No Turkey but.......

My daughter Grace and I had a great time near Grantsburg Turkey hunting. We didn't get our bird but, we had an experience that neither of us will ever forget.
While sitting Saturday morning overlooking our decoys we had a surprise. I looked at Grace and asked her if she was alright. It was 5:30 AM and I don't think she has ever gotten up that early for anything. This was our second morning and needless to say she was feeling it. She gave me a thumbs up. Grace was sitting to my right so she could see up the hill and I was a few yard away looking down at our decoys were we had seen a couple of Toms the day before. Shortly after she gave me the thumbs up I heard her whisper "I think I see a Bear." Being a good father I thought for sure that see was giving me the needle like she has been known to do. A few seconds later the same sentence came out of here mouth. I gave her the SHHHH and proceeded to give a few hen yelps to bring in those Toms. I glanced over to her again and this time I was greeted by her eyes that were now as big as saucers. All she said was "Bear" very softly nodding up the hill. I turned around and sure enough there he was. I looked back at Grace and almost started to laugh. I then remebered my camera and wanted to get a picture. I got it out turned it on but couldn't find the bear in the veiw finder. I guessed at it and took the picture. He didn't care for the flash of the camera and proceeded to jump at us a bit and grunt. I quickly got to my feet and yelled at him. He took off running and Grace and I looked at each other in total amazement. After we calmed down I paced off the distance and he was less than 15 yards away. Needless to say it was quit the morning. Nothing was gobbling so we decided to go bluegill fishing. We had very good success and enjoyed a great fish fry. This weekend marks the opening weekend of the Smallmouth season and I will be out there looking for my favorite fish on a fly. Update on the holiday weekend will follow. Good luck to everyone.

Kip

Coulee Country with Truman

Spent the weekend of Mother's Day down in the Coulee Country. Before all you mothers yell at me for missing the sacred holiday, let me say that it was my wifes idea. Despite the lousy weather it was a great weekend. I got to show my son a little about what his father is so crazy about. The streams were in great shape but the fish could have be a little more friendly. We stayed at Rogers' Cottage and my son really loved the log cabin and the log furniture. I think he thought that he was Danial Boone. I can't wait to get back down there. The water is warming on the Smallmouth waters and the opener is only 10 short days away. My daughter and I are chasing Turkeys this weekend in Grantsburg. Look for an update next week on that outting.

Southwest Wisconsin Weekend 4/28-30

I thought that I would get one last weekend of fishing before the early season was over. This is my annual trip to the coulee region before my season really starts to ramp up. Despite some rain it was a great weekend. I decided before I left that I was going to experiment on this trip. I decided that I would tie up some smaller versions of some of my smallmouth streamer patterns and give them a whirl. If you have have fished with me in the past you know how I love that white streamer pattern that will remain nameless. Friday night I started out throwing that and immediately started moving fish. The catch rate was low but I really had some big fish take a swipe at it. My eyes were opened to this pattern. I have never really thrown streamers that much. I called it smallmouth fishing for trout. That's how I approached it and boy did it work. Saturday I continued this game and was rewarded with a large brook. Saturday evening the rain finally showed up. I did manage to do some dry fly fishing with limited success. Sunday was gray and drizzly. The waters were a bit off colored but very fishable. I had lost all my white streamers on Saturday so I found a rubber legged bugger and decided to try that. The first hole that I fished I almost had my rod ripped out of my hand. I continued to throw that bugger all day and never lost it. Biggest fish of the day was a beautiful 18" brown. I'm going back in two weeks it was so much fun. If your looking for a great place to stay right on Coon Creek I can't recommend Rogers' Cottage enough. What a great place to stay at a very reasonable rate. I have already booked a cabin for Mother's Day weekend. His web address is www.rogerscottage.com check it out you wont be disappointed. Bill is as good as they come.

My first attemp

I thought that I would start one of these things just to keep visitors to the website up to date. I should be able to keep everyone more current on what is going on than I have been in the past. If you have any suggestions please let me know. I'm new at this blogger thing and it should be interesting to see where this leads us.

Tight Lines,
Kip