Another very worthwhile blog

Samual at Headwaters of History ( Link: http://www.headwatersofhistory.com/ ) has put together a site dedicated to fly-fishing history, conservation, and other subjects and musings. An excellent read, inciteful, and frequently updated, this blog is one of the little gems, in this writers opinion.
Check it out!

Back into the Trout dark-ages in Wisconsin?

So much has been written about this recently that I do not wish to re-invent the wheel here.
I shall simply summarize.

Here are links to active threads and posts on the subject:

http://busterwantstofish.com/?p=1795

http://uppermidwestflyfishing.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5888

http://www.headwatersofhistory.com/2010/04/rampant-historical-illiteracy-in-wisco.html



The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will be petitioned by public advocacy during the Conservation Congress, to remove the system of special regulations on our trout streams in favor of a single five fish per day limit, effectively throwing back the clock to the dark-ages.

This proposal makes no sense on the surface, so I drilled down into it a bit.

Here is the real beef in a nutshell, once one sweeps aside spurious arguments and obfuscation.

The effort is led by several very disgruntled individuals, spearheaded by the supposed expertise of a certain rogue former DNR employee, and championed among others, by a certain former guide who has the rather dubious distinction of being banned from many internet forums due to constant inflammatory posting. The essence of what they stand for is the ability to harvest fish, especially by locals, who are represented as no longer able to fish due to restrictive catch and keep regs. Their youth and elderly can or will no longer fish argument is a mask. There are plenty of area and river sections where selective harvest is allowed, and stream access in Wisconsin is better than most any other state.

Fly-fishers have been vilified by this group as well as Trout Unlimited. Habitat improvement has been dismissed.

Effectively, this whole thing boils down to “In da good ole days we used to go down to the creek and drop a worm and catch our fill in an hour.”

The regulations which this group wishes to overturn were solidified after a drought in then late 1980s. They have allowed blue-ribbon fishing to emerge and stay. Changing the entire state to a single five fish limit effectively throws us back into the era before advanced management. The ‘good ole days’ when people could catch a bunch of brood-stock lunkers dumped in their back yard by the stocking truck, and the streams were clogged with silt, and too warm in the summers to hold trout.

Fly-anglers have pegged as elitist snobs by these guys, but it is these same ‘elitist snobs’ who every weekend, are on the streams, installing in-stream habitat improvements, bank stabilization, lunker structures, etc.

The whole bait and hardware vs. fly polarization that this group has ignited and fueled does us more harm than good. We are all stewards of the environment.

Grafton votes to keep ‘historic and iconic’ dam and millpond on the Milwaukee River

Citizens of Grafton voted by an overwhelming majority (75%) to keep the dam on the Milwaukee River, and prevent the village board from using federal dollars available to remove the dam. The Wisconsin DNR has ordered the village to replace/repair the dam by 2019 in order to be in compliance with new flood control measures.

It is no wonder that the referendum passed. The wording was one-sided, and no mention was made of the larger issues of dam compliance, federal funds available, or any vision of a restored river. When the time comes to repair or replace the dam, the folks of Grafton will most likely have to pony up the funds themselves.

Too bad that Grafton is not able to envision the asset that a free-flowing river can provide to the community, wildlife, and all recreational users downstream of their impoundment.

Water quality on the river has improved so much that stoneflies have now become resident. Stoneflies only hatch in areas with oxygen-rich water that is free of siltation. Areas of the river that run wild have seen a recent return of bald eagles, nesting wood ducks, and other signs that nature appreciates the return of a restored river.

The Estabrook Dam has been open now for several years, and the water clarity downstream is the best this writer has ever observed. The lack of the seasonal opening and closing of the weir to fill and draw down the impoundment has allowed the river to cut channels in the silt backed up by the dam, and that very silt has been more or less blocked from pouring into the lower river.

The dam at Limekiln Park in Grafton is slated to be removed this spring, and the dam at Thiensville has received a new fish ladder, allowing migratory fish species such as sturgeon, bass, pike, and steelhead to ascend to new spawning waters.

All in all, our river, which used to be denigrated for its stench, is well on its way to recovery after years of being ‘managed’ by man. It is just kind of sad that the village of Grafton has refused to be part of a new vision for a restored river that already has proved an aesthetic, recreational, and natural asset in areas where it has been allowed to recover.

