ColdWaterFshr

Like messing with free flowing rivers and damming them up?

May and June they are just thawing out. Its more of a July, August, and first couple days in September kind of place. 😂 We were up there 2020-2021 New Years Eve and Day and that same view looking out to Potawatomi Park, which is 2 miles across, was frozen solid as it does every year. Many trucks driving their huts WAY out on the ice.

Agreed. I'm pretty lost on large bodies of water. And whats the fun in looking at a stupid screen to see where they are? I won't do it. Ever.

Green Bay side isn't bad at all. Lake Michigan, yeah okay, . . . .but I would take a million dollar home on western shore of Sturgeon Bay or any western shore of Door County ANY day over a a million dollar home on LOZ, even with just a 3 month summer and the 9 month winter. 🤪

Beautiful place, but I absolutely don't know what I'm doing. Water too vast, and I guess you need livescope. Fished the water pretty hard for several days in front of the dock and used various baits (suspending jerk baits, soft baits large and small) and retrieves with nothing to show. This jackhammer shows up in the morning and evening each day with his fancy 2 screen scope and blonde bimbo and whacks fish left and right. I watched him with binocs from the lake house patio. What is Paul Dallas to do? The beauty of this place is hard to beat. 3 miles west of Sturgeon Bay, there is almost zero boat traffic or jet skis or any nonsense the whole of 4th of July weekend and following week. I couldn't believe it. Pure quiet and solitude.

Why are you giving all your stuff away, Gavin? Taking up golf?

I recognize these. If memory serves, the body material comes from blanket material lifted from a Howard Johnson's. Perfect 2-ply fabric.

Ticks came from when we hung our hammocks. Brush always quite thick under the good hammock trees along the river... the only disadvantage of hammock camping. Either bring a machete or weedeater to get to the good spots. I brought neither. I brought Cutter. As for the downed trees, the upper current is not conducive for the outfitters, and for good reason. Upper put-in isn't great for mass load-offs, but more than that, I think its got a few too many tricky spots and hairpin turns that makes it a liability for the weekend rec/novice joy-rider. I don't see that ever changing.

For those who say I never do a trip report . . . . . Made an impulse run late Tuesday afternoon down to the Upper Current. 1 car, 1 canoe. Arrived at Baptist, dropped my canoe in the water with small amount of gear, hammocks, cooler with some frosties, a couple of Honey-Baked Ham sandwiches, and not much else. Buddy then drove down to Parker, where he would wade fish up and we would meet somewhere in the middle to camp overnight. This worked out really well. Other than a few swimmers at Baptist, didn't see another soul. Caught a bunch of fish, mostly a mix of small browns and rainbows all the way down. Fished a Walt's Sexy Worm most of the time, along with chucking a Lucky Craft in some of the deeper holes. Fish were everywhere they were supposed to be, but very few risers. Saw several 20+ inch fish cruising the shallows. Water level for this time of year was a very nice flow, though I thought the water temp seemed a bit on the warm side. A couple of spots have really changed, including one big log-jam section that is now gone. Had to lift the canoe over a couple of downed trees that were completely blocking the river. As it was getting toward dusk, I saw my buddy wading upstream and we picked out a spot to camp. He had similar success on his way up. Set up our hammocks at a good spot and then set to work removing about 100 ticks from my legs. Put on a heavy dose of Cutter which gave a nice warm chemical burn, and then plopped down in my plaid green vinyl lawn chair and poured a Bullit bourbon into my tin cup with a couple of ice cubes and watched the fireflies put on a fine display. Retired to the hammock and slept extremely well. Nice cool night and almost chilly. Was awoken at dawn by a parliament of owls. Best alarm clock ever. Threw on my wading boots and hit the water, catching more than a few eager browns from 12-16" on the jerkbait. Missed several that would be quite a bit bigger and had a follow from a legit 24". Returned to camp, fired up the trusty old MSR, and brewed up some coffee in the french press. Loaded up the boat and floated out to Parker. Was off the water by 9 a.m. before the heat set in and got home by noon.

