I haven’t been able to get to the streams because of weather and working, but I hope to soon. Meanwhile, Anthony Naples over at Castingaround.com has been busy putting together a little piece of collected works. Some of my poems and pictures are included in this project.
Thanks Anthony for your work and dedication to the project.
Here is a pdf file of his project:
Your Life As a River
Imagine your life as a river
You begin of the earth
Pouring out of the ground from a spring
You are born
You are untouched and unpolluted
You begin to flow and travel the course before you
Slowly everything adds to you
The pebbles, dirt, and roots that you slowly wash over and touch
In good ways and bad
Your spirit increases as others flow into you
And life swims in you and moves outside of you
And you nourish all those things too
You get older and change the landscape of the world
At times your spirit is slack
And at others times your spirit rages with swelling flows from the storms in your life
Eventually the river’s rage slowly tapers off
But your path is altered
Changed from your swollen rage
But it always keeps moving on
Your life just is
Life is always moving on
Don’t work too hard to be
You just are
Dams will always be thrown up in your path
Bridges will be built to bypass you
Your flow will converge with other flows
This is your life
And your spirit
And you know that it will end some day
Your life will be full of so many things
But your life will keep flowing forward
And in the distance, there will be the great sea
It is here that your spirit will flow out and mix with all the other great spirits
Your current will end
But then you will be everywhere
I couldn’t take another day indoors today, so I head out to check out a stream. I needed to see something green. I needed to see something that would help me remember that spring was near. The soothing sounds and signs of life helped to put the winter blues out of my mind. Even with tons of snow and ice, life abides.
Watercress growing green in the middle of winter.
After taking many photos and some film footage, I put it all together in a movie. Let me know what you think. I still think of myself as a total film amateur.
Here is a litle movie from two hours of footage that I shot earlier this year. It wasn’t what I was trying for, but maybe you might enjoy it or maybe not.
Another watershed that I visited this past week near Madison, Wisconsin was Mt. Vernon Creek. This is another spring creek that flows through a small town, some farmland, and natural areas for a total of about eight miles. All of its water is classified as trout water.
In many places the grass around the creek was as tall as I am, so it made it hard to fish from shore. The water was also deceptively deep. At one point I needed to cross the river, so I chose a shallower spot to cross. I realized my mistake when upon entering, the water was almost to my shoulders. This creek also had deep aquatic plant beds of watercress and other vegetation. These plant beds hid the depth of the water and springs and also gave great cover for the fish.
An area filled with springs along the creek
It was tough fishing. The fish spooked easy, but I did catch some. While there, I experienced a tan caddis hatch that lasted about 45 minutes. Once the fish started taking these caddis on the surface, a smile broke on my face and I quickly tied on a size 16 elk hair caddis pattern. With the emerging insects, the tougher fishing turned easy for a time and I was able to catch six brown trout.
The largest trout that I hooked came when a red winged black bird repeatedly flew circles over my head while squawking. The grass where I stood was about five feet high, so if its nest was nearby, I would never see it. The bird never dove on me, but he stayed just out of my reach as he circled for about a minute. I tried to ignore him, but he was flying in my rods casting path, so I just waited him out. Finally, something in the bird changed and he flew off. I shook my head and cast my fly toward an undercut near a large submerged log. A long dark shape came from the darkness and took my fly, and then it quickly darted under the long undercut area. The fish gave me no chance, and it quickly got off and snagged my fly somewhere in the depths.
Typical view of Mt. Vernon Creek
In my morning of fishing, I came across several ducks with young, and they often spooked every fishing hole in front of me trying to get away. One mother duck left her young in its nest and went crazy trying to get me to follow her up stream. She was stressed and I was stressed after spooking about 50 yards of very good water.
I managed to catch 11 brown trout in my morning at Mt. Vernon Creek, and there was still much more river to explore and fish. I hiked back to my car and headed home, and I hoped to return again soon.
A little brown trout
Also, here is a little bit of movie footage from Mt. Vernon Creek.
Black Earth Creek
This past week I took my first road trip of the season to the Black Earth Creek watershed. This watershed is located just west of Madison, Wisconsin in the start of the driftless area. The driftless area is the only area of Wisconsin that was untouched by the glaciers in the last ice age. Black Earth Creek flows through a landscape of farmland and rolling hills and several villages.
