a different kind of fishing trip

It's been a crazy summer, in fact it's been unlike any I've had in years, or ever for that matter.

Now I can't say I haven't been spending time on the water. By all accounts less than most years but this has been a unique season to say the least. I had a great early trout guide season, a wonderful 5 day trip to the Brule and some, albeit limited personal fishing time. The big focus coming into June was Alaska.

The second week of June found me back in Cordova, Alaska. This time I was there with a different mission, no more house building I was going fishing! I was hired by longtime friend and commercial salmon fisherman Curt Herschleb. I was to be Curt's deckhand for the next 6 weeks or so, leaning the ropes of being a gill-netter and man was I stoked! People always seem to ask me if it was like the deadliest catch? Not hardly really, while we had some big seas for the most part the weather was shitty but manageable. There was one deadly side I can address, fatigue. The hardest work I've ever done was over those 6 weeks. Long hours with little or no sleep, adverse conditions and labor intensive work all added up to a couple worn out fisherman. It's pretty common for these guys to go 50-60 hours without sleep, remember it is only dark for maybe an hour a day that time of year, so your ability to stay up is falsely enhanced. We did that shit, 54 straight as I recall, fishing the heck out of the reds over in Main Bay, Prince William Sound. When your making money it's easier, we did OK in that department as well.

Despite the obvious fatigue, I had an extra boost due to the fact I'd never spent that much time on a boat, on the ocean mind you....All that which was eye candy to me, was old hat to most of the guys who fish. Whales are an obstacle to be avoided, killer whales especially. Sea lions are cool unless they are eating your fish, which is usually when you see them. Otters a-plenty, they are cool and don't eat your fish, good otters. We killed a lot of Salmon, not sure of the final poundage, but it was substantial. The primary target was Red's / Sockeye's, they fetch the best price at market and are fun to catch. The other salmon had their day, Chums in abundance at Esther Island and Pinks as the season wore down.

37 days on the boat is what I ended up with and it's true, pictures do not do Alaska justice. If you can, put Prince William Sound on your list of places to visit, it's just that cool. I have a lot of good friends there and Cordova has a place in my soul. I'll be going back next year but this time bringing my bride for a few weeks as well.

Oh ya, I almost forgot! I got to see the west this summer too! A few weeks ago I flew out to Sacramento to meet Jennifer, who was just finishing up school. We took the opportunity to put together a road trip from CA back to MN. I arrived a few days before the official end of school, which gave me an opportunity to learn a bit about striper fishing on the American River. This time of the year, the stripers start to show up in numbers, following the run of Shad. Numbers wise, it's not a huge fishery but gives the local anglers an opportunity at some pretty big fish. After about 3 days of wading and walking I did stick one, about a 20" fish or so. I had a couple other grabs and felt like I was fishing good water, despite my lack of knowledge on the area. A local shop helped out with some intel, albeit cryptic at best. Special thanks to Jimbo & Michelle, Jen's host's in Cali for the amazing gift of being able to stay, totally above and beyond the call of duty.

We waved goodbye to Sac town and headed north. Jennifer had never seen the Redwoods so we were off to Arcata and a drive up 101. Nor Cal is great, but there's so damn many people. We did our best to avoid the major crowds, got in an amazing 10 mile hike in Prairie Redwoods State Park and met a really great family camping there. Having decidied we were going to take the northern route, we headed out for Stevenson WA, on the Columbia, to visit Jen's brother Jeff and his family. Turned out it was his birthday, which provided an excuse to stay up till 2am and drink beer. A long drive up the Columbia, through Spokane and to Couer d'Alene Idaho for the night. From there we made our way to Montana, flanking the Clark Fork for quite some time. All I could do was look longingly at the river, it was drift boat water and we had neither the time or the money for a boat ride, so on the Glacier N.P. it was. Neither Jennifer or I had been to Glacier since we were kids and we both looked forward to the visit. We had no aspirations of going into the back country, but we packed bear spray anyway and stuck to the well used hikes for the most part. We were lucky enough to secure a good site for a couple days, I got to catch a couple Cutty's at Avalanche and Hidden lakes and the hiking was amazing. For those who've never been, go now. Glacier is pretty much out of actual glaciers, only 25 remain and most are only accessible from back country hikes. If you go, make sure to drive the going to the sun road, unless your like me and have vertigo, in that case have the wife drive! I made it 2/3 of the way up before succumbing to the panic. Jennifer on the other hand just cruised right up and kept trying to point out the bighorn sheep, panoramic views and the like. I kept my eyes glued to a map to occupy my brain. Funny thing is, it only bothers me in a vehicle. I could ride those rods on a bike or hike even, no issues. Put me behind the wheel and yikes! Vertigo aside, we loved Glacier and cant wait to visit again. Two long days on the road followed, with a night at Teddy Roosevelt N.P. in Medora, North Dakota and here we are, home again after 2 plus months away.

I missed my dog, I'm awful happy to have her back home. Elsie is 11, getting a little slow and had the great company of 3 young boys for a couple months. She was pretty worn out.

Record flooding in the area last week kept the trout streams in rough shape. I attempted to fish last night but the willow was still raging so I drove to the Rush for a look. The river looked terrible, scoured and lifeless even. I never bothered to wet a line, had a beer at streamside and cruised home. I just got a call from fellow wednesday nighter Rob George and he informed me the Willow River is back down and looking good, so I think I'll give it another shot this evening.

