website, and of course fishing. Despite all the things that go on in my sheltered little corner of the world, there is always time to wet a line. Fishing in general has been slow this month but consistent. Take a group of three guys out fishing, and one of them is guaranteed a fish but the question is who? Well lets take a look at the last few weeks and break it down a bit further.

a pretty root river steelhead stuffed with eggs

Trip #1- I fish the Root River alone for a peaceful morning searching out some trout. This was meant to be a scouting trip before meeting Neal and Paul on the same stretch of river the very next day. All morning goes by and without even a nibble, I decide to fish one last spot before calling it quits. Mending a pink estaz egg under heavy wood cover I get 2 hits from some very acrobatic trout. Steelhead to be exact. The tiny and more colorful of the 2 was the best looking colors I've seen on a fish ever and she was packed with roe. Her I harvested. The second was such a powerful and acrobatic fish that it took me out of the water airborne three separate occasions. I pulled the fish from the water and the adrenaline running through the fish was so intense that its muscles quivered over and over. Much respect for that battle so I turned it back. Awesome fight.

with much respect for its power, I turned this steelhead back

paul and his first trib brown trout

Trip #2- The very next day Paul, Neal, and I hit the same stretch of river anticipating some similar results. We found the conditions to be as tough as my previous day on the water. A whole lot of water was covered and finally Paul came up with a solid biter on an orange estaz. God, I love those flies. If there was one fly to use this fall... that has to be it. This fish was sitting in a fast water pool way down in the undercut. Paul has done a great job this year and has caught a brown, a steelie, a coho, and a king. Not bad for your first few month of learning the tribs. Well done buddy.

a whole lot of work went into this fish, he cost us 15 flies

Trip #3- Neal and Blake decide to work a pod of rising fish in the gnarliest spot ever imaginable. Two males were moving in and out of the pool with a giant fresh female sitting in its depth shaking eggs loose. The pool was tucked behind a tree trunk so very little water or current came directly though the center of the pool. The current was just tickling the edge of that pool but a large boulder just outside the pool obstructed a clean drift. Just over hanging the pool was a mess of tangles and branches just waiting to grab any fly that even came close. Believe me, many flies came close, too close. I alone retied 10 times not counting Neal. Stubborn as hell, we decided to stay. We tried adjusting angles and shortening leaders down to only a few feet. We added a ton of shot but even that couldn't get our flies into that tucked away pool. Neal, being the smart one, decided to drop the fly in from in front of the pool. It didn't take long before one of the males came up and slapped that estaz egg! What about the female you might ask? Sure he hooked her, but she proved to be too smart for us. Up and down the Root River she splashed giving Neal a serious run for his money. Just when you think you have it, you realize your not even close. That hen dogged him so hard under a stray branch and that was it. Snap went the line and airborn went the rod. At least he landed the male?

the one that gave us the eggs

Trip #4- Finding some fresh brown spawn has eluded us this fall. We have caught a more then usual amount of browns this year. The problem is the ones we are finding are either males or they have already been processed and are empty of eggs. This trip last weekend we decided to put ourselves in a better position and fish below the steelhead facility. No chance a fish down there has been processed. We took the cured steelhead spawn from trip #1 and floated some of the deeper pools in Lincoln Park with our fly rods, Just dragging bottom Neal got a great hit. He had just lifted the spawn over a rock when his indicator went down. Good decision on where to fish because we are now the proud owners of some fresh brown trout spawn that we are looking forward to dropping down some holes come this winter.

brown trout spawn

a ditch running some cold clean water into the Root

So, the last four trips we haven't left the Root one time. You can scan the pictures and say wow, impressive day but please understand that this is a culmination of 4 separate fishing trips. My sights have been fixed on getting back on the Milwaukee to wrap the season up. This week is bringing some arctic temperatures and if it hold like this I imagine it wont be long now till the hard water season kicks off. Stay tuned to see how we finish out this wonderful fall trib season and look forward to some winter ice fishing action with my best fishing partner Lucas. My 6 year old boy can't wait to get back on the water.

fishing just below the fish sanctuary on the Root River

pike river steelhead and cohos

the pike river took a late run of salmon this year

The Pike river has laid pretty dormant the first half of this fall. It never really got much of an early run of fish this year and its one of the rivers that flows have remained generally low so far. Well the last few weeks that previous scenario has changed. These last few soaking have really added a great volume to all the rivers in Southeast Wisconsin. While the larger rivers now are busting from their seems and extremely muddy, the smaller rivers are finally getting a chance to shine.

