Northern Wisconsin/Yoop

Wayne Harrison wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote:
Me and the dog spent a week in a remote campsite in northern
Wisconsin.

(interesting tr snipped)

thanks for the read, forty. but i would really appreciate more fishing
details. gear, type of water, fish size, number and quality of available
local chiceros...

I camped on Nebish Lake which is a fisheries research lake. That
means you have to get a permit every morning, record your catch
and return your permit every evening. Nebish Lake has a 9" to 12"
slot for smallmouth, you can't keep any fish in the slot but you
can keep 5 out of it. Most of the smallmouth are in the slot, I
caught one just over 12" and one that measured 14", all the others
were either in the slot or smaller than 9". I kept a Sage RPL 5wt
in the campsite rigged with floating line and a yellow Sneaky Pete.
Nebish is relatively sterile and crystal clear, the smallies grow
slowly. There are a lot of smallies around 12" and very few much
larger than that. Those little 12 inchers put a hell of a bend in
a 5wt fly rod and they're a hoot to catch.

My one trip to the Yoop was to fish Sylvania. Sylvania Wilderness
is about 20,000 acres of pristine, untouched, old-growth forest
just on the Michigan side of the Wisconsin-Michigan border. The
lumber baron who bought it in 1895 made the mistake of visiting
the property before he logged it out. It was so drop dead gorgeous
he couldn't do it. For many years it was the exclusive retreat for
a small group of rich folk. In 1967 the Forest Service bought them
out and tore down all their resorts and in 1987 it was designated
federal wilderness. There are 34 named lakes in Sylvania and they
are just as pristine and beautiful as the old-growth forest which
surround them. And they're full of giant smallies. Eighteen inchers,
twenty inchers, five pound smallies in abundance. Travel is by
canoe only, no motors, and it is strictly catch-and-release. For
this I use a Sage RPL 6wt. One spool has floating line for poppers
and the spare spool has a sink tip for Dahlberg Divers. I had a
*stellar* day on one of those 34 lakes with two 18 inchers come
to net.

The brookie fishing is in tiny little streams like Allequash Creek,
Stevenson Creek and Plum Creek. The alder thickets are dense and
there is no breeze in there to blow away the clouds of bugs. It's
close quarter fishing with a little seven and a half foot Winston
3wt. You've seen that rod, it's my favorite. It doesn't matter much
what bug you tie on, in those sterile little streams the brookies
will slash at anything buggy. I used a grey elk hair caddis for
the most part. I didn't do a lot of brookie fishing because of
the bugs. I was pretty muck OK with my insect repellent Buff but
poor Kaylin the dog was miserable. I fed her benadryl to keep
the swelling down but the bugs wouldn't leave her alone.

I sincerely hope this addendum to my TR satisfies your rather
rigorous TR requirements.

--
Ken Fortenberry