One Last Trip for '09

Got out flyfishing in Wisconsin one last time before the end of the season on Sunday and Monday of Labor Day Weekend. I took the proper procedures and got permission from Steph to make this an overnight fishing AND camping trip. To be honest, I didn't expect much being a "holiday" weekend. I expected to see the masses of people, all with fishin' poles in one hand and coolers and lawn chairs in the other. To my surprise I had all of my favorite fishing spots to myself. Not just some of them, but every spot. Of course all of the lazy man access points along the Rush River was packed. One popular bridge had five vehicles parked next to it, and yes, I did count them.

I've chosen a two-step plan of attack for this trip. Step One is to explore new waters, or waters that I have not been to in years. Step Two is to refer fish some of the bread and butter spots, spots where I know the river and the location of its good holes.

To sum up Day 1, the exploring (Step 1) ended in two potential spots and many other spots now marked on my trout map with "No Fish". Disappointment was quickly erased as I turned to Step 2, which included a late afternoon and evening fishing several bread and butter spots, which turned out to be very fruitful. I first checked out an upper section that produced brookie after brookie on nymphs. I spent the last couple of hours of daylight below the park throwing caddis dry flies to willing brookies with a few smaller browns mixed in. A few brookies were decent sized, at least for this stream.














Day One ended when I closed the hatch to the back of the Jeep and fell asleep to the distant sounds of a rock band, which were accompanied by a few hoots and hollers of a rowdy street dance crowd in the nearby town. A younger version of me would have investigated and most likely gone to bed at an hour marked by a.m. instead of p.m.