-March 30, 2013 Steelhead season began today in Wisconsin so my dad and I made the three and a half hour drive up to the Brule River in an attempt to catch spring run steel. Unfortunately, the crowds were quite large which made finding a decent hole to fish much more difficult. Most of the time we would just get into the cycle and wait our turn to fish a section of river. At the first stop we made, we decided to take a walk downstream to an area where we figured there would be fewer people. Our prediction was correct and we had a large portion of the river to ourselves for a couple hours. In that time, I managed to catch one little guy and my dad and I each hooked into an adult fish as well. I spent a portion of my time swinging flies since the water was high and off colored. This turned out to be the most productive method for me since I managed to get two takes and one hook up which ended with the breaking off of the fish on a submerged log. The patterns we used were very basic and common patterns such as eggs, stonefly nymph patterns, Prince Nymphs, large Hare's Ear Nymphs, and for swinging I tried everything from strip leeches to Intruder style streamers. In the end it was the eggs and a sculpin pattern that were able to deceive the fish that I mentioned above. Around eleven in the morning, the fishing really slowed down and we were unable to touch another fish all day despite our efforts at numerous other locations along the river. If there is one thing that I have learned from steelhead fishing is that is not always about catching a fish but the time spent on the water and the adventure that comes with pursuing this incredibly beautiful fish. I hope to get out again this spring and chase after some steelhead again. Hopefully with better results the next time!

There were not any pictures of fish taken today but we did snap a few of the river and surrounding areas. Enjoy!

The first stop of the day. Not the prettiest day to be on the water!

My swinging rod all set up to fish.

-March 9, 2013

We fished in the rain today. My dad and I made our way over to the Kinni to see if we could get our fist couple Wisconsin fish of the year. Upon leaving the house, the skies appeared to only be cloudy which promised even better fishing. Unfortunately, it began to sprinkle after a short while and soon that turned into a full blown rain storm. I carried my Tenkara USA rod with me again today which made rigging up much faster. After gearing up, we raced down to the river which was crystal clear and just waiting to produce fish. I started out using my go to nymph patterns such as Hare's Ears and Frenchies but with little success. My dad and I both landed one fish on the nymphs in almost an hour and a half span. A small hatch of BWOs began to come off and I spotted multiple fish rising. None were feeding in a regular pattern so I tied on a size 10 March Brown wet fly and a size 14 soft hackle trailed twenty-four inches behind the March Brown. The soft hackle pattern, which caught the most fish throughout the day, had a red dubbed body with a black hackle. As I worked my way through the run, swinging the brace of wet flies the whole time, I hooked almost thirty fish and brought close to twenty to the net. I found that the one disadvantage to using the Tenkara rod when swinging is that because of the fixed line length, the line is always tight when the take occurs and it is impossible to give any line on very hard takes which results in break offs and lost fish from time to time. To compensate for this disadvantage, I would pump the flies in the current so there would be a moment of slack line when the fish would eat as the flies drifted downstream. It was exciting to see the fish were already willing to chase flies so early in the season. Every trip seems to teach me new things and today I learned that at times, just rying something new and thinking outside the box can bring great success. I can't wait to get back out to the Kinni to explore its waters even more later on this spring.

Because of the rain, I didn't want to take out my camera as often so the pictures are limited but there are still a couple nice trout. Tight lines!

My first Wisconsin brown trout of 2013!

A few of my favorite, go to fly patterns can be seen on the right on this fly box.

The release of yet another amazing fish.

Hi everyone. It has been some time since I last blogged and I have had many new adventures since January first. This is the first blog in a series to help share all my adventures up to the present. Let's jump back into February.