Hope Ya'll are having a good summer.

BigPikeMike

angling

I do not mourn the end of winter and ice fishing, not at all.
For the most part, this winters fishing was pretty limited to a few trips to the park for pike and panfish and a handful of outings on Cedar lake in Mpls, trying in vain to ice a few walleyes. Winter leaves behind it some ugly stuff, especially in the city. A seasons worth of garbage and in my case, 2 five gallon pails of Elsie poop, which I had to clean up this morning, thank goodness it's 25 out and the little devils are frozen. It'll be nice in a few weeks when things start to green up and the memory of another winter (my 42nd) has faded.

Early season trout opened a couple weeks ago to low clear streams and a foot of snow on the ground. The warm temps of the last few weeks broke everything loose and all of the local streams got a good scouring. I had one nice evening on the willow prior to the deluge and landed 3, 2 browns and a rainbow. The previous years rainbow stockings have created a number of holdover fish that have escaped predators and hungry anglers alike and all of the sudden we have some fish in the 15-17" range. They don't fight for shit, but are fun to catch as they will take streamers alongside the browns.

This past wednesday saw the first installment of WNFC (Wednesday night fishing club). For those who don't know, I fish with pretty much the same fellas every wednesday and have for the past few years. It's a beautiful thing, all our gals now know that Wednesday's are off limits, boys night out. We meet at a secret location, OK not so secret but we have a private access parking area which is conducive to enjoying a few beers and even a bonfire now and then. Fishing this week was a little tough, the water was falling but still a little high and off color and very cold from the snow melt. We each landed a nice holdover rainbow, shared a stream beer and kicked off the season in style.

What's with all this bashing of my brother in arms Brad "the Afton Angler" Bohen? The poor fella's is being savaged and slandered by the fishing community at large, but mainly from a few folks, jealous of his success I suppose. He was axed from the MW fly show despite being a huge draw in his speaking engagements. The fly fishing community needs to grow up a little and accept the fact that there are NEW anglers out there, not the tired old lefty-holschlag-FFF-orvis hags who we all have seen and heard for years, do and say the same thing over and over and over again...the problem lies in that they cannot accept the fact that the industry as a whole is dying a slow death and needs to reinvent itself, new faces are and have to be part of the process, new products are now enough. So Brad is a shameless self promoter, big deal! Try being a guide, building a clientele and not ever doing a lick of marketing or promotion, does not work, in this business or any. I've known this dude for 30 years, fished with him in all reaches of this great land and to those who would dare to call Brad a poser, piss off. His angling skills (note angling, not just fly fishing) go beyond what most folks could ever hope to achieve. And really, don't you fools have anything better to do with your time than savage someone over the interweb....

Sunday morning and I'm off to make my wife some breakfast. till next time.

BigPikeMike

Working backwards......

Bad Bad blogger......

So, while Jennifer was away I helped myself to a full heaping of angling, roughly 37 days in a row. Suffice it to say I was tired, having piled that on top of work and guiding duties. It's all good though, not complaining and yes, she's been home now for a couple weeks and so ends the hitting streak.

That's how things go sometimes, a fella gets streaky and focused on the task at hand. Those 37 some odd days were filled with some serious and not so serious adventures. I'll do my best to re-cap the last couple blog free weeks.

Working backwards... Last week was all about the trout, in fact that sums up the last couple weeks as I've been laying off the muskies till this week. Tuesday and Wednesday I had the great pleasure of fishing with Mr. Jerry Shurson of the Twin Cities here. Jerry was just beginning his fly fishing career and had a decent base from his other angling experiences and a little smallie/fly fishing on the local rivers. Our goal was simple, get him up to speed on the ways of the local trout water, refine some techniques and catch some damn fish! Jerry was a quick study, perfected his roll cast straight away and proceeded to clean up on the local trout population. Once in a while you get a client who can really put 2 & 2 together, get a fish and see the direct results. Jerry was such a client. We fished the Kinni both days, had one good morning of Trico's and one day of tornadic mayhem. Jerry caught the smallest fish I have ever seen mouth hooked on a fly. Size 20 midge emerger > 1.25" longnose dace. see image, it's almost not believable but he did it. He gets the "dink" award, hands down. I'm very much looking forward to another day with Jerry, we got on really we'll and had a great time. Maybe the Brule in October for a weekend, lets do it Jerry! My other trips have gone pretty well. Had a nice outing on the Rush early last week, with a group of 4 retired gents and my guide buddy Mr Andy Roth. This was a few days before the recent deluge of water and the Rush was still low and clear, but fishing well. Caddis on the surface and nymphs were the ticket. You wont hear me talk much about specific patterns because for the most part, I don't adhere to any specific patterns. it's more of a "put it in the spot" approach, knowing that good presentation trumps the pattern details in most cases. I know I'd get a good argument from the fly techs but that's just the way I play it. So small buggy nymphs, hows that..... Like I said earlier, I've laid off the muskies for a couple weeks. My last good outing was with my muskie buddy Jeremy from lakeland. We got out on the front end of a wicked impending storm and right off the bat J stuck a 46.75 on a cowgirl. Not too much later he put another nice fish, 44", in the boat as well. That made 22 for the year in the boat, not great numbers but only one for under 40" and nine over 44". I'll take it.

