Since our last episode.....
Rumors of big river muskies, walleye report and a smallie outing on the apple.
First off, a big thanks to my clients from last week. I hosted a group of Vet's and vet tech's put on by Phizer Chemicals. This is the 3rd year I've been involved and they are a great group, always have a good old time. Thanks Lori and thanks to the other guides who helped me out.
I didn't get in a whole lot of angling after Tuesday last week. Jennifer took off yesterday for 5 weeks, so we spent the week getting her ready and hanging out. She's off to school to be a Waldorf Teacher, you'll have to google if you want more intel. Despite the fact I didn't fish much, there were some fish caught I am told...
Rumor has it Fritzy landed a 46" muskie on the river, confirmed by Dave Hale, who happened to be right near him fishing walleyes. nice work Fritz, but I still got ya beat by an inch...I'm sure someone will stick a giant this summer, hope it's me, about sept 12th...
Whahoo and I pulled another epic outing yesterday on the apple. We sort of retraced the steps Brad and I laid last week, but fished a little more and explored quite a bit. The area around Little Falls, near Amery is really cool water. Lots of falls, pocket water and elevation. We didn't have any luck there, but really didn't explore beyond the trail heads or obvious fishing water. Looks like it gets pounded though. It's stocked trout water, and we saw them alright, but the water had to be in the upper 70's and the odds were not good. It'll bear some more exploring and even a kayak shot, I'm sure there are some far off stretches with big smallies and muskies.
Oh ya, big news of the morning was the bear we saw up north of Star Prairie. It was a momma and cub, loping across an open field. Pretty cool stuff, closer & closer to the metro.
Back to the fishing. After busting out of bathwater creek, we headed up to the dam at Black Brook to take a few muskie casts, nothing to be had. Next Stop, the restricted water above the Rivers Edge in Somerset, below the dam at RiverDale. We used to fish this as younger fellas and get walleyes and muskies from shore, but since 9-11, no more access to the shore spot can be found. So we snuck in, sort of. There's an obvious pull out on "C" above the tubers, we slid in for a closer look. Whahoo landed one smallie but that was it. It was pretty warm and not a ton of water to wrok with. Enough of that, off to the Flowage below the tubers. We got on the water about 9 and by noon had landed 30 or so, biggest about 18", but all scrappy. Whahoo tied this kick ass new streamer and they nearly destroyed it! We were right up by the tubing water and happened to have a nice chat with a friendly security guy, who also was an avid angler and traded some valuable intel, including the ability to take a boat out at the park, YEA! So the logistics are all figured out on that, next up is a full float of the tubing water!
This week I'll be guiding a bit, today in fact on the Rush for an afternoon half day. The weather is great so I'm looking forward to a good outing. I'll bet there will be a late night visit to the willow as well. I'll tell ya how it goes.
later,
BPM
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Who is that guy?
Someone tell the fella with the long hair and beard it's summer! Oh ya, that's me! Realizing the error of my ways, I did in fact clean up for summer and man did it feel good!
This last week was "Francis Week". I had my old friend and client Francis O'Neill here from VA. We fished wed-friday on the local streams, mainly the Rush and Kinni, but we did make a special trip to "Brookie Heaven", aka, Cady Creek. This was a special day for a couple of reasons. The Stream is not only loaded with Brookies, enthusiastic and lovely despite their stature, but it's also reminiscent of an english chalk stream of which Francis was familiar and very fond of. The banks were quite overgrown, providing much needed shade and cover for the little fella's. While this certainly made casting a bit more of a challenge, we were able to find some nice lanes for rolling hoppers, beetles and crickets over their heads and were rewarded for our efforts. I lost track after a while, but there were 20-25 that came to hand, all just stunning, and each seeminginly more beautiful than the last one. I really dont spend enough time on Cady, it's about 20 minutes past the Rush in Elmwood (UFO capital of WI), but worth the effort no doubt.
The Rush fished OK, there was a smattering of bugs from mid-morning to late afternoon, but we never hung till dark and waited for the Caddis to come out in full force. PMD's and emergers were working, as well as small slate caddis. Francis likes to switch things up on a regular basis, and that suits me just fine as I do to. What Francis lacks in mobility, he more than makes up for with casting prowess, he's got a serious cast and perfect presentation thanks to the sweetest light line cane rods I've seen or fished, what a joy to hold. I'm always sad to see him go, we've developed a terrific friendship over the last few years that I'm sure will last for many to come.
