New Bag!

I don't know if you know this, but I get asked to do a lot of fly tying demonstrations. And when nobody asks me, I have no qualms about begging people to let me do fly tying demonstrations. And not only that, but I also teach a lot of fly tying classes all over the Seven Counties of the Greater Minneapolis and St. Paul Metropolitan Area. And sometimes I even tie flies at my real job when I am supposed to be doing real work, not that I will ever admit to that if my bosses ask me...

Ratty old Wilson gym bag.

In other words, I need to haul my fly tying stuff around from place to place, and then back to the original place, sometimes with another place thrown in for good measure, quite often. And for the past 20 years or so, I have been hauling it all in the same ratty Wilson brand gym bag. When I started doing the hauling, it was the only empty bag I could find. It was empty because, surprise, I rarely went to the gym. I still rarely go to the gym, so the Wilson bag has remained as my main fly tying bag this whole time. But now that ratty Wilson gym bag has become even rattier: the straps are fraying; the nylon fabric has holes in it; and worst of all the zippers are both broken, so there is no way to close it up and keep prying eyes out of my goodies.

Broken zipper

Another problem is that it's not big enough to carry all the tool sets that I let my students use in my classes, so I oftentimes have to use one of the bags that our family members have collected from free handouts throughout the years. The most recent one that I have been using is from the Regions Hospital Burn Center, which I am very grateful to say none of us have ever been to. It is a nice bag, though...

All this is to say that I decided it was time for me to get a new bag. So I did. I wanted a larger bag than I had, so that I could haul all of my stuff, including the 8 or so tool sets for my students, all of my tools, my vise, my lamp, and whatever materials I may need to tie whatever I flies I need to tie. I looked at local garage sales, I looked on craigslist, I looked on ebay, and I finally found one that seemed to fit the bill on facebook Marketplace. It's a big green duffel bag that is actually a little bigger than I was thinking, but now that I have it, it seems like it will be perfect.

New big, green duffel bag.

It's got plenty of room for all of my tools, there is a big area for as many materials as I can fit, and I can even fit all of the student tool sets in the two spacious zippered pockets on the ends. There are even other pockets that could hold my lunch, my phone, or even a small mammal, not that I have a reason to carry one of those around. Usually.

Look, it holds all of my stuff! With room to spare!

I know this isn't really all that exciting for most of you, but I am super pumped about my new fly tying bag. If you see me carrying it anywhere, you might want to follow me. A fun fly tying demonstration or fly tying class might be about to happen.

Camping Trip #1

The family and I just got back from our first family camping trip of the year. This was not a fishing trip, but I was hopeful that I would be able to get a little fishing in at some point during the weekend. There is a fair-to-middlin' trout stream in the State Park we stayed at, so I brought a rod with, just in case. I also brought along the rod I got for my kids to learn how to cast with, just in case any of them wanted to join me.

On Sunday evening we had some spare time, so my oldest daughter, who is 10, and I strolled down to the river to try our luck. We only brought the kids' rod with, because I wanted to be at the ready to help her out if need be, and when I have a rod of my own I tend to not be very observant of others...

We had a great time, my daughter did really well with her casting, I found several burning nettles and one tick with my legs, and we didn't catch any fish. But that's OK. We already have plans to go to another of my favorite streams in the near future. Maybe we can catch some fish there!

The Family Truckster, in all its outdoor glory.

The Family Camper, our home away from home that isn't nearly as large as our actual home...

I had never seen one of these before, a platform for putting your phone on and taking a selfie. What will those crazy Wisconsinites think of next?

The Wife and the two youngest kids climbed up to the top of the bluff and are waving to the camera. Can you see them?

The youngest child, who can't read, reading a book in one of the hammocks...

Trees

She's doing pretty well, for only casting a few times...

Where the river splits in two.

I notice more stuff when I bring my daughter along...

The pool we fished the most. It always looks fishy, but I don't remember ever catching anything there. Maybe I should take the hint...

A fun way to end the evening. And this post.

Trout Trip 2019

May of 2019 marked the second annual Trout Trip, sponsored by TheRiffle.blogspot.com and TimberOfFaith.blogspot.com. When I say that the trip was sponsored by two blogs, really I am just saying that the two bloggers who are responsible for those two blogs went fishing together. It was three days of fun, fish, and fellowship. I am already planning out Trout Trip 2020 in my mind!

I had a free couple of minutes before we left and threw this logo together. We both agree that it's a little much...

Last year, for the first annual Trout Trip, my cohort, Bryon, and I went to SE Minnesota, and fished in and around Forestville State Park. This year we decided to stick a little closer to home, staying in western Wisconsin and fishing the streams that I honed my skills on in my youth. Again we had a great time and caught quite a few fish.

Bryon, 3 of my kids, and our rig.

The back of the rig. Bryon's 2 rods are on the left. My slightly larger pile of rods is on the right...

The weather was fine for the first two days, with highs in the low 60s and lots of cloud cover. Then it rained all night, and the streams got high and muddy on the third day. The fishing cooled off quickly once that happened, but we still had a great Trip.

First rod of the Trip, my Scott F2 8'2" 5wt glass rod and Marryat MR8 reel.

First fish of Trout Trip, a non-trout Horny Head Chub. 

2nd rod of the Trip, my Fenwick FF805 glass rod and Marryat MR8 reel

Nice brown. Caught on a size 14 Squuck.

