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

Minutes To Spare - First Brook Trout

Before the River Falls Fly Fishing Expo.  UA Dave and I decided to forego the early set up of our tables, and fish a stream that flowed on the backside of the parking lot of the building for the event.

We both hooked up with our first brook trout within minutes of each other.

It was awesome.

The brook trout was gorgeous.

I'm still pretty thrilled about the catch.  I just wish the light would have worked better with me, so, I could have captured all of it's colorful beauty, but you take what life gives you, and I didn't want to keep the fish in the net for long, so, off she went.

Big thanks goes out to +Brian J Smolinski and Lunds Fly Shop for jokingly telling Dave and I that there were fish in the stream behind the parking lot.

Musky Skittles

These were a big hit at the fly fishing expo.  Looking forward to making some more of these.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!

FISH, FILMS, and FUN IN RIVER FALLS

This past weekend, UA Dave and myself jumped in my car at 330/4 AM and started our drive North.  The destination was +Brian J Smolinski shop - Lund's Fly Shop in River Falls, Wisconsin which is just about 40 minutes Southeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

We were headed up for the River Falls Fly Fishing Festival, which consisted of the F3T on Friday night, and a Fly Fishing Expo on Saturday...and of course we had to do some fishing while up there.  We arrived at the shop around 9:30, and it was hard not to give Brian all of my money for all of the awesome things he had in his shop.  Haha  We hung out for a bit, and then went to fish, but not without being told where and what to use.

CARF Outdoors sticker has been added to the Lunds Fly Shop Vault.  Honored!  Can you spot it???

After leaving the shop, Dave and I, drove 5 minutes to the spot we were told would be good for fishing, and guess what we did next...fished.  Dave hooked up with his first 2 Wisconsin trout, both were browns, and both came when we were at the end of our fishing outing and I was waiting on the bank thinking about sandwiches and beer.

Fishing the Lower Kinni.  UA Dave in the distance

Dave trying to entice some risers.  No dice.

After fishing, we checked into our hotel and then headed over to the University of Wisconsin - River Falls campus to where the F3T event was being held.  The doors opened at 5 PM and the show didn't start until 7 PM.  During this time, Dave and I were able to set up shop with our fly tying gear and flies that we had for sale on the balcony near the ticket table.  There were a few other fly tyers and artists that had tables, as well.  Sort of a mini expo before the films started.

Whippin' up some Esox Bugs.

CARF Outdoors setup.

Dave getting down on some BBQ Pulled Pork and adding extra flavor to his flies.

There were a few other great fly tyers that had tables as well. (I forgot to take pictures of their tables. #fail)

• Gabe Schubert - Gabe ties some of thee MOST impressive musky flies I have ever seen in my life.  One word to describe his work, "WOW."
• Andy Selvig - Andy ties some really awesome intruder style flies that I don't know if I would display or fish them.
• Aaron Przybylski - Aaron ties some really awesome small baitfish, that scream to bass and trout "EAT ME!"

Website - Kevin Lovegreen

Kevin Lovegreen is an Author of outdoor books for kids.  He had some great stuff that are easy reads, and will not only help kids get away from video games, but they will certainly help with their reading skills, and get them excited about fishing, hunting, and the outdoors.  Some really great stuff!!

Website - Josh DeSmit Art

Josh has some serious talent, as you can see from the painting of the brown trout above.  If you're into fishing, hunting, or can simply appreciate art, I highly suggest you check out his website and admire his work.  I have.

The F3T was great, and there were soooo many people!  The attendance doubled what I'm used to seeing here in the Chicago area.  There were also a ton of awesome raffle prizes that were donated to the event by some great sponsors.  The films that I found most memorable were Turning Points North, GEO BASS, and Tidewater.

Day 1 in the books.  It was a great day of fishing, tying, and meeting so many awesome people.  Be on the look out for Day 2.

R4F - Stop On By!