I've got clearance to fish this evening and better go get the boat ready to go. More to come, I promise... see following fish porn.... bigpikemike

Mid july Angling & guiding news

As I may have mentioned, Jennifer is gone till the 1st of August. Suffice it to say I have been fishing at a frenetic pace, here's what's been happening.

I should be posting daily I know, but between trying to hold down the fort, do my chores and keep a line wet I'm usually pretty crushed at days end. So we'll wrap up the last 5 days and lead out the next week or so, there's some cool shit on the horizon.

Last Friday was a muskie day! A day where another rod in the boat could have made it something really special. I wrote recently how I'm not a huge fan of "camping out" on a spot, but I broke a rule Friday evening and did just that. I got on the water about 5 and started on Beanies point, just south of the bridge. it's a spot I don't often see fish, but I know they are there so I regularly make a pass. Status Quo, no one home. Next stop was another insignificant spot on the MN shore, same sort of place with similar results. Things however were feeling very fishy, there was some weather moving in from the west causing regular changes in wind direction and speed, always a good thing. I made a move for Afton, there's no secret that the bar is lousy with fish and if a guy wants to get one it's worth some time to cover every inch, twice. That's just what I did. Straight away I contacted a nice fish, a long follow that terminated in an angry swirl at boat side. OK, their here and ready to play, despite the boat traffic and pontoon boat full of onlookers parked right on the captains chair. I put the viper to work, purposely fishing the opposite direction of what most anglers fish, as inside out as possible. Over the next hour or so I had another 4-5 follows and blowups, one really nice fish in particular. After an hour of this, BAM, FISH ON! & a nice one at that! She ate the viper about 40' out, maybe 25' from the pontoon of onlookers, and put on a great show for the other boaters. Several long runs and 3 jumps later I rolled her into the big net to whoops and hollers from the gawkers, pretty nice feeling and I was amped to get her picture and get after another one. She measured up about 47, although the pic has the tail cut off thanks to self photography. That makes 11 for me and 15 for the boat this year. Of my 11, only 1 was shorter than 40, with 2 over 46 so the average is good. The rest of the evening was pretty action packed but I never got hooks into another and wrapped up about 10:30 or so.

the following morning found me on the same spot, 4:45 am. Right off the bat I raised a couple, but they were lazy follows and far more negative than the previous evening. feeling good about another spot, I headed downriver to fish some points. Just north of Afton State park I raised what might be the biggest fish I've seen in years, well over 50" and stout. She tried to eat the viper at boat side and slapped the boat with her tail in the process, soaking me as well. It was pretty cool but she's gonna get caught, in due time. Nothing landed for the morning shift, but it had it's moments.

Sunday night Whahoo and I did the evening shift on the willow. We were in search of Hex, but they have been a total bust this season. No fish rising, no fish landed. I'll be giving it a rest for a bit.

Monday night found Fred and I back on the Rush in El Paso. He was feeling the need to camp out so that's what we did. We found some brookies on the dry flies and fished streamers after dark till about 11. No grabs on the big flies, but in our defence, it was DARK and really tough without having scoped out our beat in good light. It was nice to sit around the bonfire with a couple beers, need to do more of that.

Believe it or not, I pretty much took yesterday off, save for a couple casts in the morning on the Rush. I've got some work going at Fred's house to help him make it ready for sale. nice work between guide trips.

Today I'm back after the Muskies with my graphics guy Chris Boland and his buddy Jared. They are both St. Croix regulars, but just learning the muskie thing. We are going to have to fish hard today to get some action as we had a nice cold front come through last night. Tomorrow I'll be out with one of Turk's groups, fishing walleyes and smallies.

I'll follow up with a report and pics.

later,

BigPikeMike

current reports

Howdy All!

Here's a quick and dirty recap of the last few days of action. The fishing has been all over the board, it's July so i guess it's to be expected.

The image above...KK with his first muskie of the season. We hooked up Sunday night about 7 or so, looking to get out and take advantage of the near full moon and end to the holiday festivities on the river. KK and I are partners in the PMTT muskie tourney this fall, so a little recon was necessary as well as early strategizing. Right out of the gate, first cast on first spot he hooked up on a sledge, but the muskie shoot him off. OK, good start to the evening. I'm guessing about 20 minutes later, he hooked up again near boat side, with a spunky 42" river muskie. This one stayed glued and we invited her in the boat for picture day. It was a good start to a near perfect night, despite the fact it was thee lone fish of the evening. Kraig's off to visit a buddy in AK this week, doing a little fishing and rafting, sounds like a good time.

Monday night I was off to the local stream to see about some late night fishing, and mostly have some piece and quiet. i got that all right, the fishing didn't happen and the bugs were a big no-show.

Tuesday proved to be another late night affair, this time with fellow guide and master angler Eddie Philpot. Jennifer asked me if he was "fast Eddie" and I informed her there's nothing fast about him....We ventured off to an east metro lake for some evening bass fishing with jitterbugs. I know I've bagged on bass before, but this is special, as Eddy would say. Something about a calm quiet night and top water is a draw. i could probably do pretty well on the fly rod, but I'm digging the old school casting setup and jitterbug. We fished from 10 till about 1:30 or so, landed 30 or more and a couple nice ones, including a solid 4.5-5lb'er that yours truly landed. good, good stuff. Thanks Eddy!

