Blog Log ArchivesWaters Down, Fish Up
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Vote for something really worthwhile this year!
He is up for Ducks Unlimited Artist of the Year for 2009 and you can help him win this prestigious award! His entry is a beautiful painting of his great black lab Jake. Jake was a licker. He was also one of the most handsome dogs I've ever seen. He hunted hard, right up to the very end and went away at the age of 11.
For Bruce, Jake will always be his favorite dog. Like most of us, there’s usually one pet or animal that really becomes a part of use and has more true meaning than most of the humans on the planet. Jake was friendly (he didn’t care for cats, but we can’t hold that against him). He was a fabulous hunting dog, rock solid in the blind - with an excellent nose and instinct for finding and retrieving down birds. I even wrote a song about him called “Come On, Jake!”. I’ll play it for you on a video someday. In the meantime, if you’ve ever been close to a dog that liked to lick, you know Jake. Just put your head down his way and get ready for a heapin’ helpin’ of sloppy smackers. You can vote for Bruce and Jake by clicking HERE.  It Can’t Be That Difficult..
December 10th, 2007 We recently completed a FlyBass.com survey where a couple hundred of you completed a survey asking the burning question: What’s the hardest part about fly fishing? The answers were a little surprising to us. You may not be surprised to find that “Selecting the Right Fly” was numero uno followed by “Consistently Catching Big Fish”. (Apparently not enough of you are visiting http://flybass.com ; > ). Take the new survey (on the home page) and click the link to view the results of this survey. Fun Waits for No One What does it mean? It means just that: Don’t wait around for good times to come your way - make them happen for you and your friends and loved ones! When your day comes and people talk about you, what will they say? “Man, he worked nine hours a day for XYZ Corp and got a gold watch!” or I’d prefer to hear them say, “I’ll tell you one thing, that Son-of-a-Buck had good time! He knew how to enjoy life! Yeah he worked and made his way, but his main focus was on having fun, especially in the outdoors! He was a good husband and father - and showed them and many others - that being happy is the best way to live a life!” Enjoy The Season! Can you believe it? Sorry to say this folks but the summer is slipping away, once again. Have you put in enough time on the water this season? As my slogan goes: Fun Waits for No One! Here’s a shot (by my daughter, Sienna) of yours truly waiting for the Whites (see below). I think this is far less predictable than a steelhead run. One night it’s a snow storm, the next night “nada”. August may be the best month to fly fish smallmouth on many of our midwest rivers. The hoards of winged marauders have lessened and the nights will start to cool slightly in a couple of weeks. Low water has concentrated fish and generally you can expect decent to excellent fly fishing this time of year. Remind yourself to make the time to enjoy our wonderful outdoors. Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and aura of nature while casting for the finest freshwater game fish around. More and more folks are realizing the potential of our sport and turning their attention away from other fly caught species.
For complete tying instructions on flies that work during this hatch go <<HERE>>. Go Time and/or No Time? A funky summer’s bass fishing! July 15, 2007 - This summer’s definitely had its ups and downs. My area of the Mississippi north of Brainerd, MN has been very inconsistent, especially for the preferred top water action.  Subsurface has been the best, as is typical, but low water and hot temps should get these fish going nuts, real soon. Here’s a a photo of a brief sojourn to a secret bass lake in the north country known for numbers of decent largemouth. The bass are going in both lakes and rivers now. Concentrate on shallow lake areas and cover and you may be in for a big surprise. Mid summer is a mid bummer for most game fisherman. Not Us! This is Go Time at it’s maximum! Get out there and take advantage of the hot low water conditions today and spank some bass. Don’t forget to play them guickly. Use a stout rod and work them in fast to aid in their ability to recover. Midsummer in Minnesota. We’ve been hit by unusually hot weather. Bad for some of the lake fishing, great for rivers smallmouth and muskies. Wade fishing is great right now with low water river conditions. Many of the smaller bronzeback streams are actually being stressed. The larger rivers like the Mississippi and the St. Croix are doing well. Top water will work intermittently. When in doubt go below with Clousers, Bunnies, Wholly Buggers, Crayfish patterns, etc. Muskies are following and occasionally hitting bright colors: white, yellow, chartreuse, orange, black and white (let’s see, did I miss any?) Now is the time, get out there and get yours! Don’t forget about some dynamite largemouth bass lake fishing with surface poppers. Mid-June Classic Northern Lake Fishing: Rainy Lake (MN and Canada) Mid - June in the northern tear states can mean some excellent shallow water action if the proper conditions exist. Those conditions are warming water, approaching 70 degrees (or higher) and the right bottom structure. On a recent trip to famed smallmouth waters Rainy Lake in northern Minnesota and southern Ontario, water temperature made a huge