A Short Trip on My New Trout Waters

by | Jun 15, 2022 | fly fishing in Wisconsin | 2 comments

Wisconsin-RiverMy new home trout fishing waters of Wisconsin are 100% different from what I left behind in Idaho.  But this is a good thing.  These winding smaller streams have plenty of quality trout.  The rocks are more slippery, the hatches are different and the trout less fished, making them more wild and spookier.  This place will present me with many new challenges which I’m strongly looking forward too.

 

turtlesGranny and I have been plugging away fixing up our new house in Hayward.  We have a long road ahead of us.  At around 11 this morning I had an urge to get out and fish.  I left the house under partly sunny conditions and drove north into drizzle and rain.  Along the way I saw numerous deer and helped not one, but two painted turtles cross the road.

 

shinersIt was warm but I put on my waders anyhow.  Here we have far more mosquitos than in ID along with ticks.  The waders not only keep me dry but protect me from the bugs.  I eased my way upstream from the road looking for rises as I blind fished with an ant dry fly and Pheasant Tail dropper.  My first fish wasn’t a trout but rather a tiny female common shiner (I had some identification help on all three of these fish from an old college buddy, Dave Kittaka with IN DNR).

 

chub-fishingI head for the World Master Fly Fishing Championships in less than a month.  Today was as much a practice session as getting out and enjoying a few hours fishing.  In my first hour on the water this afternoon all I caught were tiny non-trout fish.  My next move was to set up the full on double nymph Euro rig.  I found a deep pool with plenty of current that trout love.  All I can say is that despite not lobbing a nymph Euro style for trout since Czech last October, I didn’t forget much.  I stuck at least a dozen of these cute little hornyhead chubs.

 

common-shinerTo try and avoid the chubs I put on a larger stonefly nymph (it didn’t help).  But, it’s when I caught this neat looking fish with a bluish/purple head and bumps all over.  Toss in the wild looking boomerang scales and we have us snazzy looking fish.  I was on the internet for hours tonight and couldn’t figure it out.  Luckily Dave took my photo to a true expert and it’s been identified as the male common shiner.  Ok, I never would have gotten this one.

 

flyfishingI called it an afternoon after exactly three hours fishing.  That’s how long a World session is.  I caught fish.  I just didn’t catch a trout.  Who knows?  Perhaps there aren’t many trout at the place I was at.  Regardless it was good practice and a fun afternoon.  Unfortunately, neither of these two species were new for my list!

 

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing

2 Comments

  1. Matthew Norton

    wisconsin trout often use chubs and shiners as Bodyguards, like the trout in ID!!! Ha!

  2. Jeff

    Oh you remember the body guards of the Henry’s Fork!!!

Welcome to the Blog of Jeff Currier!

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I started fly fishing at age 7 in the lakes and ponds of New England cutting my teeth on various sunfish, bass, crappie and stocked trout. I went to Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where I graduated with a Naturalist Degree while I discovered new fishing opportunities for pike, muskellunge, walleyes and various salmonids found in Lake Superior and its tributaries.

From there I headed west to work a few years in the Yellowstone region to simply work as much as most people fish and fish as much as most people work. I did just that, only it lasted over 20 years working at the Jack Dennis Fly Shop in Jackson, WY where I departed in 2009. Now it’s time to work for "The Man", working for myself that is.

I pursue my love to paint fish, lecture on every aspect of fly fishing you can imagine and host a few trips to some of the most exotic places you can think of. My ultimate goal is to catch as many species of fish on fly possible from freshwater to saltwater, throughout the world. I presently have taken over 440 species from over 60 countries!

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