Spring Creek Weekend Set

Wildwood Float Trips Spring Creek Weekend
April 22nd -25th, 2010
Coon Valley, Wisconsin

Come join us in beautiful Southwest Wisconsin. This region has more spring creeks than a person could fish in a lifetime. The fishing is outstanding along with the beauty and charm the driftless region has to offer. This is one of my favorite places to fish and I would love to share it with you.
Arrive in Coon Valley Thursday night. Get settled and get your gear ready for Friday. Fish all day Friday. Lunch and Dinner will be provided. Fish all day Saturday with lunch and dinner provided again. Fish Sunday with just lunch provided and then depart for home anytime on Sunday.Includes 3 nights lodging in a restored farm house with private access to Coon Creek. Lunches Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Dinner on Friday and Saturday nights.

Cost is $350 for the weekend non-guided.

Contact us if you’re interested in being guided .

We can arrange that for an additional cost.

wildwoodfloattrips.com

kip@wildwoodfloattrips.com

612-723-7438

Letter to Clients

1/8/2010
Dear Clients,
I want to thank you all for your understanding and patience this past year. Most of you know that I tried to balance a fulltime “regular job” and squeezed in my guiding as best I could by using vacation and weekend scheduling. Well, this didn’t work out so great. We made mistakes. Many of you didn’t get any or all the dates that you wanted and for that I sincerely apologize. It broke my heart, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
Lesson learned and we move on to 2010. The plan at this time is to Guide full time for the 2010 season. I’m going to put everything I have into growing and making Wildwood Float Trips the finest outfitter and Guide service in the Upper Midwest. My family is firmly behind me and without them I couldn’t make this dream a reality. God has truly blessed me with a great support system over the years.
Times are tough as we all know. I recently was laid off from my full time job. I have to watch the way that I choose to market Wildwood. Sadly, I won’t be at the Chicago Fly Show for this reason and the Minneapolis Show is still up in the air. I love these shows and will miss them, as well as my clients that attend them. I am going to use this opportunity to really try and market and grow Wildwood Float Trips in different avenues as best I can. I hope to return to both these shows in 2011.
Once again, I want to thank all of you for your support once again. God has also blessed me with the greatest client list a Guide could ever hope for. Things are really starting to book up for 2010. I know that Guides always say this but it is true. If you are looking for a date for this coming season, please contact me so you don’t miss out. There are only so many days in the summer.
The Smallmouth Trip from Hell will still take place this year. Bob White has agreed to help this year. Tight Lines had to bow out this year due to scheduling difficulties. I called Bob and he jumped at the chance. I am really looking forward to fishing and guiding with Bob. We are going to try and run it both ways this year. Dates are June 23rd-26th and the second leg will run from the 27th-30th. Call me for more details.
We are also thinking about putting together another Spring Creek weekend in South West Wisconsin’s Driftless area. I have grown to love this outstanding area almost as much as Montana.
Also look for a Fall Musky Trip this year. Some of you have seen the giants that live in the river and they are amazing. There are a couple of 50+ inch fish swimming in there. Let’s stick one!
Give me a call and let’s talk about all the excitement for this year. Keep an eye on the website for updates and information about where we’ll be and what is going on.
Wildwood Float Trips is a family run business and we want you to know we appreciate your business.
See you this summer on the river.

God Bless,
Kip Vieth and Family

Wildwood Float Trips

2008 a look back

What a great year 2008 was! We caught a lot of real trophy fish this last year and had a great time doing so. I'm really looking forward to 2009 and spending some more time on the great water we have in this neck of the woods. I continue to learn more about these great fisheries and how good they really are.

God has blessed me with great clients and great resources to use. 2009 might have a different look to it. I continue to struggle on how to make this thing a permanent job. With the tough economic times and jobs getting harder to find things might be a bit different. I will still guide this summer but it might be scaled back just a bit. I have been fostering other guides to work for Wildwood and believe I now have some of the best rivers guides you can find. As I watch the snow fall I keep thinking about high water for the spring and all those smallmouth sitting tight to the bank for the taking.

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas holiday and that the Lord has blessed you! Please continue to keep me in your prayers and I can't wait to see what God has for me and Wildwood Float Trips in 2009.

New for this year I am offering Fly tying and fly casting class through the Edina Community Education program. Please visit their site for details.

Tying Class starts February 10th and meet Tuesdays nights until March 10th

Fly Casting Classes will again meet on Tuesday nights form April 14th - May 12th

Appearances for 2009

St. Paul Fly Tyers February 5th

Badger Fly Fishers Show Madison WI February 7th

Great Waters Chicago February 20th-22nd

We are taking booking for 2009 so if you need a date please contact us.

Thanks to everyone that has touched my life in such a positive way. Here is to a great God and big fish filled 2009.