difference. Anglers fishing the south side of the lake in Minnesota had little action in cooler water in the low to mid 60’s. We found fish in transition zones where sandy beach areas met broken rocky areas with scattered rock on the bottom. Fast dropping ledge rock was largely devoid of fish. By carefully eyeballing the shoreline and selectively fishing only small areas that fit the above criteria, we managed to have some excellent top water action on foam poppers. This time of year all over the midwest, there are excellent hatches of large dragonflies. Keep your eyes peeled for rivers and especially lakes hosting these hatches. In my area of northern Minnesota, they are all over - mainly black. We used this black foam popper with great success where ever we found dragon flies and either largemouth or smallmouth bass. Grizzly hackle and gray squirrel tail worked well - simple and effective.  A Legend Comes to MinnesotaWe met the master! There is no bigger name in fly fishing than Lefy Kreh. At the recent Midwest Fly Fishing spring symposium and exposition in Minneapolis, Lefty “Bernard” Kreh appeared for a couple of casting demonstrations. At 82 years young, he’s can still throw those bullet loops and enliven a crowd like few others. He was hanging out in the 3M and Temple Fork Outfitters booth between casting. Of course he found a nice looking gal with whom to demonstrate casting; and had no problem snuggling up with her as he tried to improve her form. She had pretty good form to begin with if ya know what I mean. My brother and I slid into the TFO booth for a brief howdy and got to chat with him for a while. Lefty is without a doubt the most accomplished fly fisherman in the world having caught just about everything imaginable on a fly. He also is a prolific writer. If you don’t own any of his books, I strongly recommend his Bible on Saltwater Fly Fishing and Lefty’s Little Library of Fly Fishing is a delight to have on hand for reference to anything related to our sport. You can get away with substandard casting on small trout streams. However, when the wind comes up or you find yourself on a bonefish or tarpon flats, poor casting will reduce you to a quivering mass of humility. Take the time this winter to really learn how to control your backcast to properly execute a sixty foot straight cast. If you can hit sixty feet confidently, you’ll be able to hit thirty under challenging conditions. You will then be more prepared for tough condition so common on big water and in the tropics. There are a multitude of casting resources. I got my start with Doug Swisher. He’s got several levels of fly casting DVD’s available and they’re chuck full of live fish catching excitement. Don’t overlook the master: Lefty Krey, his techniques, while different than Swisher’s, can lay the best foundation for a lifetime of effective casting. I remember catching smallies and walleyes, but don’t remember catching the quality fish that I see today, especially on protected rivers and little known hot spots. This summer was one of the best yet. The goal of my fishing partners and me was to go for a float trip every week from June through August punctuated by midweek wading in select areas. We just about got ‘er done. While the season’s not quite done, much of the hazy humid summer top water action has slowed and many of us are eyeballing our hunting gear with a renewed enthusiasm. My dog is getting antsy, but I can’t shake the urge to get out a few more times for the late season as the river fish begin to collect in deep winter refuges. ---Side Bar The drought conditions in north central Minnesota and elsewhere in the country allowed for some concentrated fish on big rivers while the smaller streams were largely not navigable. These conditions will not exist again for sometime (I hope, for the betterment of the fisheries). The drought erased the highly anticipated White Miller hatch (well, maybe next year...). Many of the big river areas were float-only where larger motored craft simply could not go. This left the rivers quiet and peaceful. Deer and geese stayed near the receding water throughout the hot summer. This serenity was occasionally disrupted by the sudden flush of a popper disappearing into the gaping mouth of a bronzeback. We caught a number of large fish this season with many fish topping 18 inches. My biggest was a 20 1/2 incher caught wading near my home near Crosslake, MN in the Mississippi on a chartreuse and red Clouser. This will be remembered as the summer where I finally came off my high horse and spent more time fishing underwater, experimenting with sink tip line and a bunch of funky looking subsurface flies. Nonetheless, thankfully most of the slobs came on topwater, as usual. One Image Burned into My Mind  Early September - 9-8-06 | Flotsam & JetsamLow cooling water and late summer is causing weed problems... On a recent float south of Brainerd, MN we had problems with algae and other weeds floating in the water column making subsurface nearly impossible and top water difficult. The fish were extremely hesitant and we only boated four fish in six hours of flogging. We did manage two beauties. I caught a 19 incher and Dave Kohlmann nailed a 21 incher that was one of the biggest smallies I have ever witnessed. It looked just like this one, only two inches longer and about one pound heavier. Unbelievable! Mid August Muskie Low water is the main issue in the Midwest-elsewhere, right now. We just returned from a six hour float south of Brainerd, MN on the