Tuesday, June 19, 2018

The Return is Nigh!

It's been a while. I've been sidelined by two broken legs (one on each side) and abdominal surgery ever since the season opened, and we got 19 inches of snow on opening day. Now that I am out of the leg splints. my orthopedist has prescribed going fishing as excellent therapy...and then the past two days we have had 8-14 inches of rain overall my favorite fishing spots. Can you say, "wash-out?" This won't be my most stellar year, but as soon as the monsoon subsides, I will be hitting the streams in NW WI and NE MN.

I have several rods; a Badger Tenkara UNC pack rod for bike-fishing and a Cabela's RLX 5 wt. are my two primaries. An old Eagle Claw, my first fly rod, from back in the late '70s when EC was still a top quality brand not an Amazon discount item. I also use Daiwa Silvercast ultra-light spinning rod, and a telescoping Shakespeare with a small Daiwa reel on it for packing into the interior. My favorite flies are olive caddis flies, black fly flies, hoppers and red worm flies. Lighter colored streamers seem to work best on the Tenkara in the winter, but I have a box that is specifically flies for the UNC, and I hope to try more of them out when my recovery is over. (One more week!)

My go-to vehicle for the frontcountry is still my '05 Dodge Dakota, which has been giving me fits, but it runs. I access the backcountry on my Cogburn CB4 fat-bike. Can't wait to get back on it.

How many of you saw the article in "Fly Fishing Magazine" about the Driftless Area Flyathon? How do you think something like that would go over for Bikefishing? Just wondering.

Stay safe!
Hans