Last weekend

Ok, so I have a short recap of last weekend (the opening of WI Catch and Release season)

Friday:
Worked at day job, then at the Fly Angler

Saturday:
Worked at the Fly Angler, then went to a Materials Swap (which was just a nice social event in disguise) that evening.

Sunday:
I wake up to hear sleet/rain on my bedroom window, so I slept in. We did our Taxes for 5 hours and then that pretty much shot up the day.

Monday:
After I got home for work, I packed for my Annual Lake of the Woods ice fishing trip. We take off Thursday morning, but since Tuesday and Wednesday I work at both jobs, I figured I should get my act together before I had to scramble and forget something improtant while I had the time.

That's all for now.

Ok, I apologize for the lack of follow through on my posts. So let me try again to be more frequent with this blogging experiment.

The results of the previous post were great. We had a blast, most of the details I will keep off the board here :) but I can tell you this. We did try stopping at the St. Croix Rod company, and even though the hours listed said it was supposed to be open, the place was closed with nobody in sight. So much for touring that place. We headed up and met our party ;) and then proceeded to strengthen our friendships with much conversations and shenanigans going deep into the night. Sunday, after a GI-Normous breakfast at a CHEAP price, we did a little ice fishing on an "un-named" lake and I caught my first lake trout. It wasn't big, ten or eleven inches, but it was another species to add to my life list of fish caught, putting me up to 30 species total. To add to that it was a GORGEOUS DRIVE to the U.P. There was at least 6" of show covering these full grown pines along the roads. It made for a very quiet and relaxing drive and my wife and I were almost giddy with actually seeing such a winter scene.

That was the only fishing I have done so far this winter. So I have been keeping myself busy with working at the local fly shop in Fridley, or tying flies, or going to my fly tiers club meetings (to which I was elected to the voting board for a three year term), or going to the local gun range and blasting targets. Speaking of my fly tying meetings, I put up a new website for our club, it has dates/times of our events and photo's from various occasions. We have been working on several things to prepare for the upcoming Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo! The Wisconsin Early Trout Season opens this weekend! But Saturday I have to work at the fly shop, then go to a club event, maybe if the weather is ok on Sunday, I might be able to get out.

I should start getting my stuff together though, as I take of for lake of the woods in the later part of the week to iIce fish up 'der fer a couple o'days.

TTFN!

-Critter

Unusual winter in MN

The temps have NOT been cooperative this year as far as winter fishing goes. For several weeks now we have been just cold enough to form ice on the lakes but just warm enough that cars, ice houses, and people are falling through the ice. So Lets go fly fishing you say, well its been just cold enough that the guides will freeze up on the fly rod. So for the past week I have been sitting here tapping my fingers waiting for the weather pattern to change. And by the looks of it, that "ain't" gonna happen this week. So I will tie more flies, play with my new fly reel, make sure my Vexilar is charged and do "stuff" to keep me busy around the house. I am looking forward to the weekend though. My wife and I are going to Rhinelander, WI for the weekend to tie flies and have an adult beverage or two with some friends that we met on a fly fishing board. We did this last year and had a lot of fun, hence why we are repeating the 4.5 hour pilgrimage. IF you can't go fishing, then doing something fishing related will have to work. And with the recent snowfall, the drive will be a scenic one.

TTFN,

-Critter

Christmas

Christmas was good to me this year. I was able to have a nice quiet gift exchange with my wife on the eve of Christmas eve. She liked her presents very much, as did I. I got a new Ross Reel 1.5 for my 3wt rod that I got earlier this year on my birthday. She also got me an assortment of colored biots and misc. Feathers to tie flies with. I think she likes keeping me busy in my tying room ;). On the day of Christmas eve we spent at my parents house watching the 40 degree + weather turn the newly iced over lake into a slushy mess. This year's Christmas was especially nice due having my brother safely home and out of the military. Last year he was home too, but he was doing a count down of days until he left for Iraq. This year, not the same. Much more relaxed and fun, and we even had many gifts for his girlfriend who seems to be just a little sweetheart with just enough attitude to keep my brother in line :). The best gift of the night was a large gift certificate to Cabela's. can you say "Danger Will Robinson Danger!" Christmas Day My wife and I drove over to see her parents in South-Central Wisconsin. Where we ate Mae's house, shared gifts, ate some more at grandma's home, shared gifts, went to sleep, had breakfast at Jen's parents house and ROLLED out the door to head home. It was nice seeing Jen's relatives, they always seem so happy when they get together, regardless of the event/holiday. We also chatted some with Jen's younger sister who has recently become engaged and moved into a "fixer-upper" in SW Wisconsin. She seems pretty excited with home improvement project her and her fiance have taken on. WE wish them the Best!

