West Fork Jason

Not as many musky stories this Oct. as usual for me this season....Our first born is due this Tuesday. No guide trips this month, 8-9+ hour drift boat trips on the river w/o cell service are out of the question... But I have the best wife on the planet, she's been letting me fish...but w/ a short leash... It's been short runs in my 17' Lund close to home and the hospital... I've sought out tasty fillets of walleye which happen to be the winter haunts of our SMB populations....ons....

(http://www.cabelas.com/category/Infographics-Fishing/630618480.uts)...there are no Bluegills in Missouri, no Yellow Perch or Smallmouth Bass in Wisconsin, don't even think about big pike in SODAK, and you've got a shot at a big bonefish in Alaska.

This past week, I organized a Smallmouth Bass outing for our local Wild Rivers Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Temps are a bit high to be safely fishing trout at the moment, so an August bass outing was in order. We had quite the armada of river going vessels put together - My fiberglass drift boat, a handmade wooden drift boat, an aluminum jon, one canoe, a three person raft, and a kayak. With that many participating we broke up into 3 groups all doing different stretches of river in the Hayward area. Pete in my boat had a fishing experience of a lifetime. I pulled the boat behind a mid river island and dropped anchor for a little lunch break. Pete put his flyrod down and started tossing a small jig hook with a white plastic body. He hooked into something, and my first reaction was “BIG BASS!!!” b/c it wasn’t jumping. Then it’s tail came out of the water near the boat…. I quickly put the bass net away and unfolded the musky net... The musky didn’t have a hook in it, and didn’t let go of the 12” bass T-boned in it’s jaws until both fish were in the net. After everyone had a great day of fishing, we all met up at the North Star Homestead Farms for wood fired pizza and our monthly business meeting.

combination of cheese, beer, and bratwurst....

Amery ---> a superchunk on the fly pole from yesterday. It was a rare moment when I got to fish from my own drift boat. Friends that can row are a rare and valuable commodity...

Shame seems a bit extreme... It's my preferred method to fish, but these folks had very limited fly rod experience. I used to be one of those "I only fly fish", but why limit oneself? Amery, we had 30-35 MPH winds the last day. I bet you would have switched to a spinning rod in a second.

I'm not taking the time while on the water w/ clients for all that. The pen and paper come out at the end to record results. Lot's of time we're doubled up when they're really going. That alone can be a lot to deal with especially in heavy current with a couple handfuls of oars.

Ham, you're a good guy to fish with...BUT........ http://store.controlconceptsusa.com/page4.html

One fish counter- it's for a survey of our area rivers.

I just wrapped up a 3 day Smallmouth Bass adventure with Bill from Alabama and Bruce from Texas. What a trip! From the comfort of a drift boat, we floated 27 miles of a beautiful northern Wisconsin river and only saw two other boats out fishing over the entire 3 days. We fished 8-12 lb. braided line on medium spinning rods with soft plastics. (All fluke variations in white) On Monday the water temp was well over 80 degrees, so we strictly bass fished with the temps being well past the ethical boundary to fish Musky. And why bother, the bass are on fire... I had along a DNR fish counter to keep track of our catches - 159 total bass - 11 @ 17-20", 27 @ 14-17", 32 @ 11-14", and 89 dinks. We got one bonus 17" walleye (only fish kept, all else released). We had 5 encounters with musky including 2 bite off's, one SMB DESTROYED by a toothy critter, and 2 following bass back to the boat. There is some time left to fish the great Smallmouth bite going on right now, but it will be fall Musky fishing before you know it... Cheers, JS

Fly is a HWY 53 North, Great Lakes Fly Shop. 19"

The Cajun permit variety of drum are way too tasty to be let go! How accurate is using scales to age fish? Any biologists out there reading this thread? I spent an evening with the Wisconsin DNR electro boom shocking a local lake, and bass age and growth rate was discussed. The biologist in the boat said something about not really knowing how old the bass were, until they literately cracked a few bass heads open. There was something in the skull structure that led them to determine a 20" fish is about 20 years old here in our water, but our growing season is surely much shorter up here in the north and plays a significant role.

No personal best single fish today....but I have to say the best hour and a half of SMB fishing I've ever had! The fluke jr was getting crushed by the big fish today, they were super aggressive!!! Our fish up here in northern wisco just finished up spawning and must really have the munchies.

This poor thing didn't stand a chance. My grandmother was kind enough to put up my fiancee and my self for a few days, and being a Friday during Lent I felt obliged to bonk this one and bring it home to grandma so she could have her some walter cheeks. Yum! Got it on a 7 wt. with a sink tip, and one of Johnnie's Mud Wrestler crawdad flies..... http://www.greatlakesflyshop.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=816