Mississippi River. Instead of the typical heat offered up normally this summer, we had a cool (72 F.) day overcast, humid and calm. Can anyone say Muskie weather? All we lacked was the quintessential light rain. The section we were on is noted muskie country. We were rigged for smallies with ten pound test tippets. Our terminal tackle took a beating this day. It was one of these days where both muskies and smallies were active and not afraid to bum rush a fly. The muskies missed several of the flies and came flying out of the water in spectacular fashion. Most of the rest simply cut our initial tippets with one chomp. I finally changed to a 30# tippet and of course had no subsequent esox maskinongy test me. The muskies we saw were relatively small two to three feet long. We know some pushing 50’s ply these water. The smallmouth, while reasonably active, were not hitting hard, but we managed several nice fish none-the-less. Lesson: Always carry some Firewiire, Tigerwire, or other type of make-shift toothy leader material just in case you’re accosted by by such critters. Note: The White Millers (ephoron leukons) are just starting to show. Another week and we could be in business! Pounding the banks while float fishing is a great way to go as well, but the majority of fish are not tempted, since the anglers are simply moving too fast. This trip was provided a fine tutorial on subsurface techniques covered elsewhere on this website. May 2006: A Tough Opener for Tough Guys It took some tough guys like Jeff Schulte (at right) to withstand incessant rain, wind, and beer....to finally triumph over a limit of dandy walleyes on a recent annual Minnesota fishing/camping weekend. You don’t want to mess with this guy: He can catch a limit of nice walleyes and still have intestinal fortitude left over for a twelve pack. The weather was nearly identical to last year (lousy), and so was the fishing. Absolutely tops! A supremely gifted angler again took big fish honors (click for photo). April 2006: Spring At Last! Even though the winter in Minnesota was mild, it’s great to have some real warmth. Although the spring seems to be ahead of schedule, we’re not seeing spring crappie action much earlier than last year. For those of you who haven’t been out, get out. The crappies are going everywhere and it’s fun to take kids and others who need fast action. Come to think of it, I could use some myself! Consider taking out others who like to fish but don’t have the “where-with-all” like you - to get out and do it. Final adjustments are being made to boat stuff and other gear, it won’t belong now until rods are bending
Down Under September 2005: Smallmouth Legend: Dave Kollmann I finally had the pleasure to spend a day on the water with the one of the most knowledgeable fly anglers around - Dave Kollmann from St. Cloud, MN. Although fish with “shoulders” eluded us this day, but we racked up some serious numbers of bucketmouths on a “Secret Lake” somewhere in Minnesota. Dave is best known for his prodigious lip service on hundreds of smallmouth in the St. Cloud region of the Mississippi near his home. He is an expert fly tier, starting at the age of twelve focusing largely on warm water fishing patterns. His most famous, the “Fly of the Day” is described elsewhere. We tied up in search of some Paul Bunyan-sized sunnies in the Mississippi north of Brainerd. These mythological fish did not materialize. Plan B called for largemouth on surface poppers, which DID materialize. Get out there and get flogging before the topwater season vanishes like an oversized sunfish. For more information about Dave Kollmann you can contact him at djksales@aol.com and inquire about joining the St. Cloud Fly Club of which he is president and CFO (Chief Fishing Officer). The hatch begins in mid August and lasts for about a month or so. I wandered down to the river the other night and noted a very heavy hatch of these big beautiful white mayflies coming off. I was throwing a popper into some riffles until I noticed rise forms above me in the tail-out of a broad run. It all looked very trout-like. I presumed they were creek chubs or rock bass. Oh was I wrong! I hit several fish rising steadily and rhythmically to a surface covered with naturals, mainly spent spinners. The smallies were a minimum of two pounds and rose to a couple different light hopper patterns as well as traditional Light Cahill #14. A little movement helped tremendously. I don’t believe they would’ve paid me much attention with a dead drift among scores of naturals. I returned the following night (of course). There was only one small problem. No hatch! Just a few were flitting about and the fish were ignoring them. I am in the process of researching this phenomenon in my area and would appreciate any reader feedback on the White Miller hatch in your area. Fishing smallmouth this way is remarkable as it is exactly the same as trout. The smallies of course aren’t as picky. Ask around in your fly fishing circles. While the hatches appear inconsistent at this point, I’m sure there’s some science driving more robust emergences that I hope to discover. When I do, look out! Make sure you get in on this if they’re going in your area. If not, make a trip somewhere to try it. Give yourself a few nights as the hatches are inconsistent. What a blast! Authors Note 9/15/05: Since early success with the White Millers, the hatches have been inconsistent and unreliable. Intensive research is underway. May 2005: Minnesota Opener 2005  Unfortunately, the