Balsa Is Not Dead

Great video that I've seen that has been catching some buzz around the interwebs.  It makes me wish I had the space for bigger tools.

Looks like Google is still having some minor issues, but some comments are staying put, and others are showing, not showing, then showing, and then disappearing again.  Let this end! 

Bass On The Mind

Just some recent flies that have come off of my vise.

CARF's clouser minnow variation.

I was wandering around Bass Pro Shops fly tying section one day and they had these Rainy's popper heads on clearance, and I just couldn't pass up the deal.  The green ones are medium, and the yellow are small.

Size 1 poppers in a froggy pattern.

Size 4 poppers.

There was a theme that night....can you guess?

Has Google fixed the G+ comment issue, yet?  I apologize if I have not replied to a past comment of yours.  I know Google is working on the issue, so, hopefully, they'll resolve it soon.

No More Daylight

The photo below is the exact emotion/feeling/look I get when returning home from work and want to do something outside, but it's already, too, dark out.

Exploring the Northwoods

On a recent trip to the Northwoods of Wisconsin, The Fat Gordo and I took a walk. Instead of wading back to our camp, we decided to take the unbeaten path through the forest. We actually just followed some deer paths.

There was quite a bit of rain that week, so, there was quite a bit of mud. You would have thought it had rained frogs with the amount of frogs we came across while hiking.

We also, came across quite a few different types of mushrooms. I bought and read a book last year so I could better ID the different types of fungi that I would come across, but I did not do a good job of studying it, because, I couldn't ID any of them. Haha

Can you ID it?

A better picture of that bald eagle. It wasn't part of the hike, but who doesn't like looking at this magnificent bird of prey.

One of the things that we were surprised about on our hike, and our trips up here was the lack of wildlife sightings. Yeah, we did see fish, frogs, bald eagles, and few squirrels, but what we thought was missing were the deer, hawks, minks, and beavers. We didn't see any of those. Maybe next year. I'm really hoping to run into some black bears and wolves next year, too....at a safe distance of course. :)

Another shot of The Fat Gordo crossing a mini swamp on a fallen tree.

Oh, how I've missed you!

Went fishing with 2 of my buddies to a lake that they frequent one evening. They were both tossing frogs and wacky rigged worms. After 15 minutes of casting some medium sized flies to entice some bass, I switched to a small fly that I knew would catch some bluegill. I've been neglecting the panfish as of late, so, the switch was refreshing. I almost forgot how much I enjoyed catching those buggers!

Missed these feisty little fish!

Took advantage of the colors in the sky to capture this badass shot of my buddy FatGordo.

Who doesn't love a nice sunset shot.

Frogger

In a recent post, I mentioned that I have never caught a bass using a frog lure with my bait caster. I have tried countless times only to come up empty. I am the only person to blame for missing over a billion hook ups with a frog. I just get so damn excited seeing that explosion underneath the frog, I tend to set the hook way too early, and pull it away from the fish.

I finally thought that it was time to put line on my old bait caster once I started seeing the spool show after a long cast. It's been paired up with the same 30 lb test braid that I put on when I bought it...say 8.5 years ago. Not bad, huh!

So, 2 days after I had it relined my reel, I ventured out to my honey hole, because, I really wanted to work on my frog techniques, and I knew that the bass there would cooperate, and help me out. I ended the day going 2 for 12. I can honestly say that 8 of those missed bass were due in part to my drag getting changed in the relining process at Dicks Sporting Goods. I had some monster hook sets, because, the frog was so far out, but failed to hook up, because, my spool just let out line, in turn, letting the bass spit the frog, and get away.

I should also give a shout out to my homie DANK for inspiring me to use a frog lure, again, and give another shout out to my other homie Fat Gordo who told me some key advice when fishing the frog. He said, "When you see the bass hit, just keep telling yourself - "don't f#@king do it! don't f#@king do it!" and just wait until you feel some weight on the other end before setting that hook."

Pre-workout bass fishing - Got this one at 5 AM at sunrise. Missed at first, but came back.

Froggin'

Took one of my good friends DANK, and another buddy GEO to the honey hole I found last year for the first time. I've been trying to get him to come out, but just never happened until now. He doesn't fly fish, so, he was wondering what would work...I told him to bring his frogging rod, and his finesse set up for a weedless rubber worm. DANK is a Jedi Master with a frog, and I knew that he wouldn't even need his finesse set up on this lake, because, the weeds have started to take over. I have never caught a bass using a frog with my regular rods, and I am truly envious of his skills.

Foggin' force is strong with DANK

DANK with a tank!

GEO hooked up with his first top water fish of the year with this fine specimen. 

GEO and a beautiful bass

A lot of bass were caught. The aerial display put on by the bass was quite impressive. On 2 occasions I had 2 bass come straight out of the water to take my frog fly offering. It reminded me of Discovery Channels Shark Week and how the great white sharks attack and fly out of the water at Seal Island.

Air and water show participant

I love top water!