John Gillio

As Jonn says, hellgrammites work well in the Vermilion. That should be a good one.

Thanks guys. Nice info.

Tom, That is a fantastic looking fly. Could you explain the head again.

Nicely done Tom.

Eugene, nice rod and fish. Enjoyed meeting you Sat.

I just want to send out a thanks to John L. and everyone involved in putting together the "Early Show". I can speak for the couple of friends that came with me and say that we had a nice time at the show. Casting a spay rod was a new experiece for me, and I picked up some great info. from the tyers. I wish I could have stuck around for the trout and steelhead presentation. It was also nice meeting some of the members. Ronk has a beautifully smooth fly cast. A job well done guys.

No arguement here.

Ouch! Sorry about that tip Rob. It seems to be going around. Nice fish though. I agree about the fish most likely having no permanent damage. I've been around tanked fish for most of my life and have tossed many back into tanks that have hit the floor. The only ones not surviving the planned escape were those not noticed until they were about dried out. I did have one die from developing a fungus after bouncing around on a carpet for a short period of time before I was able to get it back into the tank.

Thanks guys, I enjoyed posting it. I think anyone who likes to paddle would really enjoy this stretch of river for it's scenic beauty and it's fishing. You do have to deal with some rough water or a couple of portages, but for many that's what makes it an adventure.

Nice looking flies Tom.

Genus and species please

There are two great photos of the Vermilion River in Matthiessen State Park from Vermilion river photography at krancic.com. Just watch the short slideshow on the homepage.

Us baby boomers will keep you well equipped Rob.

They work great with streamers, poppers, and foam dry flies. I sometimes feel that it may turn away a fish staring at a dry, but I have not used them enough in that situation to say for sure. I do like them and have not had one bend out enough to loose a fish. Great for us guys with diminishing vision.

Thanks Rob. Nice article.

That should be deadly on bass.

The more I get out and have success the more experimental I get. If I haven't been out much, and feel the need to land some fish, I tend to stick with what I feel most confident with. When all is said, Norm has it down.

I'll do that Rob. I'm already registered there. I prepped the guides but I used a metalic thread that I've only used for highlighting in the past. I did wrap things tighter with this thread because it wasn't sitting well on the rod unless I tightened it up some. I'm also wondering if I may have had my line tangled around the tip somehow and that put extra pressure on the rod as the reels drag would be left out of the equation.

Everybody likes kung fu fighting. Ha!

I've landed many fish up to 20+ pounds on this rod and have given it a good workout over the last few years. It flexes quite well especially in the upper portions of the blank. It landed the fish with no problem. It was flexed as I bent to grab the fish but I didn't feel I had extra pressure on it, though I must have. It almost looks like I pushed it straight into the ground to snap it more than once like that. ?

Eugene, I feel your joy and your pain. I just suffered a similar incident.

Ran down the river for 1 3/4 hours after work today. Spent the first 30 min. working the shoreline for crappie with nothing to show but a dink white bass. Spent the last 10 min fishing a small hole for smallies. I landed a 10 incher. The time in between was crazy with big whites hitting a size 3 silver Mepps aglia. Ended up landing 50 nice ones (yes I was counting for some unknown reason), another dink, and a nice hybrid striper. Great fishing but as I bent down to pick up the big bass I heard two snaps and three pieces of my favorite medium light, fast action, custom spinning rod came sliding down the line to my hand . No trees above me, and no clue as to what stupid thing I did to cause such an incident. The rod in the picture with the fish is not the one I broke. It's there for asthetic value .

Nice!

Yes I did. I was sick of the kind of carp he was dishing out, so I made the best of a crappie situation.