Camping Trip #5

Here's a weird story for you: The Wife and I went camping over the weekend, and our kids weren't within 5 states of us! We had planned this trip to northern Wisconsin's Pattison State Park several months ago, and initially we were all going to go. But then the Sister-In-Law decided to head south, and our kids went along with her. So The Wife and I had a wonderful weekend to ourselves, doing whatever we wanted to whenever we wanted to. It was awesome!

The Black River in Pattison State Park

Pattison is about 20 miles south of the south shore of Lake Superior. It holds the tallest waterfall in Wisconsin, plus some other, smaller waterfalls, within its borders. All of these falls are on the Black River, which is lovely, but not a great fishing destination. So, while in the Park, The Wife and I did other things, mainly consisting of hiking. We also hiked at the nearby Amnicon Falls State Park, which is packed full of waterfalls, none of which are all that tall. Both parks are very fun to visit!

A bad pic of the tallest waterfall in Wisconsin.

A better pic of a shorter waterfall.

A crazy wad of roots we came across on a hiking trail.

Before the trip. The Wife and I had celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary by doing nothing. So, on this trip we decided to find a nice place to go out for dinner and celebrate "Us". After doing some research, it seemed that the restaurant that got the best reviews in the area was the Dreamland Supper Club, about 10 miles from the State Park. I hadn't been in a Supper Club for about 35 years, and to be honest the words "Supper Club" didn't inspire all that much confidence in either of us, but we decided to try it out. We are glad we did! It was a fun place, and the food was excellent. The Wife got a petite cut of prime rib, and I got their famous "french fried turkey breast", which was delicious! It was a four course meal that got better and better with every course. Our compliments to the Chef. We are glad we didn't let the name scare us away!

The Wife, getting ready for prime rib.

Of course, I brought my fishing gear with, even though I wasn't sure if there would be any good fishing nearby. After asking one of the State Park employees, we determined that the best fishing in the area was 45 minutes away in the world-famous Brule River. The Brule is one of the most popular destinations in the Upper Midwest for people looking to catch lake-run salmon, steelhead, and brown trout in the spring and fall. Despite that fact, and the fact that I have been crazy about fly fishing for 35 years now, I have only fished the Brule once in my life, a fruitless trip 15 years ago or more in which the river was super high and muddy from snowmelt run-off.

Wild raspberry that The Wife ate. She did not die.

I wasn't sure about making the drive to the Brule, but thankfully The Wife thought it would be fun. So we headed over there on Saturday morning to give it a try. After checking out a couple of access points, we decided to park at a prime-looking spot near the Copper Range Campground. The Wife parked herself on a sunny little beach area to soak up some rays and read a book while I headed downstream to see what I could catch. The answer: Nothing. So I went upstream to a fishy-looking spot. At least I hooked a couple there, but still I didn't catch anything. After an hour and a half of flailing away I was hot and ready to head out, but The Wife encouraged me to keep fishing, at least for a little while. Have I mentioned that she is the best wife a dude could ask for? If not, I should have...

I went back upstream to give that fishy-looking spot another try. By this time there were some fish rising to some kind of insect. I saw a few caddisflies flying around, along with a few small mayflies flitting about. I got a couple of half-hearted strikes to a Female Adams Parachute, but couldn't actually hook anything until I switched to a glass-beaded CDC Hare's Ear thing I tied several years ago. I fished it downstream on a swing, like a wet fly, and the trouts seemed to like it. I was expecting them all to be brook trout since that's what the locals said were in that stretch, but the first fish I landed was a lovely little brown, and all the other fish were rainbows. I was hoping to catch a brookie to round out the "Wisconsin Slam", but it was to no avail. Oh well.

My phone's camera stopped working properly, so I did not get a pic of my first Brule River trout, but it looked a lot like this one...

Tiny little baby Rainbow Trout.

I'm glad I finally caught some trouts in the hallowed waters of the Brule. Maybe I'll get back up there again some day and land some bigger ones. All in all, The Wife and I had a great weekend to ourselves. We have decided we need to go camping without the kids more often! If any of you want to babysit some time, let me know. I will be waiting anxiously for your phone call...