wolfriverfisher

Brook and Brown Trout.

Machinist - C/NC Lathe and manual milling machine operator.

My dad told me a story from when he was a kid. He took a walk with his girlfriend back in the woods to this old dam on a brook near his parents cabin. He found some fishing line with a hook and sinker on it , and he tied it on a stick. Then he looked around for something to put on the hook. He found a big black cricket , so he put that on his hook and tossed it into the pool below the old dam. All of a suden the water errupted and a large brown trout grabbed the cricket and his stick pole didn't have a chance and broke in half and the fish got away. The next day he went back with a real fishing pole , and found another big black cricket and tossed it into the pool and the brown hit again. This time with a real fishing pole he managed to catch the fish. It turned out to be a 23 1/2" Brown Trout one of the biggest that he's ever caught in his whole life. I've managed to catch several browns that big or bigger , but he's got me beat on Brook Trout , Walleyes , Northern Pike , and largemouth Bass. At least i got him beat on Brown trout because that is my favorite fish to catch - Followed by brook Trout. His biggest Brookie is 19" and mine is about 18 1/2" - Maybe someday I'll catch that 20" Brookie and beat him in that catagory also. I'll have to just keep trying. Wolfriverfisher (Craig)

Wow , Simply amazing!! Looks like the real thing to me. I'd love to throw that fly in some of the rivers that I fish in Wisconsin. I bet the trout would go nuts. Wolfriverfisher (Craig)

I wasn't sure that it was a fly until I saw a hook coming out of it's butt. Very nice work!! What do you fish for with that fly?? Wolfriverfisher (Craig)

Don't look like fun to me. That's why I usaully walk at least a half mile to a mile up or downriver from a bridge before I even start trout fishing. The first couple hundred yards around a bridge get hit hard because most people are too lazy nowadays to venture any further. Wolfriverfisher (Craig)

I thought of one more funny fishing experience. A couple of years ago my buddy and I were fishing the artifical lure/barbless hook - catch and release early trout season in northern Wisconsin on the Wolf river. It must have been mid March and we were desperate to get a little fishing in. Since the river was high from the winter melt we headed for a normally calm shallow streach. It was high and fast , but wadeable (Barely). Like idiots we had summer breathable waders on. My buddy got his waders on first and got in the water and started fishing. I was still putsing aroung with my gear and after 5 minutes my buddy said that his family jewels were burning , but he kept on fishing. I finally got in the water and I told him that mine were burning too!! He told me that I'll get used to it. I told him that I didn't want to get used to it and I got out of the river and fished from the shore. He must have stayed in there another 20 minutes before he finally got out. He went back to were he lives in southern Wisconsin the next day and called me a couple of days later and told me that he got frost bite on his inner thighs. I can't believe he didn't get any you know where and too this day I wonder if he'll be able to have children. I've learned to be patient and wait for beter weather , because that was mighty stupid on our part. If one of us would have slipped and fell down , I'm kinda thinking it coulda been the end for one or both of us.

Truely amazing!! wolfriverfisher (Craig)

Blurry picture , but it looks like a fishable fly.

I can't think of anymore funny or strange fishing experiences except for when I was a kid and was fishing with a friend. I warned him to look out because I was a wild caster , and proceeded to hook him right in the neck. Luckily it was a single hook and I didn't hit his jugular vein. Wolfriverfisher (Craig)

Langlade County where I live in Wisconsin has the most spring ponds out of any County in Wisconsin ( By Far!! ) , but I prefer rivers. It seems like when I'm on a spring pond the fish are jumping on the other side of the pond. When I paddle over to fish that side , they start jumping where I just left from. Spring ponds are frustrating to me , even though I know they hold some big fish. wolfriverfisher (Craig)

Unfortunately I'm not skilled enough to tie realistics. I just tie tails for the spinners that I make. I really enjoy seeing the flies that you realistic tyers tie. wolfriverfisher (Craig)

I fish rivers , creeks , streams , and brooks. I love to fish flowing water of all sizes. I mainly focus on rapids , pocket water , and riffles , because those are the areas where I feel a big trout heads for when its hungry. I usually only focus on a hole if it has some deadfall in it , otherwise I only try a few casts and then move on to the next area of faster moving water. Wolfriverfisher (Craig)

