Dutton's First Blog Post

Hi this is Dutton. This is my first web blog. I have included some of my dad's fishing photos from 2003. Notice to the public I was very young in the posted photo. I was only 5 years old. I'm much bigger now. I hope you enjoy these photos.

My Dad with a Chain of Lakes Muskie. He caught on a fly.

A "FAT" Trip to Canada to find Atlantic Salmon. Notice the Fat Mobile and how little my big sister is.

yumm two nice trout after a good day of fishing

This is Kramer my older and supposedly more mature brother.

This is my dad the fishing fat man with a nice king salmon

WEBSITES MAKE ME CRAZY

Unbelievable.....I'm a freakin Fisherman...not MP!! I hate website development!

Today is the first day of the "FLY FISH Nation"....too much to do and no time.

We're now at www.FlyFishNation.com

Dutton and I spent most of the night looking through old FishinFatman photos and files. We walked down memory lane. We saw lots of great old photos. Some were very funny....some really scary.

Hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane. Dutton and I will continue to get the site up and running. We're working on Fly photos today. We'll try to find some more old photos. Maybe we'll do a couple of blogs on some of the past trips. Should be fun as we get them. Here's a favorite of mine..........Looking for different Salmon river's we ended up on an old logging trail......NOT the best place to be in a down pour towing the FAT Trailer!! Good thing it was the Fat Mobile and we were prepared!!

Tomorrow we'll upload the fly tying and Fly Shop photos!

STREAM ETIQUETTE AND “WALKING THE TALK”

ETIQUETTE

Some in the Midwest would say that this is a “dead” topic. Much of the Lake Michigan Tributary fishing is just not conducive to traditional fly fishing etiquette. It’s hard to stay out of someone else’s fishing space when anglers are stacked on top of each other.

On a weekend it’s not hard to find anglers every fifty feet. I’ve fished with many people where we were fishing a rod length apart. When conditions are like this it’s best to learn to fish with some common sense and basic manners.

Let’s face it, if it was common sense I wouldn’t be writing about it, but it’s about as common as good weather and good fishing.

FATMAN’s River Basics:
1. YIELD THE RIVER RIGHT AWAY.
It was really interesting to have a gentlemen pull into the river parking lot at about fifteen minutes after my clients and I arrived. We were rigged up and talking about some strategies when he came up to us, ready to fish, and asked where were planning to fish. He said he didn’t want to take our spot because we had gotten there first. I was amazed. Not only could I hardly believe he was asking us where we were headed so he wouldn’t crowd us, he was genuinely decent at 5:00AM. He used some basic manners and common sense and set up a precendence I think is important. He yielded the river to the first angler.

2. GREET OTHER ANGLERS.
Not only this did this angler yield the river access to us, he also asked us about how fishing conditions were, what we were going to fly, how the water conditions were and if fish were present. Very smart. He got a head start on the day just by talking with us and was curtious and polite.

3. DON’T CROWD OTHER ANGLERS.
Sometimes this is very hard during a tributary run. Anglers line up side by side and fish right on top of eachother. If this is something that would make you crazy, my best suggestion would be to move to a less angler populated spot. However, if you have some patience, can talk with other anglers and can handle fishing right next to someone, fishing in a crowd can be rewarding. You can meet some excellent people and you can “share” the fish.

Iowa Fly Fishing Schools

In the good 'OL Fishin FATMAN Days, our guide service ran an outing to Iowa once a month. I miss those days and the opportunity to help new and experienced anglers share the great trout fishery that IOWA is! We're starting these classes up again and can't wait to share the North East Iowa experience with you.


INTODUCTION TO FLY FISHING:

This class is designed to teach a novice everything needed to begin the sport of fly-fishing. Small class sizes ensure personal attention and excellent interaction between students and instructor.

In this course you will learn the “BASICS” of fly fishing. Our goal of this class is to take the mystery out of fly-fishing and make it accessible to anyone interested. As a class participate, you will learn the differences between fly fishing equipment and conventional gear. You will be instructed in fly-casting technique and will learn to cast a fly line. Finally, you’ll learn how to combine the equipment, casting techniques and fly selection into a success outing. In the class you learn fly-fishing strategies that will help you become a more successful fly-fishing angler. Finally, after completing the “Introduction to Fly Fishing” class you’ll have the opportunity to try your newly learned skill on the water with our class instructor.

