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Saturday, May 8, 2021

“the grass is always greener”.

I have reservations for western trout fishing trips in June, July, August, and September. Trout fishermen from out west and other parts of the country travel to “The Driftless Area” in southwest Wisconsin for the trout fishing and for the beautiful country.

This morning I made campground reservations for the Driftless Area for three weeks in May. I will probably cancel my June, July, and August western reservations and instead spend three weeks each of those months camping and fishing the Driftless Area which is roughly three hours from home. Better to discover good fishing opportunities close to home. Also I will save a couple of thousand dollars in gasoline. This morning I found two inexpensive campgrounds in the Driftless Area, one a US Army Corp of Engineer Campground on the Mississippi River and the other a state park on the Wisconsin River. Because I have the Lifetime Interagency Senior’s Pass camping at the Corp of Engineers campground is half price, $13 a night, and that includes an electricity hookup. Best deal I’ve ever had.

In September I have two weeks reserved at a campground near the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico. As of now I plan on going on that trip. My time fishing the San Juan almost three years ago is a fond memory.

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March 25th, 2021 Summer Trip

In the middle of June I’ll be heading to the Big Horn Mountains for a month of camping and fishing. I’ll go home for a week.

Then to northwest New Mexico to fish the San Juan River for two weeks. I’ll be staying at Cottonwood Campground in Navajo Lake State Park.

After the San Juan River I’ll be heading to Cimarron Canyon State Park close to Taos New Mexico. It’s a beautiful spot with a beautiful small river. I’ll be camped at the state park for 3 days and nights.

Then I’ll be spending two weeks camped at Aspen Glade Campground, a National Forest campground near Antonito Colorado. The plan is to do some day hikes into some trout streams that feed into the Conejos River. I’ll then go home for a couple of weeks.

In the middle of September I’ll be back in northwest New Mexico fishing the SanJuan River for another 10 days.

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Friday, November 6, 2020

Last weekend when getting my “house batteries” from my trailer I tweaked my right wrist a little bit. It isn’t a big deal but it is sore enough that I don’t want to try to catch a big fish. It’s too bad cause the weather during the last few days has been beautiful.

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Sunday, November 1, 2020

Supposedly there are some steelhead and brown trout in the Milwaukee River. It has been pretty cold the last couple of weeks but is supposed to warm up on Tuesday. Maybe I’ll give it a try a couple of times this week.

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During the second week of October, I caught several large salmon in the Milwaukee River about two miles from my home.

The river was and still is loaded with big salmon. They are making their way upstream in an effort to spawn. They are a moving target. At times I could see up to five big fish in front of me. They aren’t eating but they will pick a fly up probably out of habit or irritation. The females, I think they are called “Hens”, are loaded with eggs. An egg fly and a split shot just big enough to get the fly down so it just ticks the bottom is all you need. If you are doing it right you will lose a lot of flies to the bottom and to big fish.

A simple Blood Spot Egg Fly. It is not an exaggeration to say that this fly can be tied in two minutes.
This is an egg fly with milt tied in over the egg.

Soon, when the water temperature gets below 50 degrees, steelhead will start their run up the river. I’m looking forward to taking a shot at them.

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Thursday, October 1, 2020

I live in Glendale Wisconsin, about a mile from the Milwaukee River. Sometime around the end of September and into October King Salmon (Chinook Salmon ) “run” up Lake Michigan tributaries in an effort to spawn. The Milwaukee River is a Lake Michigan tributary. They don’t spawn but they go through the motions. Sometime in October and into November Steelhead along with Brown Trout and maybe other types of salmon make their “run” up the river. The salmon showed up a week or two ago. I caught a couple of these monsters this week and hope to catch more and get some photos. I’ll take and post some photos of the flies I’ve tied and use.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Went north a little over an hour into Montana to visit The Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. They are taking COVOD-19 very seriously. Every other parking space is blocked. There is a sign instructing visitors to wear masks. Of course men were going into the bathroom without masks, tough guys.

The black marker is Custer’s marker. Custer’s brother’s marker is a little further down the hill.
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Sunday, August 16, 2020

Arrived at Tie Flume Campground in The Big Horn Mountains and Big Horn National Forest. The campground is at 8400 feet. The South Tongue River runs through the campground. It’s a beautiful river full of fish, 4000 to 5000 fish every mile. They are beautiful Brown Trout but almost all are very small, fun for a while.

During my visit I saw three young moose.

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Saturday, August 15, 2020

I’m camped for tonight at North Sterling State Park just north of Sterling Colorado where I stopped for one night a few days after I retired two years ago. Pretty flat country around the park but the park is a little higher in elevation. Each site has a picnic table with a windbreak next to it. Right now it’s 90 degrees but there is a pleasant breeze. Can’t upload a photo cause of the lack of WiFi.

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Friday, August 14, 2020

Staying tonight at a KOA campground just west of Omaha. Not my style but there aren’t many camping opportunities around Omaha. They sure pack em in here. Tomorrow night I’ll be camped for a night at North Sterling State Park in northeast Colorado.

When I was in northeast Iowa around Mount Vernon there were many damaged and destroyed silos and cornfields with corn bent at about a 45 degree angle. Then I remembered a Derecho went through Iowa a couple of days ago. Just saw on the local news that over a million acres of corn and soybeans were destroyed. The streets of Mount Vernon were lined with tree branches waiting for pick up.