-February 24, 2013 Today's fishing took place in Southern Minnesota where we fished a small spring creek. This is one that I have visited numerous times and I mentioned in my last blog post. I received my Tenkara USA rod earlier this week and have spent a great deal of time casting and preparing to take it out for a day on the water. Over the course of the day, I managed to land a total of four trout on the Tenkara rod. When I first arrived, fish were rising to minuscule black stoneflies that were hatching. 6X tippet and size fourteen soft hackles in a dark brown or olive color accounted for countless takes but I managed to land only two. Eventually the hatch subsided and I switched back to my normal nymph setup with a pink brassie and a size eighteen olive scud. This rig picked up another two out of deep, fast flowing pools. I didn't see very many fish today but the ones I did seemed to come from many of the warmer weather lies such as shallow riffles and the tail outs of pools. I found this exciting and I can't help but think of days where I can fish without needing to wear five layers of clothing to stay warm. Throughout the day I found myself being challenged to catch fish since the water was very clear. Long casts and delicate presentations were in order but catching those few fish made it all worth the effort.

Here are a handful of images of today's fishing.

My first brown trout of the day with my Tenkara USA rod in the background.

The stream.

Another colorful fish that ate the pink brassie.

The rig.

The final fish of the day!

That concludes the first blog in this series but be sure to check back for more in the near future. Tight lines!

Happy New Year everyone! What is a better way to open up 2013 than with trout fishing? Our catch and release early trout season opened on January first and there was no way that my dad and I were going to miss out. This year it was a freezing minus two degrees outside when we woke up, so it was decided that an afternoon fishing trip was in order. By the time we reached the river, it had warmed up to ten degrees which for me is still pretty cold. None the less, gloves were put on and hand warmer packs were opened as the stream beckoned. I started out using my standard, twenty foot, competition leader which consists of a 20 pound butt section, a nine foot 4x fluorocarbon leader, a section of 4x Umpqua sighter tippet, then four feet of 5x fluorocarbon, and last three or four feet of 7x to which the flies were tied to. The nymphs I used were a small caddis pattern with a tungsten bead to get my smaller fly, which was a size twenty BWO pattern, down to the bottom . The first run I fished had a nice riffle that dropped into a slow, deep bucket. Due to the numerous snags throughout the run, many rigs were lost. I managed to pull out three fish before having to wade in to rescue my flies from a tree stump. While letting the hole regroup and rest, I moved downstream where I found my dad fishing through small channel that had been left unfrozen with ice. He managed to pick up one small guy from there and then we continued to move down stream. Many of the spots we had fished the previous year were frozen over, making our choices limited. After another hour, we returned to the first pool in which I had caught my first trout of the year. I again succeeded in landing another four fish in just a matter of minutes. In search of new water, we tried moving upstream into a large field that had produced fish the previous trip. Again, most of the river was frozen, but in the few places that were open, we found fish. In the time it took for both my dad and I to each put another fish into the net, the light had begun to fade so we made our way back to the car. The temperature had begun to drop then, and it was lightly snowing on us. With a total of eleven fish in the net, I would say the day was a success. That trip was a fantastic way to kick off the year and I can't wait to get out for even more winter trout fishing.

My first trout of 2013!

Another nice little brown.

As you can see, lots of ice on the river. It made for some beautiful scenery shots throughout the day.

Fishing through one of the runs I encountered. A ten foot rod makes fishing over multiple current seams quite easy and more efficient.

The final fish of the day.

I wanted to include a picture of the Upqua Indicator Tippet and some of the Scientific Anglers tippet I prefer to use on cold, winter days when you have spooky fish and crystal clear water.

