Another Happy Customer

I love seeing photos of people catching fish with the flies that I tied. Evan (you can find him on Instagram @coloradooutdoorsman) hooked up with his first norther pike out in Colorado with a big bass fly I had sent him. How awesome is that!!!

Congrats, Evan!!!!

Lately, I've been in the giving spirit, so, I would like to offer all of you one of my Carf Outdoors stickers! Just shoot me an email at carfoudoors@gmail.com...or if we're friends on FB you can just shoot me a message on there.

GeoBass

I'm finally all caught up with the Geo Bass series, and I just gotta say, WOW. I am extremely envious that these guys get to go all over the world and fish for these crazy big bass!! Like the Motiv Fishing team, I have never heard of these species, until I watched their series. I would love to some day share the water with these guys. They seem like a fun bunch!

One day, I will be able to take an adventure like these guys do. ..

Bluegill

Check out this awesome bluegill that Andrea Larko did. Her work is interesting and fresh, and I love it! That's why I bought this piece. She's currently making colored prints of this bluegill, and they look awesome! (Click on her name above to see more of her work.)

Hanging in my room near my fly tying desk. What better place for a bluegill...a blue wall.

Here is a doodle I did. Doesn't even compare to the work you see above. Enjoy!

The Current River 2013

Let me start off by saying...I forgot something. haha I forgot my trout net, but we managed to land every fish hooked, so, there were no worries.

We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was in the 90's all 4 days, with a little rain on the 3rd day. That didn't bother us, too much, because, the sun was still fighting to shine through the clouds. We ended up floating Baptist Camp to Round Spring (We rented the canoe from Carr's Canoe Rental. IMO They are the best down there in service, and price.)

My friend HH was using a light baitcasting set up, and managed to break off the first 3 guides of his rod. He was still able to fish, but couldn't feel the lure in the water, and any hits. That didn't matter....He was catching fish. He caught all kinds. Smallmouth, rainbow, gar, a sucker fish, and a surprise brown. That brown was a 17" beefy beauty! He doesn't think too much of trout, but was very impressed with that fish.

I had a difficult time fishing. Just when I thought I figured out what the fish were looking for...I was wrong. They had me guessing the entire time. I still caught some fish, but the fishing was just not the same for me as it has been in previous years. None the less, I had an awesome time.

Every year this river shows us something different. This year we saw a water moccasin swimming to the shore. I had some mink's start emptying out a hollowed out log I was standing next to, thinking I was going to steal their stockpile of crayfish and food. Seen a Red Headed Wood Pecker. The icing on the cake had to be the Bald Eagle who flew towards us, and perched itself in a tree about 30 yards away from us, and took off back up river after I snapped a few pictures of it. What a beautiful thing!

All in all it was a great trip. Next year, I think we are going to venture out and explore some new waters. Possibly some other rivers in Missouri or maybe the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Here's a short video I made of clips and still pictures from the trip.
(It might not work if trying to view it from a mobile device or tablet.)

Note: Maximize the video for best viewing results. You'll see the bald eagle better, and the rest of the video better :)

Biggest Baddest Bluegill

This past Sunday I fished at Blackwell Forest Preserve, and man, was it a beautiful day! The bass weren't biting, so, I switched to some smaller flies chased some bluegill. I tied on a chironomid with a blue bead, orange thread, and black wire wrap that I had tied. The bluegill were all over that sucker. I just dragged it in, and roll casted it back out (whenever I didn't have a fish on). After catching a few of the average normal sized ones, I hook into what I thought was a bass. This thing was a champ! It put a really nice bend in my 5 wt, and tried to make multiple runs. I have never fought a bluegill like that before. Turned out to be a beast! Hands down the biggest baddest bluegill I have ever caught.

The Champ!



While bass fishing earlier I had a few bass following my fly, and a decent sized pike came out of no where and chased them off. My guess was 30+ inches and beefy. (Nice sized for the area IMO). It was the other highlight of my outing.

Came across this party of tent caterpillars (Googled it. I could be wrong. So, feel free to correct me.) on a really low branch on a tree. Very interesting to see. Apparently, they will all turn into moths by July.

Driftless Area of Wisconsin

This past September, I took a day trip to the Driftless Area that is southwest Wisconsin to do some trout fishing. The weather was looking ugly all the way up there, but once I reached my destination the rain stopped, the wind calmed down, and the sun came out. I couldn't have asked for better weather. 

I've always read, and heard about how spooked the trout get, but you don't really have an idea until you see them scatter with your own eyes, while you're still 10-20+ feet away from the edge of the stream/creek. 

I caught rainbow trout 2 months before this trip, but this time I was after brown and brook trout. I managed to catch my first brown. I caught a total of 3 brown trout for the day. They were all caught using a grasshopper. I also lost a total of 11 browns, and 3 of them were big! One of them I almost had in the net before he kindly unhooked himself. It was one of those look to the sky and yell "no!" moments, like in the movies, but I kept my cool, and opted for a quick "MF" bomb.  

Another cool part of my trip was, I got to see a wild barred owl fly. I think it caught something because it was on the ground. I got to see him take off into the trees. Pretty damn cool! 

If you haven't been to the Driftless Area, I highly recommend it! I plan on making more than one trip there next year. It's a beautiful place with excellent fishing opportunities.

My First Trout

I started fly fishing about 4 years ago. Living here in the Chicago suburbs, I primarily fish for bass. It wasn't until this past summer that I hooked into my first trout. 

For the past 4 years I've been doing a 4 day - 40 mile canoe float trip on the Current River in Southern Missouri. The river is full of small mouth bass, rainbow trout, brown trout, pickerel, needle nose gar, carp, etc. The first 3 years of the trip I was focused on enjoying the beautiful float, camping, and fishing for smallies. (The smallie fishing is amazing here!)

This past July (2012) I decided that it was time, that I finally catch a trout. I mean I am fly fisherman, and trout is usually the fish of choice for most.

I started off using flies I've never used before...such as prince nymphs, hares ears, and elk hair caddis. I probably wasn't using the proper technique with these flies, but I'm sure with practice, and time I will get better. I wasn't attracting anything, and probably scaring all of the fish away with the horror that was me trying to fish these flies. 

So, after playing around with those flies, I decided to go to my old faithful...a wooly bugger. I tied on a white wooly bugger, and the fish started hitting. Large mouth, small mouth, and I finally caught my first rainbow trout! It was very exciting. At first I didn't know what I had hooked in to, as it got closer, I saw that it was a trout. I immediately jumped out of the canoe and landed it. As I held it in my had, I admired the beauty of it's color and markings. They really are beautiful fish.

I ended up catching 3 rainbow's the entire trip, and I also, think I caught a little case of trout fever. (Another blog to follow - The Driftless Area of Wisconsin)

Orvis kindly reposted this picture on their page. Pretty cool of them!

All fish were caught, and happily released. 

Fly Fishing Film Tour aka F3T

So, very excited! I got my tickets to the Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) yesterday in the mail. I wasn't able to go last year, but I did go the first year. I just want to say thank you to Robert Thompson of Third Year Fly Fisher for making this happen here in Chicago.

If you aren't familiar with Robert Thomas and his blog Third Year Fly Fisher, I suggest you familiarize yourself with him, and his work. He has done some great fly fishing films, and one of my favorites - Musky Country: Zero 2 Hero.