DDFS Trials, Round One (Black Earth Creek TR, Too)

Well, I dragged my lazy butt out of bed at 3:30 this fine A of M to truck it
up to Madison to fish the Black Earth Creek. I hadn't been up there in a
while, as most of my troutin' has been on the PM this summer.

Anyway, a beautiful drive. If you're at all familiar with the area, you'll
know that as US 14 goes west past Madison, it starts to get downright
pretty. This particular morning was especially nice, as a pretty good patch
of fog was lying in the various valleys of the driftless area. Entering
Cross Plains, the road takes a turn and what passes for mountains in the
midwest come in to view. Very nice, fog shimmering as the false dawn took
hold.

Pulled into the South Valley Road access about 6:30, set up and wandered to
the water. First fly was my humble submission to the DDFS. Nothing. Today,
that fly was as useful as tits on a bull. So, next up, the Picket Pin,
expertly crafted by Stan Gula. Tossed it around a bit, may have gotten one
small hit. Not a good day for that one, either. Next up was the Madam CDC.
Kind of hopper-esque, and nicely tyed as well. After about ten minutes, I
got my first fish of the day. Nothing too exciting, an 8 inch 'bow, but a
fish nonetheless. Yup, tossed that fly around for a little longer than the
previous two. Round three was the swap-meister's CDC caddis. Wandered the
banks for a bit flickin' and tossin' said fly, but alas, today was not it's
day. Decided to continue down the hopper-like-substance path that worked
well previously, so I tied on Big Dale's Klod Hopper. Fine Fly. Fine card
that it came on. I have learnt that I need to get a better tagging system
for the next swap. But I digress. Anyway, Mr Klod takes honors for the day
with a 10 inch 'bow and a really fat 14 inch brownie. This fish was La-Z-Boy
sittin', NASCAR watchin', KFC eatin' fat. Really regretted not bringing my
camera along.

A fine day on the creek.

Anyway, many thanks to the swappers for their fine efforts. I hope to try
out the rest next week, assuming the weather holds.

Dan

Daniel-San typed:
Well, I dragged my lazy butt out of bed at 3:30 this fine A of M to
truck it up to Madison to fish the Black Earth Creek. I hadn't been
up there in a while, as most of my troutin' has been on the PM this
summer.

Anyway, a beautiful drive. If you're at all familiar with the area,
you'll know that as US 14 goes west past Madison, it starts to get
downright pretty. This particular morning was especially nice, as a
pretty good patch of fog was lying in the various valleys of the
driftless area. Entering Cross Plains, the road takes a turn and what
passes for mountains in the midwest come in to view. Very nice, fog
shimmering as the false dawn took hold.

Pulled into the South Valley Road access about 6:30, set up and
wandered to the water. First fly was my humble submission to the
DDFS. Nothing. Today, that fly was as useful as tits on a bull. So,
next up, the Picket Pin, expertly crafted by Stan Gula. Tossed it
around a bit, may have gotten one small hit. Not a good day for that
one, either. Next up was the Madam CDC. Kind of hopper-esque, and
nicely tyed as well. After about ten minutes, I got my first fish of
the day. Nothing too exciting, an 8 inch 'bow, but a fish
nonetheless. Yup, tossed that fly around for a little longer than the
previous two. Round three was the swap-meister's CDC caddis. Wandered
the banks for a bit flickin' and tossin' said fly, but alas, today
was not it's day. Decided to continue down the hopper-like-substance
path that worked well previously, so I tied on Big Dale's Klod
Hopper. Fine Fly. Fine card that it came on. I have learnt that I
need to get a better tagging system for the next swap. But I digress.
Anyway, Mr Klod takes honors for the day with a 10 inch 'bow and a
really fat 14 inch brownie. This fish was La-Z-Boy sittin', NASCAR
watchin', KFC eatin' fat. Really regretted not bringing my camera
along.

Nice report, Dan. BD really does tie some great flies.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

On 9/27/05 3:45 PM, in article ,
"Daniel-San" wrote:

snip
A fine day on the creek.

snip

Cool way to spend a day fishing with the boys from ROFF, in a virtual,
fly-swap kinda way. :-)

I like to leave the tags from fly swaps in a ziplock in my tackle box,
reminders of the various ne'er do wells, met and unmet.

Thanks for the TR!
Bill

Role out of bed and head up to Madison? I thought you lived in San Diego.
Isn't that a fur piece to drive in the morning?
By the by, great TR!

--
Frank Reid
Reverse email to reply

Frank Reid wrote:
Role out of bed and head up to Madison? I thought you lived in San
Diego. Isn't that a fur piece to drive in the morning?
By the by, great TR!

That would be Dan with an L, not Daniel with a San. Get it straight.
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

Giggle, giggle, giggle.

I love it when the damn things work. What color was the brush and
grass around the stream? The Klod Hopper was designed buy a guy from
Utah and I figured it would work better in the West due to the tan
color of the fly. Some friends and I also tie that style hopper in
yellow, chatreuse, and olive as well. I have had good luck with the
woodgrain foam hoppers around the Dallas area this year, but if I don't
water the yard this weekend, I should paint it green. We didn't even
get a shower out of Rita. I can't remember the last time it rained and
we have had more 100 degree days in September than we did in July.

