Driftless April 2013

2 killer days spent in the driftless this past weekend with Bart and Will.  Epic fishing.  We lost count by noon on Saturday.  The fish were pounding streamers... inhaling nymphs...  even a few were caught on drys.  One of those rare epic trips when the stars aligned... and everything was perfect: a bad weather report scared away crowds, ideal temps and cloud cover + (and most importantly) super hungry fish.  We were spoiled.  A few fish in the 15"-16" range and countless in the 12"-14".    By far the best trip I've ever had going out to the driftless area.

Pics from the MN Bahamian Bums

FOALT hunting

This past Feb Steve, Eric and I spent three days streamer fishing/mousing for "fish of a life time" browns on the white river.   We all caught browns in the 20-22" range and a bunch shy of 20" but the monsters evaded us.  We each were "teased" once or twice... either in the dark with a splash that sounded evil... or by a high speed rejection when you see a giant shadow or a jaw behind your streamer (I had one that looked like a king salmon that will haunt for a while).  No question there are giants in the system (to see an example of a ridiculous epic "FOALT" unicorn giant toad donkey pig hog brown go to click here: Tommy's Fish or Alex's fish not sure if this will open unless you're logged into Facebook).  I was reminded day 3 of the trip... of the golf analogy when FOALT fishing - that like getting a hole in one, or an eagle in golf... you can do absolutely everything right and the odds are still very long.  I guess that's why fly fishing is a life long obsession... and also why we'll be back down there chasing fish in 2014.   Tommy, Alex and Chad where awesome hosts!  I'd recommend the trip but we don't want more competition on "white river in MICHIGAN".