It has been a while since I have done a blog and I apologize. I have been doing lots of traveling in the past few months and have just been super busy when I am not traveling or fishing. After my last trip though, I figured that I should sit down and type one up for all of you. Last weekend for my birthday, my dad and I made the three hour drive up to the Brule River, WI for some lake run chrome. It was my first steelheading trip and I was very excited to finally be going after them. We met up with Damian Wilmot of Fly By Night Guide Service. We threw all of the gear into his car and took off to the river. When we reached the first stop we all bailed our, threw the rods together, and started walking. After a few minutes we settled into a nice deep run with some amazing bubble lines. I started out nymphing while my dad and Damian went downstream to another beautiful pool and fished through that. Sadly no action of either so we reeled up and moved upstream. The next run was very similar to the first and again, no takers. We packed it up and moved up to the next run. This one was a little faster and perfect depth perfect for swinging streamers so I grabbed the switch rod and started fishing. After two passes through the run with no grabs....yes.... we started walking again. Throughout the day I began to realize that there is a lot of walking if you want to fish for steelhead on the Brule. We continued to hit hole after hole with no luck. Eventually my dad and I both picked up a few little steelhead, maybe flour inches long at max! After that we went back to the car and made a short move to another spot. Here we did a lot more swinging and I picked up another small guy on a Coachman style streamer pattern. In one of the deeper runs we nymphed through, I hooked into a nice fish but it managed to come off when it made a run straight at me. I was a little bummed that I didn't capitalize on my chance but at least I knew that there were fish in the river! It was getting late in the day by this time so we jumped back into the car and made one final move for the day. T this new spot, we fished through a couple of runs and my dad finally hooked into his first decent sized steelhead of the day. This guy was about twenty three inches and put up a good fight. I was super happy for my dad and now I was reenergized to get one for myself. On the last run of the day, my dad got yet another fish that was around twenty inches, Damian got one that was twenty one or twenty two inches, and just as it was getting dark I landed my first "big"steelhead. It was only about nineteen inches but it made some great runs and jumps throughout the course of the fight. It was certainly a great feeling and I can't wait to go back and do it again. Here are a few pictures from the day. Enjoy!

My first Brule River steelhead on a swung fly.

My dad's second steelhead of the day.

Damian with a nice steelhead.

Hooked up!

Another cool shot.

My first taste of chrome.

What a great way to end the day. Certainly a bonus to catch fish like this!

As summer has continued on I have been able to do a lot of traveling. Last month I was out in North Carolina for the USA Youth Fly Fishing nationals. The competition was great and I had an awesome time getting to fish some of my buddies from the previous year. The competition was based out of Cherokee, NC where we had easy access to the Upper and Lower Nantahala River. My dad and I flew down a few days early so he could make a few work meetings while I fished the practice water in preparation for the comp. By the time we got the event rolling I was all set to compete. The first night we had a kind of social dinner and our beat draw for the next two days. After that it was off to bed to try to get some sleep before the early wake up the next morning. Day one of the competition went well for me. I place a third and a fourth in my two sessions which put me at 12th place overall. Day two was a little harder and I sadly dropped three spots down to 15th place. At award ceremony its that night the 2012 America Cup team was named as well as the 202 USA Youth Fly Fishing Team. I was selected to be part of the team along with eleven other anglers from all over the United States. It is a huge honor to be part of the team and to be able to represent our country in fly fishing.

Rigging up before one of my sessions.

Fishing high water on the Lower Nanny was difficult but well worth it.

A nice scoring sized fish.

Hooked up on my Upper Nanny session.

The 2012 USA Youth Fly Fishing Team.

Another recent trip was out to Colorado to speak to a group of young and beginner anglers at a youth fly fishing camp. While I was in Vail I was able to go and spend some time with a local fly shop, Minturn Anglers. I did some fly casting and fly tying demonstrations for them at the Vail Marketplace. My first two days of the trip were spent doing this, then on the evening of the second day and the morning of our final day was spent with the campers. I gave a short presentation to get the kids excited about fly fishing and to help get them for the great week ahead of them at the camp. The next morning we covered the basics of fly casting and we tied some flies together. The campers had never tied flies before but they quickly got the hang of it and everyone was super excited to have made their own fly that they would be able to catch fish on later in the week. Sadly I had to fly home that afternoon but it was a great experience and it was great to be able to go back and visit Colorado.

A little casting instruction in downtown Vail.

Book signing and fly tying at the Minturn Anglers booth in the Vail village.

Teaching the campers some fly tying. Great group of kids.

Since May is coming to and end, I couldn't help but look back on all my fishing adventures. This month was filled with with exciting trips and I was able to fish a lot of new water. I hope to just give a brief recap of my fishing in May before we get started in on June. The first few trips of the month were on the Rush River. Since all of the warm water fishing was closed, trout were my only option. While exploring new water I was able to catch many brook trout and browns of all sizes. I also purchased a new camera at the beginning of the month so I had lots of mew features to try out on that as well. I was very glad to be able to take some amazing pictures of the trout that I caught and of the cool scenery at this transitional point of the seasons. On one of my trips to the Rush, I caught almost thirty fish during a few hour span. What amazed me more that the number of fish I caught, was the size of the fish. I had heard that there were some very large brown trout in the river but had yet to see anything over ten inches. That day I caught eight or so fish between the fifteen and seventeen inch range. For a small spring creek, not a bad fish.

