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3. Yesterday's Banner

Does anyone know the name of the river/stream from the banner yesterday? It looked kind of like a spring creek with the water clarity and grass.

Not sure which one you're talking about, but it's the same answer for both options:




Both are from the upper reaches of the Bois Brule River in northern Wisconsin. It's a very stable spring-fed system, although for some reason I've never thought of it as a "spring creek" like some others. It has a bit more of a rough & tumble freestone character in places, and in others spreads out into little lakes. It's really one-of-a-kind.

Well since you say it is spring fed it might qualify as a spring creek. There are sections of both Armstrong and Nelson's spring creeks, in Montana, that are very atypical of the classic spring creek in that 20 - 30 yard sections have no vegation at all and are shallow riffle areas with a sand and cobble bottom. How good is tthe fishing in this stream? Thanks.

The fishing can be awesome, and it's no secret. It's the most famous trout stream in Wisconsin, and it's known as the "River of Presidents" because five Presidents (Grant, Hoover, Eisenhower, Cleveland and Coolidge) have all fished there. The lowermost banner picture is from the tail of the pool next to the Cedar Island Estate, where several of the Presidents stayed.

It's some of the most crowded fishing I've seen in Wisconsin (except for the lake runs), but there are times and places to get away from that, and even on a bad day it's still better than the Beaverkill or the West Branch of the Delaware. The fish--a great mixture of browns, brookies, and rainbows--don't run quite as big on average as in the Delaware, but you catch a lot more little ones... a nice mixture of size and action. Like most spring creeks, it can also be a difficult river. I've fished a few furious rises without the fish so much as giving my fly a second look. But when I'm dialed in to the hatch, or even when the fish are being opportunistic, the place is a blast.

Hi Jason,

I've heard lots of good things about it over the years. I've looked at these beautiful photos of yours and wondered where it was as well. Oregon and California have waters that look very similar as well as the Paradise Valley waters that Matt mentioned. One thing I've always wondered is how you pronounce the name properly. Bwah - Brew - lay?

Regards,

Kurt

I'm not sure how to pronounce it in the original French, but your guess is as good as mine. However, in Wisconsin, everyone always just calls it the Brule, pronounced as you'd expect -- "Brool."

There's a bit of a complication because a couple hundred miles east there's another Brule on the border of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That one's just named the "Brule" and not the "Bois Brule." However, when people talk about the "Brule" from most of Wisconsin and elsewhere, they're talking about the Bois Brule, and if they want to talk about the other one they specify the "Border Brule," an unofficial name for the non-Bois Brule. If this seems confusing, that's because it is.

Jason wrote;

"and even on a bad day it's still better than the Beaverkill or the West Branch of the Delaware."

Well I agree it can be very crowded on weekends but lucky guys like me who can fish during the week often have entire stretches to themselves all day.

Thanks, Jason

Ha! When you've never heard it pronounced by a local, you really can't know what to expect. The "original language" can often be misleading. How the locals refer to it is what matters. For example, Vallejo, CA (a town near me) in the original Spanish is pronounced Ve-yeah'-Ho. The correct pronunciation is Va-lay'-O. You'd be surprised how many "out-of-Staters" call it Valley-Joe.:) I remember being corrected in New Orleans. It's not New Or-leens' or New Or'-Le-Uns, it's Nwar'-Luns. The first time I fished the Gros Ventre in Wyoming (after reading about it a bunch but never actually hearing it pronounced), I remember getting some info from a local after a little snickering. I called it the Gross Vent'-ray. It was only later that I learned the locals pronounced it Grow V-ant'...:) Learning to pronounce the names of some rivers and locations properly is like learning to pronounce the Latin names of mayflies.:):)

Now I won't be embarrassed if I ever make it to the WI country.:) Thanks for the heads up!

Regards,

Kurt

The Little Juniata River is often called the Little "Juan-e-tah" or "Won-e-at-ah"
Locals call it the Little J.
In Penguin land we actually have a few towns that are pronounced differently than they are spelled - like
"car-neg'-e"for Carnegie
"du-boys" for Dubois
"nort-ver-sales" for North Versailles.
Let alone "Sliberty" for East Liberty and you have to drive "across da Mon then through dahn tahn then heads toward da norshore along de Ohio to get to da stadium to see the Stillers play n at"

Tony...You missed your calling, man! You should'da been a linguist or maybe the second coming of dat dere Mark Twain or somethin'...:)

Spence

Seriously, now, I think the Brule was one of the rivers that Nick Adams fished in Hemingway's short stories.
I'll have to check on that

A friend of mine moved to rural IL to start his grad work in biology. He told some locals he'd been fishing on Beaucoup Creek. They corrected him pronto: "That's the Buckup, son."

I was wrong!
The Bois Brule was one of the attractions in another of my favorites, Gordon MacQuarrie.
Everybody knows about Hemingway and the Two Hearted River

Many people feel that because of his descriptions, he was fishing the Fox and not the Two Hearted. Crafty, eh.
I now suspect that Matt actually fishes the Ebranch and not the Wbranch...

EH liked the poetic sound of Two-Hearted more than the Fox and he didn't want Matt fishing in his holes...;) Your buddy "Traver" there liked the sound of The Yellow Dog probably for the same reason(s)...Cause I didn't do so good up there back when I visited it in the 90's...:)

Spence

Oops! My ruse has been discovered. I admit to periods of misinformation when asked where I fish and what flies are catching all the 20+ trout I catch.

No, just suspected... Until you admitted it!:)

As for me, I readily admit the fishing is much better back East. Northern CA & Southern OR have way too many anglers and too few fish... Certain locations in the Rockies too... Don't go there.

Matt & Kurt,

Didn't your mothers teach you to share and play nice with others? :)

Well boys...To me, you are both rare gems of the fading "old-school" and I'm rather fond of that university...Took a couple classes myself there way-back-when...

Spence

Hey! I was just taking a look at our profile pictures all in a row...Matt's, Kurt's, and mine...From the looks of those fish we are holding maybe we actually have degrees from that old-school...Looks like we are holding them in our hands...;) We earned them gray hairs...

Can't speak for Matt, but my mother doesn't fish...:)