Candor moves me to admit that I don’t always follow the advice offered in these brief paragraphs. Most years I follow my own advice but some times I forget. And after reading these suggestions you might decide that it isn’t necessary to pay attention to these rather obscure details. However, if you follow the advice I offer you will be rewarded; your expensive equipment will last longer and perform better.
Some years ago Dick Schwartz offered this advice to a young person new to the sport of fly fishing. Dick said, “Spend your money on the rod and the line because they’re the things that do the work.” True that, and that’s why we want to take good care of them.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a $70 Cortland rod or a $700 Sage rod, we put them through unimaginable stresses. We bang them against brush and trees and rocks. Sometimes we step on them, We reef on them whether on a big fish or a hook up in the weeds. We bang bead head nymphs and heavy shot against them. And we strip dirty lines through their guides while casting. Now that the season is over, go to your quiet spot, assemble your rod, put the tip on the floor and flex the rod with a gentle but firm downward grip on the cork. Don’t bend it between your hands, Dummy! If you hear or feel a soft click it’s likely that you didn’t fully seat the ferrule. Or, perhaps the ferrule is cracked. Check it out.
Next, take the rod apart and with a damp soft cloth wipe down each section. Dry it with a dry soft cloth and then if you feel like it spray a little Pledge on a paper towel or put a couple of drops of lemon oil on the paper towel and polish your rod. Don’t do this this with a vengeance, just make it look nice. Now use a magnifying glass or a hand lens to examine your guides. (They’re lines guides, not eyelets. Jeez.) You’re looking for cracks and flat places on the guides. Find a nylon sock or a piece of acrylic yarn and run it through the guides. If it gets hung up or leaves a little fuzz on the guides that’s an indication of a crack or sharp edge. The flat spot and consequent sharp edge is caused by a dirty line sliding through the guides, effectively sanding the inside of the guide. If you find a cracked ferrule or a guide that is cracked or has the sharp edge, pack up the rod and send it back to the manufacturer for repair because these are warranty issues. There will be a charge for shipping and handling. If your rod is in good shape, put it in its bag and slip it back into its tube. Next season you’ll want to wax the male end of the ferrule with a little candle wax or paraffin.
Moving on to the line, let’s assume that you fish quite a bit. If so, your line is dirty. Strip the business end of your line (30 or 40 feet) off the reel and put it in the kitchen sink. Examine the line for cracks. You can use the magnifying glass or the hand lens but cracks are usually pretty obvious. Think about the past season. Was your line sinking? That could be caused by a dirty line or a cracked line that’s allowing water to soak the core. Now dampen a paper towel and put two drops of dish washing liquid on it. Squeeze it around the line and pull the line through it. When you open the paper towel you’ll see two dark lines (that’s the dirt) and a pale color that matches your line. Give the paper towel a quarter turn and repeat the process. Rinse the line in the sink, dry it and put it back on your reel. If your line is cracked you’ll need to replace it before the next season. Even a cheap line is better than a line that’s damaged and sinking.
Now we get to your reel, your line storage device. Pop the spool off the frame and look at the inside of the frame and the back side of the spool. How much dried mud and sand do you see? Rinse the frame in a stream of water under the tap. Use a tooth brush on the back side of the spool. Dry the frame. Do not spray it with WD-40! A modern reel doesn’t really need lubrication, but if there’s a moving part you think needs a little help (like the release mechanism on the spool) here’s a safe method of doing it. Put one drop of reel oil or “3 in 1 Oil” on a piece of wax paper. Dip one end of a toothpick in the oil and apply it to the piece. Don’t overdo it. Pack your beauty away in a safe place and put your feet up.
Good news! We will be having a holiday gathering at Junior’s for our December meeting! After not having our banquet at the Lake Elmo Inn for the past couple of years due to Covid, I’m really looking forward to it and hope to see you all there. See the article in this issue for more information.
We will also have chapter awards at the December meeting. Without the banquet, we did awards two years ago during our on/line February fundraiser. Not handing out the awards in person, didn’t feel right, so last year we had awards at our May meeting at Rush River Brewing. That was better, but having me standing on a picnic table, yelling at the top of my lungs to be heard, again left something to be desired. Getting back to our December format will be much better.
Speaking of chapter awards, we have so many great volunteers in our chapter. I hear from many other chapter presidents how impressed they are with how much KIAP-TU-WISH accomplishes. That is all due to our membership and I want to thank all of you for your time and money. We have such hard-working and passionate members. If you haven’t gotten involved in a chapter volunteer activity – why not? There is something for everyone – brushing, Trout in the Classroom, youth days, Stream Girls, grant writing, and stream monitoring to name a few. Tell me what your interests are and I will plug you in with a group. You will have a lot of fun! Trust me! KIAP’s reputation is that of a “doer”. A group that isn’t afraid to get their boots wet or hands dirty – let’s keep it that way!
December Get Together: After two years without a holiday banquet due to the pandemic, Kiap-TU-Wish is reconstituting the annual celebration. Mark Tuesday, December 6th on your calendar. The venue is Junior’s Bar and Restaurant in River Falls. We are planning a social hour, a buffet and an awards program to honor our many distinguished volunteers.
