YOU'RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT?

It's mid April, and it snowed.

It snowed a lot.

14-16 inches of snow fell over the weekend.

Oh, and there's still roughly 20 inches of ice on all of the lakes around the Twin Cities area.

It's mid April.

Spring does not exist.

What is this place?

ANDY SELVIG DEER HAIR DEMO

If you find yourself in the Twin Cities area on Thursday 02/01/2018, then you'll want to stop by Gulden's Restaurant & Bar for a Saint Paul Fly Tiers meeting and demo.  There will be a deer hair packing and stacking demonstration conducted by Andy Selvig.  Andy claims that he's only good at a few flies, but actually sucks at most things.  Come on out and witness something that Andy doesn't suck at.

When working with deer hair, you have to be gentle.

ST. PAUL FLY TIERS MEET UP WITH BRAD BOHEN

B-RAD.

Special Saint Paul Fly Tiers meeting is going down tonight (Tuesday 01/30/2018).  Member or not...ALL ARE WELCOME!  So, come on down to Gulden's Restaurant & Bar tonight to see the Musky Madman himself, Brad Bohen.  He will be doing a fly tying demo and he will have a bunch of Primo Tail materials available for sale.  He will have Primo Tail Bucktail, Hang Time Hackle, and some very killer Bohen Bionic Bucktail Brushes aka B4 for sale. Brad accepts cash or PayPal.

If you can, be there! 

TUESDAY - 01/30/2018

5 - 9:00 P.M.

GULDEN'S RESTAURANT & BAR

2999 NORTH HWY 61

MAPLEWOOD, MN 55109

Brad's Links

MUSKY COUNTRY OUTFITTERS

INSTAGRAM

KEEP CALM & TIE FLIES

If you do not have any winter activities, and the cabin fever is starting to settle in just remember to Keep Calm & Tie Flies.  A message I received from Partridge of Redditch hooks that I just wanted to pass on to all of you.

Minimum Cowbell: A fly.

If you don't tie flies, then I suggest you start learning.  It's a great way to stay fishy, flex your creative muscles, and refill your fly boxes for Spring Summer and Fall fishing.  

If that still doesn't do anything for you, order a pizza.  Pair that pizza with an adult beverage of some sort, a sports game on T.V. or a classic trilogy like Indiana Jones or The Naked Gun, and you'll be happy...until the next time you order another pizza.

Keep Calm & Tie Flies

MY GEAR

Camera - http://amzn.to/2hnMwkD

Lens - http://amzn.to/2hhdHJS

Rising Stellar Scissors - http://amzn.to/2yCE7wM

Vedavoo Bench Basin - http://amzn.to/2zGBU78

Rite Bobbin Half Hitch - http://amzn.to/2hzxKab

Peak Vise - http://amzn.to/2zXEBCd

MATERIALS USED FOR FLY

(Note: The links will not give you the color I used for this fly.)

Hooks - http://amzn.to/2Drt0co

Tail Filler - http://amzn.to/2rvwol6

Tail Flash - http://amzn.to/2rvwFo8

Body (Wrapped) - http://amzn.to/2DszFU1

Body (Bottom) - http://amzn.to/2Dw7wiP

Eyes - http://amzn.to/2rqv032

Head - http://amzn.to/2DrUmPA

**The above links are Amazon Associate links**

BMFS: HOPS AND HOPPERS 11/07/2017

Drinking beer, tying flies, and telling lies.  Another fun night spent at Lake Monster Brewing in Saint Paul Minnesota for Hops & Hoppers hosted by Bob Mitchell's Fly Shop.  I typically tie 1 fly at these gatherings, and spend the rest of my time hanging out and talking with the homies.

Hops & Hoppers

It's always interesting to see what others are whipping up at the vise.  On this night there were quite a few trout buggers being tied, along with some big musky, bass, and salmon flies.

Bret at the end admiring the work of Sherlock.

Grant Meyer with his laser like focus.

I forgot this man's name, but he's only been tying a week.  He tied his first woolly bugger on this night, and it was nicer than any woolly bugger that has ever left my vise.

First woolly bugger lookin' woolly buggery.

Micah Crider loves black hats and driftless trout.  He and his wife have a pretty sweet blog with some great photography and stories.  You should take a minute and check it out - The Driftless Flyer.

Michah Crider workin' it.

Just because it's an open fly tying night, doesn't necessarily mean you have to tie flies.  I like to consider fly tying an art, and while Mr. Sherlock was skillfully creating steelhead flies with a hook and vise, Charlie Forbes was right next to him showcasing his skillz with paint and a brush.

Sherlock and Charlie doing thangs.

...and not long after the above photograph, Sherlock was showcasing the powers of super glue.

Sherlock.  Nuff said.

Sherlock.

Charlie does some amazing work, and I am a fan.  If you haven't, you should really check out his Instagram page for more of his work.  It was a really great to see him meticulously paint his works at the open tie night.  I think he should do it more often.

Charlie Forbes creating something magnificent, per usual.

Before he goes to sleep each night, Bobby Nacho's tosses back a few musky flies to keep his musky game strong.  

Bobby Nacho's

Looking forward to the next open tie night I am able to attend.  My goal is to tie more than 1 fly next time.  I'm shooting for 2....Baby steps.

MY GEAR

Camera - http://amzn.to/2hnMwkD

Lens - http://amzn.to/2hhdHJS

**The above links are Amazon Associate links**

QUICKIE

Found myself in Wisconsin with some time to spare, so, I did the logical thing....I went trout fishing.  I was out and about enjoying the weather and hiking around Willow River State Park, and afterwards, I decided to head on down the road to the Kinnickinnic River.  I grabbed my FSA custom 3 wt, Vedavoo hip pack, and Tacky fly box, tied on a top water bug I've been working on, and walked on down to a new spot I scoped out back in June.

