I haven’t had much fishing to share in a week. That’s because I was working on some Florida Slam Cliff Fly Boxes for Back Country Fly Fishers Naples and a large Indo-Pacific permit painting for my friend Mike Lodge. Mike goes with me on most my hosted Yellow Dog trips and two years ago he nailed his first yellow permit. He has a memory for life. These are a really unique looking permit species and I love the way this one came out.
Big paintings take time. I’ve been nibbling on this one for a month and I finally buckled down and finished him. It took all week. After I got him shipped out yesterday along with the fly boxes, it was 2 pm, Granny and I loaded the Ruby Van and drove up to Bayfield, WI. I needed a breather not only for completing the art, but in general. I’ve been working hard preparing to teach three days for the School of Trout on the Henry’s Fork early October and also for a huge 2026 show season schedule.
We took our time. Enjoyed our drive. When we arrived in Bayfield we nailed a campsite within walking distance to downtown and kicked it off with some delicious fried whitefish at the new Hoop’s Dockside Fish & Chips. We followed that up on the bar stools at Manypenny Bistro where we shared a scrumptious Mediterranean salad and glasses of wine. It was a great afternoon and evening that provided the relaxation and fun we hoped for then early this morning we left camp and pressed our coffee at the docks in Bayfield.
Throughout today was our Lake Superior docks tour. We moved from the Bayfield docks to Cornucopia, Herbster and Port Wing. Granny caught a small pike. And at the end of the day, when we were all the way back to Ashland, I caught this strong fighting little smallie.
That’s it till Tuesday. Its back to the grind for me and back to work for Granny. Tuesday we are heading right back to Lake Superior and we’ll get out on Chequamegon Bay with Howie. Hopefully Granny can show us how to catch some big pike!