2024 will go down as one of my best local water fishing seasons since I was a youngster in Jackson Hole. Two years ago everything here in Wisconsin was new. I got my butt handed to me most outings but love new water and the challenges that come with. Last year the results improved greatly … Read more
I’m continuing to hit the northern Wisconsin water hard this October and today I was right back out there with Bob. There’s a serious heatwave going on. While I didn’t think to get a pic during the heat of the day, this gives you an idea. I took this photo at 4 PM and it … Read more
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 … Read more
September 17 & 18 There was nothing hardcore about these last two days of fishing. Granny and I weren’t sure what to do with our days off so based on a forecast of back to back 80° days, we opted to do and overnight float trip. It was about swimming, camping, eating and relaxing. It’s … Read more
We experienced a drastic temperature drop the last 24 hours. It plummeted enough that Bob Butler and I put down our smallmouth 6-weight rigs and broke out the 9-weights. I put on an SA Toothy Predator leader and clipped in a big black Brush Fly that goes with on giant trevally trips. We went prowling … Read more
Early morning departures for fishing aren’t so early anymore. I had an old college buddy, Danny Zilker, swing through Hayward for about 20 hours. The short visit consisted of a nice dinner with beers at the Anglers Bar last night and today a full day on the water. We left my house in darkness to … Read more
I was wading a flat at Cosmoledo Atoll in the Seychelles during November 2021 and found myself fighting a large bonefish. As the bone tired and I had him near, not one, but two Indo-Pacific permit showed up attempting to steal my fly right from the bonefishes mouth. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Naturally I’d … Read more
Indeed it was an outstanding trip to the flats of Texas. But I love it all. I could not wait to get back on the Wisconsin smallies and I didn’t delay. After a couple days catching up on things, Granny and I headed out on a three day two night float trip with Bob and … Read more
The smallmouth bass fishing has been so good this month I can not stop. Despite getting home late last night from yesterdays fishing I got right back on the saddle this morning. At 5 AM, college pal Paul Cavanaugh of Colorado, pulled in the driveway under the first glimmer of daylight to help load up … Read more
I met Dave Gellatly at the Great Waters Fly Fishing Show in Minneapolis back in March. I saw a guy towing a drift boat with Wisconsin plates pull into the parking lot. I went right over and it turns out Dave is from my old stomping grounds of Ashland right on Chequamegon Bay in Lake … Read more
Bob and I planned on doing something big today but unfortunately truck trouble for Bob grounded us. Well, not exactly grounded because Bob lives on a small lake. Instead of not fishing, I zipped over his place around 8 AM and we launched his lake boat with my Exploder. This was by no … Read more
Wow. I actually went four straight days without fishing. It was no wonder I was driving Granny crazy around the house yesterday to get her stuff together so we could get going. Finally, around 6:30 PM we began the winding drive to one of my favorite fisheries in Wisconsin so we could get an early … Read more