The Perfect Perfect

Any one who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of the reels made over the years by Hardy Brothers of Alnwick (pronounced Annick). The Marquis, the St. John, the Lightweight series, the St. George, the Bougle’ and others possessed a simple utility and art that was so perfectly merged. They were not fancy, the finish was hand leaded and tended to make them look like antiques after a few years of use, but they just lasted and lasted. They may require more maintenance than modern reels, but many old Hardy fly reels are now on their third or fourth owner, having given service for multiple generations of anglers. The designs Hardy produced were copied far and wide. For a while at the end of turn of the twentieth century, to perhaps the 1930s, most reels on the market were copies, adaptations, or were heavily influenced by the reels of Hardy Brothers.

The Hardy reels still stood out in the waning years of the British Empire period because they had a unique feel and sound. When one picked up a Hardy reel, a glance and a turn of the handle to engage the check or ratchet, and one knew he was holding a Hardy.

The most popular, most widely produced, most influential, and perhaps still the best gear and pawl reel ever designed came out at the end of the 19th century. Designed in 1888, and patented in 1891, the brainchild of Forster Hardy was christened ‘The Perfect Reel.”
It ran on a ball-bearing race, had an adjustable check mechanism with a unique sound, and the back-plate turned to allow one to apply finger pressure to increase the drag. The first Perfect reels were manufactured by hand out of brass.

The Perfect was continually modified and improved, and by 1912, the body material was changed to various alloys of aluminum. The reel was lightened, and a new check was introduced: the famous ‘1912 ratchet.’

It is this version of the Perfect that anglers and collectors consider the ‘Perfect’ Perfect. It has a sound and power to the check that was never before or since duplicated. In fact, 20/20 hindsight would wonder what led Hardy to abandon the 1912 lever adjusted spring and single pawl.

Around 2002, or 2003, Hardy, now House of Hardy, decided to hand make a limited production run of 250 reproductions of the 1912 perfect in 3 ¾, 4, and 4 ¼ inches wide. All would be the wide drum salmon model. 200 were sold in sets of three, one of each size, and encased in a leather box, while 25 each were available for purchase individually, 25 in right-hand wind, and 25 in left-hand wind. They featured the original check or ratchet and ivorine handle, but added a faceplate that had a spitfire finish. This finish originated during the war, when materials for finishing became difficult or impossible to obtain. Each reel was finished entirely by hand, and stamped as of old, with the maker’s initials.

1912 Repro set. I took this photo of an old edition of The Art of Angling Journal

I have always wanted a Hardy Perfect reel. I came close to purchasing one several times, only to balk at the price at auction. I missed the time when a wide-drum salmon was easily obtained for a couple of hundred dollars.

Now I am glad I waited all these years. If anticipation counts for anything, my years of Perfect lust led up to obtaining more or less unexpectedly, what I consider the ultimate Perfect. Meet the 4-inch, left-hand wind spitfire finish 1912 reproduction made by Charlie S. Norris, Hardy’s head reel maker. One of 25 made for individual sale.
I will be committing blasphemy and actually fishing with it. After all, life is too short not to use the good china!
However, one of my leather reel cases will always accompany it, on the river or off. The hand finish is too easily damaged. The maintanance will be akin to a silk line, with the stripping of the line, cleaning, and drying, but all that love and attention will be worth it when this thing gets wound up by a fish.
I can hear it now...

THE check

How to fall in the river.

Readers of this blog may be aware that from time to time, I toss a bit of barbed humor into the mix, and the most frequent target of that humor is myself. After all, if one cannot poke fun at oneself, then one may be in danger of taking oneself too seriously.

The other day I placed a loop of line over a budding branch hanging over the water. I rolled my eyes and tried to free it. It remained stuck like it was attached with glue. Instead of wading back to the branch and carefully freeing the line, I instead commenced pulling on it. Newton’s third law of physics states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Thus, when I freed the flyline, I cart wheeled ass over teakettle backwards into the water. Unbelievable. I laughed and shivered all the way through the next two hours. It is amazing that I can wade through minefields, only to manage this Laurel and Hardy sort of act.
I hope someone got a good laugh out of it. I know I did!

The Weightless Wonderod

A wee bit of humor for a Saturday:

In the never-ending quest for a lighter rod, the Sagorviloomiston rod company has come out with a revolutionary line of flyrods, the ‘Weightless Wonderod’ series.