The rest of the weekend was light on angling, spent a bunch of time with my gal instead. Jennifer is off to Cali for 5 weeks, at school. Cool thing is she's living with Brad's folks in Sacramento, just a mile or two from her campus.
Speaking of B-rad, he made an appearance late monday afternoon, after dropping off a week long client from NYC at the airport. We moseyed over to the Willow for a late night attempt only to be denied. But considering it was 93, wet wading was the BEST place to be on earth that evening. Tuesday morning we got up at the crack of 8, and planned out another day of old school scouting and dead reckoning about western WI, warm water this time.
First up, The Apple River below the tubing crazed town of Somerset. We have a sweet little "in" on a chunk of basically private water, loaded with muskies and smallies, with the occasional walleye in the mix. A little boat ride, little wet wading and LOTS of smallies, up to 18" or so. All on big frog patterns normally tossed at Muskies, read BIG FLIES. Heavy current, big flies =10wt rods. The smallies were up to the task and bent the 10's like crazy! Looking for a change of venue, we packed up after 1pm or so and headed for Amery area, 30 miles upriver or so. After stopping to check out a couple bridges and available drift boat access, we headed up to the dam at Black Brook. There were a couple locals angling below the dam, and the vibe was weak so we dropped in up top and floated for a couple hours. No follows or fish, but amazing fly water so it's been added to the short list. Having run it's course, we stopped in Amery for gas and Beer and headed back to Somerset area, to have a look at the old landing on the croix, near the mouth of the apple. What an amazing place! Thousands and thousands of acres of water, woods, braids, bogs and who knows what other primordial creatures and features. However, no access for the boat but I'll be doing some scouting on the kayak that's for sure!
As if that was not enough! We decided to meet up with Eddy Philpot for some late night bassin' on Demontraville lake. We hit the water at 9:30 or so and had steady jitterbug action till we quit at 1:30. No real hogs, but some in the 4lb class.
All told, almost 20 hours on the job yesterday with some real excellent scouting accomplished. Look out tubers on the apple, I'm coming with big flies and bad intentions!
real good then!
BigPikeMike
This last week was "Francis Week". I had my old friend and client Francis O'Neill here from VA. We fished wed-friday on the local streams, mainly the Rush and Kinni, but we did make a special trip to "Brookie Heaven", aka, Cady Creek. This was a special day for a couple of reasons. The Stream is not only loaded with Brookies, enthusiastic and lovely despite their stature, but it's also reminiscent of an english chalk stream of which Francis was familiar and very fond of. The banks were quite overgrown, providing much needed shade and cover for the little fella's. While this certainly made casting a bit more of a challenge, we were able to find some nice lanes for rolling hoppers, beetles and crickets over their heads and were rewarded for our efforts. I lost track after a while, but there were 20-25 that came to hand, all just stunning, and each seeminginly more beautiful than the last one. I really dont spend enough time on Cady, it's about 20 minutes past the Rush in Elmwood (UFO capital of WI), but worth the effort no doubt.
The Rush fished OK, there was a smattering of bugs from mid-morning to late afternoon, but we never hung till dark and waited for the Caddis to come out in full force. PMD's and emergers were working, as well as small slate caddis. Francis likes to switch things up on a regular basis, and that suits me just fine as I do to. What Francis lacks in mobility, he more than makes up for with casting prowess, he's got a serious cast and perfect presentation thanks to the sweetest light line cane rods I've seen or fished, what a joy to hold. I'm always sad to see him go, we've developed a terrific friendship over the last few years that I'm sure will last for many to come.
The rest of the weekend was light on angling, spent a bunch of time with my gal instead. Jennifer is off to Cali for 5 weeks, at school. Cool thing is she's living with Brad's folks in Sacramento, just a mile or two from her campus.
Speaking of B-rad, he made an appearance late monday afternoon, after dropping off a week long client from NYC at the airport. We moseyed over to the Willow for a late night attempt only to be denied. But considering it was 93, wet wading was the BEST place to be on earth that evening. Tuesday morning we got up at the crack of 8, and planned out another day of old school scouting and dead reckoning about western WI, warm water this time.