weatherman was correct for a change. It started out cold and wet and continued as a blustery series of north wind driven rain, sleet and even a little snow wholloped us most of the weekend. Undaunted, this group has camped and fished through it all before. While the weather was not nice, it was consistent - consistently bad. Yet the continuous north winds gave a nice chop and we quickly discovered on Saturday the fish were hungry. My brother (the cheese up front), and myself limited out in a few hours fishing 10 - 11 feet on a big gradual hard sand, rubble food shelf that had everything the fish wanted. The walleyes were perfect size, about 1 3/4 to two pounds. The other boys soon joined the fray and caught lots of fish. The next day the weather held and suprisingly, so did the fishing. It was a rare midday bite. On this lake, when it is overcast and windy, generally the fish will bite during the day and such was the case this weekend. Amidst poor fishing reports elsewhere we did very well, bringing home the bacon to avenge a pitiful opener last year. April 2005: North Shore, MN - Steelhead I quit steelhead fishing over ten years ago. In the early 80’s I was taken by a seminar in Minneapolis at the then Burger Brothers Sports Store. Greg Lonke, a long time local fishing authority and guide gave an exciting talk on how to catch steelhead. He made it sound romantic and cool. I fell for it. I got all the stuff and started traveling to the closest steelhead water for people in Minnesota: the beautiful North Shore of Lake Superior. There was only one small problem...there weren’t any fish. And after a season of flogging empty rivers I learned of the steelheaders’ salvation: Michigan! Yes, Michigan was the promised land of big rainbows. The fishing was supposed to be easy, no snags and lots of fish. My brother and I joined a raucous group of Duluth, MN steelheaders for a week each spring for about eight years. In those early years we did indeed catch fish and some awfully nice ones. We had fun until the fisheries began to wane in the late 80’s along with the salmon populations. With the salmon gone, charters targeted steelhead and fewer entered the spring rivers. We finally gave up. The North Shore of Minnesota is a gorgeous rugged area like much of the country surrounding the Great Lakes, especially Lake Superior. I enjoy spending time there as do more and more tourists. The area development if typical of today’s land grabbing frenzy happening in many once remote areas. The good news: the steelhead are back! I’ve had back to back years of the best steelheading ever on the North Shore. The fisheries and local support groups basically left the fish alone for several years and Mother Nature did her thing. Regardless of the reasons which are multi-faceted, it’s great to be able to enjoy the beauty of an area and actually catch some fish for the first time in over thirty years. I’m still hesitant to get overly enthusiastic about it after years of frustration. To spend a couple of warm spring days amidst dancing waters surrounded by bedrock nearly two billion years old, is thought provoking. To occasionally have the sounds of spring interrupted by an eight pound silver bullet tearing up a run is why I fish. I called around at the last minute to see about a companion but none were available. No problem, I enjoy spending time alone. Afterward I wished I could have shared the experience. I got into some biggies. I remember as a kid gliding through back channels on Lake Minnetonka in a canoe. The willows were bud laden and those that hung close to the water, often hid crappies when conditions were right. The first warm days, the sunlight bounced off the waters as we quietly slipped into secret areas. The same down trees and underwater brush held fish year after year. I recall my dad’s rod doubling up off the back of the canoe with a big largemouth sloshing about. It was the biggest fish I’d ever seen to that point. Yesterday I tried a local lake in north central Minnesota near where I live in Crosby, MN. Even though I was unfamiliar with the lake, an attentive ear had picked up some critical facts from an overheard conversation last week. In short, I learned where and when they were biting. Summoning all my innate fishing skills, I looked over a lake map, checked barometric conditions, tested the batteries on my GPS, prepared a written game plan, and most importantly cleaned off my sunglasses so I could quickly scope out where others were fishing. My surveillance quickly paid off. I watched some kids on a dock knock the hell out of some really nice fish until they were called in for supper or bored, or both. I then stealthily slithered my boat up to within casting distance of their dock. One of the little kids came out after dinner and asked why I was so close to their dock. I told him the wind blew me in. He was a loquacious little dude and kept saying, “Hey you got another one, where did you get that one... man you’re really lucky!” He was dead on. They were big, black and beautiful. He only cast over me three times trying to reclaim his...I mean - my honey hole. I told the kid, “Son, you’re right, I am lucky - thanks to you. After all you showed me where to fish!” I later bragged to my neighbor, showing off the fish. The neighbor thinks I’m quite the fish finding machine. I neglected to mention how I found the fish. How to catch spring crappie on a flyrod...Learn more April 4, 2005: Fly Floggers Heaven in Minneapolis This past weekend we had a rare treat in our