One of those days...

Have you ever had one of those days, where it seems nothing wants to go your way?

The Subaru all loaded up for it's first of many trips.

Well, I had one of those on a recent trip to the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

The target species - Musky with a side of smallmouth bass.

I enticed 2 follows from the same musky in the first 20 minutes with a fly I tied, but couldn't get the shiny green beauty to commit. As the day went on, I had another musky follow, and then I was able to get one to commit, but me being over excited about the take, I lost focus and didn't strip set the hook, and went with a hook set I would normally do for bass. I realized the second I lifted my rod. The fight lasted about 3 seconds after that, and then my line went slack. D'oh!

Orange Crush - 8/0 single with an articulated shank.

I was able to hook up with multiple smallies, but just couldn't bring them to hand. I had a 4 +lber smash one of my flies, and then swim behind me, back around, between my legs, back around me, back out, and back through my legs before coming unbuttoned. All of the others came unhooked when they went airborne. After 9 hours of wading we went back to the car to grab some lunch, and I switched to my baitcaster and an inline spinner. New set up - Same story. Hooked up with multiple smallies, but they just didn't want to stay on. It became quite comical.

I know what you're thinking...you use barbless hooks - Correct - But on the flies that I recently tied for this trip, I completely forgot to smash the barbs on them.

Oh, well...there's always next time!

At least my buddy The Fat Gordo was able to hook up with a bunch of those beautiful Northwoods smallies, and I was able to take some pictures of them. 

Flexin'

I love my GoPro camera!

All in all it was a great trip, and it definitely won't be my last. Unfortunately, I will be sending in my rod to Redington for repair. 2 of the pieces came apart while casting and the male ferrule on one of the pieces snapped at the tip. Thank goodness for their warranty.

End of an 10.5 hour wade. - Exhausted.

Exploring the Northwoods

So, I took a 4 day trip to the Northwoods of Wisconsin with my buddy Fat Gordo. We drove around in search of any water we could find to fish. We fished some rivers, and we fished some lakes...pretty much just stopping when we saw something fishable. I'll let the pictures do the talking. It was a great trip!

The top water bite was on. The smallies were loving the fire tiger Todd's wiggle worm I was tossing.

I love these Northwoods smallies. They all fought way bigger than they were.

An underwater release shot I got of this smallie with his war paint on, all ready for battle, again.

When I'm in Wisconsin, I just cannot pass up picking up a 6 pack or 2 of some of Wisconsin's finest beer. New Glarus Brewing Co. This was my first time having Moon Man, and it did not disappoint.

Lucid Fishing Grips helping me handle the toothy pike. Check out them eyes!

I didn't take a measurement, but this pike is way bigger than my personal best 25" northern pike.

The Fat Gordo hooking up with some chunky smallface bass. 

Replacing the studs on my wading boots, and eating dinner. Turkey and Dorito's sandwich.

The nicest fish I caught all trip. What a freakin' beauty!!!!!! My face doesn't show it, but I am beyond psyched! (I've got a good poker face.) This one took a swim jig with a Stankx Bait Co. mudbugz trailer in the Gobi Wan color pattern. Killer!

Just another shot of the beauty with me holding back my excitement -  I really don't know why I wasn't smiling in those pictures, Haha. I was really pumped up, that's for sure.

Pulling over on the shoulder to cast a frog in some of the best lilly pads I've ever seen while my buddy watched. I went 1 for 2. I got too excited for the 2nd fish and set the hook well before it had it.

3 days of turkey Dorito sandwiches will make you want a whole pizza to yourself.

My favorite shot of the trip.

The smallies up there are something else. They fight they put up is second to none. I absolutely cannot wait to return up there. There's a ridiculous amount of water up there just waiting for me to explore it some more. Big thanks to the fishing gods, we were able to catch a few!

Badaxe Design

Stopped by one of my local fly shops - Chicago Fly Fishing Outfitters - just to look around and kill some time. Sure enough I walked out with a few items...hooks, forceps (mine were bent out of shape), and a zinger for my Abel nippers.

I also, was surprised to see that they carried a few items from Badaxe Design. Jonathan is a real cool dude, who has some serious artistic talent. I ended up picking up the same hat I bought from him a year ago. It will serve as my back up, in case something happens to my favorite fishing hat.

I've had the first one for over a year now, and it has seen a lot of water. This hat's been through everything, and it's gotten quite a bit of character along the way.

How can you not like the patriot trout design!?!

I don't think I have to tell you which one is which.

Here are some of the outings it has helped me look good.

Small creeks of Illinois

Current River in Missouri

Driftless Area trout streams in Wisconsin

Various lakes of Illinois

Flambeau River in Wisconsin

Gulf of Mexico in Fort Meyers, Florida

Looking forward to bringing it along on many more fishing adventures.

Skunked Fox

Went out with my buddy Danny to the Fox River. He and our other friend The Fat Gordo did really well at this spot a few weeks ago catching some nice smallies.

My weapon of choice was my fly rod and various flies. This produced absolutely nothing  =)

Danny started off with a jig n craw, but missed a few strikes. On the wade back he switched to a gold inline spinner and caught a few small smallies, and then a quillback as we were about to step out of the river and call it a day.

Here are the few pictures I took from the day.

We couldn't find anyone hiding...Either they're really good at hiding or they're no longer oppressed. :)

Never seen one of these. Had some help ID'ing it.

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.