The water in this area is clear and cold and has large beds of aquatic vegetation that give trout plenty of places to hide. The fish hold in the deeper channels which travel between the vegetation beds. When spooked, the fish swim into the plants and are nowhere to be seen. Because of this, the creek requires extreme stealth to have success. There were no rapids in this creek, and the water moved slow and steady, and it was cold. There were many places that were deep enough to be well over my waders.
This was the biggest river that I have fished this season and it had been 10 years since I had fished it before. I missed many hook ups with fish and fought some very large fish before they were off in just seconds. Often I moved along on my knees in the water to get as close as I could to cast with my 12’ Iwana Tenkara rod. The stealth paid off, but it was still tough fishing.
In total, I was able to net four trout. The largest was about 13”, and all were brown trout. There was a short period in the morning where the sky was covered up by clouds and blue winged olives began to emerge. This hatch could have been easily over looked because of its sparseness, but this was where I caught my first two fish on a size 18 parachute blue winged olive pattern. I also caught a creek chub with this method.
A brown trout caught on a bwo
The rises stopped not long after they began and for the rest of the day I could not get a rise for any type of fly- an ant, an elk hair caddis, etc. I had decent success with a size 14 killer bug, and that’s what I caught my remaining two fish on. Overall, I definitely saw more fish than I caught, and I’m sure that more fish saw me before I saw them.
Black Earth Creek flows through theVillage of Cross Plains, and located right next to the creek is the On the Creek Fly Shop. I found this to be a great place to seek information and pick up any needed supplies. Thanks Todd for all the help.
Another little brown
In my short time on the creek, I was impressed by the many different species of birds that I saw. There were blue birds and gold finches and many ducks. I saw rose breasted grosbeaks, orioles, and red winged back birds, and I was also impressed to see cedar waxwings and hooded warblers. It was truly a diverse area.
Black Earth Creek is wonder to behold and there is plenty of river that could easily take a lifetime to get to know, but I think it’s one of those places that never shows all of its secrets. I must not let 10 years pass before I visit it again.
A view of Black Earth Creek from just feet from the On The Creek Fly Shop
On the Creek Fly Shop can be fount at:
http://onthecreekflyshop.com/index.html
Next up day two: Mt. Vernon Creek…
I headed out this morning to a local free stone stream which has trout, but they are very migratory depending on water levels and temperature. I wasn’t going after a lot of trout, but I was targeting big ones. The water levels are lower right now, so I thought I would hit some of the big holes. The drive to this the river was about five and half miles, so it didn’t take long to arrive.
I put on all my gear and began my hike in a long the railroad tracks to the first hole. I was hoping for stoneflies today, but if they weren’t on the rocks yet, I would try something different. I was deep in thought preparing what I was going to set up as I hiked when a female turkey went crazy and started running in a circle around me. I just kept hiking because I figured the hen was trying to protect a nest. A nest next to the railroad tracks wasn’t the best idea for the bird.
In the first hole, I missed several takes. The stonefly shucks were still not to be seen, so I used the killer bug. On one strike, I went to set the hook and the second last section of my Yamame rod snapped. I wasn’t worried about the rod. I figured it was under warranty or the replacement parts are cheap, so I hiked back to the car past the turkey and got my 12’ Iwana.
I hiked back down the railroad tracks, but not quite as far. A little turkey head was just over the plants and watching me pass. I reached hole number two and setup my Iwana. I hooked plenty of shiners and creek chubs on the back swing with a killer bug fished in the deep hole.
After a few minutes, I hooked what I was after. It made the 16” fish that I caught the day before seem small. The pool was big and that gave him plenty of room to swim, and it gave me the room that I needed with my 12’ Iwana. My plan was to work him until he was good and tired and then bring to the shallows and net him. He swam and turned and would not come up. I just held on with both hands and did my best. He was well hooked and I knew he was mine.
He was tired and near the surface. I started working him back towards me in the shallows. He was HUGE and I was so excited. It was hard to move the net and control the fish at the same time. I was fumbling and trying hard, but I could not net him. Even in the six inch water, he was still strong enough to fight me at every attempt. I almost netted him twice and he got behind me. There in the shallow water were three rocks and he wound me and broke me off. That excitement left my hands shaking for several minutes. There were no more fish taking a fly in that hole, so I moved on.
On the way to hole number three, a doe walked into the creek right in front of me with her fawn. It took a second for them to notice me and then all hell broke out as they crashed through the water and broke trees trying to get away from me. Hole number three held only creek chubs and shiners. One creek chub’s head was all covered with horn like bumps. The males do this when its time to breed. They also build large piles of rocks for their little size.