First up, The Apple River below the tubing crazed town of Somerset. We have a sweet little "in" on a chunk of basically private water, loaded with muskies and smallies, with the occasional walleye in the mix. A little boat ride, little wet wading and LOTS of smallies, up to 18" or so. All on big frog patterns normally tossed at Muskies, read BIG FLIES. Heavy current, big flies =10wt rods. The smallies were up to the task and bent the 10's like crazy! Looking for a change of venue, we packed up after 1pm or so and headed for Amery area, 30 miles upriver or so. After stopping to check out a couple bridges and available drift boat access, we headed up to the dam at Black Brook. There were a couple locals angling below the dam, and the vibe was weak so we dropped in up top and floated for a couple hours. No follows or fish, but amazing fly water so it's been added to the short list. Having run it's course, we stopped in Amery for gas and Beer and headed back to Somerset area, to have a look at the old landing on the croix, near the mouth of the apple. What an amazing place! Thousands and thousands of acres of water, woods, braids, bogs and who knows what other primordial creatures and features. However, no access for the boat but I'll be doing some scouting on the kayak that's for sure!
As if that was not enough! We decided to meet up with Eddy Philpot for some late night bassin' on Demontraville lake. We hit the water at 9:30 or so and had steady jitterbug action till we quit at 1:30. No real hogs, but some in the 4lb class.
All told, almost 20 hours on the job yesterday with some real excellent scouting accomplished. Look out tubers on the apple, I'm coming with big flies and bad intentions!
real good then!
BigPikeMike
Monday, June 15, 2009
muskies, trout and guiding reports
A little about the weeks trips to get started.
Thursday I had the pleasure of hosting Joe Hackbarth, his son Tom and the senior member of the crew, Joe's father in-law Dan. We had a half day to try to figure out a program of muskies, maybe a walleye or bass and whatever we can find to tug. It was a glorious day out, light boat traffic and a nice reminder how great the Croix is on weekdays. Did I mention the glorious weather? The fishing was kinda slow, I know there were some walleyes to be had on a shoreline bite, but we conceded to try to catch another muskie for Tom. I love the mixed bag approach but it's a little challenging with only 1/2 day to work with. We did our best, had one good tug on a planer board & tail but that was it. I have a hard time pulling the plug on days like today, super great clients and nice weather make for enjoyable days, despite the slow angling.
Friday found me on the water again, this time with Jeff and Zach, couple more fellas in search of an enjoyable afternoon and couple of tugs. Jeff and Zach are business partners, Zach being in Chi-Town and Jeff here in Mpls. The goal of day is always fish, but we were on the post hangover 11-5 trip, so a couple more curve balls for finding muskies. Again, another perfect day and the cloud cover helped keep things a little cooler and even though I was wrong, I thought it would bring a good muskie. A couple minutes of practice with the gear and they were casting away. Jeff Raised a nice fish about 2pm or so but after not seeing much, we dragged a bit for eyes. The walleyes appear to either be in the summer holds or on the way. We marked alot of fish and got a couple off the break on the humps, maybe 25', the tops of the humps being 19' or so. I've seen fellas having action out there, either pulling cranks or dragging meat. We fished until 5 or so and pulled off some last minute heroics with a very nice 35" pike on the final trolling pass.
As always, I am humbled my the chance to show other folks the river and a good day of fishing, THANK YOU!!!!
Lets talk muskies for a while. The river muskies are starting to tick me off! I'm stuck at 3 for the season, 43 being the big fish so far. While we have been seeing fish, the hours have been adding up and I'm thinking more and more about a serious change in tactics. I've been reading up on open water muskies, and the St.Croix has plenty of open water, so that's going to be my focus, numbers be damned. I think that who ever is able to unlock the key of the open water bite is going to hold a special card in their deck. From all the data and articles I've been reading it seems that's where they are at most of the time, and with the increased pressure the river is seeing on the shallow weedy "community spots", this is becoming more and more evident. I don't believe for a second this is going to mean large numbers of fish, but I do think that it'll mean bigger fish, more frequently. So I'll take one for the team and keep on plugging away at this idea. more to come for sure.
