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Weekend Mischief (TR)


Slabasaurus

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Had some fun this weekend looking for new spots, hitting old spots, heck I even did a little nature walk - though, that is not an easy task when you have 3 fly rods with you...

I managed to hit a little creek spot friday night, found a little pool with an overhanging tree. Didn't take long to hook up with this

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Saturday I woke up early and hit up a spot near my house until thorne brothers opened up. Managed to keep it under 20 bucks this time, which is pretty darn good for me. Here's what I tied up.

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And I caught a bunch of these

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Sunday was a blast..

Friendly Reminder (not sure I think it's in the most logical place, but hey)

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Found some shrooms on the path

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And some off the path

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Not sure which tree this sign was indicating was for dudes, and which was for chicks... but at any rate, it's nice to have some help now and then.

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Just a little further...

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This feels big...

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Well hello there. Been lookin for ya for a while.

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Released so I can catch it again when I have my tape...

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Until next time....

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Nice pictures! I too found some mushrooms this weekend while working at the InfraSound music festival... Will probably find more next weekend in Faribault for Big Wu Family Reunion... wink

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  • 3 weeks later...

Good show sir.

Those Native seats are second to none in my book. Never have found a better one. Look at getting the seat riser also. It's a little unstable at first, but once you get used to it, it makes standing up and sitting back down a lot easier.

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I was browsing the Native owners forums last night... stumbled upon your post on the very subject of risers smile

Have any pics of your seat setup?

They sound pretty slick, I thought I was going to have to build one out of PVC pipes.

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Great pics! That spot cooled off for a while, but it seems like it's getting a little better again.

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I was browsing the Native owners forums last night... stumbled upon your post on the very subject of risers smile

Have any pics of your seat setup?

They sound pretty slick, I thought I was going to have to build one out of PVC pipes.

That's a forum I'd all but forgot about. Not a lot goes on over there. It's mostly guys like myself trying to figure out what other people have done to their boats. Unfortunately, those few people that do actually use it, very few fly fish.

I don't have a picture of my setup, but I will take one when I get out to the kayak. From everything that I've read, most people are pretty high on the seat riser rather than the PVC. I was going to go the same route as you, because I figured why not? But that foam seat riser is where it's at.

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  • 1 month later...

Tough weekend, but it's not always got to be just about the catching. Sounds like you still had a good time.

This was an excellent picture.

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Supposed to rain like the dickens on saturday, but that won't stop me from trying to catch anadromous fish.

So, in the interim... and because if I stare at another report on inventory level reduction blah blah blah I'll gouge my eyes out.... here is part II. Colors.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Phew. That was a nice break there.

Alright... where were we. Ahhh yes.

Let me back up a little bit. Before the fishing sunday (saturday was a disaster due to massive wader seam failure), I decided since it was going to be sub freezing to sleep in a bit. Grab me a hot breakfast and fill the thermos up with some hot coffee.

Last few words before picture time. Hiking along the river of presidents with 5 pounds of water in your left wader boot isn't exactly fun. Boy it gets you in shape though! Alright. I'll shut up now.

Walked into the valley and heard some noise to my left. This is why I need to add a waterproof camera bag to my gear... as the DSLR and 70-300mm zoom was in the car. Point n shoot isn't terrible, but definitley not what this shot needed. Still neat though.

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Walking along the river, found a nice little hole, which had its own built in cooler!

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Nice water. Right?

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Right???

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It was. First cast into the pool, slam. Fish on. Heavy fish too. But, typical slabs... dude popped the fly out during the fight. First cast hookups are not good signs for me. I think Voodoo curses are easier to shake than the curse of a first cast steel hookup.

6 more times I hooked into steel. Each time the same story.

And that's why I always have a little Knob Creek with me.

Movin onto another spot on the river. Get away from the Voodoo who do what you don't dare do people.

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I like this spot too. here's Ted workin it. (He didn't catch anything either)

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Nice little spot too. Same story. Hook up, lost. Devastated. Man this single barrel is good though.

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Fine. I get it Mr. Fancy Pants River of Presidents. You think I need to be humbled. Why?! Last ditch effort. Closing time. Put on some meaty stuff.

Conehead Madonna tied up to look like the creek chubs that frequent this little river.

At last. Hookup, to hand. Not what I was going for really, but a fish is a fish. At least I landed a bunch of em. All smolt browns though.

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Here's why you sleep in when fishing this river in November. De-icing guides on 9 footer is not fun.

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Dead sh&^ (The rest of this dead Sh&^ was way too gruesome to post on here. Something had a tasty meal and was not concerned about their table manners)

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And that does it for the HSO Friendly pics. I was going to call it a season after sunday, with how terrible my waders and boots are, but all it took was a simple nudge to convince me one more day won't hurt.

I don't know how many modern day fly anglers have committed seppuku on account of steelhead battle shame...

So Long for Now... river of presidents.

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Nice pictures. Water in the pants, now that is something most fly fisherman have experienced a time or four. Yuck

Hey wait a minute....

Was that fireplace in your room in Brule? Did you reserve the honeymoon suite or something? Mine was much, much simpler than that. Bed, television, toilet, shower, sink.

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Wayyyy, wayyyyy to fancy! Clearly the fish were taunting you for having a fireplace in your room wink But, a little nip of bourbon helps soften the blow of a lost fish.

If you ever get a chance, try Bulliet. It's a good moderately priced bourbon. It used to be ~$20 a 750, nowadays it's been creeping up but still a good price. I've also been seeing Eagle Rare on sale for ~$25 a 750 as well. It's a pretty decent bourbon, very carmelly.

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  • 4 months later...