EATER

The no name fly I've been working on was the ticket and my fly box was not needed.  I found some rising trout on the tail end of some small riffles, and they were picking off anything that was drifting through.  

Vedavoo hip pack.

Wet waded up the river just a little bit in to some skinny water, and found some a few more fish drifting that same fly.  I don't know if it was the fly or the amount of fish caught, but the fly was starting to come undone.  Need to do some tweaking...I kind of want to think that the trout were just beating it up throughout the short outing, which is very possible.

Brook trout like to party.

Came across a floating fish, and upon further investigation - I determined it was the biggest trout that I have ever seen with my own eyes in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin, and that it was a brook trout.  Didn't have a wallet on it, so, I wasn't able to determine it's age or where it came from.

What a shame.

All in all it was a solid 1.5 spent fishing on a beautiful day, and a reminder to me and to all of you that live here in the Midwest to get out there and enjoy the outdoors and the kick ass weather while we have it....Winter is coming.

OUT FOR A ROW

Alright - There's no doubt about it, that I have been slacking on my blog.  I don't want you all to think that I'm going to let this die off, because, I won't allow that.  Now that I'm pretty settled in up here in Minnesota, and have spent so much of my free time exploring and learning the lay of the land, trying to make new friends, fishing, and learning an entirely new job, I am starting to find my groove.

Good things are on the Horizon - Possibly another contest where the winner will receive their prize 1 year later...How does that sound, +Howard Levett ? :)

In the meantime while I figure that contest out.  Here's a VLOG of an outing I had with my new Flycraft Stealth.

Jake Keeler musky art on a gose style beer from Fulton Brewing.  Yes Please!

The Carf Outdoors #icatchsmallfish tour still in full effect!

Pretending to look like I know what I'm doing.  The reality is, I have no freakin' clue what I'm doing.  Just trying to look cool.

JAKE KEELER ART

FULTON BREWING

FLYCRAFT

PIG FARM INK

CUCUMBER SALMON BITES

I have mentioned it in the past, but my very beautiful and talented cousin Brianna has a food blog - Swinton Kitchen.  I'm not one for recipes, and usually just make things based on what I know works together.  Recently, I decided that I was going to give one of her recipes a shot.

I chose the Swinton Kitchen: Cucumber Salmon Bites, and let me tell ya...they turned out fantastic, and delicious!!!

My finished product. Devoured moments after this photo.

Next up on my Swinton Kitchen list to try are the Apple Cookies.  I'll report back.

CUBS WIN!

The Chicago Cubs are going to the World Series!

Unfortunately, I didn't have a ticket to the game, but that didn't stop me from heading to Wrigleyville to partake in all of the celebration that was going on in the streets.  It was PACKED, but oh so much fun to experience.

Surprisingly, there were only a few idiots out, and they were climbing the street lights, and as soon as they came back down they were taken away by the boys in blue, and I'm not talking about the Chicago Cubs.  Other than that, everyone was having a great time in the streets and in the bars.  I didn't see any fights or flipped cars, but the Cubs also didn't win the World Series.  I'm hoping they do, though...and not because I want to see flipped cars. Haha

What a great time to be a Cubs fan!

Oh, and hats off to the Chicago Police Department for doing a fine job amidst the chaos of Cubs fans.  I could tell that some of the officers were enjoying being there and just watching some of the drunk idiots.

The Dells

 When I think the Wisconsin Dells, I think of water parks and an insane amount of kids running around everywhere.  Don't get me wrong, I love kids.  They're a blast to hang out with, and I hope to have my own one day.  This was a guys trip that my Uncle Mike organized.  2 days 2 nights in the Dells.  "The Classic" as my Uncle would refer to it as...

Life advice for Giac, "....what you'll need, is more vodka." - Uncle Mike

We had a great spot on Lake Delton, and had an absolute blast.  Day One -- We rented a pontoon boat, tossed a football, swam, BBQ'd, relaxed, and then proceeded to terrorize the bars of the Dells.  Good times. Haha

Great location.  Right on the beach.

So much love for this man, my Uncle Mike.

Beautiful night.  I'm surprised I didn't wake up in one of the chairs on our beach in the morning.  

Lot of love for my family.

All in all we had a great time.  On Saturday, we went golfing to this beautiful course.  I played like crap, but we still had fun, and that's all that matters.  We had plans of taking it easy on Saturday night, but that just did not happen.  Haha. Oh well.

Saturday night turned out to be my favorite, and it put itself up there with the greatest time of my 2016 summer thus far.  I won't go into detail, but it's all due in part to someone in the picture below.

Tennessee Bound - Hardly, Strictly Musky.

At 15:30 Hrs I begin my trip south to McMinnville, Tennessee for the 2016 Southern Classic - Hardly, Strictly Musky.

Well, I have to pick up Dave and his canoe in downtown Chicago, and then we have to meet up with our homie Chris in Southern Illinois Carbondale (I think).

...and then we'll be on our way to McMinnville, Tennessee.  Tomorrow morning.

We're all pretty stoked about this trip, and I'm sure it's going to be one helluva time.  My musky box is loaded and ready for what the flowing waters of Tennessee have to offer...Hopefully, some musky.

Also, I would like to apologize for my absence.  It's been dead around here, and I've been a bad follower to those who I follow, but I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things upon my return.

Until then, I'll leave you with the words from the great Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar - PARTY ON!!