Rip Rap – Jan 2025

by Ed Constantini | Jan 4, 2025 | Latest News, Rip Rap

The Drift:

Now that we are in “tying season,” if you haven’t already, given John Gierach’s article in the latest issue of TROUT magazine, “A Quaint and Harmless Hobby”, a look. John writes when he first started to tie flies “The way I saw it, dabblers, dilettantes and the idle rich bought their flies over the counter, while serious and self-reliant fly fishers tied their own, and like all novices, I wanted to be one of the cool kids.”

As the year 2024 ends, I hope everyone has had a wonderful time celebrating the holiday season with family and friends or however you chose to celebrate during this time. Now that winter is setting in, we can take some solace in the fact that the winter catch and release trout season will begin on January 4th . My recent review of the long-range weather forecast, however, tells me that the first two weeks of the month are going to be bitterly cold so you hearty souls might have to exercise a bit of patience before wetting a line.

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for your volunteer hours and commitment to our goals and mission for stream and habitat restoration, stream monitoring and youth education programs. Following submission of the required Annual Activity Report to TU National, I received a call from Quentin Collins, Director of TU Volunteer Operations. Quentin relayed to me his thanks for all the great work our chapter has done over this past year. He commented that Kiap-TU-Wish bubbles to the top in many conversations at TU National.

Our Annual Holiday and Chapter Awards Banquet on December 3rd was a huge success and was attended by 70 members and spouses. Chris Silver provided entertainment for 2 hours and his music added much to the event and was enjoyed by all.  As a follow-up to the event we conducted a survey to get a sense of how the banquet was received by our members. The banquet committee has reviewed all survey responses, the majority of which were very positive. Any negative issues will be responded to during the planning of the 2025 banquet. I want to extend a special thank you to committee members Greg Olson, Mike Alwin, Matt Janquart, and Allison Jacobs.  

Thanks to some excellent writing and dedication by our chapter board members, the Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter was awarded an “Embrace A Stream (EAS)” grant from TU National in the amount of $7,500 for our stream restoration project on the South Fork Kinnickinnic River. We had the opportunity through this grant to raise additional funds and earn an added reward for our fundraising efforts. Our EAS Challenge campaign brought in $1,650 from our donors. TU National donated $1,250, for a grand total $10,400. Thanks to everyone.

Fund-raising efforts are currently in full swing with the Hap Lutter Memorial Fund. In late January/early February, we will be conducting an on-line auction coupled with a 3×100 chance offering that will feature a Norling 5wt bamboo rod, an original painting by Josh Cunningham, and a Sage fly rod. Ticket sales will start in January. Watch for an announcement kicking off these events.

Suzanne

Greenwood Elementary Volunteer Day

Kiap-tu-wish sends our thanks to those who helped cut brush and trees back in October and November to prep for our Greenwood Elementary 4th grade brush burn and, thanks to those volunteers who turned out on event day to supervise the burn and make sure that it went off without a hitch.

This marks the 5th year that we have partnered with Geenwood to provide them with a service learning opportunity for the kids. A big thanks to Greenwood teacher Steve Papp for his efforts to get this program up and running each year. The kids themselves exhibited their usual boundless energy as they picked up the brush and logs and moved them to one of three bonfires which we had going. Event volunteers pictured below are from left to right; John Skelton, myself, Tom Schnadt, Chipo Robinson, Pat Sexton, Mark Peerenboom, Tom Anderson, Trish Hannah, and Ron Reigle.  

Leaders and Nymphs

By Mike Alwin

Many of you are probably already looking forward to the early trout fishing season in Wisconsin. Some of you will be out on the first Saturday of January no matter the cold temperatures. Others of you will prudently wait for a day when the temperatures are moderate and the chill wind from the north is not a factor. Some of you will be happy to be out regardless of your anticipated success while a few of you will harbor visions of catching a significant fish on a tiny midge imitation or perhaps a Tiny Black Stonefly.

Let’s start with the premise that you dearly love dry fly fishing. You crave the artful presentation and the sight of a trout rising to your crafty floating fraud. But at this time of year if you catch anything at all it’s likely to be tiddlers. Reluctantly, you see the wisdom of switching to a nymph, after all it’s estimated that 90% of a trout’s meal ticket is subsurface fare. To save time you decide to continue fishing with the same leader, most likely a 9’ 5X with 20” of tippet attached, switching out the dry fly for a nymph and adding a strike indicator. That way, once a hatch beckons, you’ll only need to switch flies and remove the strike indicator to get back in the game. But after an hour or so of fruitless casting your enthusiasm wanes so you reel up and head for home.

While it’s possible to make that rig work for nymph fishing, there are other, better choices. The simplest method (Figure 1), is a 7&1/2’ 4X leader to which you add 20” of 5X tippet material. Tie on a nymph, any nymph, add split shot above the tippet knot and the strike indicator about half way up the leader. The obvious advantage of this rig is that the split shot can’t migrate past the knot. Oh, since it’s cold, straighten the leader before throwing your nymph in the water. Fish a deeper riffle or a run and the head of the pool. There might be trout feeding or holding in the deeper lies in the riffle, and if invertebrates are dislodged from the riffle trout might hold near the head of the pool to grab the aforementioned invertebrates.

Figure. 1



Here’s a modification that adds versatility to this basic rig (Figure 2). Start with the same 7&1/2’ 4X leader. About six or seven inches up from the end of the tippet, tie on your 20” of 4X or 5X tippet using a double overhand (surgeon’s) knot. When done correctly you should have a short tag, a stub, and the tippet. Trim the stub. The short tag is called the dropper and the tippet end is called the point. Tie a nymph on the dropper and another on the point. Place your shot above the knot and the indicator about half way up the leader. The advantages of this rig are that you can use smaller shot, the shot can’t migrate past the knot and you’ve doubled your chances by using two flies. The glaring disadvantage is that you are almost guaranteed to suffer increased tangles caused by these two flies. Cast smoothly, widen your loop and strike gently.

Figure. 2

If you can appreciate the efficacy of using two flies, this next rig is for you (Figure 3). Start with the same 7&1/2’ leader. Thread a nymph onto the tippet, then add your tippet material and another nymph. You can use split shot with this rig but it works better without it. Instead, if you thread a heavily weighted nymph onto the leader before adding tippet and another nymph, you can eschew the split shot. Put the strike indicator in the customary position. You’ll still have to be careful with your cast, your loop and your hook set. But, you’re now fishing two nymphs doubling your chances and doing so with fewer tangles. Isn’t that what you wanted?

Figure. 3

Open Tying at the Shop 

By Jonathan Jacobs 

In my forty-plus years as a fly angler, I have frequented three different fly shops in eight distinct locations in seven different buildings under the ownership of five different people. In that time, I’ve gone from neophyte to experienced angler to geezer. I tell you this to establish my bona fides as a “shop rat” (The term doesn’t mean “employee;” a less sentimental term might be “hanger on”). Every one of those shops helped me immeasurably along the way. My first shop was Tom Helgeson’s Bright Waters. There I took casting lessons, an aquatic entomology class and an on-the-stream flyfishing for trout class. Tom brought in guest speakers who exposed me to facets of the sport previously unknown to me. I spent so much time at Bob Mitchell’s Fly Shop that I was more of a fixture than a regular. I learned a great deal there, too, but more importantly, I treasure to this day close the friendships with wildly disparate personality types that blossomed there. 

My current home away from home is Lund’s Fly Shop. Housed in a soulful multi-story brick building dating back to 1881 on Main Street in River Falls, WI, this emporium nails the image of what a fly shop ought to look like. Mounts of tarpon, billfish and an incongruous elk gracing the high interior walls stand watch over an extensive array of waders, clothing, tackle, fly tying materials, accessories, and fly bins, with all of that seeming to float over the vintage hardwood floor.  Staffed by friendly and knowledgeable folks, it’s a place that warms the soul. 

