Tight Lines on my Tied Flies!

My wife is a wonderful, thoughtful woman. This past Christmas she gifted me a fly tying kit from Wapsi. It was nothing fancy, but came with a vice, tools, various tools, and patterns. I guess you could say I'm hooked!

We spent a day learning to tie simple fly patterns. The San Juan Worm was our first try, followed by a tube-wrapped scud. It was fun to be doing, and better yet to be learning together.

If you're ever looking for something fun on a cold winter's day, and the ice hasn't yet set on the lakes... fly tying is a pretty great way to spend it. The next several days were spent learning the patterns found within my kit. Many of which I'd not used before. Thank goodness for youtube and the local fly shop. Caddis patterns were not included in the kit, but on my mind.

Upon arriving at the fly shop, Brian was working behind the desk. He got me set up with elk hair, hackle, and the like. As I was leaving, he invited me to join him at the Wednesday night fly tying group. They were given premiere access to the new brewery opening later this spring. He said he'd even provide bases to help secure our vices. I couldn't wait!

The big night had arrived. I made my way to the Swinging Bridge Brewing Company, and got situated at a table. I quickly began conversing with others there, and began exchanging patterns. The Good Doctor arrived in time to join me for food and drink. All in all, a pretty relaxing way to meet other fellow trout anglers.

As December and January passed, the temperatures grew unseasonably warm. I was able to fish in comfort the second week of February. The Mrs. and I got out to enjoy near seventy degree temperatures. I was eager to hook a trout on my own flies.

We made our way to a familiar spot, with easy walking, and clear casting. We were weeks away from a new child, so the Mrs. didn't want to venture far. In fact, she was more interested in her novel, so she read and I fished. We had perhaps an hour of daylight.

We had set up at the rear of a steep rise. The river had a good mix of water... fast, slow, riffles, and rocks. No deep holes, but a good variety of water in a short distance. I was working a midge along a riffle between rocks. I hooked tree on my second cast. Nothing like working the rust out!

First fly lost, second cast. After retying, I settled into that familiar pattern, which never gets old. I slung that fly in the fast water. Nothing took. I tried the right undercut banks. The same. I had worked all the water that looked fishy, and nothing produced. Light was starting to wane quickly. On a whim, I tossed to the calmer water on the outside of a rock. That was the trick. My line grew taut. I set hook and kept the tension, as I landed a small brown. Nothing fancy, but I had caught trout in February. Not just that, but had caught trout in February on my own tied fly.

Well, as if I needed any encouragement. I began tying midges of varying color combos, but mostly size 12 and 14. I began to improve my caddis patterns as well. I knew it would be some time yet before trying the caddis, but the weather was holding steady. The following weekend found me along the river by my lonesome.

I decided to return to the same access we had hit the weekend prior. A few other anglers decided to make use of the warm weather as well. Fortunately, there's plenty of water to fish, and I'm not opposed to hiking the woods and water of Western Wisconsin. About a half-mile in, I ran into a friendly fellow. He had been working further downstream and was headed back. I asked about the bite, and he shared there were fish rising in a pool just ahead. Fish rising the third week of February!

Not far ahead, I found the pool he spoke of. This patch of river had a deep run center, with varying speeds flowing between boulders on either side. Tree cover forced me to step into the drink, but I was perhaps knee deep. I tied a black and silver size 14 midge... my boss dubbed it the Papp Zebra. With the midge tied, and indicator set, I began to work.

A backwater eddy ran to the far shore, just beyond a limestone boulder. I made my first casts. I tried to work my casts several feet above the eddy. I didn't like to plop of the strike indicator, and was apprehensive to it spooking the fish. In fact, that's what most likely happened along the calm eddy. Several casts working the different lines produced noting.

Shifting to the faster water on the far side of the run got the day moving the right direction. The first cast above the near side of the limestone boulder plopped down. Four feet into the float, the indicator dropped. I wrangled the brown away from the boulder. He lead me into the current, before making a direct run to my feet. Fortunately, I caught up with this speedster, and worked him into the net.

I caught fish three of the next four casts! Nothing huge, but why do they have to be? When you're able to hook trout in sixty-five degree weather in February in Wisconsin, every fish is a trophy. That day, the silver and black pattern, with a silver head was the winner. I'm not telling fish tales when I say the number of fish netted was in the twenties. I went home to work on more!

I knew after this outing, I was well on my way to enjoying an entirely new aspect to trout fishing. To all of you kindred spirits, if you haven't done so, I highly recommend taking up tying your own flies. Can't wait to try out those caddis!

Tight lines everyone.