Killing Time!

Step 1: Set up the tying area with proper materials, tool, and hydration!

Step 2: Acquire dubbing!

Step 3: Inspect said dubbing.

Step 4: Tying flies.

Step 5: Admire your work!

I was recently just sitting around tying some flies when I noticed all the dog hair around my kitchen floor. I decided to give Emma a good brushing and then I tied some flies with her hair. I made these flies to be like John Bethke's pink squirrel although I have no name for them I think they turned out pretty cool and can't wait to give them a try!

Musky Fever!

Since I haven't posted anything here in a few days, I thought it might be time to give a update and show off some pictures of recent fish.
 The WI trout season has been closed for some time now but that doesn't mean everyone should just stop fishing. We have salmon/steelhead runs in the Lake Michigan tribs., Iowa trout season is open year round, and a few of the warmwater fisheries are giving up some great fish right now.
 I have done some great trips to Iowa already and plenty of great fish to the the net. Late season floats down the WI River have been hit or miss, low water on the tribs. has the runs kinda screwy right now, and the most consistent fishing as of late has been Musky fishing. I have been out 4 times in the past two weeks and the results have been GREAT!
 We have boated 4 Musky the two biggest over 40". We have had two dare I say Giant follows and we have hooked up but lost three other magnificent fish. The weather has been all over the map from cold drizzly days to nice warm calm sunny days and the fish are still cooperative. If you ever thought about giving thhis type of fishing a try now is the time.

 Nice but beat up Musky! Scary to think something bigger than this fish was chomping at it.

Close up of why you don't lip Musky.

Matt's first Musky ever and it's on a fly rod! 41" 14lb

I love the color of these fish.

Safe release to get bigger!

 Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Muskie!!

We decided it was time to head over to Lake Wingra for some Muskie fishing. With the nearly perfect conditions when we arrived my thoughts turned to Monday when we got spanked by the fishies. To steal a saying from a fellow angler we had a "expression of interest" within the first hour, plenty more casting followed when Todd spotted some activity on the surface and Kurt began casting 3 casts later we had what we were looking for. When we finally got it to the net it pulled the Boga Grip to 15lbs and we estimated 40"-42" fish. To say the least Kurt was pretty happy! We missed one more nice nice fish and then we decided we should get some work done.

Beautiful day minus fish.

Myself, Todd, and Gary headed out on the WI river for what we thought we be a great day of smallie fishing. Weather and flows were all in our favor. The river in the morning looked like glass with dead calm conditions and some fish breaking the surface. But as luck or no luck would have it we had a nice full day of casting practice!! We did manage a couple of fish though.

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 Myself and Todd would like to thank Gary for all his work so far on our website.

Iowa Guiding

I was over in Northeast Iowa this past friday and saturday for some fun fishing and a guide trip. The fishing was very good. Friday was a little chilly but that didn't stop the fish from eating. Nymphing in the morning and in the afternoon some fish on dries.

Brown fell for the Pink Squirrel.

Best brown of the day on friday.

Will and a nice brown

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Will and his first of many rainbows saturday

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Pete and his first dry fly bow of the day

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 Saturday was guiding and I could only hope the fishing would remain good. I got my anwser on one of the guys first cast. Pulled a nice brown in. That set the tone for the rest of the day. In the afternoon we encountered a olive hatch and had surface feeding fish in every run.

Sheboygen River trip

With the recent rains I was again thinking steelhead. My buddy Ryan and I headed up to the Sheboygen River to see what we could find. Much to my suprise we didn't see a single steelhead and talked with a few guys that said the same, one dude said he landed a steelie in the early morning. Ryan managed a few kings and we were in the comforts of a warm bar eating deep fried cheese curds and having some cold beers by 5. Cheers

Milwaukee River

Paul and Mr. King

Recent rains in the area had my brain turning to steelhead. Paul and myself set out in hopes of steel. What we found was a crapload of people and plenty of kings and cohos. Paul got his first WI king....yes it was hooked in the mouth legit!! I managed 2 silvers. I did have a hook-up with a steelie but he won that battle.
I also will throw in a picture Pat a good customer of the shop sent me of one of his kings!

Pat and King

Recent trip on the WI River

Got a call from a good buddy who wanted to get a day of fishing in before his move overseas. Saturday Oct. 23rd started out rainy and cold and pretty much stayed that way all day. My thought was that it would slow the fishing which it did to a certain extent. Our day was like this...1 white bass, 2 smallies, 1 pike, 1 crappie, 1 sauger, and 2 walleyes. Not too shabby I would say.

White Bass Robinson

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Todd's pike

Nick trying to cast!!

Sandwich time

Smallie

Todd finally touching a fish

Bait

 I wish Lee the very best in his move and would like to thank him for all the help he gave us from the downtown Orvis store. He will be missed.

Places to stay in Iowa.

Here is a list of some places to stay around some great trout fishing in Iowa.

Old Hospital Lodge
www.oldhospitallodge.com
563-546-7847

Highlandville General Store and Campground...Bear Creek Cabins
www.bearcreekcabinsia.com
563-546-7722

Both of the above places are located in Highlandvill,IA right on the South Bear Creek and close to numerous other public fishing areas. The General Store also has a good selection of camping type food and the best part cold beer!

You can also do a google search of the area you are looking to stay and find other places to crash after a long day of fishing.

Iowa trout fishing

Brown on the South Bear

Brown on the North Bear.

Fat Rainbow from the North Bear Creek.

Waterloo Creek

Public access point.

View from our campsite.

Brown on Waterloo Creek.

End of the day refreshments!

I was able to head over to Iowa for a few days and check out the trout streams. Mostly a scouting trip for upcoming guide trips but we did manage to get some fishing in. For those of you that don't know Iowa has a year round trout season and really isn't that far of a drive from the Madison or Chicago area.
 Iowa has 34 streams now that have naturally reproducing populations of browns and brookies. They also stock a healthy number of rainbows. The creeks I was able to check out all looked to be in great shape and the fish were more than williing to take flies. The weather was in the 70's and bluebird skies so fishing was a little slower than normal. I will put up another post of places to stay around where we fished.