These new rods are invisible as well as weighing nothing. Rod designer Mortimer Haggis says, “The Weightless Wonderod series is what anglers have been asking for for many years. The lighter the rod, the less fatigue placed upon the arms while casting. Since these rods weigh nothing and effectively don’t exist, fly anglers can fish whenever and wherever they like, without the least effort at all. This opens up whole new avenues to the fly such as couch angling, dream fishing, and standing in the river waving your hand.”


The W.W. rods retail for $999.95, are available from 0 through 000 weight, and come with a matching fly-line made of helium atoms. They feature reel seats made from a proprietary blend of unbelievium and nonsensium, and a fetching blank color of ‘oxygen.’

A ‘satisfaction or your hallucination back’ warranty is offered as well.


For more information, contact Sagorviloomiston at thelighterthebetternomatterwhat.clom

The “Sport” of gravel raping

Well, here we are. Spring is in the air, the robins are singing, “Cheer up… cheer up…cheerily!” cardinals are calling their mating song, and ‘fly-fishers’ are on the gravel chasing spawning steelhead. In the past week, the water level has fallen and cleared enough to allow the use of those nifty polarized glasses to spot fish on the gravel. Guys with expensive cigars wade the shallows looking for bedding fish, hook them on nymphs and glo-bugs, and drag them away from their mates during the act of procreation. The poor fish flop around on the gravel until trapped in a net effectively damaging their protective slime layer, and then get to star in grip and grin ego photos.


Is this sporting? I guess the answer depends on what one considers fair chase. Would it be sporting to wait for a deer buck to mount a doe and then shoot it? That is effectively what is happening here.


To me, and this is my opinion, chasing steelhead, or any fish while they are attempting to build redds and spawn is the lowest form of ‘fishing’ shy of intentional snagging. Even the snagger is probably being honest in his or her game, however illegal it is. Gravel rapers on the other hand actually think they are fly-fishing. Sad.


After many years of swinging flies for steelhead, I can spot a gravel-raper just by looks.

Usually the most expensive vehicle in the parking area, Lexi, Range Rovers, and other obnoxiously large and irresponsible SUVs, will belong to them. Often they sport fly-fishing stickers, or even TU logos. The anglers rarely fish alone. They most often show up in twos and threes. It must have something to do with the glory photos, and the sense of camaraderie in pounding the gravel with your buddies ready to offer congratulations on your ‘catch.’ They wear all the latest gear, especially if it has a logo. They dress up to look like some image in their mind of how a fly-fisherman should look. They ask every person they come across, “Have you seen any fish?” They wander around the river in unpredictable directions, most often again, in groups.


Most of these guys are trout fishermen. That is sad in itself. Instead of learning the skill of reading water in a large river, they just do what everyone else is doing, and rely on sighted fish on gravel before they can make a single cast. I am a trout fisherman as well, but it just kills me to see people that I know from the small streams rely on these tactics for steelhead. Would they fish that way on a trout stream? Is that why the streams are closed for part of the year to protect spawning fish? If the streams and creeks were not closed, would these ‘anglers’ hook as many spawning trout off their gravel beds as they could?


It is getting to the point that an ingrained belief, culture, or even tradition surrounds the use of single-hand rods: nymphing, or glo-bugging over gravel. Swinging streamers seems to be relegated to spey rods now. This is sad too. The single-hand rod is an excellent tool for streamer fishing, if only this method would catch on here. If only these legions of anglers in the Midwest would depart for a day or two and not rely on sight-fishing, the sport that would be discovered by them would be enough to put them off the bedded fish forever.


Alas, this takes a leap of faith, and the ability to appreciate a single fish caught fairly after a full day of wading and casting, versus tallying numbers and measuring the skill of the angler by the sheer number of fish to hand, however crude the method. That leap of faith, and sense of fair chase seems to be beyond most anglers. Indeed, they often defend the practice, and I have been told by one fisherman that “He feels sorry for me, if I don’t get enjoyment out of sight fishing for steelhead.” Sight fishing and gravel raping are not necessarily bonded together. If a fisherman walking the banks and looking down into a pool spots a pod of fish holding in the water, and then swings flies or nymphs for them, that is different than fishing bedded fish. In our rivers, 99% of steelhead spotted are on the gravel.


The thing that really bothers me is that these gravel rapers think that, because they are using a fly rod, they are somehow elevated above the gear fishermen or center-pinners that are legitimately hooking their fish. This very deservedly gives fly-fishing a bad name. Being snobby about an abominable method of fishing is just sad. This is sad, and a disservice to all the other anglers, whatever the method or gear, who are actually fishing.