Last night was back to the stream, the Rush this time. We had notions of hanging out down around hwy 10 till late, looking for any hex that might straggle up the river from Lake Pepin. However, the lower river looked tough, at least from my perspective. I know it fishes well at times, but not last night. So we boogied up to El Paso and hung out up from the bridge. there were a hand full of trout working and Fred and I each got one, but it was slow. The late afternoon hatches seem to be a thing of June, and past us by. Trico's are just around the corner so there's hope for the dry fly crowd.

Whew.....You can tell Jennifer is gone eh. I'm still doing my best to keep up around the house and work when it's there, but I'll be on a continued angling tear over the next few weeks. stay tuned.

go!

BPM

sometimes I wonder

Why is it that I am not just satisfied with chasing one fish or using one technique? Sometimes I think perhaps I'll give it a whirl, sell the big boat, get a drifter and dedicate myself to the fly. Or maybe, ditch the fly gear, become a dedicated psycho muskie angler and leave the buggy whips to the Amish...Hell no, here's why not! Variety!! I know full well the time and dedication it takes to fish at a high level, for one species and be consistent. So why not be a kick ass all around angler, proficient on multiple levels, for a variety of species? I like to compare it to my mountain bike riding days, I always wanted to be at least fast enough, particularly on the downhills to keep up where ever I may find myself riding, and I got to ride all over the country. Call it hanging with the locals or what have you, but I found it changes your experience if you have the ability. Angling is the same way for me. Should I find myself in Colorado or Kentucky, I want to at least be able to fish, enjoy the experience and feel like I'm in the game. That's why I do what I do. This week alone I fished 4 different bodies of water, flies, spinning and muskie tackle, caught all kinds of fish and never did the same thing twice.

Most recently, I went up to Bald Eagle last night to shake things up a little and quite frankly, get the stink back on. the River has been tough the last week or two, for me at least. I like to run up there when I need to put some fish in the boat and hone my lake skills for when I get an opportunity on another lake. From 4 till about 9 I pretty much camped out on a spot that I know is crawling with them. Aside from a troll around the island, I hunkered down and waited them out. Sure enough, I raised, missed or saw about a dozen fish. I landed 2 between 6 and 9, a low 40's and upper 30's. They were really liking the tip of the bar, but the bigger fish came in heavy cover near shore. I think I'm going to try to pull off a 3 legals in 3 lakes day here this week or next. Come up with a combo of 3 lakes (WB, BE and forest come to mind) and get as many as I can in a 24 hour period. sounds like it could make for some good footage as well.

Back to the hunkering down program last night. This is NOT something I would usually do, if ever on the river. That's one of the glaring differences between lakes and the river, if they are not on the spot, don't bother staying because they are off roaming, likely in the deep. I'll camp at Afton from time to time, but for the most part it's a run and gun situation. hunkering down sure paid off last night though. next time I'll hunker down with the fly rod and see what I can get moving.

It's the 4th of July. not planning on too much, maybe I'll sneak down the the old miss and try to catch a big cat.

be safe out there.

BigPikeMike

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

As seen on TV!

It's been a busy couple weeks, muskie opened and the trout fishing has been slowly improving as well. More on that later this afternoon.

Most importantly, check out this clip from a show I did with KSTP Television on wednesday, on "Twin Cities Live". We shot some footage in River Falls at the Kinni Creek Lodge and highlighted fly fishing as a "get out of town" adventure. It went really well and makes me one step closer to my own show, maybe the "Big Pike Mike Angling Hour"? It was fun, hope you enjoy it!

http://twincitieslive.com/article/stories/S951723.shtml?cat=11449


BPM

in no particular order

Here's what's been happening on my side of the rod....in no particular order.

The picture there is Greg Powell of Austin TX with a bonus 40" Sturgeon we got yesterday fishing for eyes'. Interesting day to say the least, what's with the 97 degrees anyway? The Texans loved it, no humidity! Good lord. Aside from the Sturgeon, we managed a couple small Walleyes and missed our share too. Wahoo jumped in the boat from 5-8, we had a couple beers and caught a nice 20" eye for his fryer. release to the grease.

Overall the fishing has been off and I really can't put a finger on it. Clearly we need precipitation but beyond that the systems just seem less fishy. Trout fishing for example, has been really slow for myself and my regular comrades. I can think of one good morning I had a week or so ago where I landed 5, one nice one and had steady action. Most outings have been a bit of a struggle. However, we did completely change our program last time out and Wahoo got a nice 17" on golden rocks, nymphing as opposed to the venerable streamer. Seems the trout decided to act like trout and not pike as previous years. fair enough, we can adapt.

Speaking of adapting. The 14th Annual Hamroom Walleye tournament took place this last Saturday. Dude Hale walked away with the event, 28+ pounds and maybe 8 over second place team of Farr and Johnson. Ingy and I donned the "Gitmo Fish" orange jumpsuits and proceeded to spend all day battling the 30+ mph winds and finished seventh or so. We only weighed 4 and had a 22" but no consistent good bite. Dude was fishing within sight of us for most of the day, we knew something had to be up but I'm not one to crowd a fella, wasn't anyway. I am now.

Guiding has been a little slow too, which I completely understand but still don't like. Aside from the ability to make a living, the client interaction really is what it's all about. I dig people and always look forward to making a new Friend. It'll pick up soon and already is a little as I've been booking some trips over the last few days.

