WisconsinDorkTrip

The wind noise is what it is. We did alright between 3 of us on Poygan yesterday, I was really the only one who sucked it up. But here's a few catches.

Ash gets to see what snow's all about.

Met up with an old friend for my last inland outing of the year. I failed to get him a fish. The fish were very negative, and most followers refused to bite. It was still a great time though, and the weather was about perfect for a late season outing. The conversations were usually deeper than the water as well!

Swattin' again.

Self-explanatory.

Here's the first two mornings of duck season.

Another poor showing on the Mecan River.

Took a walk in the woods and shot a couple of tasty bushytails.

Well, the fishing wasn't the greatest, but I did manage a few browns. Wish I would have caught the giant I scared out of 6 inches of water, but he'll be even bigger next year. I had an encounter with several pileated woodpeckers. One juvenile used me as a target for dropping bark on as I fished, so I watched him for a bit. They're cool birds, but it would be nice if they had a mute button.

Mentos & cola, a winning combination.

I fished a Lake Michigan tributary and caught my first chinook salmon. The adipose fin wasn't clipped, which means this guy was wild. He wasn't huge, but I was quite happy catching him.

Ash takes awhile, but finally builds enough confidence to retrieve bumpers in the water. Thanks to John & Paddy for the assistance!

It has been a struggle to get on decent fish lately with the warm water temperatures, but I found a couple fish that would bite here. Now with all the rain, the streams are blown out and unfishable. Once things drain down a bit the fishing should start getting good again.

Ash retrieves the bumper that my two chins and I throw him. He's making progress. He needs to get some confidence in swimming, and then we'll work on making sure he's not gun shy.

I had hoped to find success using crappie jigs for trout. I found mixed results instead. The biggest fish I caught was on a crappie jig, but it didn't work in the areas I thought it would shine. Mostly I think it was due to a lack of bigger fish in those areas. It looked like the stretches had high pressure and may have just been fished out. There were a ton of little fish, but I didn't see anything over a foot long on either section. I may try them again at some point on a different stream.

John's last day of fishing in Wyoming. A nice 'bow is brought to hand and accidentally released prematurely.

Part 6. John catches a pair of nice cutthroats and struggles with fish identification.

Luna is having none of it.

Here's part 5. John tries out some new spots and gets more cutties on the fly.

I headed out the morning after storms rolled through bringing a lot of rain. The 3rd stream I stopped at wasn't chocolate milk, so I was able to catch some trout. I didn't go too far because the stream got really shallow and choked out, but it was a fun section while it lasted.

Part 4.

In part 3, John finds some whitefish.

Here's part 2 from Wyoming. There's more to come.

Fished a long section that I've never been on before. The middle was mostly shallow and I didn't even bother making many casts there. The beginning was the best. I thought the last section was going to be the best, but I didn't get a lot there. The last fish was a lot of fun though. It was good to do some exploring, and I have no complaints about the size of the trout. I didn't touch a fish under 10 inches, though I didn't hook into any huge ones either.

Here I hit up a short stretch of water and caught a few browns.