Iowa trip May 2011

We've been away for a while........work has been kicking my butt as I've had to do weekly travel for the last 4 months. I've been out a couple of times with clients this spring and learned how to fish the Provo river in Utah........but this weekend we did our first trip into Iowa. The fly schools are all set up for this summer. We had a small group out this weekend and the class was very short. We did a fast coverage of the school details....here's the details www.flyfishnation.com .

We'll be doing these classes all summer long. We have have a set schedule of classes but are willing to do a custom class for clients. We'll be happy to run a customized class for two or more clients. Give us a call at 262.758.0575 or send us an email at fat@flyfishnation.com

Summer classes will be:
June 12th - fly casting basics and matching the hatch
July 15-17 full school
August 12 full school

September 24-25 Salmon school in Racine

We hope you can make one of the classes. Should be a great time!

COHO DAY

Today we had a rough start. My dad got back from Istanbul, Turkey yesterday. He’s not as good a traveler as he once was and he accidentally shut off the alarm while he was checking it……jet lag. So we got up an hour late!!!

We jumped out of bed and ran out of the house, floored the FlyFishNation Truck and got coffee on the run! We made up 20 minutes driving to Waukesha to pick up my Dad’s friend, Huy. Yesterday we got a good rain so we thought that the Menomonee would be a great river to start on…….well, it was a good place to start but not the right place. The water hadn’t bumped like we thought it would so we left the fish we saw there in search of bigger, better and more fishy water.
We got the Milwaukee about an hour after sunrise. Huy got the first fish, then Dad! Both were Cohos…..Most of the fish in the river were older Kings. We didn’t fish to those because most of the Kings were just a little better looking then this one.

The Coho were a little better. We got on a good run and fished the Coho’s below the Spawning Kings. Dad said to fish to the tails of the Kings and drift our eggs and flash flies below. We were trying for the steelhead and browns but we didn’t land any. Dad hooked a steelhead that danced down river for about 4 seconds and then he lost his fly.



We spent most of the morning catching Coho after Coho from a run below Estabrook Park. The fishing was tough; the male Coho’s were very aggressive and were smacking red flash flies. The females were hitting a hot pink egg. Everyone hooked up and Dad caught the most. Dad was catching all of his Cohos’ on this flash fly. The red collar was the ticket, plus the flash made it irresistible to the Cohos.

After we were done fishing we headed to the favorite post fishing haunting ground of the Fly Fish Nation……Q-Doba. Do you think a Mexican Burrito place would be willing to be a sponsor of the Nation? I know we could probably eat them out of business. I’m a classic steak burrito, black beans and mild sauce kid! Yummmmmm!!! Q-Doba is the lunch of champions..............

FISH ON!!!!!!

Check out the water flows on the ROOT!!!!

We're Fishing Thursday thru Sunday.....

Get your Rod, Reel and Flies and head to the water!

http://www.flyfishnation.com/

CAN YOU SAY "FLY SHOP"

Racine's Root River.......water levels are at 6.6 cfs......that's LOW!!! Here's the riffle above the Colonial Park Bridge.

It's official....

The state of Wisconsin in their infinite wisdom just allowed the FLY TRIBE a retail business license! NO KIDDING!!! Our beautiful office manager and business consultant (aka...my wife) got all the paperwork in and we've been granted approval!!

YAHOOOOO!!!!!!

The http://www.flyfishnation.com/ is now an officially licensed retail business.

A REAL FLY SHOP!!! We can't wait!

The heathens and I have been working the business Plan....Discussing the strategy and trying to decide what to invest in and where to put all the money! Ha, Ha.

The Business will open 2011.

We'll run a local shop in Burlington, WI. Local hours of operation are yet to be established. We have a great on-line company to promote our on-line store. The store will be coming on line as soon as we lock down merchants and generate a little more cash.........

The guide service was supposed to re-invest all of the Fall profits but unfortunately the SE Wisconsin area is in the midst of an "unseasonable" Drought!! So much of the business plan!

FISHING UPDATE:
Since we're in a drought I thought I'd let you all know about the fishing on the rivers. It's very slow. Waters are VERY LOW! I mean most of the fish could walk up the river faster. Pray for Rain!

Until then......Buy flies! Dutton's been tying like a fiend. We'll have the Fly Fish Nation Truck at the Racine Steelhead Facility weir this Sunday. Come by and say hi!

