Gavin

Brownie man passed on a long time ago, but he was a very good trout fisherman here's a pick of his tackle box. Brownie Man's Tackle Box

Lots of herbs on that! SB Good! On the road for 10. Finally home last night. Mostly pre-prepped BBQ & a few quick lunches & dinners between activities, Enjoyed lots of sweet corn and corner stand veg. Best food While dining out. Ruby's in Decorah IA. Got the crab cakes eggs Benedict and the Ronnie Cinnamon Roll. All was good. The Drive In Grantsburg, WI, is still good. Frosty home made root beer beer, some fried white cheese curds, onion rings, fries, and a burger (bison or beef).

Get a sit on top with a comfy chair that straps on top of the hull. They are heavy, hard to load on top of a vehicle due to disproportionate weight distribution, but easy to drag out of the garage and tie in the bed of a pickup for a day trip. Have one...fishes great...but just a day trip boat IMO. Use it 2-3 times a year, but my wife floats it allot more.

Thats a great catch! Good for you!

We found a little full hookup campground in Waterville, Pine Bluff CG. Its basically RV rent lots on the banks of Paint Creek. Ten rent spots, and 2-3 available for transient campers. It was really quiet. Only 1 other camp spot was occupied for the 3 nights we spent there. Tons of public access to the creek. Jim the owner is a super nice guy, but does not have a bathroom available so he wont rent to tent campers. If you want to tent camp on the paint go to Yellow River State Forest just down the road. They have some nice tent camping spots. Not much luck on the Little Paint that runs through the CG though. Air clear and lots of catch & keep pressure. The Paint Creek valley, (especially the confluence of the Paint & Little Paint) is a very scenic spot.

Dabblemont is a wack job....plain and simple. They do sell timber using selective harvest, because its actually good to do so.

Paint Creek between the Waterville, and the Yellow River State Forest. Those paper Iowa DNR County Trout maps are a big help. You can get them at the Visitor Info center in downtown Decorah.

Looks like a fun hobby but why are you trying to imitate 3.5" rainbow and brown trout instead of forage fish? I have always done better with forage fish colors with no black shad dot. Lucky Craft's pearl shad color is probably my favorite trout jerk bait color but it is impossible to find anymore.

Just drove through Wisconsin, Minnesota & Iowa. The Upper Mississippi & Yellow are at flood stage so is the Wapsipinicon, The Upper Iowa near Decorah looked fine, so did the Zumbro, and the Namekagon & St. Croix looked good. The Cedar River near Cedar Falls looked really good but its big water. About the size of the Meramec near St. Louis. Did not fish for Smallmouth in Iowa but caught a couple wild brown trout on a creek near Decorah, caught some pike, smallmouth, and walleye on the Chippewa near Hayward.

Would want to be in on that.

Looks like fun! Thanks for the report and glad you enjoyed your trip.

Looks awesome!

Dunno, looks like the kayak rods have better components than the standard St Croix. Usually wrap my own canoe/kayak rods. Will have to get several in hand to check them out. Glad that a major mfg is interested in making rods for low draft watercraft instead of 8' lake boat fishing poles for a change. Most of my river gear poles are 5' 6" or 6'. Will use a 6' 9" or a 7' on occasion.

Nice tie! Lots of time in that one. There are some big longears in Big River and tributaries....but I wont eat them. They eat a ton of small insects and have a really high lead content according to the former stream biologist who sampled and tested them for lead content. One of the most colorful fish in the ozarks, next to the darter species.

Have buddies with western style drift boats and they do fine on the Meramec & Gasconade. Have seen a few Supreme's with jets on the 11pt, small jet jon's on the Current. Skill of the operator. Many boats will work, but its mostly monkey see, monkey do.

That's a really nice longear. Have caught a few around 8" but they are usually 6" or smaller. I don't care if you speared a bluegill type fish. Have spear fished and hand lined fish in the ocean before. Mostly free diving in 15'-40', Tank diving occasionally for spiny lobsters. Its not easy and physically demanding. Glad you are having fun.

Nice vid Seth! Have not fished Taney in years, but the Harris boys have fallen in love with it. Good luck Pete! Packing for NE Iowa and the Big Chip in WI this week. Hoping for a brook trout, a mess of walleye and a Musky.

We were fishing the G3 Guide 167T models up in Canada at Camp Quetico...They probably have 15 or more of them. Vinyl instead of carpet, no wind screens...Just a bare bones solid boat with lots of storage. Easy to fish 3 out of one.

The outfitter we used in Canada last year seems to be really fond of G3 Aluminum V hulls equipped wtih Yamaha F40 tiller 4 strokes. Those rocky Canadian lakes can be really tough on boats & motors and they use their equipment hard. They were quiet, and comfortable to fish out of, but I don't know the cost.

Just got back, Ned and HDCraw did the trick, a few on top. Eddie won the prize for big fish (c-store hot pickle in a bag selected by my daughters). Girls did great on their little kayaks. Oldest needs a bigger boat. Have an 8' lifetime SOT available, will toss in a paddle. $50 in Webster 63119. Youngest daughter still fits hers.

4th is awesome! Happy Indepedance Day! Hope you read the Declaration today.

Looks like a great trip. Headed down Thursday. Long skinny baits like that always seem to work well on the Black. Any topwater fish? Cool, have way too many topwaters & some ploppers. Will have to check out Mitch's new bait when available.

2 pork butts, and 6 racks yesterday....Today the wife gives me a Thermapen. Good Grief! Coulda used that yesterday...Still turned out fine.

Looks like a great trip. Headed down Thursday. Long skinny baits like that always seem to work well on the Black. Any topwater fish?

It is cheaper to make your own..and you don't spend much more time if you are going to paint or epoxy them. Usually just do foam blockhead style poppers on a disk sander. No paint, and you can shape a head in less than a minute. Buy the big foam letters at the craft store. Balsa or cork poppers are more involved, but still no big deal. Dipping in a can of paint is quicker than spraying the darn things.