Menu: Meat and Cheese Board, Salad Bar, Chicken Wings, Cheeseburger Slider, Mashed Potato Bar, Beef & Chicken Satay Skewers, Seasonal Fruit Display, Smoked Salmon Display
The program will consist of a social hour from 6-7 p.m., with the meat and cheese board, seasonal fruit display, and smoked salmon display served. Additional menu items will be served from 7-8 pm. We will then have a short awards program at 8:00 p.m.
Ticket information: Price: $30. Tickets can be purchased on-line (Eventbrite) or at the door.
On-Line: Log on to the Eventbrite site through this LINK.
At the door: Call Greg Olson at 612-300-8970 to register. The registration deadline is 11/25/22. You can pay with cash or check upon arrival at the event.
Date, Time, and Place: December 6th, 2022, 6:00 p.m. Juniors Bar and Restaurant Located in the Radisson Hotel 414 Main Street, River Falls Wisconsin
Early on in my fly tying journey, I took some classes at a local fly shop. It was at one of those classes that I first heard of a fly pattern called the Pink Squirrel. I remember the discussion at the shop being that this was kind of an odd pattern but from all reports it did catch fish. The fly also seemed to be something of a secret. There were not any photos of the fly around and you sure would not want to mention it in any type of online forum.
After that I started tying Pink Squirrels and yes, they always seem to catch fish. My go-to recipe is to use a 2.4mm gold bead on a size 16 1x long nymph hook. I use Pearl Krystal Flash for the tail, natural fur dubbing for the abdomen, gold wire size brassie for the rib and pink dubbing for the collar.
Fast forward about 15 years to one of our Laughing Trout Wednesday night tying sessions where my good friend Grace bluntly tells me that she does not like the way I tie a Pink Squirrel. She much prefers to use chenille and not dubbing for the collar, which is closer to the original pattern created by John Bethke. I have never cared for this style because a thread wrap over the chenille is needed to tie it in. For some reason or another that thread wrap has always bothered me.
It is interesting how we can look at a fly and view it differently from another angler’s perspective. I find myself doing this from time to time. I will look at a pattern in a fly shop or a magazine and say to myself, “That is pretty cool, but I think it would look better to do it this way”. Does that make my version of the fly any better than the original? Heck no! It just somehow looks better to me.
Now, back to the Pink Squirrel. Why is this pattern so effective on Driftless Region trout? The only reasonable explanation I have ever heard was that fish take it as an egg. Do the fish care if it has a chenille or a dubbing collar? No, only a few overly persnickety anglers seem to have an opinion on that. Grace and I are just going to have to disagree.
The Pass Lake is one of the old style patterns that is often overlooked today. It’s my favorite fly for brook trout. It seems to trigger their strike instinct more than other fly I’ve tried. It can be fished wet or dry. I prefer fishing it wet, just under the surface, with the hook being the only weight. Often the best fish in a pool will be the first to strike.
I learned to tie this fly (and many others) from Bob Mitchell several years ago and this is how he tied it.
Hook: #10 Mustad 9672 or equivalent
Thread: Black
Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet
Body: Black Chenille Medium
Wing: White Calf Tail
Beard: Brown Hen Hackle
Pass Lake Fly
My version in the above photo has a slight variation where I’ve used an orange dyed hen feather rather than the original brown. I don’t think the fish care but I like orange.
If you search around you’ll find there are other ways to tie the Pass Lake. There’s a great article about it’s history here:
Damian Wilmot has a nice video where he uses a #10 TMC 3671 hook, red thread and a polar bear for the wing. For me, I feel the calf tail is part of the Pass Lake’s success. I do think the red thread might make a cool variation though.
I hope you give this fly a try.
Oh, and if you have a fly you’d like to share with our readers, send an email to editor Ed or myself. We’re listed on the website but I’ll also put our contacts below.
The Baldwin DNR Fisheries crew surveyed a total of 64 trout stream sites this year on streams in Pierce, St. Croix and western Dunn counties. The surveys went well with the weather cooperating and very few large runoff events.
Overall, trout densities in most streams are very stable compared to long term averages. Total trout densities were lower relative to last year, due in large part to the high natural reproduction in 2020 and 2021 making total trout numbers extremely high in 2021.
In most streams, natural reproduction was low this year compared to long term averages but adult trout numbers were high in part due to the 2 large year classes of trout from the large hatches in 2020 and 2021.
The drop in trout densities experienced this year is likely a good thing and nothing to be concerned about as trout densities in 2021 were likely higher than carrying capacity for most of these streams and competition for resources was high. With relatively lower trout densities and low natural reproduction this year, we should likely see a jump in size structure in the near future.
Some additional trends resulting from our survey work this year were drops in brook trout densities in streams where both brook and brown trout occur. In many brook trout dominant streams, however, densities and natural reproduction are up from previous years. There is also promising news from the Cady Creek brook trout restoration project which shows brook trout densities higher than in previous years and densities that are finally higher than brown trout densities.
The Willow River Race Branch looked better than ever with good numbers of adult brown and rainbow trout. This year seemed to be the year of large brook trout in our surveys with a few fish larger than 13 inches captured in several streams.
We surveyed 11 trout habitat improvement projects for post-habitat evaluations and all of them look great as far as trout densities and natural reproduction with densities higher than prior to project completion in all projects. Overall, the trout populations are in great shape with many aspects to look forward to in the near future.
