I'm Back!

Just like Michael Jordan in 1995....I'm Back!!!!

I just want to say, thank you, to all of those who have stuck around.  I wasn't quite sure how long I was going to be on hiatus, but what I did know, was I would most certainly return...and here I am, white sunglasses and all.  Oh, how I have missed writing and sharing my fishing tales/blunders.

Looking forward to catching up with all of you!!

Lazy Days

I'd just like to share some recent flies with you all, and my secret ingredient to all of my flies.

Pictured below is articulated bass fly.  Also in the picture, you will find the secret ingredient to all of my flies.  Yes, it's true.  Fish love hot sauce!  I use Tabasco for my flies and I favor Cholula on my food when giardinara is not available.

No Name Fly Ingrediants

1. Partridge of Redditch Predator X 4/0 Hook
2. Black Magnum Zonker Strips
3. Bronze Polar Chenille
4. Black Polar Chenille
5. Flymen Articulated Shank (Medium Sized One)
6. Misfit Holo Head
7. Tabasco Sauce - Spice it up!

THAT FLY IS HOT!!!!

If you're a follower of The Fiberglass Manifesto, then you should be aware of a recent post of his that was a - Step by Step - pictorial of a Panther Branch Bugs fly named the "Mini Mouse."  It's a great looking pattern, and simple to tie.

Inspired, I was.  I got to tying my own, and played around with some different variations.  I'm happy with all 3.  Now I just need the fish in my area to start hitting top water already.

...And here we have my dogs, Daisy and Bo, doing a great impersonation of me the past 2 weeks.

Bumming around.

It's Gotta Be The Glasses

Over the weekend, I was just hanging out at the house doing what I always do, plotting to take over the world.

Then my sister called me, and said that she was in the neighborhood with her boyfriend.  They came by and we hung out, had a few beers, and I tossed some pork chops on the grill.

Beer and Barbecue.

This was my first time meeting her boyfriend, and we got on the subject of fishing.  I saw that the fish were getting active in the shallows of my backyard lake, so, I suggested that we go down there and fish.  They were both game, so, I grabbed the only 2 rods I had set up.  My 5 wt and an ultra light spinning rod.

Bluegill I caught.

After some difficulty with some tangled line on my ultra light rod, I decided, to let my sister and her boyfriend have a go at my fly rod.  I gave them a fixed amount of line, and it was GAME ON!  They both had the short cast down, and were catching fish!

My sister.  I made her fish.  She had a great time!

Her boyfriend is an Oakley fanatic, and he dug my white sunglasses.  We deemed them my signature trademark when I go fishing, so, he suggested it was only right that they took pictures with fish while wearing them, because, I was teaching them.  Ha!

It's gotta be the glasses.

Told her this was the most cliche' pose that she could make.

My sister and her boyfriend Javier and a bluegill.

While my sister was using the 5 wt, I had fixed the line on the ultra light, and tied on a small jig and bobber.  My sisters boyfriend started using that, and he hooked up with a really nice bass!  He was stoked, and so was I!

Taught him how to long arm.

Fish Kisser.

Say Hello to my little friend.

Oh, and I overcooked the pork chops, because, we were busy catching fish.  I didn't overcook them that bad...nothing that some Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce couldn't fix.  It was well worth it.  We all had so much fun!  I think my sister and her boyfriend want to do this more.  Awesome!

Hardly, Strictly Musky: Kickoff Party & Day One Fishing

Kickoff

Dave, Chris, and myself arrived in McMinnville, Tennessee, and our agenda looked like this...

1. Scout the put in's and take out's we had marked on our map.
2. Store - Pop Tarts, bananas, lunch meat, bread, chips, and beer.
3. Scout more water.
4. Find some BBQ
5. Check into the state park and set up camp.
6. Foglight Foodhouse for the Hardly, Strictly Musky kickoff party.

Here we have Dave and Chris checking out the map, while I take a picture and ponder how soon our next U-Turn will happen.  We made a couple thousand of them at this point.

What do you think about a U-turn here....

We found some barbecue at Blue Smoke BBQ in Sparta, TN.  I had the brisket sandwich, and it was excellent!  I wanted to get another, but I didn't want to spoil dinner.

Here here piggy piggy.

After some food we did some more scouting.  We arrived at a bridge that overlooked a river we deemed "Plan A" ...but it looked more like a last resort.  I was actually pretty impressed with the color of the water.  Never in my life had I seen an opaque river.  You could have slapped a Yoohoo Chocolate Milk logo on the bridge and I would have believed that's what the river consisted of.

Disappointed, we were.

What did not disappoint was dinner and drinks at the Foglight Food House for the kickoff party.  They served us a Cajun style blacked catfish with some dirty rice, and jambalaya...Damn that was delicious.  Todd Gregory of Towee Boats gave everyone a great big welcome, and layed the ground rules of the event.