Musky opens this weekend, I'm deep in the pits of a bathroom remodel and am struggling with time, fishing vs. work. arrgghhh. I guess either is "dropping by the jobsite" but I like completing projects and the benefits of doing so. I usually fish with Googh, er Todd Hess, a musky wizard in his own right. Last opener I think we each got a 40ish incher as I recall. it was cold however and the current heat wave could really start things off with a bang, no high water either...guess I'll go for a couple hours anyway.

I'll be out over the next few days and get some more intel rolling, bye for now.

eye candy

here's some images from Alaska. it was cold.....

snakefarm

Hello Y'all! I've Been back in MN for a couple of weeks now, getting myself adjusted to the pace of big city life again. For 3 months, I did little or no driving, watched little or no TV and spent even less time on the PC. Folks ask about the great time I had, but it didn't really involve the beauty of Alaska as much as the company of the people I was with. So ya, I had a GREAT time with my buddy Curt, his wife Alyssa and the girls, Serena Rose and Maggie. We worked our ever loving asses off for about 85 of the 90 days I was in town. It's a great place, everyone should go.

More on AK later, lets talk some fishing eh?

LOUSY! Despite what looks like great conditions, water levels and such, the fishing has been off, at least on the waters I've been fishing. The St. Croix opened up saturday to the usual fanfare, 75 boats jockeying for position in the channel and lots of reports of 14.5" short eyes. We fished hard all day and only got one for the box. We being Fred (aka creek warrior) and I. Thinking I'd do better on monday with less traffic and anglers about, I went and put another full day in searching, same results, one for the box. The males were still spewing milt, so I'm guessing the spawn just got over and the big girls will be strapping on the feed bag just in time for the HAMROOM in 2 weeks or so.

The trout scene has also been a little slow. Wednesday night fishing club convened last night with Robbie and Whahoo on board. I was the only guy to manage a fish, scrappy little 13" brown and that was it. So far this year I've got 10 I think, with one at 20" or so. I've not been on the kinni or the Rush but intend to here this coming week, hopefully with some clients. The guiding is starting out a little slower than I like, but frankly I expected it a little with the economy the way it is right now. Hopefully when schools out, folks will feel more compelled to keep their fishing business local and fish the area, as opposed to hitting the road to Montana.

I've kept my 09' rates the same as 08' and added a "kids fish free" component in order to get some family involvement this summer, lets spread the word and lets get out fishing!

In the meanwhile, still doing bathrooms and kitchens and I'm off to look at a job right now. more later with some recent images and more info!

cheers,

BPM

January 10th.....

The passing of 8am or so marks another year under my belt. Yep, 41 years old today I am. I can remember sitting back in my late teens early twenties wondering where or what I'd be doing when I was 40...From where I sit, things are going pretty swell and 41 feels good.

A few weeks ago, just before Christmas I asked for Jennifer's hand in marriage and lucky for me she said yes! We are stoked to create a sweet life together, we've got some plans and both believe with hard work and some luck we'll be taken care of.

To celebrate the aforementioned accomplishments we are having a good old fashioned throw down tonight. Fish Taco's, corn chowder, keg o' summit and about 30 of our close friends and family should be coming by. Not to mention the fact that in a weeks time I'll be in Cordova AK for the remainder of the winter. I'm starting to get really excited about this trip, it's going to be a long time away no doubt, but we'll have some adventures and I'm really looking forward to working aboard Curt's boat. We've been talking some and it may turn into an annual event depending on how I do as a crew member. I'm guessing I'll do just fine.

I'll be posting from Alaska over the next couple of months,, maybe even a report on winter King fishing or at the very least some amazing images from one of the truly beautiful places on earth.

arrrgghh

OK.....so my computer got rendered useless by a virus and I've been delinquent in getting it repaired, so here's my long lost update...There's been a lot of fishing going on and I'll do my best to remember it all...

Wednesday night Fishing Club:  pretty much since spring my Bro's Whahoo, Fred aka "creek warrior" and I have been meeting every wednesday evening on a piece of local trout water to enjoy the fishing, a couple beers and get out of the house on a consistent night.  It's been good for me as it's kept me in touch with what's happening on the river over the course of the entire summer.  The fishing has remained quite good, we've been surprised by the life on the river during the warmer parts of the normal midsummer fishing lull.  Most importantly to me,  I think the guy's would agree, is the time shared with good friends doing what we love to do on a regular basis.  For me, fishing and being on the water is my spiritual endeavor, it's where I find the time to process the greater decisions of life, fine tune my connection with nature and balance out all of the flotsam and jetsam that flows at us from all directions down the river of life... sounds cheesy perhaps, but only to those who don't take the time to slow down a little and feel the flow of the water.

I've been back to Lake Michigan since my last post.  The fishing overall was kinda lousy, by our standards anyway.  We struggled to find fish in the usual depths and situations and had to completely retool our delivery after the first evening out. The deal was this, consistent east winds had been blowing in the warm water from the Michigan side, therefore forcing us to fish depths we were not quite prepared for at this time of the year.  Ideally we'd have been fishing 50 to 100 FOW, but conditions forced us out to 150 to 175 and our rigging was just not suited to working this strata.  That said, we still found fish and as it seemed, did as good or better than any of the charters running 15 lines.  Weird thing was, no 3 year old fish. they were either 18 lbs or 8...one coho as well which is a rarity for us in T'rivers.  We decided that next year we'll do an extended late june trip of 4-5 days to take advantage of the strong mid depth King bite as well as the plentiful Steelhead which always help out in filling the bag limit.  

