Slush, Sub-zero, & Vegas

sorry for the delay alot has kept me away

fiishing conditions have gone south. fished the girl and it was nothing but in was blown, went back and it was slush. now it is ice again. Sub zero temps not only stall the packers but also the river.

Spent the last week in Vegas, and other than a few nice dinners and some kickass kereoke, it was dull.

The highlight of my last two weeks has been reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy (angler X this is a must read) , and spening an afternoon with the family ZipZap, BR's girls are awesome.

Bigby on Big Fish

"It's like catching a fish," Bigby said. "You can just feel him fighting for his life. It's a great feeling. You can actually feel the electricity in his body. I'm telling you, it's hard to describe, but it's great."

"So for guys who have never had a big hit, go out and catch a big fish."

Atari Bigby - Green Bay Packers: describing what it feels like when he hits an offensive player as hard as he can.

The Packers won, The Cowboys lost, NFC Championship at Lambeau, and Atari Bigby corolates crush football hits to what we already know is one of lifes greatest thrills.

Checked out the She and the Man this weekend, both are high and off color, both should be ready by mid week. It will be butt ass cold by midweek, but the rivers should be in.

What's Wrong with Me

Took the day off. Works been slow any way.
Hit the local river first thing thought I might find steel as Towny nail a big fish there on sunday.
Well I fished the most popular winter run, and then just kept going and going. Down river and every run felt good.

Finally, I got down to the end of the line with out a grab. On this last run on the local, I hooked and landed a small lake run. Real pretty, no mold put up a good fight for a seal-orphan.

So, I finish the run, sneek up the hill, and start the 1.5 mile hike back to the car (+/- a mile). So while I am walking, I think "Gee, what's up? I thought I would land or at least hook a few more fish." ...

So then I head north to the Me. I figure I should be able to get something going on Bonfire, or that run the angler X has yet to name.

I fished Bonfire with 10' of T14 and a blk string leach. The river was fluctuating up and down, Ice bergs rolling down. Went through Twice, second time with the most insanely sparkly intruder ever. No fish, WTF?!?

So as I head back across the river I notice, that Siren looks awesome , so I jump in the VW and cruise down. Siren was really awesome, casting was great, big sexy boils roll'n on top, great current speed. I would venture to say that Siren, when it is in shape, is the best run in the state. I challenge anybody to name a better one (be very specific on location). All that said... No fish.

Then it hits me, I am in Wisconsin, This is January, and I already caught a fish today. My expectations may be a bit high.

But, at the same time, Every run I fished today, I really expected that I was about to hook a fish, I was suprised when I didn't. I think that might be OK, a little unrealistic, but it will keep me coming back.

Warm Rains A Dump'n

I feel a float coming on, like salvation.

Skiing days over like that(snap!), warm weather and rain pouring down.

It time to go home and polish up the Water Masters, because the steel will be pushing up and I dont want to miss this.


Husky, X, Broken Rod, read these words and make yourselves ready the She-be-gone, the Mil, Hardees, DQ, it's On!


No more fishing one of the three available runs on the Me. Time time to multiple small runs. I feel like roar out a Howard Dean.


Little rivers, Big Flies!!


BR with a She-be-gone Head

X just got word of grabby fish to the south. I am not kidding this shit is on.

Over Freezing-Good Day on the Me

Fished the me today with Nate-dog and Angler-X(formerly Barto).

X hooked up right away, ran like steel...But got off.

I went down to brown town and and brought on back on Black (a stacked tube)
A Bonfire Brown

Headed from the Me to our most local of steelhead rivers and met with Marty Kwitek to check out some RB Meiser rods I cast the 12'6" 6/7/8 MKS, I loaded it with a Vison 450 Scandi and a 10' tip and the an Airflo compact Skagit 540 with 10' of T14 and a big weighted fly. Both were great it is a very comparable rod to the Burkheimer 7133. It is hard to say which is better to cast, I already own the Burk so I am likely biased. On thing is for sure the Airflo Compact Skagit is Awesome, Thanks Larimer.

Another Great thing. The Siren was fishing on the Me, no fish, but it felt good.

Ch-ch-ch-channges

2008, a new year. Will things change?

Of course things are always changing, but I think this year will be a big year of change for the whole Mykiss gang. Husky 1 will no longer be a student and that will be a very big change, Barto will start teching full time maybe that will be a change. The company I work for is being bought by an investment group and merged with a competitor, that might be a big change. And BR with his house full of growing young ladies and hotshot engineering projects lives with constant growth and change.

It scares me because Steelhead fishing makes me happy and I don't know if a change at work will make it harder to follow that passion. I think most of the Mykiss gang maybe feeling, or has felt, this way. It could be that there are other, greater joys in life than hooking and landing a steelhead, but it is something that makes me happy and I don't want to miss a day of it. (Especially a day when a bunch of scum ball undesrving hacks go out and nail a bunch of fish and all I can do is hear about it because I was "on the road" or "stuck at work")

At the same time, when I stopped working at the fly shop and started working at my current job, it didn't take long for it to open the doors to west coast steelhead trips. I started taking the trips alone and then BR was able to join me,then Barto, and Husky 1. I sometimes feel that I have so much less time to fish, and that may be true, but I definitely get to go on some really great trips.

Anyway, my point is that it will be a great new year despite all the changes we face. We have alot to work towards in 2008 steelhead fishing.

Maybe this spring I will find a way to finally land a winter stellhead on the West Coast.

Maybe we can finally get an N.E.W. steelhead to come up for a dry.

Maybe we can find steel on Manitowoc.


Maybe too I can take all the opportunities to Ski while the snow is good and the fishing is not. And please let the Packers beat the Patriots in February, and all that it would take to make that happen.