Recently my friend John Beth had an opportunity to fulfill a bucket list promise to himself, and that was to experience Wisconsin’s famous Bois Burle River in its upper reaches with a guide of outstanding skills and knowledge. His story follows. My day with Damian Wilmot (http://fbnguideservice.com ) was a dream come true, and I never […]
This year’s king salmon run in Wisconsin is what one might call pitiful, both in numbers and in size. And that marked decrease is seen right on through the cohos and browns and rainbows. It’s not due to any single factor, but a combination of super cold winters the last two years, poor spawn return, […]
Nancy and I are moving west—to the Portland, OR, area to be closer to Jason, and Kelley, and Brooke. We need to get more family time and fishing time together. Amidst all the sorting, packing, tossing, trips to GoodWill, and all the other assorted agonies of moving, John Beth sent me this photo of an […]
I recently received a photo from one of Jason’s friends, Kurt Lach. He went to school with Jason, raced bicycles with him, and eventually became a fly fishing addict. It’s a great photo of a lovely summer brown, taken from a small stream in western Wisconsin on 6X. Summer fish hold a special place in […]
Spring had sprung in WI, It was warm for a couple of weeks in April, but it’s been cold this last week and gonna be colder over the next few days. My friend, John Beth, and some fellow anglers had a chance in the early warm spell, to head out for some smallies. And they […]
The last couple of days I’ve been singing a slightly modified version of Pete Seger’s folk song, Where Have all the Flowers Gone. Mine is going like this: “Where have all the salmon gone, long time passing, where have all the salmon gone, long time ago. Where have all the salmon gone, gone in high […]
I’m just back from a Saturday clinic with the Ozark Fly Fishers. My friend, Dr. Gary Eaton, was there, and we had a great chance to say “Hi” and get caught up a bit. He told me of a couple of big trout that fell to his “Skittering Anchor” tactic, and then sent me photos […]
This fall saw our Wisconsin waters lower than normal, but the fish didn’t seem to mind. There was a large run of kings, an exceptionally large run of cohos, and a few early-run browns. Oddly the cohos came in with the kings. Normally they run near the end of the king spawn. And, oddly, the […]
When Nancy and I travelled to visit Jason and Kelley and celebrate Brooke’s first birthday, I received a most extraordinary gift–a rod from Jason. Let me back up just a bit. Jason is an exceptional rod designer. Not in the sense that I have helped design rods. I would tell the manufacturer to stiffen the […]
My friend, John Beth, had an opportunity to fish some spring creeks in southwestern Wisconsin this past week. The weather was great, and as it turns out, so was the fishing. John fished a size 16 Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear though a long slow pool and took two rainbows just over 20 inches. This trip […]