Fly Fishing In Wisconsin
Sometimes even fly fishers have to use other tactics
Occasionally, how and when we fly fish is negatively influenced by the weather. That means if a fly fisherman like myself really wants to fish, he has to revert to other methods.
A prime example is this past August. I was at our cottage in northeastern Wisconsin. It was after supper and the wind, which normally dies down in the evening so we fly fishers can practice our “trade,” was whipping the willow into a frenzy, almost tying the limber limbs into knots. Rain was imminent. Still … I wanted to fish. Doing so from the canoe with the fly rod was out, so I went to my truck, dug out and set up my spinning rod.
My plan was to cast off our pier until it was too dark or it rained, whichever came first. Our pier is too short for fly fishing unless you just want to dab for the bluegills that live under it.
I clipped on a non-distinct-colored popping surface lure with a short tail and cast to the middle of the river. I worked it back in short jerking “pops,” retrieving it across and against the current. I repeated this routine many times to a variety of spots in the middle and along the river’s edges that were reachable.
Would the bass pictured in the bag have taken a popper fly as readily as they did this popping lure?
On one of those casts to the middle, which is about 8 feet deep, the water exploded and I was fast into a fish.
It appeared to be quite sizable, so thought I’d better get a net. (I was using my ultra light rod with 5-pound braided line and a snap/swivel.)
Retrieving the net, which was stashed about 30 feet away under my upside-down canoe, made for a few interesting minutes. I moved backward and sideways to get it while trying to keep the fish from tangling the line around one of the pier posts. Eventually I got the net and got back to the side of the pier where I could net the fish. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a very nice smallmouth bass—the first this year that I kept.
Now that I had a good fish I had to keep it someplace. Our live net, a metal mesh bag, was in the garage. I kept the fish in the net, laying the net and the rod with the lure still in the fish’s mouth at the base of the pier. Then I walked 200 feet uphill to the garage to get the bag.
Thankfully, everything was still there when I returned. The fish had not flipped everything into the river. I put the fish in the bag, tied the bag to the pier, and went back to fishing.
Three casts later I had a twin smallie on the line taken from the same spot. Then it began to rain and it was time to clean fish. I perform autopsies on any fish that I keep. I found that each of these fish measured 19 inches and had crawdads in their bellies.
Now, I asked myself, why would two fish full of crawdads that live on the bottom of the river strike a non-descript lure chugging along on the surface of the river? Curious by nature, I also wondered if they would have taken a fly. A few days later as my wife and I enjoyed the grilled filets, I still wondered. I’ll never know.
What I do know is this. When the weather is not fly fishing-friendly, sometimes even ardent fly fishers have to find other ways to catch fish.
See you in the river.
Keep a good thought!
Jerry enjoys all aspects of the outdoors. To keep track of what he is doing and where, see his photos, and read some of his other writings, including his book, “Tales of The Peshtigo Putzer,” check out his website: jerrykiesowoc.com.