Later in the month the warm water fishing opened up and I was out hitting the lakes for bass, sunfish and pike. My favorite trip for bass was on a local lake about five minutes from my house. I took out my little inflatable Toat-N-Float so I would be able to move around the lake with a little more ease. By that time in the month the water had warmed up enough for the fish to move up into the shallows in preparation for the spawn. It was a lot of fun to be able to sight fish to these big bass and to be able to throw big 1/0 and 2/0 flies. I managed to land five, one of which was around six or seven pounds. I have had a few more successful trips since then but none quite of it's equal. I just recently revamped my boat and it needed to be put to use so this past weekend we put it on a flow age in search of some musky. Back in Colorado we never really had big enough fish to eat a 12+ inch fly so it still felt a little different to be throwing such big flies. Sadly we didn't even see a musky but we had a couple hits and follows from pike. When we headed out that morning it had been a little overcast but we hadn't thought much of it. After about three hours on the water we started hearing thunder and soon after saw the lightning getting closer. We decided it would be best to go ahead and pull the boat. Sure enough, as soon as we had gotten the boat out of the water it started to dump rain. Another angler that a friend of our's knows stayed out in it until the tornado warnings went off and was rewarded with a thirty six inch pike. After knowing that there are large fish like that in the water way, I can't wait to go out and try again real soon.

That is all I have for May and I am sure that there will be many new adventures to share in June. Here are a few pictures from my adventures. Enjoy!

Here is a nice Rush River brown that I landed.

A good day's tools and the perfect setting to put them to use.

One of the amazing brook trout I caught on the Rush.

One of my big musky flies. The bigger the fly the bigger the fish, right?

Here is the flow age that we fished on for pike and musky.

One of the many small but beautiful sunfish I have caught this month.

It's May and soon all of the pike, bass, musky, walleye, and carp seasons will be open but I have had to find other things to fish for throughout the winter and spring. Up to this point I have been keeping busy on the trout streams over in Wisconsin. The Rush River is one of the streams that I have been playing on recently and I continue to be surprised by the quality of the fishery. The first trip that I made to the Rush way back in April and there were many fish caught that day. The temperature was still a little cold so small nymphs like a Ray Charles, Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, and Price Nymph were amazing. I found that it was super important to hit the primo water like deep slots, behind boulders, and the good rifles to be able to find the best fish. There was a little bit of dry fly action on small (size 18-20) Adams and my dad's Befus Parachute Emerger. I even caught some fish on soft hackles while swinging them across the stream. None of the fish that I caught were huge but lots of great colors on the little browns and brook trout. I think that my dad and I each got over ten in about an hour and a half.

My second trip was earlier this month. I had just purchased my new and first DSLR camera so I was super excited to put it to use. The weather was pretty overcast and we had lots of BWO coming off. Small dries were once again the ticket and using small natural colored nymphs worked well for me also. I found a nice long and slower run that was just filled with fish. I was having a great time catching the little brook trout and browns when I saw a very nice fish rise behind a boulder. The first cast he came out and ate my dry. The brown was a very colorful fifteen incher with amazing spots. I was able to catch five more fish over the fourteen in mark. What I thought was amazing was the vast array of shades of brown on these fish. I think that my dad and I caught a total of twenty or more fish in just a couple of hours. The spot that we fished at was full of structure and was a very beautiful place to photograph and play with my camera which just added to the fun.

It is awesome to have found yet another great fishery that is very close to my house. The weather is finally getting warm and soon I can start fishing big hoppers, crickets, and ants for these guys. I will be sure to keep you all updated on my upcoming adventures and I am sure that there will be many photographs to share.

Fishing one of the amazing runs on the Rush.

My little sister Olivia with a fat, healthy Rush River brown.

A nice brook trout that fell for my Adams. Crazy colors!

