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

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.

Chi-Tie February Meetup

What is Chi-Tie?

"We are just a group of fly fishers and tiers meeting up for a few beers while tying.  Trying to build connections and community among us in Chicago.  We welcome anyone and everyone."  - Chi-Tie

The core members of Chi-Tie are Dave Knutzelman (Urban Assault Fly Fishing), Adam Alexander (Adam Alexander Photography), and Tim Adkins (Critical Angling).

They meet on the 2nd Monday of each month, and I have been able to join them a few times.  One of those times was last month, and there was no particular theme.  There were some new and old faces, and everyone was tying something different.  Flies for bass, trout, and pike.

Few beers, few flies, and some great fishy conversation.  Always a good time at Galaway Bay.  So, if you're ever in the Chicagoland area and it's the 2nd Monday of the month, you definitely check out Chi-Tie.

Bunch of leeches I tied up.

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.

Exciting News!

I have been added to the Partridge family!

No, not that Partridge family, although, I do think I have the singing chops to join them.

I am very excited to announce that I have been added to the Pro Team of Partridge of Redditch.  I have been using their hooks for quite some time, and all of my predator flies would not have the same quality if it weren't for their high quality steel, so, accepting their invitation was a no brainer,  To have my name added to a group that includes Bob Clouser, Greg Senyo, Richard Strolis, Pat Cohen, Dave Hosler, Ad Swier, and Andreas Andersson...just to name a few....is a real honor, and I'm looking forward to representing Partridge of Redditch and creating some new and interesting patterns.

Article in DNAinfo

My homie UA Dave was recently interviewed in an article for DNAinfo.com about fly fishing in Chicago.  Dave has been a great promoter of fly fishing in Chicago.  The video our friend Adam Alexander Photography shot on the Des Plains River made the article, as well.  Good to see these guys getting in some print.

Click below and you will be brought to the article.

Chicago Is a Fly-Fishing Mecca, Even on 'Nasty-A--' Bubbly Creek

Article By: Justin Breen

Twitter: @dnainfo_breen

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.

I've Got The Hook Up

My homie UA Dave hooked me up with some medium sized popper heads with eyes.  Just add a hook decorated accordingly and water.  Bass and pike should lose their minds over these.

Which one is your favorite color pattern?

1. Fire Tiger

2.  Orange Crush

3.  Red Hot

The beer is Pseudo Sue from Toppling Goliath Brewing in Iowa.  If you're a craft beer fan, this is one that should be on your list to try.  It's delicious.

CLOUSERS - A DAMN GOOD FLY

Other than the tried and true effectiveness of the woolly bugger, the clouser minnow is one of the most versatile and effective fly patterns out there.  A true work horse of a fly that is effective in any body of water from a small pond to any of the Oceans.

Seriously, though.  Anything will eat it.

Material List for these particular Clouser Minnows

Hook - Partridge Attitude Streamer size 2

Eyes - 4.0 mm Dumbbell eyes

Bottom - White Bucktail

Top - Olive Bucktail

Flash

Finished off some Sally's.

I have 18 more to tie up to fulfill an order.  Chartreuse, Red, and Gray, so, 6 of each color.  Then they're getting shipped to Florida.  Already looking forward to seeing some of those huge Florida bass that these hook up with.

Prep work is a must when tying a bunch of 1 pattern.

Field & Stream Hook Shots

Have you ever heard of Field & Stream Hook Shots?

Well, you should have.  Joe Cermele and Captain Eric Kerber have been making, in my opinion, the best fishing videos on the interwebs.  Each episode is a maximum of 10 minutes long, and it's filled to the brim with killer content, quick tips, first rate commentary, hilarity, and some rad tunes.  Mix all of that together, and you have a recipe for some high quality fishy entertainment.

Joe also just hosted a pretty sweet fly swap that I wasn't able to get in on, but he hints he's going to be hosting more of them, so, be on the look out!

Do yourself a solid, check out their videos, and website.

HOOK SHOTS Website

HOOK SHOTS FACEBOOK

That CARF Outdoors deek looks great on your truck, Joe!  Hopefully, it brings you some fishy mojo on all of your trips!

If you have a CARF Outdoors sticker, take a picture and send it to me.  I'll get it on the sticker sightings page.  Looking forward to seeing where they all end up across the country.

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.

DPR Northern Pike - A Winter Float

My homies UA Dave, Adam Alexander, and their buddy Chris got out the Des Plains River this past weekend.  Being the end of January, the weather was perfect out.  I wish I was around to join them on the float, but I was in SW Wisconsin fishing for trout.

Adam is a professional photographer and usually focuses on still shots, but this outing, he decided to shoot some video, and I think he did an excellent job!  The video is short, sweet, very well shot, and tells a nice story.  Check it out!

Get's me excited to get back out on the DPR.  I miss those toothy snot rockets.

Links

Adam Alexander Photography

Urban Assault Fly Fishing

CHI TIE

Cold Hands and Panfish

The wind, it's unforgiving and cuts right through you like White Castle sliders on a Saturday morning.  You're freezing cold, and you're unsure you have a face, because, you can't feel it anymore.  The snot dripping from your nostrils is uncontrollable, but it doesn't even phase you, because, the fish don't care, and neither do you at this point.

Your mind starts to wander, and you start talking to yourself in your head...

I should have worn that extra layer.

I could be home tying flies right now.

Do I have boogers hanging from my nose?

I wish I could feel my face.

I wish I could be poppin' bottles instead of holes.

I sure could go for some chili and my couch.

I should have spent the extra $10 bucks on the nicer gloves.

Should I leave now?

Why am I out here?

I wish I had a shanty.
Is this ice going to break?

Welcome to the exciting world of ice fishing.

(In my opinion.)

Big thanks to Catchafew for bringing his shanty.  It was used a total of 15 minutes.

I don't always ice fish, but when I do, it's because, I forget how miserable I'm going to be out on the ice.

Invited a few friends out to ice fish my backyard lake after work one night.  DanK, BassMan Kevin, and Catchafew all arrived around 7 PM on a Wednesday night.  Have more friends around this time made the outing a lot more tolerable.  The stories and laughing made me forget about the cold.

The ice was 8-10 inches, but it had me buggin', because, it kept making noises.  It didn't phase the other guys. They're experience ice anglers, and kept reassuring me that I wasn't going to fall in, and if I did, I would have only been in about 6 foot of water, and a 100 yard walk back to my house.

DanK trying to coax a bite.

DanK and BassMan set up some tip ups, while Catchafew and I jigged with waxies under a vexlar.  I had a nice sized bluegill on, but lost it right at the top of the hole.  Eventually the wind picked up, and Catchafew set up his shanty.  What a life saver that was.  I even caught a small panfish.

Catchafew was the only guy not able to hook into a fish.  DanK and BassMan found the same size sunfish as me, in about 2 foot of water.

After drilling holes everywhere, some false hope, because, the tip ups being triggered by the wind we all decided to call it a night around Midnight.  Even thought I couldn't feel my face, I had a good time, mainly because of the company.  Thanks, again, for coming out guys!

My first fish of 2016.  Definitely a wall hanger.

If you come across any melted ice in my backyard, BassMan Kevin and his centerfold jigging pose is to blame.

BassMan Kevin aka Mr. January melting some ice.

A little play on a very disgusting videos that I've seen and most everyone has heard about.