Whenever you make plans to meet people in the driftless, and you yourself have never been to the meet up spot, you should make the meetup spot “breakfast at _____.” Don’t assume you have any cell reception. I have no clue how I found that parking lot Ich, but I did, and for that I am grateful.

Nice winter scenery. Bright day, low clear water makes tough fishing but one should never complain on a warm winter day in MN.

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Tough fishing conditions indeed… Had nibbles but I missed them because I am not very good at fishing for trout. Scared a bunch off.

Started a big project last week at work… Big steps last week. Anyway, set this past weekend aside for some decent trouting. Overcast helps. This looks a bit more complicated though…

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Determination… not going to even think that weather will be an issue. Nope… not one bit. Huckin streamers/buggers this weekend…

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Friday afternoon finally getting lunch. Almost weekend time.

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A necessity… but a bit more evil than necessary. Nother topic for another day.

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Road to the driftless

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Follow these tracks? Raptor, or eagle? I am guessing the latter.

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Sometimes following these tracks make you wonder why birds don’t fly that far? I mean… long walk to get to this little snack.

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Time to fish. It was a little bit easier this weekend but the water was still low n clear. The backup rod was used this weekend….

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Hey, what’s this? Been a while… sheesh!

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Had more bites from larger specimens, but most landed were little guys around this size.

Fished a while, hiked a while… caught small trouts and had some icy beverages. It was a good day… until I arrived back to the car. The road was awful on the way in, but as I fished… it actually deteriorated – quite a bit there.

Reasons you should never take a v-dub to unmaintained roads during sleet and slush and ice storms, and why the creel survey dudes are awesome (Send in your data guys!):

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The drive back to Blaine was a wet and cold one. I needed a sweet tea and some ribs. Yes, they were as good as they look.

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Feels good to be getting out again...

Cheers y'all

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Looks like a great time down south. BTW, my 4wd isn't much better. Got stuck twice this year. Sometimes all it's good for it getting you stuck worse. I drove by the dam, still no enough open water. I was throwin flies this time last year. I guess I'll have to wait another week or so.

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Dude, very cool report! He survey guy on the black suv is good people. Now that I think about it... I have like 4 or 5 suveys I neee to send in. Ill fill out in tonight while I try to stave off a bored induced coma that Thief River Falls is trying to put me in.

Glad to see you got into the fish!

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I was gonna check that out soon... I checked out a local spot that's on my way home from work today and yep. Gonna be another week or two.

last year we were spoiled...

Hey Ted... If you're too bored you could probably swing over to the local truck stop and find yourself some "friends of the road" wink

they could even help fill the creel surveys, but I'm not even going to get into the complexities that would involve, heh...

I spose traveling for work is a bunch more fun when you have the option of bringing the fly rod along eh?

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LOL! I think I'll pass on the "Friends of the road" thing. I'll definitely pass on contemplating what the "complexities" of that situation would be.

In another month or two, the bigger rods will get thrown in the trunk for these road trips. I'm done with work every day by 4:30, leaving me plenty of time to fish in the evenings after a long day of driving. This is one reason I want to get a pontoon to keep in the trunk of my car. Keeping a pontoon in the trunk is also another reason I need to get a new vehicle.

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Nice report, good to see people getting out - I gotta get out of hibernation soon.

The tracks are Turkey tracks - which is why it walked so far, Turkeys don't fly much except to/from roost. Turkeys will take meat from carrion at times too, though it isn't a significant food source for them. They like bugs better but bugs are a little thin in March. What was the carcass?

I'll pass on the sweet tea but the ribs and IPA look good...

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Ha. Yeah, they were turkey tracks. My main concern was more that it WAS NOT A VELOCIRAPTOR! Carcass there was a raccoon.

I will never understand what y'all northerners have against sweet tea. It pretty much is nectar of the gods.

That pic has the stone IPA in it, but the stone ruination IPA blows the stone IPA out of the water.

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Gotta watch out for those Raptors... aren't they still hibernating down there? I usually don't start worring about those until April most years. Sasquatch, on the other hand, always worth watching your back...

I dunno about other Northerners but I don't drink much of anything sweet, that's just me though. No soda/pop, no sweet tea, no sugar in my coffee.

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Sweet tea has its time and place. Usually when it super hot outside. Ribs and cornbead however, any time, any place. What was on the cornbread? Looked like it had something smothering it.

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Sweet tea has its time and place. Usually when it super hot outside. Ribs and cornbead however, any time, any place. What was on the cornbread? Looked like it had something smothering it.

from what I can tell it's a bit of honey sauce with some cubed peppers in it. It's really good cornbread.

Until I get a smoker I am kind of stuck searching the cities for authentic tastin bbq, and this place I live next to (Dixie Blue)is one of the better ones.

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Nice report! Glad you got down and caught some fish this time around... Was down that way the other day... Surprised I didn't get stuck... close... but was able to somehow keep my front wheel drive unstuck

I'm lucky...I get cornbread at work every night :P

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is the first twins home opener I have missed in 14 years. You know, I don't feel all that bad considering it's not even above freezing yet!

A few more pics from the weekend.

caught this guy in the same spot I hooked my last carp of 2012. It won't be long now...

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I bet the saddle on this guy would make some killer (and highly illegal) hackle.

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Preparing for the upcoming pike season up at the cabin... forage is perch n bluegills, but mostly perch

on a 2/0 hook:

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Tube version in progress

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Tube version complete. Anyone recognize the pattern? (it's a smaller version smile )

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These were tied mostly for practice to get the proportions down. Once I can find some barred hackle that I am happy with (Yeah. That's sharpie barred Chinese saddle hackle above) I will be tying some of these up in sizes more suitable for muskies.

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