You can see my Evolution Ross reel in the background. Nothing catches fish like that one.

A beautiful scene to end the day.

Yesterday I went and fished Kinnickinnic Creek over in Wisconsin. This was my second time fishing the creek so I was familiar to the water and right away my dad and I started catching some fish. The fishing was incredible and we both probably got over twenty fish in about a four hour time frame. My dad usually gets the cool fish of the day and once again he followed through by getting the biggest brown and also the biggest brook trout of the day. Both were wonderful fish and it was nice to find such a cool stream that holds these little guys. The Kinni is smaller water than what I mainly fished back in Colorado so it was fun to be able to fish dry/dropper rigs and even some small streamers. Finding successful patterns is very easy on this kind of water since the fish are a little bit smaller and are willing to eat just about anything as they are coming out of the Winter months. The rig that it used was a small dark brown Elk Hair Caddis, about two feet of fluorocarbon, then my dropper which was a size 16 Pheasant Tail with a silver bead. Although the fish were hitting this rig very often I threw a couple streamers and my dad was able to roll two fish when he took a try.

With all of our warm weather that is coming in the next week the fishing is heating up and I can't wait to get back out. Here are some pictures from the adventure. Enjoy!

Here is one of six doubles that we had yesterday!

Another double!

One more double...a brown and a brookie!

Putting one in the net.

Look at the colors in the tail and the adipose fin. Very cool!

Releasing a brookie.

More amazing colors.

As we all know, proper gear and a good presentation help us to land more fish but the fly is often times the deciding factor as to who walks (or swims) away with a zero on the scoreboard. All too often that is the fisherman, but with a good fly selection you can capitalize on every situation and come away with more wins than losses. When I am at the tying bench and working on new patterns I try to focus on what I think are the key factors to an effective fly. Now depending on the style of fly, what type of water it will be used in, and what kind of fish it will be fished for, will vary that view point. One other thing that is vital to the success of all flies that you may tie and fish is that you have confidence in them. For example, if you go to a pond or river and think that you will catch fish with a certain fly that you have confidence in then you will probably catch fish.

Now there are two categories that I prefer to group all my flies into, attractors and realistic flies. The attractor patterns often times don't look just like a natural or even have the proper shape. What sets them apart is that they have what I like to call a trigger point which acts as a trigger to the fish and invokes them to strike. The realistic patterns are meant to look like the naturals in shape, color, size, and movement. With these flies you try to match whatever type of organism that the fish are feeding on.

Nymphs:

When I am working on a realistic nymph pattern the main thing that I focus on is a really buggy look. I often look towards materials like dubbing (anything from Ice Dub to SF squirrel dub), peacock herl, partridge feathers, rubber legs, and many other things that may give the impression of life in the water. Another important thing is the color and size of your fly. You can't just go out into a trout river in the middle of a midge hatch and fish a big Atlantic salmon fly and expect to catch fish. So, it is always super important to know what type of bug you want to imitate that way you can match the colors accordingly. Another super important thing is the weight of the fly. I try to make my flies so that they drift in the same manner as a natural would. You never really see a bug go drifting through the current without bouncing and rolling around and so when I weight a nymph I make sure that it will bounce and roll just like the natural. If you can make your fly look and behave like a bug in the water, then you have an even better chance of catching a fish.

For my attractor flies I really don't do a whole lot different except maybe add a little "flare" or "trigger" to the fly to help entice the fish but other than that the flies and procedures in tying them are the same. Often this means a bright colored bead in orange, pink, green or some other crazy color and spots of color throughout the fly. These "hot spots" of color are usually placed at the back of the fly or right behind the head. The colors can vary but my favorites in all water colors and depths are fluorescent green, yellow, and pink. One thing that you do have to take into consideration is that the different colors will start to disappear at different levels in the water column. What this means is that if you are fishing in really deep water some colors may not show up as well in the water so it is good to know the limits to the hotspots on your fly. The materials that I use can be anything from dubbing to Uni-stretch to just plain old thread to make these areas. When putting a hot spot onto a fly it is important that you don't over do it. This can at times turn the fish away and make the day less productive.