Saturday was the metro muskie tourney, Googh and I had intentions of fishing, but the logistics of getting back to the weigh-in at the Maple Grove Gander Mtn were too much to bite off, so we fished it as spoilers for the rest of the muskie anglers out there. Right out of the gate we raised 2 fish, then proceeded to get spanked for the next 6 hours, nothing! About noon we wrapped it up and headed in. We picked up our respective families and made it picnic day instead. I was glad to get Jennifer in the boat, she does not spend enough time with me in that element and I like having her in the water with me, maybe she'll be better luck next time! I guess a 53" from Waconia won the event, I've been meaning to fish there but have yet to make it.
This week should be a hoot. Tomorrow I may do some exploring of the Apple River with Brad as he'll be down to pick up some clients on Wednesday. I've got Francis flying in tomorrow evening for 3-4 days of fishing. I intend to fish something different every outing, perhaps add Cady Creek to the mix for some brookie action. I'm hoping the weather cooperates with a little rain and cloud cover as well. I'll update midweek as I have a better idea where we'll be.
good luck, keep 'em wet.
BPM
Thursday I had the pleasure of hosting Joe Hackbarth, his son Tom and the senior member of the crew, Joe's father in-law Dan. We had a half day to try to figure out a program of muskies, maybe a walleye or bass and whatever we can find to tug. It was a glorious day out, light boat traffic and a nice reminder how great the Croix is on weekdays. Did I mention the glorious weather? The fishing was kinda slow, I know there were some walleyes to be had on a shoreline bite, but we conceded to try to catch another muskie for Tom. I love the mixed bag approach but it's a little challenging with only 1/2 day to work with. We did our best, had one good tug on a planer board & tail but that was it. I have a hard time pulling the plug on days like today, super great clients and nice weather make for enjoyable days, despite the slow angling.
Friday found me on the water again, this time with Jeff and Zach, couple more fellas in search of an enjoyable afternoon and couple of tugs. Jeff and Zach are business partners, Zach being in Chi-Town and Jeff here in Mpls. The goal of day is always fish, but we were on the post hangover 11-5 trip, so a couple more curve balls for finding muskies. Again, another perfect day and the cloud cover helped keep things a little cooler and even though I was wrong, I thought it would bring a good muskie. A couple minutes of practice with the gear and they were casting away. Jeff Raised a nice fish about 2pm or so but after not seeing much, we dragged a bit for eyes. The walleyes appear to either be in the summer holds or on the way. We marked alot of fish and got a couple off the break on the humps, maybe 25', the tops of the humps being 19' or so. I've seen fellas having action out there, either pulling cranks or dragging meat. We fished until 5 or so and pulled off some last minute heroics with a very nice 35" pike on the final trolling pass.
As always, I am humbled my the chance to show other folks the river and a good day of fishing, THANK YOU!!!!
Lets talk muskies for a while. The river muskies are starting to tick me off! I'm stuck at 3 for the season, 43 being the big fish so far. While we have been seeing fish, the hours have been adding up and I'm thinking more and more about a serious change in tactics. I've been reading up on open water muskies, and the St.Croix has plenty of open water, so that's going to be my focus, numbers be damned. I think that who ever is able to unlock the key of the open water bite is going to hold a special card in their deck. From all the data and articles I've been reading it seems that's where they are at most of the time, and with the increased pressure the river is seeing on the shallow weedy "community spots", this is becoming more and more evident. I don't believe for a second this is going to mean large numbers of fish, but I do think that it'll mean bigger fish, more frequently. So I'll take one for the team and keep on plugging away at this idea. more to come for sure.
Saturday was the metro muskie tourney, Googh and I had intentions of fishing, but the logistics of getting back to the weigh-in at the Maple Grove Gander Mtn were too much to bite off, so we fished it as spoilers for the rest of the muskie anglers out there. Right out of the gate we raised 2 fish, then proceeded to get spanked for the next 6 hours, nothing! About noon we wrapped it up and headed in. We picked up our respective families and made it picnic day instead. I was glad to get Jennifer in the boat, she does not spend enough time with me in that element and I like having her in the water with me, maybe she'll be better luck next time! I guess a 53" from Waconia won the event, I've been meaning to fish there but have yet to make it.
