I skimmed through my blogs of past October 18th birthdays. It’s a fact, I always go fishing and today was no different. After the big float yesterday Granny and I visited a couple backwoods Wisconsin bars then parked the Ruby Van in a nice spot for dinner and a good night’s sleep. When we got up this morning one couldn’t ask for a more gorgeous day to celebrate.
We camped in a remote area with lots of rivers and lakes. Many of which we aren’t familiar with. Once the coffee was made we fired up the van with the Yeti’s filled and drove. This was going to be a leisurely day of taking in the fall, some recon for new fishing spots and a little bit of wade fishing at one of these new locations.
The day didn’t disappoint. We looked at a brook trout stream. We checked out a boat launch. And we took an hour long hike into a very remote piece of water. We didn’t pack our rods and waders for the hike because we didn’t know how far it would be. But that’s ok. We got a good look and will do it sometime in the future.
In the late afternoon after a delicious remote bar burger and an ice cold Leiny, we investigated one last place. It was a spectacular piece of water on a well-known musky river. It was far off the beaten path and there wasn’t another sole in sight. This was my birthday fishing spot.
Granny opted to stay back and read because the wind was vicious just like yesterday. It was so bad as I wadered up I was glad to be wade fishing instead of in a boat. I grabbed my 9-weight with the same musky fly as yesterday and headed upstream. The gales were so strong I fished my way upstream because it was the only way I could make a cast.
While I was expecting a musky or a pike, this birthday fish was a surprise smallmouth bass. I say surprise because the smallie bite usually ends around the first cool days of mid-September. This fish attacked the 6” fly attached to wire from the shoreline rocks that you see in the above photo. Pretty cool to catch my favorite fish on my birthday!
The smallie came early on and I thought then I was going to tear the fish up. But despite a half mile of walking and casting over the next hour, that was the only fish I saw. Eventually, I found a nice rock to kick back on and lo and behold, I found a Sierra Nevada.
Tonight we returned to Hayward and headed out to The Ranch Supper Club. We had a great dinner and ended the day in another fantastic Wisconsin setting. Another great birthday in the books!
Happy b-day!
Thank you Lane!