As you may know, I’ve had the good fortune of fishing on the USA Masters Fly Fishing Team. Last year, Bret Bishop, Pete Erickson, Loren Williams, Mike Sexton and I took home the Gold Medals in Italy. None of this could have happened without our generous friend and sponsor, Jerry Arnold. Jerry has been covering … Read more
Granny and I broke out our new Outcast Striker Raft again today for an early morning float. We left last night and did our shuttle leaving Granny’s car at the boat ramp. We took my car and the raft to the boat launch and slept in the Exploder. We woke up at 5 AM and … Read more
Dreadful weather moved in last night. I could feel the temperature drop while sleeping in my van. Then the drizzle started followed by gale wind. By the time college pals Howie, Mike, Mark and I were ready to head for Lake Superior for our second day we got word there was a small craft warning … Read more
I’m lucky I’m still friends with many of my college buddies. We all met in 1983 studying in Wisconsin at Northland College and managed to stay in touch all these years. About eight of us are like brothers. Today Howie, Mike Neuman and Mark Reiser met up for the first time in a while and … Read more
If you aren’t yet familiar with Science on the Fly let me help. Science on the Fly is an organization founded by the Woodwell Climate Research center and Fishpond. They seek to further our understandings of changing watersheds around the world through long term, world-class river science. They strive for cold water, clean rivers, healthy … Read more
One of the luckiest things during our big move across country from Idaho to Wisconsin was that I was unable to sell our drift boat before leaving. This led to a dreaded drive across country with the ancient baby-blue Slide Rite on an old rusty and cracked trailer behind a 1991 stick shift Exploder. But … Read more
When you get home from an incredible trip like I had last week to land of the coaster brook trout, there’s a ton of work to be done from unpacking and re-sorting gear to editing photos and writing stories and blogs. But my phone rang last night and buddy Bob Butler said we needed to … Read more
This trip to Bowman Island Lodge in Ontario flew by like all great trips do. Despite the fact we fished an extra evening upon arrival, followed by four twelve hour days, it went fast. As you would expect, Joe Wolthuis, Jerry Darkes and the entire group for that matter, fished as hard as humanly possible … Read more
It’s a known fact that when the east wind blows, fishing slows. This is especially true on the Ontario side of Lake Superior where I’m spending a few days fly fishing for coaster brook trout and lake trout from Bowman Island Lodge. The east wind started yesterday around 5 PM and it continued most of … Read more
We woke up to an ominous sky over Bowman Island Lodge here in Ontario. The clouds were dark and stacked like storms were brewing. But not so. After breakfast Joe Wolthuis and I made a run and when we stopped the skies were blue again. The weather changes fast here, including from good to bad … Read more
Day two here at Bowman Island Lodge in Ontario on the north end of Lake Superior began at 6 AM with a coffee followed by a big Canadian breakfast of French Toast and bacon. Jerry Darkes helped his guys rig for coaster brook trout and showed them how to run the boats (remember this is … Read more
I’m keeping the ball rolling as far as mixing up my fishing venues. Last night after dinner I drove north to knock off two hours of a drive. This morning I continued that drive along the Minnesota side of Lake Superior then crossed into Ontario Canada. From there me and my old Exploder ventured another … Read more