This week should be a hoot. Tomorrow I may do some exploring of the Apple River with Brad as he'll be down to pick up some clients on Wednesday. I've got Francis flying in tomorrow evening for 3-4 days of fishing. I intend to fish something different every outing, perhaps add Cady Creek to the mix for some brookie action. I'm hoping the weather cooperates with a little rain and cloud cover as well. I'll update midweek as I have a better idea where we'll be.
good luck, keep 'em wet.
BPM
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Weekend report
Ahhh, the rains finally came and none too soon. The local trout streams were looking pretty rough, but much improved after a couple days of nice rainfall. The effect this has on the fishing is dramatic to say the least, gets the bugs and fish all stirred up with the high water and then if your lucky enough to catch it on falling water levels your in for a treat!
That was the case yesterday with Mr Bob King from Chicago Ill. Bob was a client I met a couple years ago at the show in Chicago and he finally made it up here to sample the local opportunities. With the rain coming down steady on Monday, we set off for the Rush, knowing the river would be in better shape than the Kinni as the rush tends to drain faster and less violently that the other rivers in the area with Dams. The hunch paid off as the Rush looked and fished amazingly well! We fished between Martell and El Paso on one of my favorite stretches of Dry Fly Water. There was a complex hatch of hendricksons, olives, crane flies, midges and caddis and the strategy was to change often over the same fish and regularly show them something different. it paid off handsomely with Bob landing a dozen or more on the Dry Fly over the course of the mid afternoon. When the rains let up it really got going and we had a ball! Thanks Bob, and as always I am humbled to be your guide!
I've got a couple more gigs this week, thursday and friday on the St.Croix. Thursday Client is father son team of Joe and Tom Hackbarth of River Falls WI. Last year about the same time Tom had a stellar day with a mixed bag of smallies and a great 42" muskie to boot. We'll be chasing anything that swims and hopefully a repeat performance of last years outing!
I'll be fishing the metro muskie tourney this weekend, focusing on the Croix. We've been doing well enough lately to be confidant enough to at least make some contacts and if we're lucky, put a couple fish in the boat. This is leading up to the PMTT Pro Tourney I'll be fishing this fall on the river. Hopefully the local edge will help me out there and I can do well, but there's always a lot of great anglers participating.
More to come from the outings later this week!
BPM
That was the case yesterday with Mr Bob King from Chicago Ill. Bob was a client I met a couple years ago at the show in Chicago and he finally made it up here to sample the local opportunities. With the rain coming down steady on Monday, we set off for the Rush, knowing the river would be in better shape than the Kinni as the rush tends to drain faster and less violently that the other rivers in the area with Dams. The hunch paid off as the Rush looked and fished amazingly well! We fished between Martell and El Paso on one of my favorite stretches of Dry Fly Water. There was a complex hatch of hendricksons, olives, crane flies, midges and caddis and the strategy was to change often over the same fish and regularly show them something different. it paid off handsomely with Bob landing a dozen or more on the Dry Fly over the course of the mid afternoon. When the rains let up it really got going and we had a ball! Thanks Bob, and as always I am humbled to be your guide!
I've got a couple more gigs this week, thursday and friday on the St.Croix. Thursday Client is father son team of Joe and Tom Hackbarth of River Falls WI. Last year about the same time Tom had a stellar day with a mixed bag of smallies and a great 42" muskie to boot. We'll be chasing anything that swims and hopefully a repeat performance of last years outing!
I'll be fishing the metro muskie tourney this weekend, focusing on the Croix. We've been doing well enough lately to be confidant enough to at least make some contacts and if we're lucky, put a couple fish in the boat. This is leading up to the PMTT Pro Tourney I'll be fishing this fall on the river. Hopefully the local edge will help me out there and I can do well, but there's always a lot of great anglers participating.
More to come from the outings later this week!
BPM
Sunday, June 7, 2009
What you see....
First off some props to my clients from the week. Thanks go out to Duane and 
Tyson, visiting here from the bayou, Baton Rouge LA and Greg from Prior lake MN. As 
always I am humbled by the opportunity and look 
forward to fishing with you gents again soon!
Here's what you see when you keep your eyes open in the woods. The big moth is a Polyphemus Moth, a type of silk moth in the Giant moth family, clearly! This bugger was fresh to the world and not much of a flyer in the early morning chill. Polyphemus moth's are large, this guy was maybe 5" in diameter, but not as big as the Cecropia's which seem to happen a bit later in the summer. What a treat, and my clients enjoyed it as well, bonus nature experience.