RIVER FALLS FLY FISHING FESTIVAL

Just a reminder, this weekend, CARF Outdoors will be in River Falls, Wisconsin participating in all of the fly fishing fun.  So, if you're headed to the Fly Fishing Film Tour aka the F3T on Friday night, look for +Dave Kuntzelman  (Urban Assault Fly Fishing + CHI-TIE) and myself.  Dave will be tying up some of the biggest flies for bluegill you have ever seen, so, you definitely won't want to miss that.

On Saturday, we will have our own tables at the Fly Fishing Expo.  We will both have stickers and flies available for sale.  Our friend PJ's Guide Service will also be at the show.  Stop on by and lets talk fish!

I should also add, that we will be doing as much fishing as we can with our free time, so, if you want to share some information with me about fishing opportunities in the River Falls area, that would be awesome and greatly appreciated!  Shoot me an email at - CARFOUTDOORS@GMAIL.COM

Hope to see some of you there!

For more information please click on the links below.

R4F Expo Exhibitors - Full List

FRIDAY - Fly Fishing Film Tour 

SATURDAY - Fly Fishing Expo

Lunds Fly Shop

Driftless Winter 2016: BOB'S BITCHIN' BBQ

After Day One of my Winter Driftless trip, my buddy Adam, and I were in dire need of some food and drink.  While I was driving, Adam, was naming off places he was finding near our hotel in Dodgeville, Wisconsin....

McDonalds - No.

Burger King - No.

Hardee's - Hell No.

Culvers - Maybe.

A&W - Maybe.

Bob's Bitchin' BBQ - Did you just say bitchin'?  Really?????

I think we were both sold on the name alone, and I mean, how could you resist some barbecue.  After finding it and driving past, it didn't look like much, but once we stepped inside the place was big, and it was PACKED.  Everyone in Dodgeville and surrounding towns must have been there.  The Hostess told us it'd be an hour wait.  Starving, but intrigued by the place, we decided it was a good idea to grab a beer at the bar and wait.

The BBQ was definitely Bitchin' 

The food lived up to expectations.  I forgot what Adam had, but I ordered the sample platter and chose the beef brisket, smoked sausage, and smoked pork chop.  It came with cornbread and 2 sides of your choice, and I chose the mac n cheese, and sweet potato fries.  They had a bunch of different BBQ sauces that they make on the table.  All of them were great, but my go to was the habanero bbq sauce.

It never had a chance.

Well worth the wait, and would definitely make a return trip there in the future.

Musky Poppers

The top water theme at the CARF Outdoors vise continues!

Here we have some XL sized poppers ready to hunt.  Their mission, to make a raucous and piss off some dragons.

The Bruiser.

The popper heads are shaped and formed by yours truly with a dremel, and a lot of patients.  It takes time to shape these by freehand.  One mistake, and it's toast.

Oh, and if you're wondering, these cast like the most wonderful bag of bricks in the whole wide world.

"Mc-Pop-a-lot" - Southern Culture on the Fly aka S.C.O.F.

Driftless Winter 2016: Part Two

Day Two

When I walked out of the hotel to my car, I noticed that we got some rain overnight.  One of the streams we were planning on fishing is known to get cloudy fast after some rain.  Throw all of the melting snow and ice in the mix, and our plans changed.

We decided to hit a stream that I have only spot fished in one of the few times I had been up here.  In the summer this stream is extremely difficult to fish, because, of all of the overgrowth.  Lucky for us, it was Winter, and the banks were somewhat open.

With this being much smaller water, I opted for my FSA custom 3 wt.  The weather throughout the day was great.  The temperature dipped a few times, but nothing outrageous.  It definitely did not feel like January.

Adam continued to work a hopper dropper, and I casted small streamers and occassionally drifted some nymphs. Adam was the first to garner the attention of a few brook trout, but none were fully committed to showing face.