Muskies are still on a tear in the River.  I get almost daily reports from the river rats on big fish and lots and lots of quality 40 to 48" fish.  As for myself, the boat has been spending alot of time in the garage and in fact I noticed and had to fix a flat on the trailer this fine morning... All that changes tomorrow as I'll be heading out for the morning, all this muskie talk has me feeling a bit out of the loop and I need to be the one making the calls of good luck as opposed to always getting them.  

Yesterday we had an epic float down the upper Apple.  Brad came down with the drift boat and he, Whahoo and I floated about 15 miles above Star Prairie Wi.  Rivers like the apple are the epitome of under fished and overlooked for freshwater angling, and it shows in the care given to the river, lack of access and overall availability of opportunity...Rest assured it's there, all a fella needs to do is get out with the proper craft and gear and explore.  We've been talking about doing this section for some time and now we have.  All in all it was a wonderful float but the amount of fishing water was limited overall.  Smallies were plentiful as were the pike in areas with wood and depth, but the endless sand flats made the good habitat hard to find.  In that stretch we found 2 good areas, separated by about 6 miles.  Brad did most of the oar work, supplemented with ample amounts of the Dr's Cherry Schnapps. We did contact a few muskies, got maybe a dozen smallies, or should I say Whahoo did as i could not buy a fish to save my life.   There's enough there to get me back in the fall, roll through with the Kayak and wade fish the good water.   

There's much more to report and I'll do so tomorrow or saturday, getting the computer back and I've got gobs of great images to add as well....

get the hell out there and fish!   

Brule Update & Images

Howdy All!

Here's what's been happening for the last week or so. I'm a little behind on the updates but I'll do my best to fill ya in.

On the Local Front: Still getting reports from the River about muskies, and lots of em. With the heat finally settling in and regular storm activity I would expect a terrific bite. Not sure why, but I'm just not super motivated to get in the boat right now, perhaps it's because my connection to the trout streams is so good right now, I'm hoping to maintain that groove. Cost of operation is a factor as well, it cost's about 50 bucks just to drop the boat in the water these days with gas and all....That said, I do have to get out there this week at some point, I have a couple day trips on the river next week to prepare for.

Wednesday of last week we finally got the shoot in with Dave Carlson from Eau Claire. We paddled the Kinni and fished a bit, but it was more a piece on Paige and the lodge etc etc. All in all it went well and despite dumping the canoe once, they managed to keep the camera dry thank goodness. It'll be on next Sunday as I recall and Dave wants to get another shoot or two in before the years end, for sure a Sturgeon show on the river come October.

Thursday afternoon found me at Brad's doorstep in Brule WI. The Hex have been starting to come off late and so a mission was in order. I cant believe I'm saying this, but I might be fished out for a day or two! Over the course of the 4 days, I fished an average of 15 hours per day, half of that in a canoe either on Big Lake or paddling the various stretches of river chasing resident browns. Thursday nights hex fishing was the most productive of the weekend, the hatch was moderate which I think helps because there were not as many naturals on the water to distract them. I got two about 18-19 or so and the other boats did about the same. What a trip Hex fishing is.....late nights, moonlight, skeets and big slurps all around you, it's hard where to figure out to cast first and easy to get lost in the moment. Hooking up once you get grabbed is another story, I think I went 0 for 17 before i finally figured out the no slack-sidearm hook set routine and was able to stick one good. I could see it being frustrating for some but the setting is just so perfect and fish in hand or not, still an amazing experience. One night out of the way, 3 more to go....

Friday was a bit of a leisure day at the club, we drank some beer and played bocce mostly until it was time to get ready for the evening festivities.. Fred arrived about 7 and sadly, brought a whopper of a thunderstorm along with him, rained us out good about the time we planned on hitting it. Worse yet the storm brought lingering high winds which would plague us for the next couple days. I went to bed early and the boys went to the Kro bar and hassled the cute bartender till 2am..

Saturday Fred and I got up early and did the Stones Bridge to Winni float. This has to be the nicest canoe float in WI, easy enough to fish most of the way from the boat and plenty of good water to stop and wade for a break. Fred got the trifecta, one of each resident species and I paddled most of the trip. A nice 30mph tailwind down big lake and we finished with enough time for a nap and retooling for the evening. Damn wind, the stuff usually lays down after a nice hot day but that was not the case, kept blowing s/sw all night and made the fishing a bit tough...understatement. There were a couple bugs coming off, but it was slim pickens and we packed it up earlier than usual, there's always tomorrow eh?

