I'm on vacation this week. Our plans were to go to far western
Wisconsin (from our home in central Wisconsin) Saturday night through
Monday morning to see if the Darth Vaders and Apple Greens were still
hatching. But reality interfered when both my parents came up ill. We
spent Saturday checking out their situation (they're o.k.... pretty
much). We drove home late Saturday night and found our Jack Russell
Terrier, Cosmo, unable to climb the back three steps when we let him
out to pee. This from a dog who delights in dancing on his hind legs
for treats. Sunday he deteriorated, at one point seeming to lose
control of his rear half and running a fever so hot it was
uncomfortable to hold him. After some aspirin he seemed somewhat
better that night, only limping on one leg. He seemed even better the
next day. Even so their was a vet visit scheduled for Tuesday.

With his condition stable and with the weather forecasts calling for
the possibility of the River getting too high to fish later in the
week (can't complain about that problem) I snuck off Monday to fish
until the rain forced me off the water. Looking at the radar before I
left, I figured that would be a couple of hours... tops.

I drove up to an improved section of the River. There are enough half
logs up there to side three or four faux flatlander cabins and, while
it can hold fish, it sometimes feels almost artificial because of it.
Nothing was happening when I got down to the water. No problems, tie
on a Pass Lake. First cast, a fish. Second cast, another fish. And it
kept on going like that. I waded downstream, catching enough fish so
that after a half an hour I felt safe to start playing around with
different flies. They all caught fish. Some better than others. The
fish seemed to be looking up and flies on or in the surface
outperformed sinkers. Damn the luck, eh? As time passed a nice early
Summer mix of bugs appeared on the water. Midges, caddis, BWO's, a
bigger #16 Olive and a mayfly thats been nicknamed the Darth Vader,
for its rather dark garb (black body/wings, white legs),
http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/481/Ma...ns-Darth-Vader
, a fly I'd never seen on the River before but that is well known on
the rivers nearer the Minnesota border.

Artsy brook trout and stream pictures follow:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3228a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3232a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3236a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3238a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3240a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3242a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3245a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3247a.jpg

I remain impressed by the Superpupa, the Swedish fly I'd found in a
Fly Rod and Reel article last Spring. The first fish I caught on it
that day was a small brown but it kept on taking fish until the little
Sith Lords became so numerous that I tied on a copy I'd stumbled
through at the tying bench in anticipation of the canceled trip to the
border rivers. That worked but no better (and maybe not as well) as
the #16 Pass Lake I tied on after I lost the Vader to an aspen.

Superpupa pics (and vid) follow:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3252a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3266a.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z36p7WQgQgM

A passing rain shower started me fishing my way back upstream. I had
probably put in 5 hours already and the frantic activity had stopped,
although there was enough action to keep it interesting. An emergence
of tan caddis responded well to some Pheasant Tail Klinkhamers. Later,
a bit of fast water had me tying on a Bivisible, which was ignored.
When I waded into the long piece of slackwater above the riffle there
were a couple of spotty rises. Time for a No Hackle or Elk and Caddis,
right? Well why not at least try a cast with the fuzzy Bivisible.

A long cast.

A long drift.

Slurp.

It had to be a fluke (well, actually it was a trout). Bivisibles are
for fast water only. I waded up to another ten or so fish on that flat
and every one fell to a long, dead drift from the Bivisible. Some were
landed. Some lost. None refused.

Bivisible fish and water follow:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3279a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3273a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_3277a.jpg

After that it shut down hard. While the intervening water is where I
take kids to catch their first trout on a fly rod, only a couple of
brookies fell to my flies in the quarter mile from the flat to my car.
I was tired. I had had to shorten my casts to keep from flubbing them
so badly that I couldn't untangle the resulting mess without snipping
off the tippet. Eight plus hours, dozens of trout, time to go home.

Right.

I passed my car and took a short cut up a small, spring fed streamlet,
through its founding bog covered with tiny blue forget-me-nots and
into an alder jungle so thick that it seemed to stretch endlessly
ahead. Finally some higher ground, then there was the River. My short
cut had only taken me twice as long as it would have to have waded the
same distance but surprisingly it took me right to where I wanted to
end up. With about an hour of daylight left I tried to match a sparse
hatch of Light Cahills with mediocre results. I started the wade back
to the car. There were rising trout, some of whom ate my flies. Again,
a Pass Lake drifted wet caught the most and biggest. In the final deep
stretch before the take out, casting to a couple nice risers, my Pass
Lake ignored, my Light Cahill spurned, I tied on a big bushy#12 Royal
Coachman Trude. For spite, mostly. And promptly caught two nice brook
trout.

That was it. Ten hours on the water and I was sore, thirsty and
hungry. I went home.

No pictures follow:
I was too damn tired.

Epilogue:

Tuesday's vet visit came, along with the dread of hearing the
diagnosis of Blasto in our ears. Cosmo was almost his old self though.
And the blood test came back positive... for Lyme's disease. Not good,
but treatable. Our other dog, Frodo, who had also been lethargic and
limpy a week ago (although nothing like Cosmo) goes in for blood work
tomorrow. But our lightened wallets will cancel out the short trip to
the Madison area we had scheduled to end our vacation. The so-called
invisible hatch* on BEC will have to wait.

So it goes.

GeoC

* Midges? Tiny floating nymphs? Cheese curds? Who knows...its
invisible to everyone but the fish. And its happening now.