One of the prominent features of the building is the mezzanine that overlooks the shop. There is angling art displayed on the walls. There are a few long tables up there that are ideal for group fly tying sessions. The shop hosts two of these sessions per month, one on a Saturday and another on a Tuesday. You can find the shop’s specific schedule at its website, https://www.lundsflyshop.com/.  I’ve attended two sessions thus far and have had a wonderful time at both.  At the first one, someone asked as soon as I’d sat down if I needed anything to drink.  I said, “No, thanks, I’m good.”  The response to that was, “Ice or neat?”  Sensing that further resistance was futile, I replied, “Uh, ice.”  A glass with ice and Irish whiskey appeared in front of me. I’m not saying this is a regular occurrence, but it looks like there’s a zeitgeist that suggests that you’re welcome to bring food and beverages to share. There’s some slight remnant boys’ club attitude, but it’s a welcoming place. I’ve seen a fellow who just stopped by to chat stay to help a boy of about ten who’d come with his non-tying father. The fellow stayed long enough to get the youngster through a couple of basic patterns that employed the basics of tying.   Another man helped a young woman wearing a Green Bay Packers stocking cap master the use of a whip finishing tool. I saw my friend Sarah, an accomplished tyer, tie her first two pike/muskie Bufords. A fellow two generations younger than me reached out to me to show me the elegant soft hackles he was tying. Even among all the experienced tyers, there’s something for everyone to learn. We often come to think of ourselves as trout fly tyers or warmwater tyers or whatever, but the thing is, there’s a whole spectrum of flies that cross borders or involve techniques that can be applied anywhere. In one night, I’ve seen tied, among other things: Steelhead intruder flies, billfish flies, jig streamers, soft hackles, midges, and a CK baitfish, which, with its die-cut synthetic tail and flashy trimmed body would have been heresy just a few years ago. 

Given the combination of camaraderie, bonhomie, the learning opportunities, you can’t go wrong. Of course, Lund’s is not the only fly shop in the area and you might be a regular at one of them or are looking for a reason to become one. Those shops likely have open tying sessions, too, ones that might provide you with as much fun as I’m having at Lund’s.  Be sure to look them up. Having a fly shop to call your home is an essential part of not being merely an informed angler, but a happy one.  

Editor’s Note: Open tying sessions are also available at Mendprovisions Fly Shop located in Saint Paul , Minnesota (mend provisions.com) and the Cabela’s store in Rogers (Link). 
Photo provided by Brian Smolinski

Views From My Side of the Vise:

By Paul Johnson

The Elk Hair Caddis (EHC) would have to be considered to be one of the most popular flies and can be found in just about every fly box. That is because it is so effective at catching fish. The fly was created in 1957 by Al Troth. At that time, Al was living and working in Pennsylvania and wanted a caddis dry fly to fish some of the broken water on his local trout stream. In the 1970s Al relocated to Montana and started guiding. The fly pattern was “discovered” at that time when Bud Lily’s Flyshop in West Yellowstone started to sell the fly.

As good as the EHC is at catching fish, it is somewhat surprising that it is such a simple fly. It really only has 3 materials: dubbing, hackle and elk hair. You could also add a wire rib if you want. Also somewhat surprising is that the EHC is a very easy and quick fly to tie. Well, until you start to tie them anyway. The biggest issue when tying this fly is that you have a big clump of elk hair that you need to keep on top of the hook. When you apply enough thread tension to keep the hair in place, that tension will want to pull the clump of hair around the far side of the hook shank. No amount of glue or head cement will hold that clump of hair in place, so don’t try that! Fortunately, your fly tying sensei (that’s me) is here to share his secret EHC tying tips. The number and length of the tips is an indication of how many EHCs I’ve tied (and screwed up). So here are the keys to attaining EHC perfection. After a few hundred repetitions this will all become second nature.

• 1. Use the smallest size thread you can make work (yes, it takes some experimentation to figure this out). My go-to thread is 8/0 Uni. I have found that the smaller thread actually helps me to get tighter thread wraps as described in Tip #3.
• 2. Take care when you are preparing the clump of elk hair to comb or pick out all of theunder fur. I also like to remove the really long and short ones so all the hair is about the same length before I stack it.
• 3. When I have the elk hair wing all set to tie in, I start with 2 loose thread wraps and then pull tight. I then add 4 or 5 additional thread wraps at that same tie-in point. Next, to keep the hair from spinning around the hook I lift about ¼ of the butt ends of the hair and get a tight thread wrap in that spot. I repeat this 3 more times before returning my thread to the original tie-in location. From there I will make a couple more tight thread wraps, lift up the butt ends and make several wraps of thread around the hook before I whip finish.
• 4. For the wing, I like to use cow elk hair. I have found it to be a little softer than bull elk.This allows me to get tighter wraps with my thread.
• 5. When tying hair wing flies during the winter, I keep a dryer sheet available that I will keep on the patch of hair to reduce some of the static.
• 6. One last tip. I like to undersize my hackle on this fly. For example, if I am tying a size 16 fly, I will size my hackle down to a size 18. I just think it looks better and allows the fly to float a little better.Hook: 1xl Dry Fly Hook, Size 14 to 20.
   
• Thread: 8/0 Uni
• Abdomen: Superfine dubbing
• Rib: Dry fly hackle
• Wing: Elk Hair

I hope that these tips will help you with your tying. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Paul Johnson
Waconia, Minnesota
Paulwaconia@gmail.com

Watch Paul tie this pattern on his YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w84IAqAnMNE

The Picket Pin

by Ken Hanson

The Picket Pin is a pattern from the old west that gets its name from ground squirrels that were nicknamed “picket pins” by cowboys as they resembled the short stakes used to tie off horses. The original fly, developed by Jack Boeme, was tied with tail and body hair from these western ground squirrels. More modern recipes utilize fox squirrel and grey squirrel. 

I tied some Picket Pins to try out in the smaller streams in Yellowstone and later realized they were a great pattern for brook trout around home. It’s a wet fly that you can drift or strip just under the surface. You can swing it towards root wads and brushy areas and strip it back just in time to avoid trouble. It often draws a chase from aggressive brookies. It’s white squirrel tail wing provides a good contrast to the body and allows you to focus on the fly and watch for fish. The only trick is to stay calm enough for them to take the fly before you strike. 

• Hook: 2XL Nymph hook size 10 or 12
• Thread: Black
• Tail: Fox squirrel tail fibers
• Rib: Small copper wire
• Body: Peacock herl
• Hackle: Brown
• Head: More peacock herl

After wrapping the body, add and palmer the hackle back towards the tail and secure by wrapping the wire forward woolly bugger style. A good example of this is covered by Tim Flagler’s tightlinevideo on YouTube 

https://youtu.be/9VK5BXuYPec?si=O4Et6Grp3k26GvVu

Skip’s Loose Threads: A heretical utterance concerning dry fly hackle

by Layton “Skip” James

When I began fly tying at the age of eleven, there weren’t many fly tying books around. A book by J. Edson Leonard entitled Flies was available, and soon after I started the Family Circle Guide to Trout Flies came out. Schwiebert’s Matching the Hatch was four years away and Atherton’s The Fly and the Fish came out the year I got my first fly rod, but it was printed only in a limited edition for the Angler’s Club of New York. That same year, Bus Grove’s The Lure and Lore of Trout Fishing appeared, with a chapter on tying, and the imprint of my rubber stamp inside the cover has my New Jersey address on it. My bible in those days was Bergman’s Trout, a copy of which I received as a Christmas present in 1950, when I was nine. I had read the library’s copy almost into decrepitude and nagged my dad shamelessly for months before the holiday for one of my own. Those were the years when the arrival of the Heddon catalog, and the Payne catalog, the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog and the Sears Roebuck catalog were the highlights of a boy’s dreary, wet winter, and a sure harbinger of Spring, and the opening of trout season in the Poconos.