corner of the fly fishing world. The Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo. Tom Helgeson of Minneapolis staged the first one last year. This year’s was bigger and even better than the inaugural event. Exhibit booths covering all aspects of fly fishing from destinations to tackle and watercraft. An adjacent area displayed upwards of a dozen fly tiers demonstrating various techniques and specialty flies throughout the entire show. All this was punctuated by excellent seminars on new and traditional aspects of fly fishing. I cannot remember being at an event I enjoyed so thoroughly. Everyone was excited to talk about the upcoming season’s angling as well as opportunities currently underway such as spring steelhead. Some of the finest minds in smallmouth fly fishing were there. Tim Holschlag, one of the nation’s premier authority on smallmouth, talked about strategies and destinations. We will be featuring Tim on selected aspects of smallmouth bass fly fishing in the future and are excited to bring you his special insight into this emerging arena of fly fishing magic (Click HERE for more). March 25: Gil Tweed As I near yet another birthday, I fear I am becoming reflective. That’s another word for dopey. Gil Tweed owned a auto service garage in Hopkins, MN in the 1960’s. I believe he struggled to make a living for his wife and kids. But in those days people went to the corner “garage” to hob-nob and maybe even get their car fixed, if they were lucky. The family of five moved into our old house about two hundred yards south of our new one. Back then there was plenty of room, about three acres, all in a pastoral setting backed by a working farm complete with cows and draft horses. Tweed’s Garage eventually closed in the latter 60’s, the victim of a new breed of grocery store/gas station. This hybridization, the locals said, would never succeed. I don’t know what became of the Tweeds. Gil had two daughters and a bratty son named Roddy. Gail was only a couple years younger than I. She was decent looking, luckily genetically avoiding her mother’s prominent hawk nose (daughter Becky was not quite so fortunate). Gail was one of several players in the fantasies of my hormone riddled adolescence. I dreamed of stealthfully crawling up on the shed roof next to her window on a warm summer night. She, of course, was scantily clad and willingly opened the window, beckoning our hero to come hither. It didn’t matter I had no idea what to do with her if had that occurred. One night I did indeed crawl up there. It ended quickly and slightly differently than conceived. She opened her window and peered out, surprised and annoyed and spit, “What do you think YOU’RE doing up here? You better ski-daddle before my dad catches you...”, slamming the window shut. I slithered away drenched in humility, dreading the certain debriefing with my twin brother. Gill Tweed left more behind than recalcitrant offspring. Not long after moving into the house, they asked if they could plant some trees to provide privacy between are two lots. My parents agreed. I remember Gil and Vie (short for Violet) crouched in the open field planting the coniferous young trees, perhaps two feet high. They meticulously nurtured these trees during the critical early period and all fifty or so survived to flourish. The tree row was at least 150 yards long. The trees provided homes for a wide assortment of animals and birds. Many of whom we examined in our make-shift laboratory upon their natural death. This preceded the ceremonial Viking funeral many of the birds and squirrels received compliments of dying in our neighborhood. This weekend I’ll be returning to the old home site area. Those trees are one of the few visuals in the neighborhood that remain from my youth. Gil Tweed never saw those trees get much higher than six feet. Today the spruce trees planted forty years ago are eighty feet high casting an impenetrable sight barrier to the development beyond where the farm once stood. I applaud Gil and Vie Tweed for the selfless spirit of planning for a future they knew themselves would never fully realize. Of all the things the Tweeds were known for, none was more meaningful than that beautiful stand of majestic trees. Gil Tweed knew something of which we may all consider and implement. I have and it’s fun.
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On an outdoor related topic, I have a brother who is a famed wildlife artist: 
The main theme in the posting is this; Another season is waning. I’ve had a ton of fun wading this summer (for about an hour and a half several evenings a week) in July and August. I average, maybe 2.5 fish per outing, but they’ve been good sized. I’ve taken them largely subsurface and found a number of patterns that produce: Here’s a few:
It’s late September and I really should be getting back to school... That song from Rod Stewart brings back some memories of the early 70’s in college. We celebrated each new year for the fun and promise that came with the turning leaves. Little did I know, not far from the campus, was some of the finest smallmouth water in the world at St. Cloud State College in Central Minnesota on the Mississippi. It’s just as well, my time was better spent in pursuit of other things back then. There would be and has been plenty of time for smallmouth bass since. The smallmouth journey started in the mid 70’s when my Dad and brothers would float small rivers and throw Rapalas for anything. 
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