a fresh pike river coho

Fresh fish have finally made their way upriver on the Pike. While the coho salmon in other rivers have already turned I was grateful to find that the Pike had fish just a few days in from the lake. These coho haven’t yet developed their full spawning colors nor do they have any rotten body parts what so ever. Even better still, they are willing to come five feet to hit a fly. This type of aggression wont last long, so time is really of the essence when it comes to salmon fishing.  The longer salmon sit in the rivers, the more closed mouth they will be. The two cohos we caught both chased down black streamers and really crunched them good. My fish came up at least five feet to hit my fly and I will say that isn’t common. Both cohos came from the back side of the pools just above the fast water.

Congrats to Paul with another tributary first! He landed this chrome steelhead on a pink estaz egg drifted with absolutely no weight. There are some steelhead in the river right now (this proves it) but not in any large numbers or any concentrations. This fish hit in the tail out of a faster run. Great job again Paul, you handled the fish like you had caught plenty of steelhead in the past. Once the Root River or the Milwaukee River flows come back down I will continue my pursuit of a fall chromer before the end of the year.

paul with his first wisconsin steelhead!!

the root river birthday

I spent the morning of my 30th birthday searching for chromers on the Root River. It isn’t often I’m off on a week day but I felt the occasion warranted the day off. I have never seen the river so quiet and was excited to exchange the normal, fast paced, weekend, combat fishing for some solitude. The Root was flowing at 118 CFS which was about 60 points down from last weekend. The water was also much clearer and warmer. It was a peaceful morning spent drifting tandem eggs through Colonial Park and really gave me a chance to reflect on the past 30 years. After 2 hours of peaceful reflection, I decided it was time to actually catch a fish. Colonial Park’s conditions had changed dramatically over the last week. Even the suckers had seemed to move out. It was a good time to check out some more river.

North at Quarry Park I fished the big pool right under the parking lot. I drifted just a single egg with plenty of shot to reach the bottom. That egg drifted that pool for close to 30 minutes without even a nibble. Enough drifting, I was ready to do some streamer fishing. It was time to tie on something big and ugly and work it frantically. Instead of pushing north towards the dam I dropped down to Island Park.


island park on root river

The gravel at Island Park looked great and was a perfect spot to try out my new streamer. It is a bead head white leach with a hot pink tail and lots of crystal flash. I tied it extra bulky to create maximum movement while being stripped on the retrieve. Upon entering the water, things just seemed more fishy. The first step towards my casting position spooked a pod of suckers up to the deeper pool ahead. I took position on the backside of the gravel smack dab in the middle of the river. From this vantage point I was able to cast upstream and fish the pools on either side of the gravel.



island park steelhead on root river

Strip, strip, strip, pause… Strip, strip, strip, pause… Strip, strip, strip, pause… Then came a violent strike just as I was about to start pulling more line. It’s the kind of strike that jars your arm while your just trying to hang on. I tightened my grip and set back on the rod. Fish on! Line came flying off my reel as the fish pushed towards the head of the pool at a lightning pace. A nice aerial display landed her in the pool on the opposite side of my gravel island. I gingerly fed her line as I played her up and down the pool. When it was time I put just enough pressure on the fish to break her plane and roll her over. A couple more seconds of hard pressure and she was beached on the gravel. A few quick photos and I turned my birthday present back into the water from which she came.

Oh how I love streamer fishing and have missed it this spring. There’s nothing in the world like that strike.

close up (steelhead)

my first steelhead this spring

Even though the Root River is still flowing high and wide, conditions this weekend were ideal for fishing the smaller rivers in the area. The last batch of rain did the river systems well by bringing in a fair amount of fresh chromers. Even though pressure was extremely heavy on these smaller rivers this weekend, all anglers still had a chance of hooking up with at least one good fish. Orange seems to be a good choice for color. Spawn was key for taking larger fish from the deeper pools while most of the action on the gravel was from the smaller males.

Earlier this year, I decided to try and become alittle more proficient with my drifting techniques (especially egg patterns). Last year, I really did a lot of my fishing with streamers and I’m just wanting to invest more time in drifting. Friday night I tied some small glo-bugs and I think they are a pretty realistic imitation on a size fourteen hook.