Seriously guys, keep fishoing those flies. We can always tie more.

Big Dale

Daniel-San wrote:

[little snip]

Pulled into the South Valley Road access about 6:30, set up and wandered to
the water. First fly was my humble submission to the DDFS. Nothing. Today,
that fly was as useful as tits on a bull. So, next up, the Picket Pin,
expertly crafted by Stan Gula. Tossed it around a bit, may have gotten one
small hit. Not a good day for that one, either. Next up was the Madam CDC.
Kind of hopper-esque, and nicely tyed as well. After about ten minutes, I
got my first fish of the day. Nothing too exciting, an 8 inch 'bow, but a
fish nonetheless. Yup, tossed that fly around for a little longer than the
previous two.

Cool. Glad you had some luck with it. I've only used it on bass
around here, so it's nice to know that there are some trout stupid
enough to hit it as well. ;-)

Round three was the swap-meister's CDC caddis. Wandered the
banks for a bit flickin' and tossin' said fly, but alas, today was not it's
day. Decided to continue down the hopper-like-substance path that worked
well previously, so I tied on Big Dale's Klod Hopper. Fine Fly. Fine card
that it came on. I have learnt that I need to get a better tagging system
for the next swap. But I digress. Anyway, Mr Klod takes honors for the day
with a 10 inch 'bow and a really fat 14 inch brownie. This fish was La-Z-Boy
sittin', NASCAR watchin', KFC eatin' fat. Really regretted not bringing my
camera along.

BD's flies are always good. I can't wait for some rain to get some
water back in our local rivers so I can give it a shot. (It'd also be
nice if the temps got down below 100 for a change. Today is supposed to
be our 8th day in a row above 100. It's been insane.)

A fine day on the creek.

Anyway, many thanks to the swappers for their fine efforts. I hope to try
out the rest next week, assuming the weather holds.

Thanks to you for the test drive and report.


Chuck Vance

"Frank Reid" wrote ...
Role out of bed and head up to Madison? I thought you lived in San Diego.
Isn't that a fur piece to drive in the morning?
By the by, great TR!

--
Frank Reid
Reverse email to reply



Nah, I'm in the Chicago 'burbs. San Diego to Madison would certainly be one
hell of a morning commute.

Dan

"Big Dale" wrote ...
Giggle, giggle, giggle.

I love it when the damn things work. What color was the brush and
grass around the stream? The Klod Hopper was designed buy a guy from
Utah and I figured it would work better in the West due to the tan
color of the fly. Some friends and I also tie that style hopper in
yellow, chatreuse, and olive as well. I have had good luck with the
woodgrain foam hoppers around the Dallas area this year, but if I don't
water the yard this weekend, I should paint it green. We didn't even
get a shower out of Rita. I can't remember the last time it rained and
we have had more 100 degree days in September than we did in July.

Seriously guys, keep fishoing those flies. We can always tie more.

Big Dale


Considering the lack of rain we've had around here, I'm actually kind of
surprised to report that the shrubbery was in fact green. Didn't really pay
it much attention while I was up there, but it was very green, now that you
mention it.

Weather has been quite a factor in the fishing around here. If I'm not
heading up to Michigan to wander the Clay Banks area or slogging it up to
Madison, the local forest preserve lakes make for some entertaining
bass/bluegill fishing. This year, the lakes are down somewhere around 2
feet. The upside to that is plenty of casting room. Downside is that the
fish are so deep and far into the lake that it's not worth trying.

Dan

"Conan The Librarian" wrote...
Daniel-San wrote:

[little snip]

Pulled into the South Valley Road access about 6:30, set up and wandered
to
the water. First fly was my humble submission to the DDFS. Nothing.
Today,
that fly was as useful as tits on a bull. So, next up, the Picket Pin,
expertly crafted by Stan Gula. Tossed it around a bit, may have gotten
one
small hit. Not a good day for that one, either. Next up was the Madam
CDC.
Kind of hopper-esque, and nicely tyed as well. After about ten minutes,
I
got my first fish of the day. Nothing too exciting, an 8 inch 'bow, but
a
fish nonetheless. Yup, tossed that fly around for a little longer than
the
previous two.

Cool. Glad you had some luck with it. I've only used it on bass
around here, so it's nice to know that there are some trout stupid
enough to hit it as well. ;-)


The stupid trout population is down this year. I'm really hoping the trout
schools are having the same budget crises that all the other schools are, so
the ratio of stupid to intelligent trout goes up.



BD's flies are always good.

I'm glad I entered this swap. More patterns to try tying, more reasons to
fish.

I can't wait for some rain to get some
water back in our local rivers so I can give it a shot. (It'd also be
nice if the temps got down below 100 for a change. Today is supposed to
be our 8th day in a row above 100. It's been insane.)

Weather has been very strange this year. No rain for most of the summer,
then quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. Agreed, insane.


A fine day on the creek.

Anyway, many thanks to the swappers for their fine efforts. I hope to
try
out the rest next week, assuming the weather holds.

Thanks to you for the test drive and report.


Chuck Vance

Dan