Keep telling yourself that, Stuart. 🤣

By and large, its these kind of dorks that like to play with AR-15's. You know, . . . the Kyle Rittenhouse types. https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/mom-of-arrested-patriot-front-member-booted-him-out-of-her-basement-because-his-beliefs-make-her-sick/ar-AAYxRel?li=BBnbfcL

Agreed. And I kinda view any promotion of Smallmouth fishing as a GOOD thing, not necessarily a bad thing, so long as a stringer or live well or tournament isn't involved. Get out and enjoy our hundreds of miles of rivers and creeks! Chuck Tyron would approve this message, I think.

You also got a pool over there?

That is a fatty. And on an EHC? Congratulations. I think that lower access holds most of the bigger fish on the Norfork. Lot of uninteresting water, but the spots where you know to look . . .

Those are some sweet poppers. I'll take 6 of each please.

No, its data. Look at the data. We have more guns = we have more gun deaths. More guns has not made us safer. Study the data. And so yeah, study the pond scum and most definitely the "good sense" about how they get such easy access. You might find the answer is greed and that there really is no compassion.

Another stupid, stupid comment. High prices?? The kid was wearing tactical gear and body armor, which isn't exactly cheap. Wars?? you think he was motivated by Ukraine?? Nasty media?? What brings someone to take that out on 2nd thru 4th graders? I mean, I hate Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, but even those two couldn't swerve me off the road that far. Some warped logic there JD. Go fish! . . . . As Phil might want us all to do anyway.

As the most advanced nation in the world, WHY does this crap happen here, and predominantly HERE, unlike any other place on earth? Why? We don't have more crazy people per capita here than anywhere else I don't think. Do we? I had to look up Ulvade, TX on a map. But the fact that it is rural means nothing. It could be anywhere in the US. I think we can agree, we are all frustrated beyond belief. And any time I hear "thoughts and prayers" I just want to puke. Lets find and demand solutions. We are way too long past Sandy Hook, Parkland, Vegas, Columbine, Buffalo last week, and on and on and on.

Sorry to break up the whiner party. Major inflationary pressures are now occurring and being felt 'round the globe. Gas prices, energy prices, food prices, even the cost of thumb tacks are way, WAY up . . . Euope, Asia, Latin America . . . . . Get over it. It sucks. Has ZERO to do with Jan 2021 or politics,. . . . but since you brought it up, its true that history will never forget Jan 6th, 2021. And the more that we learn about it, the uglier it gets. Treason.

Mitch! I thought you had been banned! Welcome back, buddy.

Paul Dallas has been locked out of here for years because his IP address keeps coming up from a Japanese penitentiary adjacent to the Gamakatsu fish hook factory of all places. Rumor has it that he is spending his time wisely during incarceration, penning a chemically sharpened tell-all, . . . . a bombshell autobiography revealing many scandalous specifics about the under-belly of the pro-fishing circuit from the mid-70's to early 2000's. Lots of names and dates and eyewitness testimony. Title forthcoming. In the foreword he cites that "the bass fishing industry is a long plastic worm of a hallway, a shallow money trench where pimps and thieves run free, and good men die like dogs, but it also has a darker side". Shopping for a publisher, and bail money.

Get jiggy with it. Hope you get him.

Nice report, Ham. I had no idea that this was the reason for the sell-off of the gear. He sounds like a first class guy and I'm sure he would approve of a fine outing like this. Carpe Diem and cheers to Rick.

Best one cast ever! Good work, Phil!

There are some piggy smallmouth even in the trout water of NF, but also above. Bryant Creek, if I lived 2 hours closer . . . would warrant much closer inspection. I've only fished it a couple times. To call it a "Creek" is stretching the definition. Its big. 43 miles of it too. The size of that whole watershed (of both Bryant and the NFOW) could keep a motivated full-time fisherman busy for quite a while.