All these books suggested that good hackle was hard to get, and the best hackle for tying dry flies was the longest, stiffest, most web free feathers available. Of course, dry flies in those days meant Catskill style, basically copies of Halford’s British designs with stiffer tails to float on our more rambunctious streams. Stiff hackle was necessary to support the fly ‘on its toes’ as LaBranche used to say. Nowadays, of course, we have no-hackle flies, soft hackle flies, parachutes, thorax ties, upwings, downwings, palmers, all of which seem to float pretty well without the help of seriously steely hackle fibers.

But the stiff hackle dictum seems to still govern feather selection, particularly among beginning tiers. Of course, most are taught to tie Catskill style first, with an Adams, a Cahill, or a BWO. The proportions of dry flies still reflect the Catskill school of the Dettes and Art Flick. The most expensive hackle available at fly shops is, of course, extremely stiff, long and web-free. Lots of fisher folk use the classic ties and they work well, particularly on free stone streams. But our current, enlarged repertoire of floating imitations that don’t depend upon hackle for flotation should cause us to pause a moment and reexamine the knee-jerk mantra that dry fly hackle must always be stiff.

Stiff but resilient hackle was needed to float lightly dressed Catskill patterns. The old legends of fly fishing wanted their casts to ‘cock’ the fly on the water, suspended between the tips of the hackle and the tips of the tail fibers. Having fished with many a Catskill tie, I am usually able to achieve this proper attitude only once or twice with a fresh, well-dressed fly before it settles lugubriously into prone position. In my experience, the fish don’t seem to mind much either way. Often, and particularly with Variant patterns, I had trouble hooking trout. I believe the stiff, oversized hackle pushed the hook away from any point of connection with solid fish flesh. Patterns such as the Usual, Haystack, Comparadun and No-Hackle use buoyant dubbing to float the fly in the film. Split tails act as outriggers to reinforce a natural upright stance caused by the weight of the bend of the hook. Parachute flies float just as well with soft hackle as with stiff.

Is there a benefit to substituting floppy, webby hackle for the stiff stuff in dry flies? For years, fishing writers have insisted that the mobility of hackle fibers and soft dubbings are triggers to trout especially in nymphs and wets. Can these same qualities be exploited in dry flies? I can personally attest to the efficacy of soft hackle flies fished over fussy trout in glassy, slow moving water. The webby breast feathers used in these flies are tapered from stem to tip, like real insect legs. When wet, they move with every vagary of the current. I have recently started putting a clump wing of poly yarn or loop wing of Antron on these simple flies. That solves the visibility problem of soft hackles. The wing becomes a focal point for the angler and allows the fly to be fished in fast water as well as slow. Add a soft tail, perhaps a few pheasant fibers, or even a bit of Marabou to represent a trailing shuck. Do the flies float? You bet! Does the hackle obstruct the hook point?

Never! Does the cost of hackle go way down? Yep! ……*

I enjoy tying and fishing classic Catskill patterns. They look beautiful and continue to catch lots of trout. But I think it’s time we rethink the function of hackle in dry flies and experiment with more mobile, less severely stiff feathers. There is nothing turgid about a Mayfly dun. On the contrary, all the body parts are loosely joined and have independent motion. Stiff hackle doesn’t guarantee flotation. Furthermore, flies tied with stiff hackle, both Catskill and parachute, have an annoying tendency to twist leader tippets. The most compelling reason to incorporate soft hackle into dry flies, however, is it’s lifelike movement. Let the trout be the final judge…but at least give them a chance to choose! Tie up some dry flies with soft hackle this Winter, and reevaluate your personal criteria for hackle quality in the light of 1990’s fly fishing research rather than relying on the questionable assumptions of the 1950’s.

Editor’s Note: The Christmas season is a busy one for Skip and he was unable to provide his mindful prose for this issue. So, being that tying season is upon us, I decided to comb the RipRap archives looking for one of his past articles that might be appropriate for the upcoming tying season. Darned if I didn’t find one. The article is from the November, 1997 RipRap and in my mind many of his thoughts are still applicable to our modern day tying dynamics. I hope you agree! The fly pictured above is the”Jingler” an all purpose fly, very popular in the UK incorporating both rooster and partridge hackles.

Rocky Branch Elementary 

By Ben Toppel

Students at Rocky Branch Elementary have been excited about raising brown trout.  They patiently watched as the orange eggs hatched into alevin last October.  Since then, the alevin have grown into strong swimmers or “fry” and learned to eat.

The 5th Grade students are the primary caretakers and are responsible for three different jobs:  Wildlife Artists, Trout Researchers, or Water Quality Testers.
Over 50 students signed up to participate in this year’s “Trout in the Classroom” program.

If all goes well, the trout will be released into the WIllow River (at Willow River State Park) this coming spring. This activity is in cooperation with the WI DNR and Kiap-TU-Wish, our local chapter of Trout Unlimited. 

Upcoming Events:

1: Chapter Meeting, Tuesday January 7th. Dinner at 6:00 pm, Presentation “Symposium on Warm Water Fly Fishing” at 7:00 pm. Juniors Restaurant and Tap House, River Falls Wi. 

2. Upcoming virtual auction and 3 x 100 chance offering, be watching for start dates.

 2025 Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter of Trout Unlimited. All rights reserved. 

You received this email because you are a Kiap-TU-Wish chapter member, or you signed up for emails about our local events, and about protecting Western Wisconsin trout streams. You can change your preferences or unsubscribe at any time by using the link at the bottom of this email. Thanks for your interest!

Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter of Trout Unlimited
P.O. Box 483
Hudson, Wisconsin 54016

