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3. Rush River, Page 2

Freepow

Check out El Paso Days this coming weekend if you are able to get up that way. That is a great chance to meet the locals...

The Rod and Gun Club is a pretty tight group and I think you need a sponsor to join and they make you go through some kind of blood oath:) JK

Actually you are better off looking up the Eau Galle Rush River Sportsmans Club if you are wanting to socialize. I was a memeber for a few years but my dues have expired and they have never kept up with my address changes.

I would suggest joining either KIAP-WISH TU (out of Hudson, WI) or OJIBLEAU (out of Eau Claire) if you are hoping to find more like-minded anglers. Taking nothing away from the previously mentioned groups they tend to be worm dunking, fish whacking types...not that there is anything wrong with that.

Freepow

Check out El Paso Days this coming weekend if you are able to get up that way. That is a great chance to meet the locals...

The Rod and Gun Club is a pretty tight group and I think you need a sponsor to join and they make you go through some kind of blood oath:) JK

Actually you are better off looking up the Eau Galle Rush River Sportsmans Club if you are wanting to socialize. I was a memeber for a few years but my dues have expired and they have never kept up with my address changes.

I would suggest joining either KIAP-WISH TU (out of Hudson, WI) or OJIBLEAU (out of Eau Claire) if you are hoping to find more like-minded anglers. Taking nothing away from the previously mentioned groups they tend to be worm dunking, fish whacking types...not that there is anything wrong with that.

Thanks for the info...any idea how much dues are? I am a graduate student at Stout so my funds are limited. Thanks.

So I am finally finding some success after working hard all summer to become basically competent as a fly fisherman. In the last 3 trips I have caught 7 fish. 2-10", 2-12", 1-14", 1-15" and 1-16" Brownies. A couple of them came after dark with #20 Brown Duns. The others came from a green and brown grasshopper. Damn it is fun to fish with the hopper! I have heard from others that once September rolls around don't even bother fishing with anything except a hopper. I agree with this to a point...I am still paying attention to the hatches. Last night I stood in the middle of what I'm guessing was a Trico hatch and watched the stream errupt with fish of all sizes. It was beautiful. I would have caught more fish if I didn't have to spend time getting rid of the 2 beavers who were angry with me. Anyway, just wanted to share my experiences.

Glad to hear of your successes, precursors of many to come.

Freepow,

"Last night I stood in the middle of what I'm guessing was a Trico hatch and watched the stream errupt with fish of all sizes."

Tricos spinners typically swarm, mate, and fall in the mornings dependent on water and air temperature. The duns sometimes emerge at night or in the very early morning hours of 2:00 - 5:00. Did the bugs you saw have olive green abdomens, black thoraxes, and tiny light gray wings?

What you may have seen is the emergence of one of the BWO species which have olive abdomens and thoraxes and light to dark dun wings.

I was finding success with what I had on and never stopped to catch whatever was hatching. I don't know what color the body was but I now realize it was something that I should have been looking for. I'll have to start making that a habit...I was just so excited and enthralled that I didn't stop fishing. I'll find out this week I am sure and let you know then.

Freepow~

Welcome to the brotherhood! And it sounds like you are getting on well with your fishing. I too am a novice to fly fishing, this being my second full season fishing with any consistency. So your post had me smiling. Oh, I've been there. Those dang fish swimming around and none on my hook. But you've been doing what I did - get out on the stream and do it. Fish, fish, and fish some more, knowing that fly fishing is something you will get good at but never master.

I fish the Kinni a couple times a week and right now and she's pretty tough out there. The fish have seen a lot of goofy dudes wandering the streams for months now so they spook easy. Short water doesn't help either. But I consistently catch fish every time I'm out and that's gratifying after last summer where I basically practiced my casting. And that's what I wanted to make a point of. I have found you will catch more fish with a good, consistent, accurate cast - and you can tie dang near anything to your tippet and you will have success. So work on that casting. Go to your neighborhood park if you don't have a good sized back yard and shoot some line. Set up targets. Accuracy catches more fish than matching that hatch exactly. That's been my experience anyway.

Keep wetting those lines and remember, "Slack is evil."

Exactly, Fishbum. You learned something quickly that took me years to figure out. The other thing is to move slowly and deliberately, keeping an eye on the water.

I grew up in Ellsworth, fishing the Rush my whole life. I have also watched the deteriation of our once Class A river. I honestly have caught more 3-8 pound trout-browns, rainbows, and brookies, on that river than any other I have fished. Until the last 20 years. It used to be a locally kept secret and now it is invaded with people from all over the country! I don't think people understand what it was like to Always catch 20 inch average trout out of there. By the way, I am not a fly fisherman. My suggestion to people who fish this water is to first pay attention to where you are walking. Most of the crayfish beds that used to line every bank on that river are now torn up and gone due to fisherman not paying attention or KNOWING those were crayfish beds. We who are avid protectors of this water have watced the trout starve to death because of variables such as farmland run-off and destruction of the natural food chain by fisherman; also drought conditions over the past years affecting water levels needed for successful insect hatches. Tip: Big trout like Big bait-preferably alive and meaty!!