One of the small streamers I was tossing was a tiny woolly bugger...I forget the size, because, I didn't tie it, but my guess was a size 8.  Well, I casted at the front of a nice pool I was approaching, and a trout came completely out of the water to hit it, but wiffed, and never came back. 

The after a few more drifts a trout came out from right in front of me and hit the bugger, I lifted the rod, felt the weight, and then it went slack.  After some silent F bombs, I made a few more casts, and then checked my fly, and to my surprise, the hook had broken off.  I could not believe it!  Has this ever happened to anyone??

What really sucked was it was my last small black streamer.  I scarified a few to the shrub gods.  I'd also, like to give a little shout out to, Brad of Tippets and Tales, for giving me the tip on small black leech type patterns, and Tim Lobello, for his report on the area the day before we went up.  Much appreciated Gents!

Tossed pretty much everything.  Don't mind my sinking leaders.  The stuff I was using was stashed behind them.  Ha

On the walk back, we decided to take the road.  We looked down on the stream in the parts we had waded and fished and we could see schools of trout shooting around and stopping at this one pool.  Outrageous.  We drifted some flies towards them, but no dice.  They were really not having what we were selling.

Skunked, but we didn't care.  It was a great weekend to get out and explore some of the endless amount of water that flows through some beautiful country.

The Driftless.

Driftless Winter 2016: Part One

Day One

My friend Adam and I have been trying to get out and fish this winter.  We were thinking steelhead in Michigan or Wisconsin, and that just never happened, because, we've both been busy.  Things always work out in the end, because, it just so happened that we both had a free weekend at the end of January.

We decided, we're going to fish.

Our destination, the Driftless Area of Southwest Wisconsin.

You just couldn't beat the scenery.

I haven't been to the Driftless Area of Southern Wisconsin since May 2013.  The last time I attempted to go was in September of 2013, a few days before the season is set to close for the year.  I never made it, because, my car was totaled. Click here to see that old post - Sitting Duck.

We left early around 4 AM on a Saturday morning and as I made the last turn onto a gravel road we we greeted by a bald eagle.  Always a beautiful sight.  Adam has never been up here, and he recently got into fly fishing, so, I was looking forward to showing him the very few spots I know in the Driftless.

Frozen guides did not stop us.

The morning started off cold.  Our guides were iced every 5 minutes, but that's okay, we weren't miserable, because, we were thrilled to be out of the house and wetting a line surrounded by such beautiful scenery.  Adam brought along some liquid heat to help warm him up from the inside out.

Adam sippin' on some liquid heat.

What to use...dries? nymphs? streamers?

What size should we use...10? 14? 16? ...20??

After changing flies quite a few times, I ended up getting some attention from red beadhead leech I tied on a size 6 egg hook.  Adam went with the hopper dropper technique.  A technique I rarely use, but probably should use more often.

Not wanting to spook any of the fish with my walking, and how I slip and fall in the snow, I was attempting to make hero casts, so, I can fish an area before I was near enough to spook the fish.

Streamer Eater.

Casting the leech to the tail end of some riffles, I got a strike, but missed.  3 casts later, my rod bent, and as I lowered my net, a beautiful brown was scooped up.

Release.

As the day went on, it got warmer.  Our guides were iced, no more.  I was actually breaking a sweat, because, I was so warm in the 4 layers I was wearing.  The rise in temperature gave us hope that the fishing was going to turn for the better, but it didn't.  It stayed stagnant.  We couldn't figure out what they wanted.

Long stealthy casts.  One of the keys to fishing the Driftless.

The lack of fish didn't affect us at all.  One look around and it was all good.  These streams are very special, and they just get prettier when the snow reveals lush green grass, and the trees begin to become full of life, again.  The trip wasn't done, and we were already looking forward to returning when jackets and winter gear were not needed.