Session I Intro To Fly Fishing
1. Explanation of Fly Lines:
2. The Tapered Leader
3. Explanation of Fly Rods:
4. Explanation of Fly Reels:
5. Vest, Gadgets and Other critical tools
6. Fly fishing Knots
Session II Getting Ready for the Water
1. Basic Principles of Casting
2. The CUBE casting principle
3. Forward Cast and Shooting line
4. Roll Casting
5. Stream Etiquette
Session III FLY FISHING
1. Entomology and Hatches
2. Fly Selection and Discussion
3. Approaching the Stream
4. FATMAN’s Fly Fishing DOCTRINE:
a. Water Flow
b. Water Clarity
c. Weather
5. WiLLFuL Presentation Techniques:
a. Weight & Presentation Speed
b. Leader Length
c. Line Color & Size
d. Fly Presentation
e. Location
6. PLAN “B” - What to do now you’re on the water?

EGG Patterns

EGG PATTERNS
CHENILE EGG
HOOK Small Egg (4 to 8)
THREAD 6/0 and Complimentary
Body Large Chenile
Dressing Salmon Yarn or Matched Hackle
STEP 1:
For the Chenile Egg and the Yarn “Nuke” egg you can start with the hook in the vise.


STEP 2:
Tie on the Chenile with the color of thread to compliment the chenille color.

STEP 3:
Wrap the chenille into a ball. HINT: Wrap a two wraps for a foundation and then a single wrap over the two bottom wraps. This will make a nice ball. Depending on the desired egg size you can vary the amount of wraps.
STEP 4:
Dress the front of the egg pattern with a small piece of Salmon Yarn. This will provide an additional color key for spawning fish. Lay the yarn in length-wise and tie in the middle. Fold over and smooth out across the egg.
STEP 5:
Whip finish and then glue the head of the egg to ensure thread doesn’t come unwrapped.FISH ON!!!



POM-POM EGG
HOOK Small Egg (4 to 8)
THREAD 6/0 and Complimentary
Body 7mm Pom-Pom
Dressing Salmon Yarn or Matched Hackle
STEP 1:
Find the center of the pom-pom, and “string” the Pom-pom on the hook first.
STEP 2:
Dress the front of the egg pattern with a small piece of Salmon Yarn. This will provide an additional color key for spawning fish. Lay the yarn in length-wise and tie in the middle. Fold over and smooth out across the egg.
STEP 3:
Whip finish and then glue the head of the egg to ensure thread doesn’t come unwrapped.FISH ON!!!

NUKE EGG
HOOK Small Egg (4 to 8)
THREAD 6/0 and Complimentary
Body Salmon Yarn
Dressing Salmon Yarn or Matched Hackle

STEP 1:
For the Chenile Egg and the Yarn “Nuke” egg you can start with the hook in the vise.
STEP 2:
Tie on the Salmon yarn so the Yarn goes over the hook eye. Wrap the thread back to the hook shank.

STEP 3:
Pull the Yarn back over the hook shank making and nice elongated ball. Tie in the middle of the yarn.

STEP 4: Whip finish and then glue the head of the egg to ensure thread doesn’t come unwrapped.FISH ON!!!

It's Called CATCHING

It’s called “CATCHING”

Sitting on the ice gives me an opportunity to look back on my life. I know, it’s a scary thought. First of all, I’ve got a moment to think and worse …..I’m actually THINKING!!!! My college professors would be proud!

While on the ice contemplating life, my first thought was ……damn, what happened to this year. 2009…GONE!!! That thought led into - When did I get so old?
What happened to my youth? Wow, I’ve got four kids!
I’ve been married almost 20 years!!!!
My daughter started HIGH SCHOOL!!!!

I jigged pondering those complex thoughts. I also had time to brood over less important things. For Instance….

Why do you park in a driveway?
Why do we drive on Parkways?

While enjoying the Wisconsin winter chill, I contemplated one of the truly puzzling things in our English language………….why is it called FISHING?

Seriously, they don’t call “sales” something like “shopping ”. We fishermen should lobby to change our chosen past-time to something more indicative and respectful. Instead of “fishing” we should all go “catching”!!

As you’ve noticed, spending too much time on the ice watching your rod tip for a slight bounce or staring at the bright, white ice background waiting to see an orange flag has rendered me a little goofy.