Having left the boats at the landing the night before, Fred and I mounted an early morning mission to Big Lake, looking for browns scrounging up wind blown hex from the night before. Not long after getting out, we had a nice little wind free window and cruised the lower end of the lake stalking risers. Having seen a nice rise 80 yards off, we stalked over there and got Fred into position for a cast and he made it count! Nice 18" brown, daylight hours on a BIG hex spinner pattern, it was perfect! That was the only fish we were able to get to go, so we headed downriver and made for the club, casting big dries along the way. We did get a couple more grabs but nothing in hand. After a short break and lunch, we rounded up Brian and Weston and made the float to the Ranger Station. This is an amazing stretch of streamer water so we changed gears and loaded up with big streamers. Brian and Weston were having luck picking fish off in the faster riffle sections where Fred and I focused on the deep slots and pools. The best action was lower, down towards the station in the deeper water. I hardly touched a fish all day but was super stoked to get a 19" out of a big deep sweeper log. It was probably the most beautiful Brown I have ever caught, buttery gold and red's with a million spots, the pic's hardly do it justice. He ate a medium sized whahoo streamer in natural and with a conehead. couple minutes later and we finished up, had some grub and rallied for the evening Hex battle. Sunday night hex hatch was enormous, so much so it made it really tough to get the fish to go with all the real things cluttering the water. Brian had some success and I hooked one good one but it was tough. Brad did get a terrific 13" brookie however, kinda saved the night.

if the Brule is not the best Brown Trout fishery in the country, I don't know what is. The sheer variety of fishing options and styles is amazing and I feel blessed to have it so close, and to have Brad on the river keeping a pulse for us all.

More to come, here's a few images from the weekend.

Quick Update

On the local front....

The muskie bite is ON down at the river. I have been getting almost daily reports of fish up to 49" being caught and good numbers as well from the local muskie bros. I sadly, have nothing to add...been trout guiding so much that I've been reluctant to dig the boat out and I'd be lying if I said gas prices haven't effected that as well. However thursday night I'm going to make an effort with Fritzy and Fred and am hoping to contact some fish...

The Fly Fishing has been decent despite the mid summer warmth. Most of my trips have been in the morning so taking advantage of the first couple hours is pretty key. Today I had a wonderful crew, The Robeson Family from the Des Moines area. Well that is Dad and sons Wade and Justus. All have fished a little but this was their first fly fishing experience and all went well, the fish could have cooperated a bit more but everyone had some action and more importantly learned a bunch about the workings of the trout's world. Justus was 9 and did great on nymph fishing and missed a couple on the Dry Fly. I reassured him that a trout on a fly, any fly is a BIG DEAL and we had a great time trying. Kids can be hit or miss with interest and attention span, but he hung in there and was working till the last minute. I very much enjoyed my day, thanks guys!

Enough for now, believe it or not I'm heading back over to the valley tonight and again in the morning. Tomorrow is my show with Dave Carlson on the life of a guide....I better get one...

ciao,

BIGPIKEMIKE!

weekend update & BPM email.....

First up, my email from bigpikemike.com has been non functional for a while now. It appears we just got it rectified so if you have been trying to send an email to that address and it got bumped back, please send again~! enough of that, on with the fishing reports.

Friday 6/20: I spent the evening with Greg from Osceola WI on the mighty Kinni. Greg had purchased a fly rod some 10 years ago and it was finally time to give it a shot! Better late than never I say. We got a late afternoon start and headed waaaay down river past all the other anglers, maybe 2.5 miles or so to a spot I particularly like at dark. Having never fished before Greg was quick to pick up the idea of a simple roll cast and mending and lo & behold, his 3rd drift or so and he got a nice little brown! With some work and time, Greg got himself a few more trout and really got a nice feel for the rod and mending in particular. There was a wide variety of bugs coming off, little olives, caddis, stones, brown drakes and lastly the sulphers, which attracted a crowd at dark. Most of my guiding is morning oriented, so it was nice to get out in the evening this time. Thanks Greg and good luck!

Speaking on the Kinni...Jennifer and I made our first kayak trip of the season on saturday and had a great time. I've always been into the kayaks and am slowly warming her up to the idea that maybe we should buy a second boat and do it more often. The Kinni is a perfect first experience, just enough challenges to keep a beginner on their toes and I really enjoy the middle section of river from a scouting standpoint. After kayaking we made our way to Little Whisky to camp and fish a little around the property. Oh ya, we grilled out some Salmon from last weekend which was just fabulous! Anyway, I got in just a few minutes of fishing, mostly probing the depths with streamers and actually did really well, especially as dark rolled around. I pulled a 17 & 20" out of the same hole on a big muddler, got me thinking hmmmm....what if a fella started at 9 and fished till 3am or something crazy. Well I'm going to try to do just that this weekend. I'm guiding saturday and reckon I'll head to little whisky and fish streamers till all hours...anyone wanna join me?

Lastly, Fritzy and I were chasing muskies on a good report from Swervy. We made a bee line to the Kinni area and despite seeing a bunch of fish, just could not get one to eat. We fished hard till almost 11pm and I'll be doing the same tonight with Rodger Bradford, we'll see how long I can keep him interested. RB's been muskie fishing with me a half dozen times now and has yet to boat a muskie, although he's had some good bites and follows. Might have to throw for smallies to get a tug and then switch up to the big girls. I'm going to be throwing big flies on a sweet new 10wt courtesy of master builder Tom Schenk of Holcombe WI. I'll post a late night report if I'm not too stunned...

See ya soon!

