Steve S.

Happy holidays Austin

Excellent flies and results!

I've had good results on the Dupe when the levels are up. Bass tend to be less wary and in predictable areas. A spinnerbait is a good presentation to fish as it covers water quickly and provides flash and sound when the water has some color.

I think the same can be said for the Fox.

Just be careful wading on any river when levels are up. Best to stick close to shore on on the bank.

Yup very cool

That is pretty cool.

I actually saw kids playing outside for hours the other day, which was kind of refreshing too, even though they were screaming too much, ha-ha.

Got mine in the mail; getting ready to read through it tonight

Ditto the sentiments Jude

Steve

When I pontooned the M. last year with Scott and saw how shallow much of the mid rive was i also exclusively fished either the slow sinking murdich or a bassbug. I had only limited success partly because it was my 1st time on that oddly structured river and partly because it was hard to flyfish the current from the pontoon

I did a tandem kayak on the river a few years back and I don't think I could've fly fished.

What did you find odd about the structure?

There are two patterns that I rely on up there; a chartreuse Boogle Bug (popper) in both a small size and large size (4 & 6 or 8?) and I primarily dead drift them, and a silver & white Murdich Minnow, though I like the copper & white as well. I will use other patterns, pretty much anything that speaks smallmouth to you should work, but I lean heavily on these two patterns and they've been productive for me the past 8 or 9 years.

When i wade, I tend to fish more mid-river structure than banks, though I will do both. If you go on a float the guides will take great care of your needs and there is no better way to learn the river.

This was on the trip last year the was primarily on the Namekagon. Turns out the better fishing was on the St. Croix. I had fished the Croix three other times but the stretch we fished was farther upstream than the previous areas I fished. The farther upstream you go the rockier and more riffle-y it becomes. The stretch just upstream from where we fished ( i.e. the first 8 miles of river ) looks just awesome. It has been haunting me all year. I have a tentative trip to float in for 1 day in July

I'm right with you on being haunted Gordon. We had about the same results; so-so on Namekagon but more like our cup of tea on the Upper St. Croix. Unfortunately a huge storm rolled in just when the fishing started to pop. On a positive note, after the lightning, wind and hail passed, Tim landed his first musky on the fly!

I hope to return to that stretch of river and give it a better shot!

Nice shot!

I'd like to get back to that river someday!

Cool Bill!

Planning on doing plenty of it this season; even picked up my 10FT flyrod in the off-season

I do my best to buy products Made in the USA, though not always the case.

Lamson is an American company so I hope they make them, though it seems really inexpensive.

 

 

(Which we normally don't.)

NICE

My brother ties these and we used them when I was in NC. They worked really well in every stream we fished; almost felt like it was cheating. He calls them the squirmy worm, or something like that. I see no reason why a larger version wouldn't work well for smallmouth.

I like to fish big rivers and I tend to fight more wind in the open so I like the power of the 7 or 8 to move those flies.

I favor a 9' six weight, but I will use a 7 or 8 quite a bit as well for throwing meatier flies so I'd say they're used fairly evenly.

I have a new 686 Epic that I'm excited to cast.

Ditto

Nice selection. I like throwing the EP patterns; they work really well when the minnow bite is on.

I would recommend researching the items on eBay. You can look at what's up for auction as well as sold items. That would give you a fair market value.

Did any of you catch many fish?

Going out with a guide on a float trip doesn't always guarantee results. That's just fishing. Often these trips are booked in advance as they stay pretty busy all season. This means sometimes the conditions can be an obstacle (high water, poor weather, etc.).

On one trip, the river was super low and crystal clear and we fished all day under bright skies. Not always ideal but we caught fish, and they were scattered and mostly on the smaller size.

The other trip was in the Fall, one of those crap days when a front moved in, right in the middle of two steady weather patterns we were experiencing. We had high winds and cool temps all day and fishing was tough. We rebounded in the last hour of the float, when the front passed, the wind calmed down and the temps actually rose even though the sun was getting ready to hide.

What you do get is a great day out on the water with guides that will share their experiences fishing the river as well as showing you water you may have never seen. I always learn something new on every trip.

Mike

I've been fishing the K3 since I was a boy, mostly shore fishing when I was younger, then wade fishing as I matured. I have put in a lot of years on the river, though definitely no match for the time that some anglers like Norm have dedicated. I too have been on a couple of guided float trips, once with Austin and once with Will Winans. Both are excellent guides and they offer a whole new perspective on what the river has to offer as well as sharing their knowledge of the history of the area. Totally enjoyable and definitely a learning experience, both in general angling knowledge and also and more importantly to me was further developing my skills as a fly fisherman. While the cost of the trip isn't for everyone's budget, the value is justified and I fully intend on booking more trips in the future. Both gentlemen are supporters of the ISA and in the past have donated trips to the Blowout for silent auction. They are definitely worth bidding on!

OK, I thought it might be that fly. I looked at that pattern at DuPage; it was like $15 I think. Too much to feed the toothy critters up north!

I have "The Orvis Guide to Small Stream Fly Fishing". Good book so far, though I haven't read it cover to cover yet. I will have to pick up his book on reading trout streams.

What streamer Ron?