Lunch the first day. Delicious!

This tree hadn't fallen down the last time I was here...

Looking upstream.

Bryon's fly box.

3rd rod, my Orvis Superfine Glass 7' 3wt and UFM UEDA 2150 reel.

My biggest brook trout of the Trip, caught on a size 8 silver Bugger

A nice brown in the water.

A nice brown in my hand.

Mmmmmm, delicious egg bake for breakfast!

I think there was some run-off this spring...

5th rod of the Trip, my Scott Pow-R Ply 9' 4wt graphite rod and Daiwa Alltmor S-200 reel.

Last stream of the Trip, before it got high and muddy...

My last trout of the Trip.

High and muddy...

The soles of my brand new wading boots fell off after I crossed the river once. Ugh! The manufacturer is taking care of it, though, so I won't rip them. Yay!

First Fish Fotos

Finally caught my First Fish of 2019. As you will see in the fotos, it was a brute of a bluegill. Must have weighed at least 9 ounces or so... I have been waiting for the 'gills to move in close to shore at my in-laws' lake. It's been a cold spring around here, so they seem reluctant. If I was a bluegill I would want to get the spawning process going as quick as possible, if I may be slightly R-rated for a second. Know what I mean, merh merh?

OK, enough dirty talk. Here are the fotos:

First and only fish, so far. I have been telling people on social media that the planks of the dock are 20" wide, but in reality they are more like 19.5"... or 6"... I'm not good at eyeballing things...

Fished with my beautiful and dependable Fenwick FF84 glass rod and beloved Lamson LP-2 reel. They performed flawlessly.

This FF84 is pretty much new.

Fly Focus:Crane Fly

Crane flies are starting to get the recognition they deserve as an important food item in a lot of trout streams. When I first got into the sport, nobody mentioned crane flies, or if they did, it was just in passing and it went in one of my ears and out the other. But things are starting to change, and crane flies are finally starting to get some love. Woot! for crane flies!

Around here, crane flies seem to be most prolific in the warm summer months. I have spent several long evenings on my favorite streams in June and July, fully expecting to see some sulphur mayflies or light cahills emerging, but instead finding prolific hatches of small, size 16, golden colored crane flies driving the trout mad. At first I struggled to adequately match the hatch, but I have found a beautiful fly that should work perfectly.

I am not sure who invented this fly, but Brian at Lund's Fly Shop asked me to tie several dozen for him this year, and I will be tying a couple of extra dozen for my own boxes. If you want to tie your own, check out the tying tutorial below. Or if you aren't into tying, contact Brian at Lund's to order some. I think you will be glad you did!

Glass Geek Get-Together

I will be the first to admit that I am a huge glass geek. As in, fiberglass fly rod geek. I love fiberglass fly rods. They fit my casting stroke perfectly. They are perfect for all of the fishing that I do, which is mostly small stream trout fishing and the occasional panfish and bass trip to a lake or medium-sized river. Fiberglass rods let me feel the rod loading and unloading, doing most of the work for me. And they are not the most technologically advanced things out there, just like me. I am a huge glass geek, and I am happy to say so.

And, I am happy that I am not the only one out there! I have a couple of fly fishing buddies who are also glass geeks, and I don't think they would mind my saying that about them. Peter and Greg might not be as geeky as I am, but they have their fair share of geekiness. The three of us get together fairly often during the short summer months here on the frozen tundra of Minnesota, with the sole purpose of casting fly rods in the yard next to my office building. Yesterday was the first such get-together of the calendar year, and boy did we have fun!

Greg (foreground) and Peter (background)

It was a relatively balmy day up here, with temps hovering in the low 60s, and a moderate-to-gale force wind out of the east. And the problem with the yard at my office is that it sits across the road from a large open field, with nothing in it to break the wind. So I would say that the wind was at gale force more than it was at moderate... It made casting a little troublesome, but it was nothing that three bonafide geeks couldn't handle.

We didn't bring all of our glass rods out, just some of our newer acquisitions. Greg has been getting more and more into rod building, so he brought a Lamiglas and a Fenwick that he recently finished, along with a couple of others. The new builds were beautifully done, and they both cast great. They will be nice additions to Greg's arsenal.

Rods

Peter didn't have any new rods to bring, but he brought some of his favorites, including a Lemon Drop and a couple of Chris Barclay's rods. He also brought out his bamboo rod, an 8' no-name rod that throws a 5wt line very nicely. We all gave it a go, decided it was a bit on the heavy side, and then went back to our glass rods.

I showed off my new 7'6" 4wt Winston glass rod, along with a couple of others. Everybody seemed to like the Winston a lot, but it is a Winston, so that makes sense. My 8' 5wt Diamondglass and my 7' 3wt Orvis Superfine got rave reviews, as well.

I'm sure this won't be the last get-together of the year. And, if things work out for all of our schedules, there may be a Second Annual Kinni Mini Glass 'Clave later on in the summer, which will be open to all glass geeks or even glass geek wanna-be's. Keep an eye out here, for more info!

Greg, showing how crazy the wind was at times...

Peter with his Orvis Superfine

Comparing notes...

Rods. If you ever get invited to one of our get-togethers, make sure you don't step on any rods!

Peter, gettin' it done with what I believe is my Diamondglass...