I was fishing with a buddy on the Wolf River ( Ya I fish the Wolf a lot!! - It's been good to me. ) a few years back and he was Generic fly fishing. What I mean by that is that he was using a spinning real with a small bobber (red/white) so that he had weight to cast a popper. I was taking a break and watching him fish , and all of a sudden out of nowhere a brown trout about 17" long comes up and grabs his small bobber. It took it about two feet underwater and we could see the brown twisting and turning around for about 10 seconds until he finally spit out the bobber. I'm not sure if the trout actually thought the bobber was food or felt like playing with a small "ball". After that I've almost been tempted to make a lure out of a small bobber , but I figured that had to be a one time thing. Me and my buddy cracked up laughing after the brown finally spit the bobber out. wolfriverfisher (Craig)

I was fishing a pool by a bridge on the Wolf River and I caught a 14" Brown Trout with the tail of a chub and some fishing line sticking out of his mouth. I pulled the 3" chub out of the Browns mouth and the fishing line was attached to a hook with a worm still on it in the chubs throat. Someone must have caught the chub and the cut thier line because the chub took the hook deep. The chub was probably injured and not in the best of shape so the Brownie saw him as an easy meal and gabbled him up. I also caught a Brown in that same area and when I was cleaning him he had something hard in his stomach. It turned out to be a triangular black rock with smooth edges almost an 1" long. I have no idea what he thought that was or how he was planning on passing it.

Hi Fred. You should of checked to see if you had a new line class record on that fish. I'm thinking that there's a good chance that you did. wolfriverfisher (Craig)

About how long did it take to tie that fly??

Twice now , I've been way back in the sticks all alone fishing a nice pool on the Wolf River and out of nowhere an osprey plunges into the water at full speed and comes flapping out of the water with a fish in it's talons (I wasn't able to see what kind of fish - I was too busy checking my shorts). I felt like chicken little because I thought for sure the sky was falling!! wolfriverfisher (Craig)

Thanks for sharing all of your great stories. Time to tell my other beaver story now. I was fishing a big deep pool on the Wolf River where a dam used to be and along comes this beaver and starts slapping his tail on the water. Take a canoe paddle and slap it on the water as hard as you can and times that by 5. I got frustrated and went up river about a quarter mile to fish this nice bay above where the dam used to be. Wouldn't you know it 10 minutes later Mr. Beaver shows up and starts slappin his tail again , so I headed back to the pool below the dam where I started fishing. Wouldn't you know it that a little while later Mr. Beaver showed up again and started slapping again. This time I got so frustrated that I quit fishing and started heading for home. I climbed the hill to where the old railroad tracks used to be and looked at the pool and saw the beaver swimming around ( Probably laughing at me). I grabbed one of the rocks from the railroad grade and was going to see how close I could come to hitting him with it. I'm not claiming to be Brett Favre or anything , but I bet it was close to a 70 yard throw to the beaver. I heaved the rock as hard as I could and hit the darn thing right in the back. He took off like a rocket. I never thought in a million years that I'd hit the darn critter. I'm sure it hurt a bit , but I didn't kill him. Needless to say I've never been bothered again by a beaver fishing that pool!! Wolfriverfisher

Great job! Looks amazing!! wolfriverfisher

Wow - That's a lot of time to tie one fly!! But I can believe it by looking at the fly. It truely is a work of art! wolfriverfisher

I was fishing a cove (or Bay ) below a dammed up lake where it turned into the Wolf River again (Post Lake Dam). I was using a top water bait ( Hula Popper ) fishing for bass and I noticed a beaver swimming in the cove. I started to watch the beaver swim around and forgot about realing my line in. That is until I noticed that he was heading right for it. I tried to get my line out of his path , but I was too late and ended up hooking the beaver. I gave it a couple of quick pulls to try to unhook him , but that got him to start swimming right for me. I didn't feel like messing with a ticked off beaver , so I had to bite my line and head for a different area to fish in. I've got another beaver story , but I'll save that one for later. Wolfriverfisher

Hard to see details , but looks good from what I can tell. Craig

I'll start off this topic. My Buddy and I were fishing the Hunting River ( A Wolf River Tributary ) and up ahead of us there was a big tree on the bank with a large limb hanging about 20 feet over the river. As we got closer I noticed an object hanging from fishing line attached to the large limb. It turned out to be a dead bat that grabbed someones fly that they lost on the overhanging limb. I bet that bat was sure surprised when he grabbed that fly and got hooked. It must have been a terrible way to bite the bullet for sure. I'll bet none of you ever caught a bat on your fly. If you did - tell us about it. Thanks , wolfriverfisher

I was just wondering if any of you had some funny or strange fishing experiences that you'd like to share? Thanks - Wolfriverfisher