Heading “up north” at around 2 pm to Council Grounds State Park campground. Tonight an old friend and his band will be playing at a bar a few miles from my campsite. I went to college with him fifty years ago. Tomorrow I’ll head to a National Forest campground close to the Mackinac Bridge.
Friday, June 11, 2021
This morning I made all the reservations including museum reservations. Before going on to museums I’ll first spend a couple of nights camped about twenty minutes from the Mackinac Bridge. From there I’ll visit Walloon Lake where Hemingway’s family had a cottage when he was young and where he married his first wife. I’ll be going to Lake Michigan beaches looking for Petosky Stones and Charlevoix Stones. I’m going to that area to look for the stones and Walloon Lake happens to be in the area. I wouldn’t drive very far to go to Walloon Lake. Then I’ll be visiting the; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Football Hall of Fame, Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. I’ll be heading out next Saturday the 19th of June.
Thursday, June 10, 2021
I’m still considering a Baseball Hall of Fame trip. My drive to Cooperstown would take me close to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton. Manhattan and its art museums are not far from Cooperstown. We shall see.
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Fished early this morning with flies I know catch fish on the Timber Coulee. Caught a few tiny trout. It’s been too hot too long. Heading home after I pack things up.
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Didn’t fish this morning. A couple of weeks ago I got a pretty good sunburn fishing the Timber Coulee. My arms have been peeling for a few days and yesterday I got a little bit of a burn again. I’ll probably fish at sunset maybe on Coon Creek. It looks ok but it isn’t very big.
Monday, June 7, 2021
Second day of a four day Driftless Area fishing trip. I’m staying at Esofea-Rentz county park campground, a Vernon County park. Woke at four am and got on the water by seven am. Fished mostly dry flies. There was a midge hatch but very few rises. I had no luck with conventional dry flies such as mayfly, caddis, and midges but started catching fish when I switched to terrestrials; ants, beetles, and grasshoppers. Didn’t count fish today but it was more than ten.
Friday, June 4, 2021
Sunday around noon I’ll be heading back to The Driftless Area for four days of camping at a Vernon County campground. It will be hot, close to a high of 90 all four days.
Thursday, May 27, 2021
On Tuesday I stopped by to see two old friends from the mid 70s. A couple of months ago I realized that they had retired to Viola, Wisconsin about 10 miles from where I usually camp in the Driftless Area. They weren’t married when I knew them. He and I were roommates for a few years. Quite a coincidence that he ended up being a tool and die mold guy like me.
Horrible weather and it’s not looking a lot better so I’m heading home now.
I think I figured out what the problem was with my blog’s photos and videos, a bad plugin.
Monday, May 24, 2021
Fished the Timber Coulee again this morning after almost a week of off and on rain. Fished from 8 am til noon and got a pretty good sunburn. Wasn’t expecting a sunburn on a May morning. Used my new and inexpensive 3 weight outfit. I really like it. It’s delicate and casts well fishing dry flies and gets the job done fishing nymphs with an indicator.
Caught 19 brown trout, and terrorized many more fish. I caught several around 10 to 12 inches but caught one brown that was 15 to 16 inches and one 13 to 14 inches. They were beautiful. They weren’t real picky. They liked an old standard, the “pheasant tail”, and an “orange scud”. The biggest fish were caught on the pheasant tail but it’s just the fly I had on at the time.
Friday, May 21, 2021
Nothing happened yesterday.
The weather really went down the tubes once I got to the Driftless. I’ve been reading.
Hwy 35, The Great River Road, runs parallel to the Mississippi River on the east side of the river. It’s about a mile from my campground. Around here the Mississippi has many, many islands and channels. Don’t want to insult anyone but the area feels very rural and like you stepped back in time a little bit. The Great River Road is one lane in each direction with no room for widening because of the bluffs along the river. There are little “towns” along the highway with small old taverns. Time has not been kind to the towns in the area. It’s a rougher looking crowd with many biker types.
Many boat ramps and a tremendous amount of bass boats and larger jon boats are up and down the river. There are many private campgrounds and a couple of large state and federal campgrounds full of trucks and boat trailers. I’m not sure how many combination dams and locks are up and down the river. The river areas below the dams are called pools. There is a lot of walleye fishing. Due to the weather and weekend I probably won’t fish until Monday. I’ll be taking photos along the river and post them when I get home.
Driving around looking for streams took me through many old towns down in the valleys, “coulees”. The surrounding country is beautiful but the little towns have seen better days.