To recap, when you tie a nymph always make good observation of your local bugs and try to use materials that will help your fly to imitate them better. With a well thought out fly you are sure to have success.

Streamers:

Streamers are probably my favorite type of fly to tie and fish. These flies can be such a blast because of their size and colors that are used to catch different types of fish. It is also a thrill to watch a large and aggressive fish come and totally nail your fly when fishing! With that said let's move onto the one of the most exciting fly categories.

Obviously, since it is a baitfish or swimming nymph that we try to imitate with a realistic streamer the fly has to swim properly. It isn't very often that you see a fish or insect just swimming straight through the water with little movement but instead they dart to and fro and make a great deal of erratic motions. As for both nymphs and baitfish these movements can be accomplished by using a variety of natural and synthetic materials. As I already mentioned, color and size are also important factors so I do plenty of research to make sure that my flies imitate the natural resources properly. The last thing that I look for is materials that will help the fly to hold their shape especially for my baitfish imitations. All game fish look for a good meal and if they see a skinny, twig shaped fly go swimming past them chances are they won't take the time to follow or eat it since they will loose more energy than they gain with that meal. Materials that are great for this include deer hair, buck tail, and adhesives such as Liquid Fusion and Softtex which will allow the fish to squish it down and chew on it all it wants without ruining the shape of the fly for later use. When tying nymphs, all of the same things apply as with drifting nymphs in the way of building the right shape for the fly. A lot of the flies that I use for nymph fishing and swimming nymph fishing are the same patterns just tied in different sizes and weights.

The attractor streamer is pretty much the same as a realistic streamer so I like to use all of the same materials and techniques as I do when tying a realistic streamer. The main thing to keep in mind is that these flies are meant to irritate the fish and provoke a strike so bright colors, big sizes, and lots of movement are usually in order. Something that I always try to remember is to be creative with attractor flies since they really don't have to look like any one thing in particular.

With these things in mind you are well on your way to building an effective and superb looking streamer pattern that will bring many fish to the net.

Dry Flies:

One thing that I like about tying dries is that it is a more delicate style of tying especially if you start to tie some of the classic dries and floating emergers.

When I start to tie a realistic dry fly pattern I try to think of what it is going to imitate since this can vary from a mouse down to a small midge. The size of your fly is often times the key factor to a successful day of dry fly fishing and so I always try to make my flies as accurate as possible to the natural. It is obvious that you can't go into a midge hatch and fish a mouse and think that you will do well. The color of your flies can play an important roll when fishing for wary fish like highly pressured trout where they will observe every detail of your fly. After I have taken those elements into consideration I look for good materials for the fly. Whether that means selecting the proper size hackle, choosing the best popper heads, or even picking the best hook I take plenty of care in my selection. Since a dry fly has to float, it is important that you choose something that will aid your fly in its job. The last thing that I do when tying a dry is to make sure that all of my proportions are correct. This can be achieved by looking in books, watching instructional videos, or even online at photos. I found that the later of these three can be extremely helpful when trying to find the correct color of the bugs that you are trying to imitate if you can't remember from past experiences on a specific body of water. With these few things you should be able to create a great imitation that will catch plenty of fish.

Now with my attractor dries I use the same rules for materials. As for size you don't have to worry as much because these flies are not meant to imitate the natural but to draw the fish to the surface and then to strike. Larger flies are often times the norm in this case. It's not likely that you will ever see a size twenty fly being used for an attractor. When picking out the color for my flies they tend to pull away from the natural colors and into the more fluorescent colors. On many flies like poppers the normal colors will be yellow, chartreuse, red, and I have even seen pink. The same also goes for many trout attractor dries like Royal Humpy, Royal Wulff and many others that have bright bodies in the same colors mentioned above. Even the wing post on some flies like the Royal Wolf can prove as an attractor with the bright white calf tail that is often used on them. The important thing to remember on these attractors is that you don't have to follow a specific style but instead you can improvise and try new color combinations just like you can with streamers and nymphs.

When using flies with these few principles and good presentation, you can be certain that you stand a good chance to catch fish. Now let's go fly fishing!