Hole number four held its own strangeness. I hooked a trout, but it got off by quickly jumping in the air. Not long after, I hooked a similar fish that got off by quickly jumping straight in the air. I would not land a trout today. After a few shiners, I had a big hit and the fish ran. It darted back and forth in the back end of the pool, and it did not feel like a trout. After I got it under control, I was able to net it and see that it was a northern pike. I had seen a huge one down river about 10 years ago, but that was where the river was dammed near town. I unhooked my killer bug from his lip and took his picture. Then I let him slip into the water. A minute later I hooked another northern in the same spot, but this one was able to get off. I think like the trout it was the same fish twice.
That concluded my strange day. It had high points and low points, total quiet and total noise, and even destruction.
I called Tenkara USA and they are sending me a new segment for free.
The wind was still and the sun was shining, so it was a good day to put on my waders and try to catch some fish.
I went to a stretch of water that is very open and flows through a farm. This section offers some nice sized fish, but it sees a great deal of anglers. Because it’s open, the fish tend to scare easy.
Steps over the electric fence
There are many cows at this farm, but good land use keeps plenty of buffer space for fisherman and cows. A bridge goes over the creek and the cows cross and yell at you if you are below the bridge. An electric fence keeps the cows well away from the stream. Fisherman can easily get over the electric fence by using two small step platforms that take you up and over the charged wires.
Sand hill crane
As I fished a sand hill crane was upset with me and made plenty of noise. Not long after his chanting began, two more sand hills dove out of the sky and joined his chant. They wandered off and left me to fish with no more fuss.
I found little activity on the water in the way of insects. Occasionally a small crane fly would appear on the water, but I had little success fishing a similar pattern. After effectively fishing the killer bug for several trout, the fish began to be more aggressive just below the surface. I used a sakasa kebari fly and hit all the spots where fish should be. It became very productive for my remaining time.
The largest of the day was a 16” brown and it was a good match for my 12’ Iwana. The fish shook and shook trying to free itself from my barbless sakasa kebari fly, but everything held and I was able to net him.
As my morning wound down, I decided that I needed to head home. I had caught 15 trout and missed several more. The walk back to the car was beautiful and I was happy and felt luck to have such a great place near to where I live.
Of the water on earth, about 2.75 percent is fresh water. Broken down further 2.05 percent is frozen in glaciers, 0.68 percent is beneath the ground as groundwater and 0.011 percent is on the surface in lakes and rivers.
Water has an amazing characteristic in that it breaks the norm of temperature densities. Most everything on earth gets more dense or heavier the cold it gets and less dense and lighter the warmer it gets. Water breaks this mold. As water gets colder, it does get more dense until it reaches about 39.16 degrees Fahrenheit. Once reaching and going below this temperature it then starts to become less dense. This is why ice floats on water.
This water density change has an important value to do with lakes. Depending on what climate a lake is in, this function of water causes a lake to mix from top to bottom. This is called lake turnover and it allows oxygen to reach all the way to the bottom of some lakes. Lakes in really warm climates don’t have turnover and carbon dioxide builds in the bottom reaches. In some rare occasions when temperatures have dropped in these areas, these lakes have turned over and sent all the carbon dioxide into the nearby land area in an event called a Limnic eruption. These deadly events have caused mass death like in villages around Lake Nyos, Africa. In most cases lake turnover is good. It redistributes nutrients and oxygen so fish can live at all levels. It allows them to survive being under the ice all winter.
Another important temperature related characteristic of water has to do with oxygen. The colder the water the more oxygen it can hold, and the warmer the water the less oxygen it can hold. This is an important determiner in what organisms can live within it. A healthy river has plenty of dissolved oxygen to sustain the aerobic organisms that live in and clean the water. In late summer when the temperature of water increases and it holds less oxygen, the warmer temperatures also increase the metabolic rate of fish and other organisms living there. This increase in metabolic rate causes the living creatures to use more oxygen than needed in cooler water temperatures. Oxygen levels can be further depleted by outside nitrates and phosphates and fertilizers reaching the water. Oxygen levels in water help keep it clean, so it’s important to have cold oxygen rich water for everyone- not just the fish.
This might be to much science for most of you, but to me it just equates that water is very special and needs to be protected.
