Fly Fishing Q&A With Jerry Kiesow - Jan 2012
Casting For Answers - January 2012
Fly Fishing Q&A with Jerry Kiesow of On Wisconsin Outdoors
Submit your questions to Jerry via email at flyfishing@onwisconsinoutdoors.com
What do you do this time of the year? And don’t tell me you head south for the bonefish flats, I can’t afford that. –Josh
Well, Josh, I can’t afford to head south either, so don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. (For you younger readers, the Lone Ranger was a cowboy hero from long, long ago.) For me this time of the year is when I get a variety of things ready for this year’s fly fishing season.
First, I need to get ready for my classes. Orientation hour is in January, and fly tying begins in February, so they, after scheduled writing assignments, get priority. I usually have a few revisions to do on my “manuals,” based on the feedback from last year’s students, and update things that have changed.
Next, I always have to sort through my fly boxes, because they are a mess. I reorganize everything and tie up what flies need to be replaced. Then I add a few new patterns that intrigue me. My equipment gets cleaned and checked out at this time too, so I may have to shop for some items that have been used or lost.
Of course, when we get our January or February thaw, I try to head for the tributaries and try to entice a steelhead or brown trout onto the end of my tippet - unless the rivers remain iced over.
March brings more classes, a little tying at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Show, and the opening of the early catch and release trout season.
So, there you are. Before you know it, it’s spring - the waters are rising; a batch of fresh steelhead have come into the rivers. The season begins. Hope, dreams, and expectations are high.
Hope that helps get you through the coming months. There is always something to do when you fly fish.
A fly tying question for you. How do you feel about substituting for materials called for in a recipe? I do not always have exactly what they call for, but do have something close. –Allen
Close works for me Al, providing close means similar. By that I mean, I do not use a dark brown saddle hackle if the recipe calls for ginger hackle on a dry fly. Nor do I substitute deer hair for bucktail. The differences in both color or how the material ties and fishes in these examples are too great. However, if they call for “Gray partridge breast” for hackle and my gray hackle is not partridge, but looks like the photo and is the right length, that I will use. You get the idea.
Can you tell me what the final decision was about building the fish passage in the last dam standing in Grafton? – Peter
Well Pete, this is not a fly fishing question, but because we have been reporting on the subject, yes, I can. The fish passage will not be built. The DNR Ok’d the permit, but with the caveat that it had to be built as a trap and sort facility and only sturgeon could be released to travel farther upstream. The reason that all other species of fish had to be returned downstream was that sturgeon is the only species, to date, that do not carry VHS.
Not only was that decision impractical, because sturgeon will not even be coming to the dam for maybe 15 years, but the decision also meant that the village would have to have someone man the trapping and sorting facility and they do not have people to do that. Therefore, the Village Board decided not to go ahead with the passageway.
The money that Ozaukee County obtained through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, that was to be used for that Grafton project will, hopefully, be approved by NOAA to be used for the removal of the dam in Newburg - upstream from Grafton. As this is written, Andrew Struck, Ozaukee County Planning and Parks Director has asked NOAA for that approval. They hope to have an answer sometime in January. (Newburg voted to have the dam removed rather than pay for upgrading and maintenance, as opposed to how Grafton voted.)
Removal of the Newburg dam will increase the water quality of the river and open access to 33 miles of tributary streams, making new spawning grounds available for species formally blocked by the dam.
It will also open up another section of the Milwaukee River for unobstructed canoeing and/or kayaking. (One side note: The bridge over the gap at the former Lime Kiln dam location in Grafton, has been installed. This gives fisherpeople access to a great pool/run on the far side of the island. Some of you might like to know that.)
That’s it for this issue. Thanks to those who asked the questions. I hope the answers were helpful. Keep a good thought!
To learn more about Jerry’s fly fishing classes, check out his website: http://www.jerrykiesowoc.com/ . Click on the “Workshops” tag to find this year’s complete schedule. Submit your questions to Jerry via email at flyfishing@onwisconsinoutdoors.com