Dutton and I will be there with the lawn chairs and fly displays.

We might even break down cook some brats and have a couple of cold "DR. PEPPERS"! Here's a sample of Dutton's work. This is his salmon box. There are a lot more like this.

See you on the water.................

Hmmmm....

The weekend bordered on SUCKY! Actually, the weather sucked. The lack of rain sucked....and this whole fall run is shaping up to suck. BUT Wait.....there is a slim chance of Rain in the forecast.

We had some Family friends that came up for the run. Well actually, they came up to spend some time with us and we did a little fishing. Honestly it was a very little fishing. We went out early on Saturday. The weather was perfect but the flows......well.....they weren't. We hooked a couple and I broke off landing a large hen a little after sunrise. We fished the Milwaukee, we were the only ones there until 715ish. KT had a football game in the am, so I needed to get off the water around 9am. We drove to Brookfield to see the Burlington Spiders beat the Brookfield Lancers.

After that we went to the Salmon Unlimited open house in Racine at the Root! Great program and well run. My Kudos to the salmon unlimited folks for doing a great job. They had a fly casting area, a cast area, they were giving tours of the weir and had some information boths set up. Not only that...but they had Salmon soup, smoked salmon and hot dogs! It was a great afternoon.

We went upriver to see if any of the processed kings would venture up.....

Well it was a good idea. At least, we got to spend some time together with what little water is in the Root. Only one Salmon made it up to us.......We had pity on it and let it rest in the pool next to us. They've moved 91 Kings upriver this weekend. Not what I would call a "Banner" Fall run!

While waiting for the fish to show up, I did get an opportunity to snap some new photos. Here's some new pattern's www.FlyFishNation.com is selling. Check out these beauties.

We were out Sunday morning again and caught some kings early. They're in the deeper runs....which really aren't that deep. Look for them to be near the riffles and in the current.

Don't throw big!!!

We've thrown them everything and the best has been to find the Alpha pair (the salmon that are actually doing the motions) and throw to the Beta fish below them. Use size 7mm naked eggs. On the Milwaukee the color of choice was a red and orange.

Just the pom-pom and hook. Plain 'ol. Plain 'ol.

The fishing is best right at sunrise. Unfortunately there's not a lot of time to get settled so you need to be in the water with plenty of time to spare. Look for the fish and target the Betas. If you can't find any look for the deeper runs and fish your egg patterns deep. The fishing will be good until the sun hits the water. It's like the scene in Raider's of the Lost Ark, when Indiana Jones is in the temple with the staff of Ra. The sunrise goes over the city model......well imagine that scene only the sun is peaking over the tree tops and the sun light is shining on the water. Today the sunlight hit the water about 2hours and 15 minutes after sunrise. As soon as the sunlight touched the area the salmon were holding in......POOF! The fish pulled a Houdini and finished.

We had BIG AL out today. He was a Dutton guide this morning. Al landed a nice male. Note the time of morning....early. We still had to have the flash on the Camera. Great looking fish, and it was a good fight for him. It's his first Salmon. One more weekend down........

http://www.flyfishnation.com/

Ewww Dead, Moldy Salmon!!!

It's October in SE Wisconsin ...............

we've GOT NO FREAKIN RAIN!!!!

That means every salmon that's come and gone up the river system is DEAD!!!

...actually it's more like they are cooked as the warm water, temps and lack of rain have made for a STINKO run! Truly every river has dead, moldy, STINKY Salmon carcasses everywhere.

Literally, we've been fishing in tiny runs and bath tub size pools. Actually the DUKE and I are doing a lot of fly tying, less time on the water in the streams here in WI and conserving our energy for the rain that we know is coming!

BUT never fail....We are catching some fish. We've had to go early and get off the water early. Fishing is really good after the sunrise and right after sunset. The photo period wakes up all the giant kings and they start moving and getting aggressive. Look for these monsters to slip into the currents about an hour before the sunsets and up to an hour after sunrise. If you're lucky and you're in a shaded area.....lots of these on the Milwaukee river, you can stretch your fishing for another hour to an hour and a half!!! Yahoo! At least we've got some fish here. Not a lot of room and it's not the "ideal" conditions, but it's still better than working!

Pray for Rain......we need it!

FAT and Duke

http://www.flyfishnation.com/

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