Young Guns

On Saturday morning I met up with a couple of fellas that I met on the internet through the website DriftlessTroutAnglers.com.  They go by the names NBrevitz and RippinLips87 but in real life I just call them Nick and Drew.  The beauty of the internet is that you don't always have to use the name your parents gave you and you can call yourself anything you want.  While these guys aren't the first fellow anglers I have met in real life from DTA they are definitely a couple of the coolest.

I instructed the guys to meet me at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Hudson at 8am.  From there we would travel eastward to explore the unknown and expand out repertoire of streams.

Much of our day was spent driving around checking out new spots.  Sometimes we fished and other times we just looked.  Recent rains have sent many Western Wisconsin rivers over their banks while others were in great shape for extracting Brook Trout.

 NBrevitz's copy of "Trout Streams of Wisconsin and Minnesota:  An Angler's Guide to More Than 120 Rivers and Streams" sits on the dash board.  It is well worn as he claims to have read it numerous times.

 If you are going to go exploring it is good to have a "DELORME Wisconsin Atlas and Gazetteer".  Cell phone coverage can be spotty in certain parts of Wisconsin and you will not always be able to rely on your smart phone for navigation.

 At one bridge crossing that we came to Nick and Drew fished downstream and I walked upstream.  The stream bottom was mucky and travel was tough.  I saw a small waterfall in the distance and it inspired me to trudge onward.

 While this spot looked very fishy the water in this section of river was still quite stained and I failed to catch a fish in this spot.  I have made a mental note of this location and will come back here soon to exact my revenge.

 Many trout fisherman complain about beaver dams because they cause the rivers water to warm during the summer months and can inhibit fish migration.  This beaver dam created a beautiful pool that was chock full with hungry brook trout.  I say, "Nice Beaver".

 RippinLips87(Drew) examines the water before attempting to fish it.  A relative newcomer to trout fishing this guy has a passion for learning the sport.  I fully expect that he will be teaching me things about trout fishing before the summer is over.

 This is the pool that the beaver dam helped create.

 Here is my first fish of the day.  What a beauty.

 We were getting ready to go to another spot.  I forgot to tell the guys to smile.

 Those who have fished this stretch will easily recognize the location.  Others could spend years exploring the streams, creeks and rivers of Western Wisconsin and never find this spot.

 This was a nice place.

 Drew was practicing fishing the Streamer.

 Fish new spots but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.  This rule also applies to friends.

Sunday Evening Fish

There was something missing from the trout streams of Western Wisconsin on the opener last  Saturday morning and that something was me.  I had other things to do although I was still determined to make it out at some point opening weekend.  

My first stop would be the Willow River State Park Office.  I feel somewhat naked not having a Wisconsin Park Sticker on my primary trouting vehicle and figured it was a good time to pick one up.

I had thought about making my way over to the Kinni Canyon but decided to fish below the falls on the Willow since I was so close.  I had fished this section of the Willow once before and all I caught was chubs but that was later on in the summer so I figured I would give it another chance.  There was also this little spring fed backwater near the falls that I had spotted while perusing Google Earth at some point a while back and wanted to cross that off my bucket list of places to check out. 

There are some things you just can't tell about a place when looking at it from space.  Besides my paranoid delusions I also have delusions of grandeur.  I hope to someday find my own personal "Trout Xanadu".  It will be a special place where trophy trout eagerly take my offerings.  It is the belief that a place such as this exists that makes exploring fun.  A part of me hopes that I never find it because looking for it is such a blast.  

I'm sure glad that I know how to read otherwise I may have went the wrong way when I saw this sign.

 The trail down to the river is very steep.  It would be wise to leave your Rollerblades in the car.

 The river was going pretty good.

While walking along the shore I spotted a Woodchuck.  That's all I have to say about that.

 If I ever get a girlfriend I think I'll take her to see the falls on the Willow River.

 I made a few casts into the Willow and I wasn't feeling it so I decided to go and check out the little backwater that I was interested in.  The majority of it was quite shallow and silted.  I wondered if it had always been that way or if it is something that happened when the white man came to North America.  I didn't see any trout but I did see a few snapping turtles.  I also saw a school of minnows but I don't think that they were trout.  This little backwater has officially been crossed off the bucket list.

I left the Willow around 5pm and decided to go and check out another place that I have been curious about for a while.  It is a smaller stream that is completely surrounded by private property but I knew I would be legal as long as I stayed in the water.  When I found a place to park it was right on a bike trial and there was this dude biking by.  He saw me with all my fishing gear on and we started talking about fishing.  He asked me if my name was Eddie Rivard.  I told him that it was and he said that he has seen my blog and that he enjoyed it.  This surprised me because I thought that only my parents and a few of my friends that felt sorry for me had ever looked at my blog.  I guess I'll have to start putting some effort into making it cool now that I know other people have seen it.

The area where I started was quite flooded but I had checked the creek out beforehand from a bridge upstream and I knew that it would be better once I reached higher elevations.

 It was very pretty but I didn't see or catch any trout for quite a while.

 There was a lot of evidence of stream improvements along the creek.  I wish it translated into more trout darting around.

 I reached a section that was quite brushy to say the least.

 If it wasn't for my peak physical condition I don't think I would have made it out of here alive.

 This sign read, "Notice This is a licensed private fish hatchery, No Tresspassing".  I know my rights and I forged onward.

Finally things started to open up.

I had been concentrating most of my efforts on walking upstream because I had to make it to a certain bridge before dark but I did make a few casts where it looked prime and managed to catch a small but hard fighting Brown Trout.  I noticed he had some scratches on him so I named him Scratches. 

 Scratches thought that it would be good for us to have a group photo and I figured why not so we had a quick photo session before I sent him on his way.

This place was pretty cool and I'm glad that I finally got a chance to check it out.  It would be a lot nicer if I could walk on the banks.  I made it to the bridge and had enough time to walk the mile and a half back to my car before it became too dark.  In total I thing I walked 3 and a half to 4 miles.  I had no trouble falling asleep Sunday night.