panache

Giving the bass a Mustache Ride, boy was that fun! So far Peacock Black has been the hot color, picking up countless numbers of smallmouth, largemouth, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, green sunfish, and their associated hybrids. Hell even the small pike and muskie love it, as they nabbed a few of my flies from the confines of their elodea camouflaged hideouts.



Even picked up a scratch whitey the other day, a surprise to me, since most of them have since headed to the deep confines of a coolwater basin now that stream temps on the Otter Tail have risen to about 27°C. One first I observed the other day, a large Plecoptera species. I've seen small winter stones on this reach before in later March/early April, but never a large stonefly in July. This thing was in the size range of a Pteronarcyid (salmonfly) as it was around three to four centimeters long, but lacked the orange coloration around the thorax of a salmonfly. I'm a bit perplexed as to the ID, as the insect flew off before I could photograph it, but yet intrigued as this could be the reason why my larger prince nymph, Fresh Pimp nymph, and Thunderbird patterns have always fished so well here.


By the way, the rivers are still way blown here. I've resorted to fishing the upper reaches of the Otter Tail, which I typically abandon in late spring once the water temps begin to rise. Fortunately, the high flows have kept some spring spawning fish in a few deep holes through this summer yet. So maybe there is still hope after all...

The Great Shutdown

The sign posted on my office building, effective July 1, 2011:


Our wonderful State Legislature and Governor have failed to reach a budget agreement for Fiscal Year 2012, thereby laying off 56,000 of some of Minnesota's finest and most dedicated working professionals, including myself. I don't ask for your pity, nor for a handout, but I beg the question as to why it is de rigueur to bash public employees? Like every workforce, there are individuals who may lack motivation or abuse the system, knowing no discrimination between private or public sector. But why disrespect the countless professionals who have sacrificed family and salary for a career that is at times less than rewarding? We are taxpayers just the same as everyone else. Before you begin to pick apart my argument with baseless accusations and proclaim that we do not need government in our lives, just remember who helped make Minnesota's fisheries some of the best in the nation, if not the world, next time you're out on the water. You're welcome.

The roughfisher has left the building. See ya on the river.

battle ready

This day seems so far away from now....

fin?

Time is running out. The lakes are beginning to lock up and the river banks have started to form a crust of shore ice. Snow is on the ground with more on the way. Usually this would not bring the death knell to the roughfisher. To the contrary, this is the time when you bust out the cold weather gear and heat packs for the hands. You bust out the Chapstick, Pam, Armour All, whatever trick you have up your sleeve to minimize ice build up on your guides. This is when the big gals come out to play fo' real; during normal flows.


Maybe I'm getting soft, but the record flows blasting through the Otter Tail are nothing sort of frustrating. As it is no longer possible to wade most reaches, flows are six times the median for this time of year. I shudder to think what flow will be like this winter and next spring. If the long term forecast of a La Niña winter hold true, then below average temps and above average snowpack will surely lead to a spring and summer of high flows. Again. I don't mind freezing the nards off if the water is low and clear and the fish are schooled up and concentrated as is typical in low winter flows. But as tough as it was this summer and fall to conjure up the fish from the depths, it is not going to get any easier this winter. I will not torture myself in the bitter wind and cold for naught.


Unless there is an prolonged warm spell this winter with temps above freezing and lower flows (not bloody likely), I'm done for the season. That's always a bitter pill to swallow. Better to wash it down with some suds and cherish a satisfying 2010 season full of new adventures and experiences and many new friends. Here's to a fine season of fly fishing in 2011.

Santé!
Á votre santé!
Á la votre!

Get the Ark Ready

Fancy flow charts don't lie. Flows on the Otter Tail downstream of Fergus Falls are currently running at 1760 cfs. That's higher than what we had for spring flows, even after an above average snow pack.


This is the third highest flow on the OT since I moved up here in 2004, and the fourth highest peak flow since flows were first recorded in 1931. Current flows are nearly nine times the median for flows this time of year.

Other historical peak flows:
May 29, 2001: 2,040 cfs;
June 03, 2007: 2,000 cfs;
April 23, 2009: 2,020 cfs.

Just when I thought I was gonna get my game back together and start the fall hunt for sea donkeys... FML.

Swagger

I've been getting schooled this summer. I could blame the early spring, the recent heat wave, or the persistent storm cycle that has been wreaking havoc with our weather, but that would be weak sauce, baby. I typically don't even fish much in the months of June and July; due to my hectic work schedule, and the fact that carp and roughfish are typically still spawning through early July. But enough with the excuses, I just don't have any game.


I flailed around trying to flaunt my ghetto nasty Carp Crack to some lot lizards. The best I could do was lip a sumbitch clam in the beard.


Finally got me a dirty whore to come home with and spend the night. She sure had some purdy gums. Now I need to go get me a shot of penicillin.


Excuses are like assholes. Everybody has one, and they all stink.