www.kiaptuwish.org

Rip Rap – Nov 2024

by Ed Constantini | Oct 30, 2024 | Latest News, Rip Rap

The Drift: The solution to any problem – work, love, money, whatever, is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be.” As many of you are aware, John Gierach recently passed away. I have enjoyed many of his books and writings and will miss his quarterly article in the TROUT magazine published by TU National. Rest in peace John. Our trout season is now closed and the browns and brookies are now or soon will be on their spawning redds. In the next few months you will hopefully have plenty of time to wash and hang-up your waders, clean your wading boots, clean your lines and inspect them for any damage, oil your reels, and maybe check those rows in your fly boxes for empty spaces that you can fill during the up-coming tying season. This is an exiting time for our chapter. The Annual Holiday and Chapter Awards Banquet will be held on Tuesday December 3rd, at Juniors Restaurant and Tap House in River Falls. Menu items have been selected by our Banquet Committee and details regarding event time and ticket purchases will show up in your email in-box via Mail Chimp. We will have live entertainment as well. Chris Silver, an outstanding local musician, will be playing and singing during the buffet dinner. As roots music renaissance performer and multi-instrumentalist, Chris Silver has made a name for himself as a songwriter and is known throughout the U.S. for his virtuosity on guitar, mandolin, and fiddle. His music is soulful and innovative and takes the listener to a musical space where Americiana roots music is fused with jazz, blues, folk and country with the sensibility of a contemporary singer/songwriter. So mark your calendars and be looking for further details and ticket purchasing options. Fund-raising efforts are in full swing with the Hap Lutter Memorial Fund. In late January/early February, we will be conducting an on-line auction coupled with a 4 x 2 chance offering featuring a Norling 5wt bamboo rod and an original painting by Josh  Cunningham. The DNR  sprayed and cleared the willows on the South Fork of the Kinni. Randy and some volunteers also helped with the cutting down of some  large willows. The rock from Haas Trucking  that was selected in September for the bank restoration and installation of ERO structures will be delivered and stored  on site.    Randy has already started his volunteer brush and tree clearing season and is gearing up for more projects as the winter progresses. Please watch your email in-box for his announcements and join Randy for some good quality outdoor work and fun. If you stick around at one of his outings, he may even offer you a couple of hot dogs and a few cookies to boot after all your hard work. Suzanne  Summer Fieldwork: Volunteers from Kiap-TU-Wish assisted Nate Anderson and his crew with seeding and mulching on three restoration projects this summer. The first was the newly restored stretch of Parker Creek downstream of the Pleasant Ave. bridge.  Helping out were James Patterson, Chip Robingson, Dan Wilcox, and Tom Anderson.     In late August we helped out with the newly restored Martin Easement on Plum Creek, immediately upstream of the Von Holtum easement. Volunteers assisting at the Martin easement were Jeff Dahl, Tom Anderson and Dave Gregg. In mid September volunteers were out again helping with the seeding mulching at the new Moody easement, over 4,000 feet of single bank restoration immediately downstream of the Main Street bridge on the Kinni as you enter River Falls from north. Those helping at the Moody easement were William Doherty, Tommy Doerenbush, and Tom Anderson.  Josh Kucko (WDNR) and I installed “kissing gate” stiles on both the upstream and downstream sides of the bridge at the Gutting easement on the Trimbelle.  Volunteers turned out in late July and early August to help Kasey Yallaly and her crew with their annual shocking surveys of both the Rush and Kinni Rivers.  Helping out were Ben Toppel, Chip Robinson, Rainbow Barry, Tom Anderson, Mathew Chaplinsky, David Brockway and Brent OHara.  On Sept. 8th, Loren Hasas, Jeff Himes, Chip Robinson, Ed Constantini, Bob Diesch, John Skelton, Dan Donahue, Sally Noll, Tom Anderson and Cary Wood turned out to help me with this years Pheasants Forever Youth Field Day held at the Game Unlimited hunt club in Hudson WI where we worked with over 50 youth having them each tie a fly, receive fly casting instruction and finally taking a stab at catching a fish at the small lake which is on the club grounds.  I met up with Kasey two weeks ago where we visited sites on the Kinni in need of buckthorn, box elder and other invasive management.  We identified the stretch of the Kinni between the Main ST. bridge and the Hwy 35 bridge as a site to use for the 4th grade class at Greenwood Elementary School in River Falls to use as they help us with a brush burn to serve as a service learning project for the 80 some students, teachers and parent chaperones. Cutting will begin there in the coming weeks to prepare enough cut brush for the kids to drag to a burn pile sometime in late November or early December Kasey and I also identified several sites where I plan to go in with volunteers in the coming weeks to do a foliar spray application of herbicide to kill off any buckthorn which has sprouted or was missed during recent restoration efforts on those sites. Recently I was out today on the South Fork of the Kinni along with Dave Gregg, Tom Anderson, Chip Robinson and John Skelton as we worked to remove a number of really large willow trees which stand  way of some  upcoming restoration work. Randy ArnoldKinnickinnic River Land Trust: Nature Night On October 5th the community came together on the banks of the Kinnickinnic River at Green Pastures Family Farm in River Falls, WI for a new annual event hosted by the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust called Nature Night. The day was off to a windy start but turned into a beautiful fall evening just in time for the event. Nature Night celebrated the conservation efforts of the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust, partners, and community members within the Kinni watershed and shed light as to why protecting this natural resource is so important. The Stump Grinders opened the event with their foot-stomping old-time music that filled the air with sounds of joy. The event included many activities such as a nature art tent facilitated by KRLT’s Social Media Coordinator, Jane Taylor. Children and adults alike enjoyed painting mini pumpkins donated by the local Leisen Family Farm, creating nature bracelets while learning about the native prairie grasses, and putting together a backyard pinecone birdfeeder for our feathered friends to enjoy. One of the highlights for many was the river ecology station. This provided the opportunity for folks to get up close and interact with the star of the show the Kinni River. Thanks to the help from KRLT, the Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter of TU, and community volunteers, attendees were able to identify aquatic insects, feel the cold waters of the Kinni, and understand the importance of protecting such an incredible ecosystem. It was a joy to see the expression on children’s faces when they realized the underbelly of the rocks pulled from the river were full of life and squirming insects. In addition, Bob Nasby and his grandson provided the opportunity to learn about the skill of casting and fly fishing.   Also at the event were the St. Croix Valley Birding Club, WE Co-op, Kinni CC, The Prairie Enthusiasts, Farmer-Led Watershed Council, and The Humble Horse. Each had an opportunity to share their story and bring light to the importance of their role in the conservation story of the Kinni. As the sun slowly started to set, local favorite Chris Silver took the stage as eventgoers enjoyed the views of the Kinni. Nature Night was a huge success, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support from our sponsors, volunteers, members, staff, and the entire community. From laughter and games to music, art, and science, the evening was filled with joy and purpose. Molly Barritt-Luebke Donor and Community Relations Manager Kinnickinnic River Land TrustSkips Loose Threads:One of those last of season, beautiful Fall days on the Rush, my dog Java and I had enjoyed fishing tiny imitations to dainty sippers for an hour or two. Java had fun trying to swim upstream with branches in her mouth, until she picked one that was just too big. Her four legs and tail just weren’t equal to the task. I had released three browns, and I was appreciating the superlative action of my Sage 389LL, matched with a Hardy LRH Lightweight. My tippet was a twelve-foot 6X. Just above the run we were fishing, was a stretch with a large boulder sticking its head out of the water. I knew, from past adventures there, that there was a deep hole behind that rock, the lair of one of the biggest Browns in the creek. As I approached, there was a clatter of grasshopper wings from the surrounding foliage, and one of the unfortunate ones fell into the current a few feet above the boulder. As I watched, a dark form rose from thebottom of the pool and the unlucky hopper became lunch, in a showy, splashy rise. As my heart beat faster, I corralled Java away from my backcast space, retrieved my fly, and opened my chest pack to find a suitable imitation. One of Bob Mitchell’s original ‘Jolly Green Giants,’ size 10, presented itself for duty, and I hastily tied it to my tippet. After one false cast, I delivered my offering and the fly landed in the current two feet upstream from the rock. As I watched the fly on the surface, I again saw that dark shadow of the hungry trout rise out of the gloom behind it. All of a sudden, therewas a terrific splash as my Jolly Green Giant disappeared in the fish’s mouth. I set the hook with much too much enthusiasm, and my line and leader came flying back to me, without the fly, and without the fish. I had a word or two to say at that point that I was glad no one else was around to hear, but the lesson I learned, and that I should have learned much earlier, is that you don’t fish a size 10 hopper on a 6X tippet! But alas, what a thrilling way to end the season and knowing that same fish will still be there next May, when everything is green, fresh, and new. Leyton “Skip” James Editor’s Note: Skip informed me that Java died on March 19th, 2012 at age 15 and her ashes are buried under a beautiful dogwood in his back-yard.Views From My Side of the Vise: In some of my recent articles I have made reference to taking some fly tying classes at a fly shop in the Twin Cities when I was first getting started. It was at one of those classes that the instructor sparked my interest that has since grown into my love for Yellowstone National Park.On my many trips to Yellowstone I have always based out of Gardiner, Montana. During these trips, I spent a lot of time hanging out at Parks’ Fly Shop, where I first got to know and to fish with Walter Wiese. At that time, Walter was the head guide at Parks’. Walter now operates Yellowstone Country Fly Fishing out of Livingston.From those early trips, it was obvious that I could learn a lot from Walter’s books, website, and also his YouTube fly tying videos. Several years ago, Walter did a video of a nymph he calls the “Gussied Lightning Bug”. For some reason or another, this was a fly that looked to me like it would catch a lot of fish.After watching the video, I headed right to my vise and started to tie up a half dozen or so. The next time I went fishing, I tied one on and guess what? It caught fish, so I headed back to my vise to tie more. That was when I started to make some very minor changes to the fly and actually simplified the tying process. That is how my Gussied-Up Lightning Bug was created. (Have you noticed how creative I am when I name a fly pattern?)This fly is now a mainstay in my fly box. I fish it throughout the season either under an indicator or as a dropper below a hopper. The fly has a very slender profile so it sinks pretty quickly.Until recently I always tied this fly with micro tubing for the rib. I found that the micro tubing was kind of slippery on the tinsel body, so I have now switched up and started to use wire for the ribbing because it makes the fly a little easier to tie. I have also added a silver-bodied variation that has fished well when the water is a little off-color. You should put some of these flies in your fly box. I think you just might like them as much as I do! As always, please let me know if you have any questions / comments / suggestions.Hook: Size 14 Scud Hook Bead: 2.8 mm Tungsten in Gold Thread: 14/0 Red Tail: Brown Improved Micro Zelon Abdomen: Red Holographic Tinsel size Medium Legs: Red Midge Tinsel Thorax: Super-bright Dubbing in Peacock Paul Johnson  Paulwaconia@gmail.com Editors Note: You can watch Paul this pattern on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ_u8QOu11AFrom the Archives: Elevated Riparian Optimization (ERO) Structures: What are they?In 2020 we witnessed three individual storms that dumped over four inches of rain with the epicenter of the storms within 150 miles of each other. With every major rainevent, tons of sand are moved from the highlands to the valleys and much of it ends up in our trout streams. Many streams, particularly those containing brook trout, are small and move much too slowly to endure the onslaught of the resulting sand load. The job description of a stream is to move the mountains to the ocean one grain of sand at a time. Most small streams can’t keep up with a constant influx of sand and a number of previously renovated streams have again filled in. It takes a specific amount of water, at a specific velocity, to move the sand and sustain deep scoured streams. Sand is a desert, and few insects can live and reproduce in it. When introduced into a stream it can easily fill in man-made lunker structures, naturally occurring deep holes, and pocket water. Lacking food and deep-water hibernaculum to winter in, brook trout die or are forced to move down stream to bigger water. Typically, brown trout inhabit and dominate the lower big water stretches of our streams making it difficult for the brookies to compete and survive. After witnessing many small renovated streams fill in with sand,I began looking for a solution to this problem. It took many days on skinny water, lugging equipment up and down stream, and recording multiple water velocity readings in order to find some possible answers. Occasionally I found extremely large deep-holes and deep flats on very small streams. At the same time, I observed pools and deep flats on renovated streams that were either filled or in the process of filling in with sand. Three main factors were related to this difference; the velocity of the water, the width of the stream, and the shape of the banks. The compromised streams needed some type of constrictor,choke point, or narrowing to accelerate the water and scour the sand away. The name I chose for this structure was Elevated Riparian Optimization (ERO). It is a type of Bernoulli structure that narrows the stream, increases its velocity, elevates the riparian, and optimizes the force of the water. Anything that narrows a river or stream is technically using the Bernoulli principle. Credit Bernoulli, he was a genius.That’s it for physics, I promise. Once I had the concept for the structure in my head, I just couldn’t let it go. I would talk about it to anyone who would listen. This kind of explains why for two years, nobody would have lunch with me. My apologies.At a meeting with personnel from the WDNR, NRCS, County SoilConservation, TU DARE, and Kiap-TU-Wish, we received permission to install five experimental ERO structures on Hay Creek in Dunn county. Jeff Kitelinger from NRCS provided the first drawings of these structures.Using the drawings as a guide, we aggressively narrowed the stream in specific locations and rather than pulling back the banks, elevated the riparian with large rock. During low water or normal water flows there is little noticeable effect, but when torrential rains fall, the added water volume and subsequent increased velocity potentially provides enough energy to scour sand from the stream. Within two weeks post installation we got our first rain event on-site. It washed out a lot of stream bank grass seed, but it also demonstrated the structures would work. The result was deep water habitat for about 20 feet or more downstream of the ERO.  We are still in the experimental stages with these ERO structures, but so far results have been positive. Brook trout need year-round habitat. As proof, a subsequent electro-shocking survey by Kasey Yallaly with the WDNR, revealed Hay Creek brookies are already using the deep water for cover and there are more of them with better size.A side benefit of the ERO structure is the insect population within the structure. The fast water and cobble-sized rock that dominates just up and downstream of the structure is perfect insect habitat. Lifting one rock reveals hundreds of confused insects squirming around wondering where their water source suddenly went. Replacing the rock exactly where it was found ensures healthy insect populations, and well-fed trout. As a result of sand deposition in recent years, brook trout populations have plummeted in the South Fork of the Kinni. In early October,Nate Anderson of the WDNR installed nine ERO structures on the SouthFork. Sand started moving immediately, the true potential of the new ERO structures won’t be realized until next year’s major rain events. Sand load is only one of the problems on the South Fork; beavers are another. The remains of a beaver dam can slow water velocity andretain sand indefinitely. This can be rectified by total removal of all dam remnants. If you come upon an ERO structure plugged with debris, please clear it as best you can and please report any beaver activity tothe WDNR. The South Fork continues to be choked by willow saplings growing out over the water. Besides making it impossible to fish, willows slow the water down during high water stages, ultimately forcing the sand out of suspension, allowing it to aggregate on the bottom. It takes volunteer labor to fix these problems. So when a notice for awork day on the South Fork of the Kinni is announced by Randy Arnold,please answer his call to help reclaim this treasure of a stream not onlyfor your continued enjoyment but most importantly for the preservation of its Brook Trout population! Loren Haas Editor’s Note: The above article was plucked from the November 2020 edition of RipRap. Its author, Loren Haas, will be the featured speaker at our November chapter meeting. I encourage all of you to attend or stream his presentation on the Kiap-TU-Wish YouTube channel. Loren will be providing updates on the major effects of ERO structures on our local waters. Upcoming Events: 2024 1: Chapter Meeting: Monday, November 4th moved from Tuesday November 5th (voting Day). Dinner at 6:00 pm, presentation (ERO Structures: A six-year update). at 7:00 pm. Speaker Loren Haas. Juniors Restaurant and Tap House, River Falls, Wi. 2: Annual Christmas and Awards Banquet: Tuesday December 3rd, 2024. Watch for more details.