"Don't be an Asshole" 

Begin Day One

Up early, and on the water by 7/7;30 AM.  We were fishing from a canoe, and kayak.  Dave constructed some pretty sweet outriggers on his kayak, and it really helped him and Chris stand up, and cast at the same time.  The first 10 minutes of the float, Dave, had a follow from a upper 30's low 40's musky.  That got us all pumped for the rest of the day.

At approximately 10:05 AM we were working this deep pool.  I was casting a 4/0 single hooked fly that I tied to look like a rodent over some submerged timber piles.  Out of one of the piles, a musky came out and SMASHED my fly.  I set the hook, felt the weight, and the fight was on!  1 second later, my line went slack and I felt nothing at the end....  

...My heart sank, and I just thought to myself I just lost a great opportunity to get on the board.

Next thing I know, my rod doubles over, and my rod tip goes into the water.  GAME ON!!!  The musky had swam right underneath the kayak in search of deeper water.  After quite the battle, I was able to wrangle the musky in, and received some help from Josh, Dave, and Brent netting the fish, and even more help from Austin Green and Katie Blizzard photographing and measuring my fish.  Thank you all, for the help!!

After the release, the rules stated we had to text the time, and length of the fish to Todd.  My musky weighed in at 31 inches. I received the following text back, "Right on! You're first!"

I could not be any more stoked than I was.  I just hooked up with the first musky of the tournament!

Later in the day we stopped for a shore lunch.  Fellow flat landers Kurt @Midwest_Waters and Mark floated by us, and we started back up with about 150 yards between each other.  Approximately 10 minutes after I took the picture below, Kurt lost a very big musky.  We all heard and saw the splash.  

I could tell, that it was one helluva fish, and as we floated by them, Kurt just stood on the bow, and Dave said, "Dude."...Kurt, simply said, "I don't want to talk about it."  A feeling we all know too well chasing these apex predators.

We arrived at the take out a little sooner than we expected, but I think we were all pretty happy about that.  Downed a few more beers before taking our time loading up the gear and calling it a day.

Dave and I ended the day with a couple follows each.  For some odd reason Chris did not see any action at the tail end of his flies.  I caught the only musky for our team on Day 1, and that had us on the board.  Looking forward to Day 2 on the water.

Day 1 of the actual HSM tournament is in the books, and we all had to meet at Towee Boats headquarters at 7 PM sharp.  Beer, burgers, and other food awaited us.  There was live music, the beer was flowing, and musky was the topic of all conversation.  Then there was a raffle for all of the door prizes provided by all of the sponsors Patagonia, Monic Fly Lines, Flymen Fishing Company, Costa, Flood Tide, and many more.  This was just the end of the first day of fishing, how much more awesome could it get!

Stay tuned for Day Two.

NEW PRO STAFF OFFER

So, more than a few months ago, I was sent a direct message on Instagram.  The message was from "Keep It Reel Fishing."  I was not the only person this message was sent to, there were, I think 19 other recipients.  (Whatever the max per message is.)  

The message read as follows:

So, after reading that, you're probably super jealous that myself and those 19 others received such a tasty deal, and you didn't....AM I RIGHT?!?!?!

For real, after I read that message, I laughed, and read it again.  Now I know what you're thinking, there's no way that pitch worked.  I was thinking the same exact thing.  

Well........

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!

IT WORKED?!?!?!

I couldn't believe my eyes, and that's when it hit me.  All of the individuals that responded that were "interested" were young kids.  What a low low thing to do...that terrible sales pitch combined with the use of the term "PRO STAFF" just fooled these young kids.  They saw the term "PRO STAFF" and got excited, and bought a shirt, because, they're going to be on a pro staff.

I get it, you want to make money with your shirt sales.  I'm cool with that.  They should have just said, "the only way to be posted on our page, is if you buy a shirt, and are wearing that shirt in your fishy photo.  In turn this could lead to more likes and followers on your personal page." ...and left it at that.  Maybe I'm wrong about the message they sent, maybe some of you will agree with me, and some of you won't.

Just remember, I get it.  They're just trying to capitalize on the free and glorious open market that is Instagram, and I've got no issue with that.  I just disagree with how they are doing it, well in this case particular.

I did end up replying, and it went like this.....

Not a bad deal, right??  I was really hoping we could work out a deal, and Pro Staff each other, but Keepitreelfishing, doesn't fly fish.  Boo hoo.  Not to worry!!  I am always prepared.  I've also got codes of my own, too!

Unfortunately, I was ignored by all.  I think I should have used the term "PRO STAFF" more, and maybe I could have hooked Keepitreelfishing to join forces.  Not the case.  Keepitreelfishing continued to "fish" for more sales the next day, and then I left a comment that was 100% true.

I received a new private direct message from keepitreelfishing sent to me, and me only soon after my comment.  Did they finally cave and decide to exchange Pro Staff titles????

Nope.

Unfortunately, they were not happy with my comment, because, it was the truth.

Apparently, I am a broke, jealous, hater, that catches half pounders....