There's been a lot of fishing happening lately, as usual I'm mixing it up as only I seem to like to do. I've been out on Cedar lake in uptown a few times over the last couple weeks. I've been trying to locate a rock pile a scuba diver told me about, that he says is loaded with nice walleyes. I think I did find it and sure enough, got a few eye's but they were puny and not what I was after. The bonus 33" Tiger Musky however more than made up for the itty bitty walleyes. Got him on a jig & leech off the weed edge. The fellas in the rig next to me landed a 3 footer, which promptly ended up in the bottom of the canoe, flopping for 5 minutes till they could get a grip on the situation...not pretty and a dead musky, of that I am sure. On the paddle back across the lake, i came upon a solid 45" fish, hanging out over 35' of water, I was able to track him for 30 feet and got a real good look at it, giant Tiger!
My St. Croix induced tan is also taking shape. After catching a small musky on opener, I'd been blanked in 4 outings at least, maybe 25 hours total. In that time I'd been seeing fish, but not until mid week did I have success again. Wednesday I was alone, fishing bayport pool primarily and contacted 3 fish, had 2 good attacks but no hooks. Thursday the Gooch and I hit it and I made one pay. The viper strikes once again and this 43" fatty drank the kool-aid. I had missed a fish that seemed was solidly hook just an hour earlier. Add a couple more follows and it was a decent night, saw 5 landed one.
We are finally getting some much needed rain, the local streams look pretty rough although the kinni still seems to be fishing pretty well. The willow looked as if I'd never seen it, that is the bottom of holes I once thought had none. This rain should stir things up, especially if it comes as predicted tomorrow. I'll be on the Rush this week sometime, a little combo fishing/dinner/wedding planning trip to Vino in the valley with Jen J. I'll let y'all know how she looks.
some images from the week.
Tyson, visiting here from the bayou, Baton Rouge LA and Greg from Prior lake MN. As 
always I am humbled by the opportunity and look 
forward to fishing with you gents again soon!Here's what you see when you keep your eyes open in the woods. The big moth is a Polyphemus Moth, a type of silk moth in the Giant moth family, clearly! This bugger was fresh to the world and not much of a flyer in the early morning chill. Polyphemus moth's are large, this guy was maybe 5" in diameter, but not as big as the Cecropia's which seem to happen a bit later in the summer. What a treat, and my clients enjoyed it as well, bonus nature experience.
There's been a lot of fishing happening lately, as usual I'm mixing it up as only I seem to like to do. I've been out on Cedar lake in uptown a few times over the last couple weeks. I've been trying to locate a rock pile a scuba diver told me about, that he says is loaded with nice walleyes. I think I did find it and sure enough, got a few eye's but they were puny and not what I was after. The bonus 33" Tiger Musky however more than made up for the itty bitty walleyes. Got him on a jig & leech off the weed edge. The fellas in the rig next to me landed a 3 footer, which promptly ended up in the bottom of the canoe, flopping for 5 minutes till they could get a grip on the situation...not pretty and a dead musky, of that I am sure. On the paddle back across the lake, i came upon a solid 45" fish, hanging out over 35' of water, I was able to track him for 30 feet and got a real good look at it, giant Tiger!
My St. Croix induced tan is also taking shape. After catching a small musky on opener, I'd been blanked in 4 outings at least, maybe 25 hours total. In that time I'd been seeing fish, but not until mid week did I have success again. Wednesday I was alone, fishing bayport pool primarily and contacted 3 fish, had 2 good attacks but no hooks. Thursday the Gooch and I hit it and I made one pay. The viper strikes once again and this 43" fatty drank the kool-aid. I had missed a fish that seemed was solidly hook just an hour earlier. Add a couple more follows and it was a decent night, saw 5 landed one.
We are finally getting some much needed rain, the local streams look pretty rough although the kinni still seems to be fishing pretty well. The willow looked as if I'd never seen it, that is the bottom of holes I once thought had none. This rain should stir things up, especially if it comes as predicted tomorrow. I'll be on the Rush this week sometime, a little combo fishing/dinner/wedding planning trip to Vino in the valley with Jen J. I'll let y'all know how she looks.
some images from the week.
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