Rip Rap – September 2024

by Ed Constantini | Aug 30, 2024 | Latest News, Rip Rap

The Drift:Musings of our president

Well, here we are. Our summer season is nearing its end. I’m not quite sure how to describe this past summer though. Looking back it seems to me that June was pretty blustery but throughout summer’s course we had adequate rains and warm temperatures that kept our streams at base flow or above, and our corn and bean fields green and thriving. I suppose though it might have been better had the rains been more frequent rather than coming in batches that flooded our streams and put fly fishing on hold for more than a few days each time.Overall though I’d have to say I am willing to give the summer a thumbs up.

Chapter activities started with a very successful STREAM GIRLS event held at the Ellsworth Rod & Gun Club. Thirteen girls participated and enjoyed activities that included fly-casting and tying, collecting and identifying macro-invertebrates, calculating stream velocities, and an hour of fishing (yes there was some catching) to wrap up a truly wonderful day. Thanks to Linda Radimecky and Michele Bevis for putting together this great program and thanks also to Kiap-TU-Wish chapter members and friends who helped out with the activities.

Two major chapter events were held in June. Our Summer Solstice gathering was not highly attended due to the torrential rains that ruined a chance to fish. Those who did attend, however, had a very nice time talking fishing and eating grilled hot dogs, potato and pasta salads and deserts. Some members participated in fly casting bamboo rods that are owned by a few Kiap-Tu-Wish members and friends. Many thanks to Greg Olson our ex-officio president for arranging for all the food and activities.