TTFN,

-Critter

Nothing to report

Nothing to say really, I jut thought I'd blog something. So...I tied up two dozen EHC (half black and half natural) this past week. I also picked up another fly tying book with a bunch of neat UK patterns. I like the UK style of tying, not sure why. Enter the Holiday season, last minute travel details as well as Christmas purchases have been made. Long hours have been put in between my current job and my "part-time job." Thankfully I will be closing that chapter and replacing it with a different job that is truly part-time and closer to home. Much caffeine to help me through the long days. Many suppers out on the town and holiday treats have been consumed - tis the season!

-Critter

Eastern Fly Fishing magazine

If you get the chance you should pick up the Winter 2006 edition of the Eastern Fly Fishing magazine, my buddy, John Mowery, is published in it for the second time in a row. He has two nice articles about our local WI/MN waters. Which, by the way, John is also our VP of our local Trout Unlimited chapter known as TCTU of which I have put a few volunteer hours into myself as a former member of the Board and former Chair of the Habitat Committee.

later,

-Critter

Last nights club meeting

Last night I was going to go the fly tiers meeting for just an hour. Oops, three and a half hours later I left. There were a couple of visitors that had stopped in from Fairbault, MN. The older of the two visitors (70's I am guessing) was very interesting to talk to. He fished Oregon frequently as that is where one of his daughters lives and had a unique tying style. First he had a book on tying flies with glass beads, and his flies were neat variations of common patterns. The beads were definitely an interesting interpretation of the real deals. Second he was tying flies down to a size 28, and he was disappointed that he couldn't go down to a 32. Now I don't know about you, but at age 30, It's a good day to tie a size 24 fly. I was very impressed, usually flies at the size 28 are more impressionistic and use thread dubbing and nothing else. This talented tier had traditional tails and hackle and the whole shebang! So I guess that eliminates any excuses from anyone who says "that's just too small." By the way, he was catching some respectable trout with those flies according to a couple of stories/memories he shared with me. I chatted most all the members that showed up last night (about twenty or so) and hence the reason for leaving much later than anticipated. I so enjoy the meetings and I always leave in great mood, no matter what mood I show up with.

Tomorrow morning we are headed South to IA to have our family Christmas and I am debating whether or not to bring some stuff down with me to tie flies as there is always much sitting and chatting in various places of the house. I could just take one over, set up with a glass of wine and chat away while letting the creative juices flow from the finger tips. That and there is only so many days that I can work on refilling my fly box before January 1st comes and our winter season open on select streams in Minnesota!

TTFN,

-Critter

Zebra's

Last night as the chill set in, I sat down to the tying bench. Of the vice came sixteen Zebra midges size 18. Three went into a fly box that I will be giving my cousin (who is just getting started in fly fishing), and the rest went into my midge box. Of those there are three that I had tied a variation of. I added a green flashabou shellback. While I like patterns that have a multi-colors, this little experimental pattern may be too flashy. At least it seemed flashy under the vice light with the silver ribbing, the flashabou, and the silver beadhead all reflecting the light back at me. After that I tied two and a half wet flies as I kind of got distracted with that hour long fashion show by Victoria's Secret. I told my wife that I thought is was commercial and I had to pay attention to it for her sake. ;) wink wink. I wonder how effective a zebra midge tied with a CDC wing hand picked from one of those Vickies outfits would be?

Curiously yours,

-Critter