River Falls Fly Fishing Festival

The River Falls Fly Fishing Festival

The River Falls Fly Fishing Festival aka R4F is happening in March in River Falls, Wisconsin.  It's 2 days of fly fishing fun.  One night you have the F3T and the next day you have a fly fishing expo full of all kinds of fun and awesome vendors, artists, and fly tyers.

Two of the fly tyers that will be up there are UA Dave and yours truly!

So, if you're going, stop by and say "What up!" and tell us your fishing spots....or you can share your fishing spots with me now, because, Dave and I, plan on wetting a line while we're up there.  We'll both have flies and stickers for sale.

EVENT INFORMATION

WHERE

500 Wild Rose Ave, River Falls, WI 54022

WHEN

March 11 - F3T (Fly Fishing Film Tour)

• Doors open at 5 PM.
• Tickets for the F3T are $15 available at Lund's Fly Shop and online (Click Here) and all proceeds go directly to the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust.
• There will be raffle and many awesome prizes.

March 12 - Fly Fishing Expo

• Doors open at 10 AM and they close at 7 PM.
• Clinics & Seminars, fly tying demonstrations, local fly fishing artists, local tiers, guide services, fly casting instructions, and much much more.
• List of Exhibitors - CLICK HERE

I will post another reminder closer to the show with a schedule of all the seminars.

2015 Year End Review: Part 2 of 2

2015 was full of fish of all sizes, new water, laughs, and good times in my white sunglasses.  I continued my 2014 resolution to "Explore New Water."  The amount of water around me in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan is simply incredible, so, I'm just going to make that my resolution every year.

Two of my favorite posts of the year about my explorations up North.

• Exploring the Northwoods: Part 1
• Exploring the Northwoods: Part 2

One of my favorite non-report type post from this year on becoming a Bass Pro.  I should do more like this.

• HOW TO FISH LIKE THE PRO'S

River Warrior. This one was an absolute beast!

This year has also brought many surprises.  One of those surprises was my first Flathead Channel Catfish caught on the Maumee River in Toledo Ohio with a chatterbait.  It also wins an award for being the smelliest fish I have ever caught.

Grip, grin, and hold your breath!!

I've been trying to catch a carp on the fly for over 2 seasons now (I think), and I finally did it!  Looking forward to hooking up with some of it's bigger relatives and hearing my drag scream!

I've struck GOLD!!!

This Summer I hosted a successful PIG FARM INK: Iron Fly event with the help of homies UA Dave and Adam Alexander.  I was very pleased with the turnout, and look forward to hosting another one, so, be on the look out for the next one, and a late blog post about this one.  Haha

PIG FARM INK - Iron Fly!

Here are just a few of my favorite photographs from this Summer.  Coincidentally, they're all from my trips North.

CARF approves this message.

Keep 'em wet.

Sassy Snapper and The Fat Gordo.

2015 Fish of the Year Award goes to.....

The Backyard Pumpkinseed!

I had never seen one with this coloration on one before.  My first reaction to seeing this fish was, "what the hell is that!?!?!"  Then I calmed my excitement and got lost in it's beauty.  The Pumpkinseed also had a great answer on the topic of world peace...Make Bugs Not War!

What a beautiful fish.

There has been a terrible mistake.

The Pumpkinseed is the 1st runner up.

The actual winner of the 2015 Fish of the Year goes to a catch I have written no post for, and have shared only 1 photograph of it.  Basically, I've been keeping her all to myself.  It's a fish I've been chasing hard the past few years with my fly rod, with plenty of ups, downs, and many many missed opportunities.  Without further adieu, I give you...

The 2015 Fish of the Year...

Northwoods Musky!

39 inches of beautiful violence.

Caught fly fishing, with one of my own flies.

My personal best musky and fish to date.  This picture only shows 1/4 of my excitement.

Smile - you're on camera!

I would like to thank all of my readers and followers.  I would also like to wish all of you a happy and safe New Years!

Chewy, get ready to engage the hyper drive.

2016 here we come!