Then why offer me such an amazing deal to be a part of the Keep It Reel Fishing - Pro Staff!?!?!  If you know I'm broke, why ask me to buy something.  If you don't like the 1/2 pounders I catch, why ask me to be on your "PRO STAFF"!?!?!?!

Well, after informing them that Pro Staffing was a competitive market, I was blocked, and could no longer communicate with them.  I was just trying to keep it real, but it's unfortunate, they were not.

SAD FACE.

The Midwest Drift 2016 Carp Fly Swap

Here's a quick review of the awesome flies I received as a participant of the 2016 Carp Fly Swap hosted by The Midwest Drift.  Big thanks goes out to the guys at The Midwest Drift for hosting the swap.  I had a good time tying up the flies that I submitted and I'm really excited that I now have a carp box, with actual carp flies!

Maybe this year, I'll catch more than one.

Josh DeSmith Art

Website - Josh DeSmit Art

The art of Josh DeSmit.  It's pretty damn awesome.  I'm a huge fan modern, abstract, new age, grungy, Ralph Steadman type art.  It gets my attention very easy.  That's not to say, that I don't like or appreciate other arts.  It's just this style is more, well, my style.  Check 'em out!

Note: All of the pictures below are from Josh DeSmit's website.

Spring Is Here

Spring is here...not quite, but the sun is staying out longer and I have ample time to wet a line in my backyard lake before dark.  

The crappie bite has been crazy awesome!  I hooked and lost an unexpected bass that was a very nice size, but totally schooled me and my 3 wt.  I even snagged a carp that took off like a bat out of hell, and left me with a little parting gift.

Spring is here.

Dead Weight Fly - New Lids

My homie Ryan of Dead Weight Fly recently put up some new lids on his site for the 2016 season.  Go ahead and check them out.  

This one is speaking to me.  Would look great with my sunglasses.  What say you +Howard Levett ??

If you're not following Ryan on Instagram or FB then you're missing out on some of his killer work.

DEAD WEIGHT FLY INSTAGRAM

Pink Squirrels and Hatches

While at the fly fishing expo, I purchased some much needed proven trout flies from Matt Ebbers.  On the way back to Chicago, Dave, and I stopped at the Rush River after pretty much everyone told us to go there while on our way back.

Dave and I doubled up about 15 minutes into our wade.  I hooked up with a small brook trout on a Matt Ebbers pink squirrel, and Dave caught a brown trout on...I have no idea...a trout fly.  Pretty fish.  Small fish, but pretty fish.

Doubled up.  Photo by UA Dave.

Me wading upstream.  Photo by UA Dave.

While on our wade back downstream to the car, I noticed that there were trout starting to rise.  As I continued to watch, more and more trout were rising and at a faster rate.  What is this madness I thought to myself.  I felt something crawling on the back of my neck...it was a black winged insect.  Very small with sort of a long body.  I was witnessing a hatch!

I quickly switched flies to the smallest black dry fly I had, and immediately told Dave to do the same.  After quite a few missed opportunities and some good laughs, I finally hooked up!  My first "match the hatch" trout, and a nice one at that!

The small fly that caught the brown trout above was from my purchase of trout flies from Phil's Phly Shop.  I am terrible with all the names of these small flies, and really only know if it's a nymph or a dry fly.  Haha

Well, that brown trout shot out of the water like a missle to take the fly, and it was AWESOME!

River Falls Fly Fishing Expo: PART ONE

Late write up.

I had a great time at the River Falls Fly Fishing Expo.  +Brian J Smolinski of Lunds Fly Shop located in River Falls, Wisconsin organized a great event, and I am already looking forward to next year.  There were so many great vendors, guides, and fly tyers that I am breaking this up into 2 posts, so, be on the look out for part 2.

Not really a local hero. Ha

This was my first time participating in an expo, and tying in front of complete strangers in this type of setting.  I must say, that I truly enjoyed myself.  I had such a good experience, that I am already checking out what expo's are on the agenda for the rest of the year, and next year.

It was great meeting so many people, and having so many people enjoy my work.  I met +Ryan Frick of the blog On a Fly! and didn't even know it until I had returned from my trip.  Haha!  It was great talking with you on Friday and Saturday.  Wish I had known it was you, I would have loved to pick your brain about fishing your areas of the Driftless.

Musky poppers were a big hit.

Here are some more pictures from the expo.

Urban Assault Fly Fishing - Dave Kuntzelman

Another familiar face from Illinois was at the expo.  

PJ of PJ's Guide Service.

pjguides@sbcglobal.net

One of the artists at the at the show was the talented Bob White.  While he was there, he was working on a painting of a brown bear and a cub on a hill.  It really was an honor watching him work on the painting.  It was really cool, and different.  All of the artists I've seen at shows just have their work on display, but this was the first time I've witnessed someone actually working on a piece.  I cannot wait to see the finished piece.

Bob White Studio