The Kiap-TU-Wish June Fly-Fishing Clinic, held in cooperation with the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of river Falls, continued to be a great success. Participants were given instruction in fly-casting, stream-side and on-water skills, and were treated to a great lunch. Many of the participants were successful at landing a few trout as well. Matt Janquart spearheaded the program for the first time and did a great job!

More recently, the chapter’s Phil’s Full Moon Fever Event was held on August 19th at Phil Kashian’s Milkhouse Cottage and Gardens on the Rush River. Close to 60 chapter members and friends attended. Once again Greg Olson took care of the Food and grilling and the hot dogs were accompanied by pasta salads, watermelon, grilled corn, chips, baked beans and beverages of choice. Many members fished afterwards. Thank you to Phil Kashian and Kay Peterson for being such wonderful hosts.

Our new season begins on September 5th (note the day of the week change from Tuesday to Thursday for this event) with our annual Kiap-TU-Wish Open House and Gear Swap to be held at the Rush River Brewery. If you have a piece of gear that is gathering dust, put a price on it and bring it with you. If it sells the money is yours to keep. We will also be signing up new members at a reduced price of $17.50.

We have a great season of meetings lined up and I am looking forward to meeting our new members and seeing all your familiar faces during the course of the year.  

Suzanne 

Mason Dado,WDNR Summer Intern

My summer’s internship has been a great experience for gaining knowledge and understanding of how fisheries work is done in the Department of Natural Resources. It has shown me different lanes and applications needed to succeed at the job.

Being well versed in different variations of net mending, motor expertise, data entry, all display well versed knowledge of the fisheries even though I have a long way to go in some of these tall tasks. As for the fish side of things, being able to catch and collect data on fish being as small as 2 inches and as big as 60 inches can be very useful as well as fascinating.

For the last couple of weeks we have been doing our trout surveys to better understand how the population is doing or how habitat has changed over time. We were using a barge shocker to collect most of the data. This gives my boss Kasey Yallaly an understanding on what could be done differently to improve or help make differences in a certain area.

We also did some sturgeon work when I first started out. We took measurements and tagged these fish to see if any recapture would occur to check growth rates along with movement patterns. Being able to handle some of these prehistoric beasts was pretty awesome and one of my favorite parts. Doing this studies also gives an estimate of population to see if anglers would even be able to target them. Overall, this has been a great experience for me to get a better understanding of how things work in a real time outdoor environment.

I want to thank everyone who contributed and made this opportunity a reality along with Kasey Yallaly and her two LTEs Dustin Schurrer and Sam Jacobson. All three of them work extremely hard and had the patience to help me understand how fisheries work and helped answer my questions. I feel some people in the fish community need more credit especially in themselves because without them improvement would not be made to help sustain some of these fisheries for more anglers of many generations!

Editors Note: Mason’s internship was sponsored by, Star Prairie Fish & Game,

and the Kiap-TU-Wish and Clearwater Chapters of Trout Unlimited.

Skip’s Loose Threads
By Skip James

My favorite trout fishing partner for many years was Merrimon Hipps, known to all as Mike. Like me, he was a professional musician, a trumpet player in the Minnesota Orchestra. We traveled out West many times together, and took our share of fish from local waters. Now retired, he lives with his wife in Eden Prairie.
  

One evening, after dinner in Preston, MN and a fine day fishing the South Branch of the Root River, we were heading home in the car, windows open, listening to the Twins game on the radio. The reception wasn’t particularly good, and Mike tuned to Minnesota Public Radio instead. In those days, the mid 80’s, there was only one station, not three as there are today. A familiar piece of music was playing, Franz Schubert’s “Trout Quintet.” Based upon a song that Schubert wrote a year before, it tells the story of a trout caught by a fisherman. The music is full of slippery chromatic phrases in the piano accompaniment. Atypically, the quintet is set for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. The composer wrote it in 1819 when he was twenty-two, but it wasn’t published until after his death. The radio performance that evening was excellent, and our conversation ceased as we listened.
  

After the final movement, we discussed the possibility that those of us who enjoyed sophisticated classical music might also enjoy the art of fly fishing, and that fly fishers might find that a refined taste in music might develop in those who knew how to handle a flyrod.

The Phipps Center for the Arts was still in its old building, but just out the door and across the street was the Hudson park and bandshell. I asked four string players from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra to join me in performing the “Trout Quintet” on the main stage, and Mike got volunteers from both Kiap-TU-Wish and Twin Cities Chapters of TU to tie flies in the lobby and give casting lessons on the lawn afterwards. 

We set up our concert and demonstrations on a sunny Sunday afternoon in June, 1985. At 1pm, we played the quintet, and at 4pm there were still people fly casting on the lawn and watching talented fly tiers work.  Neither one of us took attendance and the concert was free. Perhaps a few of you who read this might remember the event.

From the Archives: Editors Note: While contemplating this season’s content for RipRap, I’ve decided to resurrect a selection of articles from past issues of our newsletter. I spent some time sifting through the archived issues of RipRap on our website and was impressed by how much wonderful prose is hidden in the confines of Kiap-TU-Wish cyber space. So starting with this September issue, I plan to publish at least one article from a past issue and hope that when you read the article you will say, “Oh Yeah, I remember that one.” To start the season, what better way than to read about Tricos. There should still be a few around when this article posts. Maria Manion, one of RipRaps former editors, wrote an article for the January 2012 RipRap titled “A Flurry of Tricos.” In the article Maria describes how she soldiered through a series of frustrations on her “First Trico Morning” but was able to seize the day and make the outing an unforgettable experience. A Flurry of Tricos:  By Maria Manion We had our first real snow of the season this past weekend. It came slowly, first as drizzle, then as soft rain, then soft rain and slush, then slush, and then, finally, snowflakes. I stood in it and—despite the upcoming Christmas holiday and the excitement for a season of wood fires, boots dripping with melting snow near the front door, and the metallic scrape of my neighbor’s shovel—found myself thinking of a late July morning where the Midwestern heat came rolling over the farm fields to where I stood in a trout stream amidst a flurry of tricos.  I never expected to be so fond of the trico spinner fall (the tiniest of mayflies, spent from mating and falling to the river’s surface in the wee morning hours), or to spend so much time fishing it. I’d prefer to sleep, particularly after a week of rising early for work, linger over a cup of coffee and hard-boiled egg, and check the backyard tomatoes to see whether critters have taken a bite. But the expectations of my Labrador and the memory of previous mornings when the river seemed to boil with fish, kicks me out of bed.  On this first morning of my trico season, I got up later than intended, fed the dog, made a cup of instant coffee, and grabbed a few slices of cheese for the drive to the stream. Once there, I looked to the sky above the stream for a cloud of swarming tricos, hurried into my waders, dug my vest out of the duffle, grabbed my fly rod, locked the truck, unlocked the truck to get my hat, locked the truck again, swung on my vest, waded the river at the tractor crossing and hoofed it down the path to where I had a good day’s fishing the year before. In our haste— me and my lab—we missed the point of easy access to the river, instead whacking our way through hemlock and stinging nettle to get to the river’s edge. We popped out just where I had hoped, but the trip getting there wasn’t pleasant. While my lab splashed in the water near the bank, looking for submerged sticks to chew, I judged the state of affairs while quickly assembling my rod. Upstream near the car, a thick cloud of tricos hung above the stream. Here, downstream, they were filming the water’s surface and trout were starting to rise at alarming frequencies. Thrilled, rod assembled, I looked down to sort out my leader, forgetting that I had removed the whole lot a week before, including the loop at the end of my fly line. Panicked, I searched my vest for a new tapered leader, snipped off the corresponding loop, struggled to tie leader to line with a blood knot—a knot I’ve tied many times before with great success—screwed up, watched rises, started again, screwed up, tried deep breathing, and resorted to tying the biggest ball of knot I’d ever seen, a knot far too big and unshapely to get through any of the guides on my rod, but a knot sufficiently strong to get me fishing. So, somewhat satisfied, I turned attention to my vest, to the flies, and to my box of trico spinners. Which I left in the truck. In the truck. I tied on an olive CDC emerger and started fishing.  Happily I can report that I caught fish, enough fish. First I cast the fly so that it drifted downstream, submerged in the film. I picked up trout at nearly every point on the drift. Next I cast the fly upstream, dry, where it managed a perky attitude in the ripples. I caught a few trout there too.  At this point my lab had explored every stick within a decent radius and was getting antsy to move. We waded upstream, along the riffles edge, until I spotted sporadic rises in the flat water above the riffles head. My darling lab, now heeling at my right, watched with me.  And as we watched, we slowly found ourselves enveloped by a cloud of tricos. The sunlight, caught in their crystalline wings, transformed the spinners into a million minute snowflakes which were falling all around us. I put out my hand as I would in a winter flurry and they landed tenderly, exquisitely. I almost expected them to melt as a cold flake on a warm hand. Standing there, even the water’s rushing seemed silent. I turned to my darling Labrador upon whose black coat snow-white tricos had reposed. “Wow. Wow. What about this, huh?”  I’ve told that story a few times since it happened and I never get the beauty of that moment adequately painted. So if you’re able, stand in the midst of a soft snowfall, hand outstretched. It was like that.