This New Year’s Eve my wife gave us a challenge. She gathered us all in the living room and told us at the stroke of mid-night to have three goals for the coming New Year! Awesome! I love goals. I’m a goal-oriented, highly motivated kind-a-guy. Goals are what I need to succeed in 2010! Due to my time on the ice lately …..pondering, thinking, considering, day-dreaming, brooding, and contemplating about all things one can think of while trying to catch stinking pan fish and Northern coming up with goals was no problem.

1. Spend more time with the Family.
2. Spend more time Fishing….(I mean Catching)
3. Spend more time volunteering at Church and helping my Community.

These are simple goals nothing fancy.

At the end of January, I’m doing well on 1 and 2. Goal number 3 is a challenge but I’m doing much better. It’s the scout in me, I’m trying to be more of a good example in the community.

I’ve been on the ice almost every day possible. During my time off over the holidays and weekends, we’ve spent a lot of family time together (especially the Tribe) and I’m realizing how important family time is. Primarily we are fishing our local lake and the boys and I have been focusing a lot of energy on tip-up fishing for Northern! To say the least, we’ve done very well. Everyday, we got lots of snakes and at least one or two good Northern (a good on is any thing over 25 inches). We’ve even caught a couple Walleye!!

There is something very satisfying about rigging a tip up the right way, at the right depth, with the right bait and catching a fish. We’ve done a lot of trial and error on our lake. We tend to set up a couple of tip-ups with a good method and then we search for new ways to catch more and bigger fish. Through the years, we’ve got a pretty good system worked out. The key to us catching fish is in the leaders. You need to have an invisible leader. I prefer to attach a large weight to the tip-up line and a swivel snap. This allows for easy leader changes on the ice. If your leader get twisted or kinked you should replace it.

The next step is the key and requires some at home customization and preparation. In order to stay “invisible” we use an invisa-leader. These are light seven strand leaders in low pound test. I like a lighter leader…..usually below 20 pounds. The invisa-leader has a snap attached at the end. With a little persuasion this snap comes off, giving you access to the wire leader. I like to add a couple of red or brightly colored beads and a small, silver blade to the wire. Just like a spinner bait.. This color and flash combination, along with a lively shiner drives the Pike crazy! We set our shiners about a foot above the tallest weed and……….

“TIP-UP”………….and that’s called “catching”

ICE ICE BABY.....

All day on the ice yesterday, Minna, Dutton and I were singing......'Hey we want some Crappie!!' Unfortunately for us, the fish gods were saying..............'Mere mortals you will receive Northerns and Gills'.

That's life.....when given lemons make lemonade.

We caught a bucket full of blue gill, and had Northern after Northern on the tip ups. Christmas was good for the FAT family. Santa left us all kinds of fishing gear: tip-ups, ice jigs, rods, and Dutton got a new Shanty. Talk about a fishing nut, the boy has more ice gear than most adults and now he has his own shanty! We hit the lake at sunrise. My Frabill was packed with gear and food. Dutton took his shanty out for the first time. He's got a big heart but he needs to exercise more. He made a couple of stops on the way to our spot....finally he got there panting like he'd run a marathon.

We set up my shanty and Dutton parked next to us. We did our usual grid of ice holes. It amazes me how many people actually go out and hand drill one hole. They sit on it for half an hour to an hour then drill another. Even with a hand auger we tap at least 9 to 12 holes in a grid. This gives us flexibility and coverage. We're able to move the tip ups and jig different holes before we lock down our shanty and make a "base camp". The reason to bring Minna and Dutton......is the extra three rods per child. Hey, you should take a kid ice fishing!!

Minna got a Pink tip up for Christmas and was the first one to break the skunk. It was a nice little snake and actually made a run for her! After an action photo and a quick release we went back to the shanty and kept warm. Winds were blowing over 20 mph!! At 20F that's not the kind of wind chill to stand out in with wet hands. We found the weed line on the grid and started jigging some blue gills. We didn't get any action on the jigs and spoons so Dutton dropped the camera down the hole to make sure we still had some fish. They were there giving us the fin! I changed over to a small bead-head nymph. It's good to be a Fly Fisherman who lives in the north. If you can't fly fish, you can always jig a nymph on a tiny 00000000wt fly rod!! On the first drop I got a gill, then we started to get lots of them. All it took was a little bounce, then let it set. We tipped the nymph with a red spike......deadly.

Dutton's one man Denali shanty is the BOMB for mobility! I had the kids in the Frabill and I scooted around the holes in the Denali. All in all it was a cold windy day, but it's worth hearing your son say............"Dad, you're the best Dad ever!"