BigPikeMike

Francis & Me

Images from my 4 days with Mr. Francis O'Neill. More to come on Francis and the week we had.

muskie opener on the River

Finally, a sign of summer. Muskie fishing opened on the St. Croix saturday morning to bright skies and lots of mid day wind. I Met "the Gooch" aka Todd Hess @ 5 am and we made our way to a few of the favored early season spots. Early season can be tricky for river muskies, with the high water and current that remains, the fish act a little and sometimes alot differently. That's one of the challenges of the river I love, the less predictable nature of the fish, as opposed to say Bald Eagle or White Bear where they tend to set up in more predictable patterns. I think lake fisherman struggle with the River a bit because of the ever changing nature of the water. I've been fortunate to have spent an enormous amount of time patterning these fish and have a pretty good bead on where they go and why. Part of my goal has always been to seek out the "B" spots. Everyone knows the community holes (afton, Kinni etc etc) but the trick is to fish the backups, and lots of em. The new anglers to the river tend to gravitate to the known spots, but rest assured there are muskies roaming just about every stretch of the river from Stillwater to Prescott. Trolling helps to locate some likely areas and perhaps a fish or two to target but my preference is always to cast. So How'd we do? Well Gooch got things started with a slender but scrappy 41" down at the Kinni, ate a swim bait on a figure 8, which is a rarity on the river. I got myself a nice fat 42" up on the WI shore, trolling a bucktail, a new Maina cowgirl type in funky colors. We did raise a couple others and in keeping with my namesake, I got myself a nice BIG PIKE. I shoulda whacked it, good pickling size at about 32" or so. There's more and more anglers targeting the Croix for muskies, the word kinda got out. I think it's got HUGE fish potential, there's just so much forage and space for them to roam, someones going to get a superfish this summer I bet. My personal biggest was a 51.5" from 2006, but there's been lots of 46-50" class fish seen and caught. Fished yesterday afternoon in and around the passing storms, nada. I thought it was going to be dynamite, playing the weather and all.

This week I'll be guiding trout all week, have a client flying in from the east coast for 3 days. I think we'll mix it up some both on start times and locations. Maybe I'll even talk him into a boat outing if he's game. weather looks good, fishing should be terrific!

have a great week all.

BPM

little of this, little of that...

Howdy All!

This week has been pretty good fishing wise so far. Went out on the Croix monday afternoon, they lifted the no-wake so that made getting to spots more fun and guilt free as well. I was doing a little recon for the upcoming HamRoom this saturday and did manage to find a couple fish and gathered what I think should be enough info to get us in the money again this year. Ingy and I almost won the damn thing last year, couple 4oz off the leaders and dammed if we didn't have a BIG fish shake off about 3pm, we're guessing it was in the 28" range...not this year my friends. As for Monday, I got 3 that I kept, another 6-8 shorts and one 24.5" that I released with instructions to stay put till saturday. Did a little of everything, rigged, trolled and cast all with success. The fishing was really good in fact. The high water has me compelled to cast husky jerks in the old weeds and wood on the shore where permitting. There were walleyes to be had in 2-6', but the real treat were the bonus smallies. I got a 19 & 21", only to be bested by Fritzy who boated a 22", which I got a great pic of, the scale in my boat said 6lbs and I'm guessing it was all that. what a freak.

Fished the Willow last night and ran into fellow willow wizard Rob George. Rob was out earlier than I, right when the front was coming through, prime time and he did well. I got an 18" shortly after we got going, but only a couple grabs after that. He got a couple more and missed a bunch. The woods are getting green, jungle like even and the lower willow is a bit like a throw back in time. maybe that's why I like it so much.

Was thinking while fishing last night, how fortunate I've been to be present for a bunch of buddies "big fish" moment. here's a short list. Ben sorry if I missed your Rock Bass.

Fred Sparling: St Croix Walleye, 30" and well over 10lbs. November in maybe 99?

Kraig Klund: Winni Muskie, 54" and 45lbs or so. super freak, only fish we touched all weeked.

Kris Klund: 22" smallie, Monday afternoon on the river. made my 21" look small

Ingy: Several. Largemouth Bass, through the ice on the willow, 22" or so? Pike @ the park, 40" and 18lbs or so, good story to go along with that one, another time though.

Ben Hayes: 20lb steelhead, lake MI, Two Rivers WI. Last summer? the trips all blend together, either way it was a solid 40" trout.

that's the short list but you get the picture...thanks fella's.

here's some pics from the week, enjoy.

bigpikemike

all sorts of stuff

The other day I heard something funny, a wife laughing back at her husband for his claim of "fishing hard" on WI trout opener, the thought! I fish hard, get dog tired then do it again. fish hard....

Here's what's happening in my neck of the woods.

heard some reliable reports about the croix, high water or not they have to be eating somewhere. what I heard was kinni decent as well as a couple other spots. However bro fritzy did get a monster sheepie, 18lbs! looked like a damn ocean fish! I'll try it sunday night if time allows.

Hamroom! the ham is just around the corner, did I mention Ingy and I are going to win it this year?

Trout stuff: had 2 terrific fella's from Louisiana today, we fished hard. BUT, the caddis and trout become cooperative and turned into an outstanding day of fishing. Joey and David fished hard too, Joey even treated himself to a five minute snooze after lunch, nice work.. Caddis coparadun's, bigger than usual did the trick, but at one point you could do no wrong, I'm sure they are still coming off.

Tomorrow I'm on the Rush with Brent Paulson, local angler out to pick up a few new tricks. weather looks like some rain perhaps but conditions are ripe for a nice hatch of bugs.

fish hard!