Archive for the ‘Wisconsin’ Category

Big Browns are in but Cold Weather Coming, Fall 2017

Having lived for over 40 years in Wisconsin, I am still interested in its fish and my long time fly fishing companions, even though Nancy and I now live in Vancouver, WA. My faithful friend, John Beth, keeps me apprised of goings-on in the Badger State fishery. His latest report is both good and bad. […]

Fall Salmon Fall Off—2017

Salmon are a great fall fish in the Lake States, and they provide many hours of sport fishing for those fortunate enough to be within a day’s drive of the tributaries of the five lakes. But, the time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things, why the sea is boiling hot and […]

The Brule Runs Through It

My good friend, John Beth, loves to venture into fly fishing’s past. This was a great year to do it, as he reports below. Tell us about it, John… I had planned a September fishing trip to the historic and beautiful Bois Brule (Burnt Wood) river in northern Wisconsin with friends Bob Harrison and Scott […]

Wisconsin Spring Creeks

My old home state, Wisconsin, has some great spring creek fishing, especially in the “Driftless Region,” so called because it was not glaciated in the last ice age. My old friend, John Beth, lives on the edge of the Driftless, and worries its trout–when making knives and playing piano and guitar will allow him to […]

Really Last Day for 2016?

John Beth just couldn’t stand it any longer. The warm late fall and perfect water conditions lured him out of his lair and on the river. There were few fish, but John managed to connect solidly with one on a single egg fished along the bottom in a deep run. This was the year of […]

Last Big Hurrah

My long time fishing pal, John Beth, made his final trip of the season to the Lake Michigan tributaries in Wisconsin. There were others there, too, about 16 all total for the day. No one caught anything–except John. Drifting a single egg through a deep run he felt a tap, and was suddenly tight to […]

Wisconsin Big Browns 2016

My old fishing pal, John Beth, went in search of big browns in the Lake Michigan tributaries of Wisconsin’s eastern shoreline a couple of days ago. It was a tough day. His two fishing companions caught nothing, and neither did John, until—wham. He was casting long with a big white streamer barred in black, and […]

Lake Michigan Browns 2016

         Looks like the big browns are back in the Lake Michigan tributaries. John Beth was searching for them last week, and he found them in one of our favorite streams. He got really excited when he landed a big female of 29 inches and 15 ½ pounds on a dead drifted […]

Last Day Ritual

My long time friend and fishing companion, John Beth, has a ritual of fishing the last fay of the inland trout season in Wisconsin with gear from modern fly fishing’s earliest beginnings (the mid to late 1800s). His reports are always fun because I can see him stalking the spring creeks of SW Wisconsin with […]

Lake MI Kings in Wisconsin 2016

    My long-time friend, John Beth, and his friend, Scott Allen, just returned from a trip to a Lake Michigan tributary, fishing for kings and browns. Wisconsin has experienced more than its share of rain this year, and the river finally fell to just a little over 300 cfs. John was understandably anxious to […]