The Unintentional Collector

by Bob White

A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled. 

– Raymond Chandler

Bamboo fly rods, like most of the important things in my life, seem to happen to me when I least expect them. 

“Dave’s here,” Lisa said as she looked up from her desk. “He has an arm load of rod tubes; you might be going fishing this afternoon.”

I like friends who bring their dogs when they come to visit, and Dave’s golden retriever was already tearing it up with our bird dogs. Dave stood in the backyard, clutching several rod tubes in his hands and shaking his head while he watched the shenanigans. I called him from the open window, and he answered, “I wish that I had that much energy,” he said. And then, “I’ve got something to show you.”

Lisa poured coffee while Dave pulled cloth rod sheaths from their tubes and handed one of them to me. The smell of just-set spar varnish permeated the room. “What d’ya think?”

“It’s beautiful,” I said, pulling the bamboo butt section out and admiring the perfect finish. “You made this?”

“Let’s go cast them,” he suggested, as he patted the bulge in his jacket pocket that could only be a fly reel.

I’d cast a few cane rods over the years, but I’d always admired them from a distance; I’d never owned a bamboo rod, and hadn’t ever fished with one. While I was raised to appreciate all things hand-made, and have a high regard for their beauty and the artistry it takes to build them, it just didn’t seem practical for me to carry an heirloom rod when guiding.

A guide’s rod is often used as a back-up should the client’s break. If the client chose to fish dry flies, I’d rig mine with a nymph so we could try different flies and techniques by just switching rods. In addition, while the fisherman probed the water with my rod, I had a few extra minutes to quietly unravel the inevitable wind knots in his leader, tie on fresh tippet, attach a different fly, and sharpen the hook.

Breaking any rod, even with an industry discount, is heartbreaking. The loss of a bamboo rod that’s been built by a friend would almost be enough to make me give up guiding and buy a jet ski.

“This is nice,” I said as my loop tailed and collapsed upon itself.

“You don’t throw bamboo very often,” Dave said kindly (it was more of a statement than a question). “They’re much softer and slower than what you’re used to. Don’t try to over-power it, there… that’s it, much better.”

“Hey, this is really nice,” I said, as a long, tight, buttery loop straightened out and fell to the lawn.

“Do you want one?” He asked.

“How much would it cost us?” I inquired with a gulp. We live close to the edge, but even though we could never afford it, I knew that Lisa would agree to whatever the price because she loves us both. I married wisely… and that good fortune comes with a lot of responsibility. 

“How about if you paint me a watercolor in exchange for a rod?” He asked. Dave already knew my answer, and continued. “Let’s try a couple of different tapers.” A few months later Dave stopped by with my rod, and I started a collection.

The watercolor that illustrates this essay is titled “Bamboo”, and it shows Dave’s workbench and the makings of my first bamboo rod.

A trade is good when both parties feel they’ve come out ahead. This is particularly true with artists, when each produces something the other admires but is unable to make.

Sometimes what one has to offer a friend in trade is less than obvious. 

“Are you going to fish with Jay today?” Lisa asked, as she turned from her work and looked toward the driveway.

“Maybe,” I said. I was working desperately on an illustration as I watched Jay turn his setter, Libby, loose to play with our Mac and Luke. Once the dogs were introduced, he pulled a short, green rod tube out of his car, and walked slowly, almost thoughtfully, toward the studio. 

His face was blank when he walked into the room and silently handed me the rod tube. “What have you been up to?” I asked in an effort to discern how deeply in debt we were about to go. 

There was no reply, as I opened the rod tube in a trance. The now familiar aroma of fresh spar varnish wafted throughout the studio. “It’s my second one,” he said. “What d’ya think?”

“It’s beautiful,” I replied. “But, I’m hardly the one to ask. How come you didn’t put your name on it?”

“It’s only my second rod,” he replied. “They’ll get better.”

Now that I owned a bamboo rod, I fancied myself a collector, and that implied owning more than one. “I’d love to have one of your rods,” I said. “How much are they?”

“Not a thing,”Jay answered. “This is for you… but you have to go with me and fish it today.”

The first two bamboo rods I came by were both made for me by close friends. The next two came to me from an old friend who didn’t make them, but surely knows how to use them.

I went to Alaska in the spring of 1984 to become a fishing guide. It was during that first summer I met Jack Crossfield. Like the heroes of my youth, Jack was bigger than life; well over six feet tall, with hands the size of small hams. Jack’s physical presence was eclipsed only by his experiences. He’d hunted and fished all over the world. He shot game in Africa, fished from Alaska to Argentina, and was a champion at the Golden Gate Casting Club back in the 50’s and 60’s. He knew double guns, bamboo rods, bird dogs, and whiskey. He had a gravelly voice that was perfect to tell a story, particularly if there was an ironic twist to its end. His eyes were bright and quick. His nature was generous. He didn’t bullshit because he didn’t have to, and if you were lucky enough to earn his respect and friendship, you could take it to the bank. He was my best man when Lisa and I married at the lodge one summer.

Jack was what I think of as a “man’s man”; Teddy Roosevelt, Jack London, and Zane Grey all rolled into one. I can honestly say that our time on the water together is one of the things I missed most about my hiatus from Alaska.

After a couple of seasons of not fishing with Jack, I came to the realization that we might not see each other again. Life’s funny that way; the routines that we take for granted suddenly change and leave us with just our memories. With that realization it occurred to me just how much I’d like to have a set of Jack’s rods, not so much to fish, as to hold. It didn’t matter to me if they were graphite or fiberglass. As it turned out, when I asked Jack if he might consider such an arrangement, he agreed, and sent me a set of his bamboo rods; two classic, fluted, Winston rods, made for him by Doug Merrick.

Jack’s been gone for over two decades and while I’ve fished with these rods on the little Mill Stream behind the studio, and have caught some nice little brookies with them, I’d never really fished them seriously.

While I banged around the studio, gathering gear for a recent fishing trip with friends to the Minnesota Driftless, Lisa looked up from her desk and asked what rods I planned to take, and then before I could answer, she suggested I take Jack’s rods. “He’d like that,” she said

The rods got nods of approval from my buddies, bamboo aficionados all, and they cast like a dream. Fish were caught, but to be honest it’s not the fish that I remember… it’s my friend, Jack.

Editor’s Note: This article has been re-posted with permission from Bob White and can also be found on his website bobwhitestudio.com.