The Fantastic Voyage

Quick Summary:

It is a massive bitch to cast into 35 mph winds.
Spotting fish in 3 to 4 foot frothy rollers is no easy task.
Sun is required for most sight fishing.
John Montana can outfish anyone on the flats 4 to 1.

Full report to come.

silver city

Word to your mother.



The silvers were poppin today. I also caught a delicious bass. That was all. P.S. the water was the color of pea soup. Left the scene and went on a scouting circuit. Found some clear water but spring flows are still quite high. I crept up on a few pods of white suckers but they all had a case of the lockjaw. Stingy bastards.


Not a productive outing, and definitely not a confidence boosting trip. High dirty water is shit and damn near no fish can see through that soup without the aid of scent. To show how fucked up the weather has been this spring, I saw leaping carp and rising silver redhorse. The water temps in shallow bays have already warmed up for moderate sucker spawning. This is a good month ahead of normal. On the plus side, many of the vulnerable sucker species should be done with the bulk of the spawn by the time May 1 rolls around, Black Saturday. May 1 is the spearing and bowfishing opener. I'll be pouring one for my homies.

High water rising

With all the hype on the flooding in the Red River valley, the Mighty Miss is up and out of it's banks and on the prowl. Access roads along the banks were closed due to the fact that they were 3 feet under water. Obviously fishing was out of the question.



Time for a little billy goating. No much on the way of fossils and the agate pickings were slim, however, I did manage to pick up a half-dollar sized nugget. I discovered a few spring creeks flowing out of the bluffs, including a couple of mini waterfalls, always cool.



The Mississippi is an awesome display of raw power. At over 95,000 cfs, the river is a force to be reckoned with. That's some serious Q. I watched 6 foot diameter cottonwoods float on by like a bunch of toothpicks.



The bright side: these high waters will bring some much needed life to the numerous backwater lakes. There's bound to be a few big feesh hunkering down in those refuges until the water backs down.

the brownline 2010.01.07

• Drowning the Beaver. Another AMFF/Cheneyesque type controversy? The boys over at Buster's discover that Donny Beaver's Spring Ridge Club was selected by an independent panel of judges as a finalist in the Investing in Nature program in the Ecotourism category from The Nature Conservancy. In another move of brilliance, Cathy Beck pimps some chrome on their newsletter, then gets thrown under the bus.


• More bullshit news from the home front: The Obama administration Tuesday opposed Michigan and other states that want to close shipping locks near Chicago to prevent ravenous Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes.

"In a host of ways, the federal government has demonstrated its commitment to protecting the Great Lakes from the expansion of Asian carp," she said in a written memo. "Nothing in federal law warrants second-guessing its expert judgment that the best information available today does not yet justify the dramatic steps Michigan demands."

Except for the fact that you've dropped the ball with your head up your ass for the last decade, preventing the spread of these fish from downstream. Different regime in the White House, same bullshit policies. It's obvious that the Feds and the State of Illinois both don't care about the devastation of the Great Lakes' native fish populations and the region's $7 billion fishing and tourism industries.


• More anti-coal sentiment hits the blogosphere over at The FlyFish Journal. Good to see my brothers in arms not afraid to speak their minds on the ravages of coal generated electricity. Thanks for joining the fight. It's apparent the "clean" coal lobby won't rest until we and our children and our children's children are all dead from the ingestion of toxins and heavy metals and lung disease.


• Major flooding possible in the Red River Valley this spring, AGAIN. The most recent forecast issued by the National Weather Service gives the Fargo/Moorhead area of the Red River of the North a 49 percent chance of major flooding and an 80 percent chance of moderate flooding, with near-certainty of minor flooding. I think the solutions to this problem are more ditches, more dams, more tiling and wetland draining, unsustainable development and new construction in a floodplain, and a massive pork barrel proposal to construct a huge non-eco friendly river diversion complex to bypass the cities of Fargo and Moorhead. Oh wait, that's what they've already been doing, and you can see how well that's been treating them the past few years. #FAIL

If the fish are gone, burn the country.

Team Ramrod

The joint mission of the Global War On Cyprinids conducted classified operations at points within Rice Co. Winona Fly Fishing and Wendy Berrell joined forces with the roughfisher for an urban assault on a cyprinid infested area. Conditions warranted stealth and a bottle of disinfectant.



Flows were low and the fish hung tight to the bottom. The catch of the day: a common shiner. Some bottom feeding mutant decided to hit that, and got stuck with a hook in its fat upper lip. Fucking walleye.



Operations moved on to several locations. Some were infested with snakes, others with treacherous and highly voracious rockfish. Caution was heeded to prevent any casualties. Unfortunately, a few good men were brought down, victim of stinging nettles. Sumbitch.



The offensive was a bust, but this was a good joint exercise between friendly nations. The next rendezvous is yet to be determined, but all teams remain on full alert until further notice.

End transmission.