I fished a lot of the more subtle pocket water because the deeper pools had some serious heavy traffic in the morning. I hooked a smaller male early in the day that came unbuttoned on the surface. Around lunch time pressure died down and I got a chance to fish some of the better runs. A few casts to some deeper water was all it took to hook up on a much better fish. My little orange egg worked and after seeing many fish kept I realesed my first steelhead of the year…

my first steelhead of spring

fly fishing steelhead (root river, wi)

An unexpected after work trip; it’s rare I get co-founder Blake out of work at 3 pm. We came up with a quick game plan: a check of the flows suggests that the Root is our best bet. It’s a quick trip north on I-94 and I’m back at the house to gear up and change from a shirt and tie to a pair of shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt. Ahh…it’s like a super hero transformation from office guy to Neal the spawn sack slinger.
I take a quick drive from the home base and roll into the parking lot, the three cars ahead of me all from Illinois. I start putting my waders on and string up my rod. I finish putting the final touches, gravel guards and tying my laces. Blake finally rolls in - a few quick words we determine our next plan of attack. We make the easy hike to the first pool. Blake heads upstream to cast a bugger while I head down to sling some spawn. I try to offer Blake a few spawn sacks, but he refuses on account that he’s turned into a purest, refusing the live bait tactic. I, on the other hand, have no shame. The previous weekend out on the water, we were spanked by spawn slingers.

I begin to cast after cast at a promising brush pile that has created a very nice pool. ( I’ve caught fish here before so I have some confidence). Nothing…I am now frustrated, disappointed, and a bit perturbed. I decide to move, crossing the slow water in front of me. I climb up the opposite bank to gain a better vantage point. With my should- be guide’s eye, I look north towards quarry park. I spot some enemy activity, a tail in the fast water.

As I get closer peering and straining my eyes trying to cut the water, success! I see a bright flash from a hen cutting a red. My attitude has just changed. I feel a lot better with fish in front of me. After two well placed casts: BAAAAM, a hookup! Ahhh that feels good. The fight ensues; she doesn’t know she’s hooked. She’s headed upstream after some string stretching and some rod bending. She darts back and forth across the river; she tires and I can finally gain control of her. Steelhead rugby ensues. (I had told Blake to leave the net behind; that only ensures bad mojo). Finally after some close combat, we land her. With a careful tail grab, Blake assists in the score. She’s well over 30 inches, over 10 lbs: nice hen.

a nice hen steelhead

My hands are shaking a bit. I see now that the other fishermen are paying notice to the action. My vacant fast water is being invaded by the few other fishermen on the river. I quickly post up on that run and re-bait with another spawn sack. Noticing I’ve not stirred up the red, I see more fish flash and porpoise. With a few more surgical casts and BAAAAM, another hookup! Air born acrobatic flips, f—k slack line, she’s off.

Slightly disappointed, I flopped another spawn sack into perfect position. In an instant something pounded the orange colored spawn sack. That smack was a colored up spring buck. He jumps back and forth across the river, through log jams and over and under boulders. I adjust to this circus jumping fool enough to land him. After another rugby event, we land this buck. I put my hands on him, he’s spurting his steelhead juice. I notice the clipped tail fin. That confirms this fish has been through the weir. Good to know his legacy will live on. We snapped a few pics and sent this spring buck on his way.

spring buck steelhead

swim away to fight another day

With my confidence levels reaching an all time high, I slop another spawn sack on. First cast and BOOOOM, another hookup: another steelhead leaps into the unfamiliar air 2 times. It seemed like slow motion, a matter of seconds seemed like ages. But all for naught, she shakes the hook. That final hookup convinces the purest Blake to ask for a spawn sack. I turn to him and laughed, as I reach in my vest to get the terminal gear he needs. The sun is going down in a hurry, and that part of Racine is not a good place to be after dark. We turn our backs on this very productive piece of water and head for the truck. Very good day of after work fishing, one I will not soon forget. Get your strings stretched to all!

fly fishing steelhead (lake michigan tributaries, wi)

The beginning of the spring steelhead run (at least for us). Local warm weather combined with four days of rain lead to a massive snow melt. All the rivers in the area reached near flood stages almost a week before we fished. By the time the weekend rolled around only a few of the rivers had stabilized. This made picking a location to fish very easy.

can you tell its the early part of the spring run?