Most of the cane rods in my collection have been bartered for, some were gifted, and others found. One was a combination of all three. 

Lisa and I were in South Carolina to hunt and visit with friends when I came upon what many bamboo rod collectors could only dream about. We’d been invited to hunt turkeys on the property of mutual friends, and long before dawn joined them at their historic plantation house.

Early breakfast consisted of strong coffee and biscuits sweetened with molasses and talk of turkeys. Billy would guide me, and Lanny would guide Lisa. Carrington and Mary would stay behind and use the morning to prepare an enormous hunter’s breakfast for our triumphant return. We felt fortunate as we left and went our separate ways into the cold and damp false-dawn.

During those grey morning hours, we heard a lot birds call, both hens and toms. We saw a few, and maneuvered into position for shots that never materialized; it was a typical turkey hunt. Most importantly we didn’t hear the ladies shoot, which meant that breakfast would be amicable. 

The after-hunt breakfast was enough to drop any cardiologist’s jaw and in the warmth near the fireplace I had a minor epiphany. While I gently blew over my coffee, I asked our host, “Carrington, have you ever made whiskey?”

Carrington hesitated for just an instant, not really long enough to incriminate himself, but certainly long enough to judge a man. Mary looked around the room nervously and went to the cupboard for more mayhaw jelly even thought the dish next to the biscuit platter was still half full.

Though we’d known each other only a short time, it seemed to me that he’d judged me to be a trustworthy friend, and most importantly; not an ATF agent. He looked around the room conspiratorially, and then asked with a twinkle in his eyes, “Would you like to see my still?” 

Mid-morning found us in the old log barn. Carrington was up in the loft, and I was next in line, handing pots and coils of tubing down to Billy, who passed them off to Lisa and Lanny, who deposited them on the lawn where Mary instructed us all in the proper construction of a still.

As the last part was handed to me, a small aluminum tube rattled across the rafters, and I immediately recognized it for what it was; a rod tube. “What’s that, Carrington?” I asked.

“Oh, that old thing, it’s my father’s old fly pole.”

“Mind if I take a look?”

“Of course not,” he said. “I haven’t seen the old Payne in years. ‘Forgot that it was even up here.”

I pulled the pale green cloth bag from the dusty tube and read the tag. 

E.F. Payne Rod Co., Inc. 

Highland Mills, N. Y.

# 43329

7′ – 6″ Feet

3 3/8 Ounces, Parabolic

“Wow.” I said.

“It’s in pretty tough shape,” he replied.

“You might want to have this rod restored,” I suggested. “It might be worth something.”

“Naw, I’ll never get around to it,” he said. “If you like it, you can have it.”

“Wow.” I said again. “I’d love to have it; but only if you’ll let me send you a painting for it. And it’s important that you understand that I’ll have it restored and fish with it.”

“My father would like that,” Carrington said with a wink. “Now let me show you how to set up a whiskey still!”

Once assembled, Carrington eyed the still approvingly, and now that I was in his confidence, let me know that he’d be more than happy to lend it to me… strictly for my private use. “You’ll need a lot of time and fresh, cold water,” he told me while he instructed me in the process of distilling whiskey. “Water was always the tough thing around here… that is until I blew open the spring.”

“Now… that was a day to remember!” Mary chimed in. “Something I’ll never forget.”

“We had this piddly little spring out back,” Carrington continued. “It wasn’t much of anything. Still, some of the old folks ’round here remembered it more. They said that the damned Yankees mucked it up with their horses. 

After it’s filled in, a big old cottonwood, we called it the ‘General Sherman’, decided to grow plumb smack in the middle of it,” he said, with a faraway look in his eyes. “I figured that if I blew out the tree… Well, we’d have enough water. So, I went to town for some dynamite.”

“They wouldn’t sell him just half a box,” Mary added. “He packed that tree’s roots full of the stuff. Until there wasn’t half a box of dynamite left.”

“Then, I figured, what in tarnation are we going to do with half a box of that stuff around here anyway? I didn’t want it around the place, so I made room for the rest of it.”

“I ran back to the house,” Mary said.

“And, I hid behind the hill and touched her off.”

“Every window in the house shook, some broke!”

“And I did a somersault that landed me right on my backside… just in time to see the old ‘General’ lifted off the ground and shot into the sky like some kind of Sputnik rocket!”

“People heard it from all ’round.”

“That damned tree came down on the other side of the creek like a cat thrown from a second-story window; roots first. It stuck itself in the mud, and that’s where it still stands, healthy as can be… to this very day!”

As the number of friends who build fine cane rods grows, so does my collection. I still don’t cast them very well, and I rarely fish with them… but that’s really immaterial to me. What’s important is that I see them every day, because they remind me about the most important things in life; my friends, family, and the experiences that we share.

Views From My Side of the Vise: September 2024

By Paul Johnson

Are you a fan of social media? Do you actively participate or do you just attempt to keep

somewhat current with everything going on? There are many times that I have contemplated

unplugging all of it. However, like it or not, social media is not going away. As a result, I am a

selective consumer of social media and am active on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. (You

really should follow me on all of these platforms)!

Of course, a lot of the content on social media is beyond worthless. Every now and again,

however, you can find something that is really, really good. Several years ago I came across a

fly pattern called the Neversink Trude that was tied and posted by Son Tao. It was one of those

flies that seemed to talk to me.

Since that time, I have forgotten what that fly even looked like because I started to tie it my way.

I did a Google search on the fly and found just a few references, most notable (to me at least)

being my own tying video on YouTube. The fly came from the Neversink River in New York. It

also never sinks, so the name works both ways. Just another example of what you can find on

the internet with a little curiosity and a search engine.

I fish this fly quite a bit from the middle of summer throughout the fall. I am not sure if the fish

take it for a hopper or a beetle or maybe just something that looks like it would be good to eat. I

am a big fan of the dark abdomen that is tied with a peacock-colored dubbing. Another

differentiating factor is the smaller size compared to other popular terrestrial patterns. I tie this

on a size 12 hook. The fly does ride low in the water compared to other multi-layer foam

hoppers. Yet, as indicated by its name, it is easily able to float a weighted nymph if you want to

use a dropper.

Hook: Size 12 hopper hook

Thread: 8/0 dark brown

Shuck / Tail: Amber Z Yarn from Montana Fly Company

Abdomen: Superbright Dubbing in Peacock / Peacock Herl

Back: 2 mm tan foam cut to ¼”

Under wing: Deer Hair

Over wing: White poly hair (I use Congo Hair from Fly Tyers Dungeon)

Legs: Barred Olive Sili Legs

If you like to fish hoppers, tie some of these up and give them a try.

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Paul Johnson

Waconia, Minnesota

Paulwaconia@gmail.com

Upcoming Chapter Events September 5th, season kick-off chapter meeting and open house and gear swap, starting at 6:pm at the Rush River brewery. September 7th, Pheasants Forever Youth Field Day. The event will be held from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm the the Game Unlimited Hunting Club, 871 County Rd E, Hudson, WI 54016. Randy Arnold is looking for volunteers to help with our chapters contribution to the event. Contact randyarnold@kiptuwish.org. to volunteer. October 1st, chapter meeting. 6:00 pm at Junior’s Restaurant and Tap House, 414 South main Street, River Falls Wisconsin 54022. Carl Nelson will be presenting findings on recent Macroinvertibrate sampling on the Rush River. November Chapter meeting. November’s Chapter meeting at Junior’s Restaurant and Tap House, 414 South Main Street, River Falls, Wisconsin, 54022.  This meeting will be moved from Tuesday November 5th to Monday November 4th due to November 5th being election day. Loren Haas will give a presentation on ERO structures and their effect on stream flows. Christmas and Awards Banquet. December 3rd, Juniors Restaurant and Tap House. Watch for more details as we get nearer the date.