Kevin Dells

Im hoping all the river levels come down soon as of next wednesday im for for a week maybe more. Summer stock slowdown's!Ugghh Im thinking of riding up to the wisconsin river next thursday pending my wife's doctor consultation, she may need shoulder surgery and that will determine my play time.

Terry, wev'e got two large tupperware bins were going to attach side by side, that way when we do need to empty them we can just grab and go. But thank you the plastic barrel was initially what i considered then my buddy suggested the bins and he already had them. Looks like we might be out of luck using them for a bit were hoping levels come down by the 31st for our next float. And Paul feel free to join us for that one, were having a cookout afterwards. Just let me know reasonably soon on FB were trying to get a head count for food.

Just trying to keep the river clean guys! You both know me theres a chunk of my heart that crys out when i see how bad it can get. We would go every weekend if we had more skin, were all so tan and burnt i don't think we have anymore skin to give up to the sun gods!I know my ankles have peeled four layers easy! If any of you guys would like to join us it really is a fun, relaxing day on the water. Warning though the group i go with is really out there! Some of things said should not even be repeated at a truck stop!(and that's the girls talking that way!)

As many of you have read my rantings for years about people float tubing on the Kishwaukee and my hatred of it,I have changed my attitude of it completley. I have recently decided if you can't beat them join them. But as we do in the ISA there really is a need for educating people as well. This summer i have joined a very good and always growing number of friends on float trips, the Kish being as clear and floatable as it is it really lends itself to great days spent on waters with friends. I have over the past few weekends parked my innertube in the dead middle of my group and nicely pointed out what a beautiful river it is as we pass through some of the prettier sections along the 5 miles we float. This has quickly gained their appreciation even as non fisherman for the river it is. The last two trips we have also NICELY preached to groups besides ours about making sure beer and pop cans go back into the coolers after they have been consumed. But what you will really see if you were to watch our group(last trip was 21 people on sunday)was our all day efforts to pick up all trash left by everybody as we see it. As we passed it it dissappeared into trash bags and every forest preserve we emptied and refilled again. I am going to share a picture that yes i was very upset about when i saw it but very happy when we were done fixing it. All the contents of the bags im holding was only HALF of what we pulled out of one deep hole that current had dug behind a boulder. This rock is directly across from the Espenchied FP canoe launch. Judging from the condition of the cans(some new and some not so new) they had been accumulating for a few weeks if not longer. In closing i am going to add that myself and another guy from my group are building a 4x4 floating platform that will serve as a garbage barge for future river tubing runs to help the ease of clean up efforts. We will be floating again in two weekends(july 31st). We are also going to hopefully bring more camera's to show the clean up efforts. Like i said i used to be dead against this, but the response is pretty cool from onlookers who witness us not only tubing and partying along with them but more so watching us haul the cans dropped by others. I think it's beggining to rub off on others, we are not shy about telling somebody they lost a beer can and could you please pick it up! They get off easy, people from our group that drops something they get dunked! It would be really cool if somehow we could get t-shirts or swim shorts with something written on the back stating that we are doing this and WATCHING THEM!

Where in Wisconsin are you headed John, were getting pounded by the rain gods as well! Your probably heading way up which did clear the storms

Hopefully it won't get swept under the table for some reason. Why wouldn't it? It always does! The big fish kill on the rock last year....Nothing was ever done about it. The Mega farm on the Apple nothing was ever done to change the fact that that's a disaster waiting to happen. We live in a world of .."Oh Well!"

Good take their boats, this will be something they never forget! Auction them off and put it towards restocking the damage they caused! It won't end up that way but that would be nice and justice would be served!

Yeah the wind was insane that's why i chose to go where i did, Lots of tree's! Although it was kind of dangerous because branches were snapping all around from it, you could hear them deep in the woods smashing to the ground. South branch very wadeable though!

Guys im not that old but I do remember fishing with Grandpa and him having bought a bio degradable brown worm container like the picture that Mike put up, looks like a gardening peat moss container. They probably got to expensive to manufacture compared to plastic so the retailers went cheap to put more dollars in the pocket. Grandpa would dip the whole container bottom in the lake to keep the worms fresh all day, container would soak up the water just a little. And Yes we brought them home for grandma to start her spring seeds in!! There was once such a thing! Even a mulched up cardboard pressed composite would break down and have very little effect compared to plastic

Are you kidding me! I should have looked at the events calander i drove right past you guys today on the way to the south branch!! Sorry guys my Bad, i didn't get the Bronzeback Bulletin and i forgot to look here!!!

I run a 14 foot Phoenix poke boat and if you don't know what that is i"ll explain. It is pretty much a Kevlar Kayak with a larger opening, it's very stable for fishing,and because it is longer i can paddle up river without a problem.(at least the Kishwaukee)So no need for a shuttle where im at. Average price is a whole lot more! Kevlar means money, my boat is about 20 years old but in awesome shape, but to replace her would run me 2800$ for the same model now. Oh yeah and it weighs about 15 pounds so very easy to portage!

I apologize for not getting to the meeting guys my wife was interveiwed that afternoon and needed several of her shots before she could test for her CNA certificate which she took and passed yesterday,she just left for her career as a nurse this morning. Anyhow we ended up at a walk in clinic that night instead,but it was all for the better...a paycheck! If at all possible for one of you to post some step by step tutorials on tying these flys i would love it, im getting ready to do some tying myself. And it would be cool if Paul got into long rodding that way i won't have to look like an idiot on the Kish alone!

Mike, If you've ever fished the apple you would know to bring plenty supply's because it's going to be a long day. Plenty of snacks for ankletwisting walking/climbing,possibly some rope and carribeaners for repelling in or out,excess tackle to feed all the rock monsters that gobble up your jigs,first aid kit for blisters possible broken ankles and sawgrass ointment industrial sized of course! Oh the backpack on the Apple is a Must Have!

I shall be bringing my good looks!

Making poppers out of lightweight wood for my spinning gear is what got me interested in making them for my flyrod a year or so later out of foam. The wood poppers i made because as many pointed out i was tired of throwing chug bugs into tree's at 5 bucks a pop. I could make pencil poppers and fatter poppers from dowel rods, a small assortment of hardware and also tie tails on the trebel hooks.Dremel tool to shape the mouth and cut the slot for the hook. I found small translucent circles that were plastic (about the size of candy you would use to decorate a cake maybe 1/8th inch) and glue those on in rows and then clear coat it. I did this after a base color because i also admit im awful at the painting. I carried the translucents over to the fly poppers as well and just from my own experience it seemed to catch more fish. Anything you add just make sure and clear coat a couple times to lock it in place. Great topic! Where's my vice!