Kip

A Rum Punch and more smallie cocktails

Well it has been a great fishing season thus far. The bass are really heating up and the rivers are in great shape. We had an outstanding day on the Rum River this week. It is a hidden gem in all the great smallmouth waters that surround the Twin Cities. We took several 18" fish and had one over 19". The last couple of summers the water had been extremely low, making it hard to float. This year the water levels are up and the fishing has been very good from all reports. The Mississippi and the St. Croix continue to produce as they usually do. The fish are now relating to more mid river structure and bars. Start to fish the drops and mid river boulders and you should find the fish. Still have a couple of dates in August and September if you are looking to still get out. Hope everyone is having a great season and we'll see you on the rivers.

Trip from Hell and More !

Well we made it through another "Smallmouth Trip from Hell." This trip just gets better every year. The fishing this year was outstanding. All the rivers fished great including the St. Croix. According to the boys from Tight Lines in Green Bay the St. Croix is hell on earth. It seems every time they come this way the winds blow and the river proves to them who the real boss is. Not this year. The weather was outstanding and the fishing was off the hook. Top water all day with several large fish taken including one over 20". This trip is the highlight of my summer. Everyone is really into it and we all feed off of each other. I want to thank all the guys that went along for the ride and I know you'll be back next year.

Fishing has been pretty good so far this summer. We have had many great days on the water already. Things are starting to finally settle down and the fish have been responding. The top water bite has been fairly strong all year, with the old reliable minnow patterns proving once again to be a go to fly.

Still some open dates but they are filling fast. Give us a call if you would like to experience the greatest smallmouth fisheries in the world!

Bass season has officially kicked off!!

Well it is finally here. Bass season is in full bloom. The last two weekends have been a very busy time for me. Memorial Day weekend I had the pleasure of fishing the Menominee River in Northeast Wisconsin with Bart and Matt from the Tight Lines crew. What a great river loaded with quality smallmouth. We always have a great time when all the guides get together for a day on the water. I think they are some of my most cherished days of the year. We all get a chance to fish and to rib each other. It's great fun. My niece graduated that weekend also so we had the pleasure of spending some time with my family also.

This weekend found me on my home water the Mighty Mississippi. Fishing was pretty good. The water is high and dirty and with all these fronts rolling through the fish seemed a little moody. We still managed to catch quite a few and boy did it feel great to be on the water again. The rowers seat is my second home and it felt great. It's is going to be a great year and I'm really looking forward to it.

If you wold like to book a date please do so soon the calender is getting pretty crowed. If your interested in the smallmouth trip from hell there is some room available.

Please call or e-mail if you have any questions.

Looking forward to a great 2008.

God Bless!

Kip

We are spoiled!!!

We'll we got back form the Bighorn river last Monday night. We had a great time despite the 50mph winds and the 3,000 people that also thought it would be a great weekend to fish. Not many fish were caught, and Grace didn't get one either. She is however hooked for life. She got to sample Montana and the West. I think she fell in love with it. I told her if she had a great time on this trip she'll really love when the weather is better and the fish are a bit more willing to play. She toughed out the worst conditions that I've fished in for some time and was willing to keep at it. She proved her salt and is welcome on any trip.
The experience really got me thinking. Man do I have it good here in the Upper Midwest. There are hardly any crowds on the rivers I fish and the fishing really is world class. If I see one or two boats on the water during the day I wonder what is going on. I know that this is going to start happening more and more as people learn how good we have it, but I can never see it as bad as I did this last weekend. There were at least three people in each hole and I bet we saw at least 100 boats on Sunday.
I encourage everyone to step back a little and look what we have right in front of us. The fishing here is as good as anywhere. It might not be trout but I'll take a 18" smallmouth over a 18" trout any day of the week. We are blessed to live in such a great area that is basically unknown.

Get out and enjoy it!!!!

Kip

Is it the trip or is it planning and Packing?

A big Bighorn River Rainbow from a few years back. Hopefully to be repeated this year.



In three days my daughter Grace, friend Jim(I use that word loosely) and I are head the the Bighorn River in Montana for a long weekend trout excursion. This will be Grace's first big fishing trip and I'm praying that it goes well. All I'm asking for is that she catch just one nice trout (16"+) on her own. Hopefully this isn't to tall of an order.

This brings me back to my title of this post. Is it the planning or is it the trip? I'm one of those guys that takes almost more pleasure in the planning stage. Don't get me wrong, I love the trip part too, but I think it is the planning and anticipation that I get a bigger kick out. Maybe it has something to do with Grace going along, but this trip really has me giddy. I have been tying flys, ordering things I don't really need, checking the boat at least once a day, and driving my wife a little nuts.

My friend Jim will show up at the house the night we leave with his stuff and we'll leave. That's it, he'll just be glad to be out of the office for a few days. I on the other hand am to busy getting everything just so before the trip. I think he knows there's not to much to worry about because I have that handled for everyone involved. I have been lying awake at night thinking about what flys to use, what holes to fish, and what to do if someone beats us to them. I shouldn't do this because usually a trip never matches ones anticipation.

Please post comments on what your thoughts are on the question.

I would love to get others ideas.

I'll let you all know how it goes on a post when we get back.

There is still plenty of room for our spring creek trip on April 17th thru the 20th. Give me a call if you are interested.


I also one spot to fill on the smallmouth trip from hell.


Give us a call on booking days and we'll be happy to speak with you about the up coming seasons dates.


Kip