By the time I pulled into the parking lot it was 7:00 and the sun was just starting to rise. Neal had been there long enough to find his way into his waders and boots and already had his rod assembled. I made an effort to get ready as quick as possible trying to avoid the puddles as I took my shoes off and put my waders on. Snow had been falling all morning and it was pretty windy as well. We condensed our gear into Neal’s truck and drove to our launch site.

7:15am We pull in, maybe 4 other cars in the lot. We decided to work our way south this morning. Above the first bend was a group of three guys floating spawn on slip bobbers so we pushed around the bend past the group. We saw some movement in the water but nothing surfaced. Here clarity was poor, water was deep, slow and looked more like chocolate milk. The wakes we saw tempted us into throwing flies into less then desirable water conditions. So with our backs to the wind we started casting. I had a black esl pattern tied on. I varied retrieves from a no drag drift to a fast paced strip retrieve. We worked our way down the river with me casting right behind Neal. We passed a couple of foot bridges and came to a sweet looking run. The water here was thinner and clearer so we stood for a couple minutes just to see if we could spot some fish. Nothing cooking. A couple guys came walking up river and offered a report of no fish caught or spotted down stream. At this point we decided to push back up to the first bend where we at least had seen some signs of life.

The group of spawn floaters had left so we started fishing their run from earlier. Just when it seemed like my toes were frozen a small buck pushed up in front of where Neal was fishing. I stopped casting and watched... just happy to see a fish in the water. Neal made some nice drifts to the fish. Fourth drift to the buck and the line came across the fish and he spooked. He’s gone quicker then he came. A little more then 2 hours and all I’d caught was a head cold.

9:45am. Time for breakfast and a break in a warm truck. Did you know that Wendy’s serves breakfast! Neal went for two of the bacon egg and cheese biscuits with an orange juice. I had a chicken on a biscuit, hash brown and black coffee. We came up with a new game plan over breakfast. No more wasting time fishing the slack, deep, poo-colored water. We were going on a nature walk and we weren’t stopping until we saw good water and sighted fish. After our thirty minute break I felt warm again.

10:15 am. We pulled back in to our access point and we took ten minutes to see if the buck moved back in the last pool we fished. No luck, so we were off on a nature hike. North we went up river through the trees. Thirty minutes of walking and we finally came to some nice looking water. We went down closer to get a better look. We were in luck, we got down to the bank and we sighted at least three nice fish sitting in the pools. There was some deeper water above the run and above the deeper section was a nice gravel bend. This was the best 100 yards of water we had seen yet.

Neal started working the pools and I took the deeper water just ahead of him. It took me 5 minutes to realize that there were fish everywhere. I made a switch to a purple esl with a bead head. On my second cast I stripped the fly and the rod just loaded up and I set the hook. The fight was on! After a few nice aerial displays we landed a nice hen right in the middle of the pool Neal was fishing. Photo time followed by a quick release.

me working a fish

nice small hen steelie

I pushed up to the bend and Neal held down his same pool. The bend must have been holding close to ten fish. Right when I started casting I saw a nice hen surface in the deepest section of the bend. I worked it for some time with no success. About that time I saw a huge shadow push up to the head water of the pool. It appeared to be a giant buck. I saw him chasing smaller fish off the gravel bar. There must have been about three smaller fish he was chasing out of there. 15 minutes of perfect drifts passed him before I saw a silver flash in the water and the line just stopped. I’m hooked up again! This fish had a lot bigger shoulders and I played him very gingerly until he got tired. I worked the fish back down stream almost 50 yards during the battle which worked out great because my partner was able to put the bear claws on him. We hoisted him out of the water. What a fish!! Again a couple pictures and a quick release.

omg what a donkey!!

Neal came up to the bend which was still chalked full of fish and tied on a purple fly. It didn’t take long for my buddy to get his turn. The same pool I just scored my fish out of is now home to that giant female I saw when I first got up to the bend. He stayed out of sight and was rewarded with a vicious strike. Neal played the fish down stream just like I had done before and I helped this time landing his fish. What an awesome fish!

neal's turn at a trophy steelhead

The rest of the time we spent taking turns fishing that same bend. One would fish while the other sat up in the tree and watched the action from above. Even though we didn’t catch anything else that day we both got our share of fish. I also got to see a fish give chase to a fly Neal was stripping back. Even though the fish missed the fly, it was cool to see it charge and swipe at the fly.

as fair as fair hooked gets

We came up with a solid plan at breakfast and things seemed to fall into place after that. Stay mobile, fish the type of water your most comfortable with, and spot the fish. Sounds like a winner…