WisconsinDorkTrip

Was able to get out and get a bunch of tasty bluegills.

My first fish of open water season was a good one. I enjoyed getting into some fish with a longer rod after a mediocre ice season.

The title is deceiving. Small crappies are mostly what was caught on cam, but John had a hot rock bass hole. This is most likely my last ice fishing vid of the season. Now it's on to steelhead, bluegill, walleyes, suckers, and crappies with longer rods. There's wind noise here. Deal with it. Or don't. I don't care.

Caught my first cisco while ripping a spoon. The fish hit it on the drop, as it was supposed to. Unfortunately, the GoPro battery died during the fight.

It's been a slow year ice fishing, but I salvaged the season by catching some burbots...a fish I'd never caught before. This is a catch-clean-cook video. Excuse the poor lighting on the cleaning part. It is what it is.

The wind noise is what it is. We did alright between 3 of us on Poygan yesterday, I was really the only one who sucked it up. But here's a few catches.

Ash gets to see what snow's all about.

Met up with an old friend for my last inland outing of the year. I failed to get him a fish. The fish were very negative, and most followers refused to bite. It was still a great time though, and the weather was about perfect for a late season outing. The conversations were usually deeper than the water as well!

Swattin' again.

Self-explanatory.

Here's the first two mornings of duck season.

Another poor showing on the Mecan River.

Took a walk in the woods and shot a couple of tasty bushytails.

Well, the fishing wasn't the greatest, but I did manage a few browns. Wish I would have caught the giant I scared out of 6 inches of water, but he'll be even bigger next year. I had an encounter with several pileated woodpeckers. One juvenile used me as a target for dropping bark on as I fished, so I watched him for a bit. They're cool birds, but it would be nice if they had a mute button.

Mentos & cola, a winning combination.

I fished a Lake Michigan tributary and caught my first chinook salmon. The adipose fin wasn't clipped, which means this guy was wild. He wasn't huge, but I was quite happy catching him.

Ash takes awhile, but finally builds enough confidence to retrieve bumpers in the water. Thanks to John & Paddy for the assistance!

It has been a struggle to get on decent fish lately with the warm water temperatures, but I found a couple fish that would bite here. Now with all the rain, the streams are blown out and unfishable. Once things drain down a bit the fishing should start getting good again.

Ash retrieves the bumper that my two chins and I throw him. He's making progress. He needs to get some confidence in swimming, and then we'll work on making sure he's not gun shy.

I had hoped to find success using crappie jigs for trout. I found mixed results instead. The biggest fish I caught was on a crappie jig, but it didn't work in the areas I thought it would shine. Mostly I think it was due to a lack of bigger fish in those areas. It looked like the stretches had high pressure and may have just been fished out. There were a ton of little fish, but I didn't see anything over a foot long on either section. I may try them again at some point on a different stream.

John's last day of fishing in Wyoming. A nice 'bow is brought to hand and accidentally released prematurely.

Part 6. John catches a pair of nice cutthroats and struggles with fish identification.

Luna is having none of it.

Here's part 5. John tries out some new spots and gets more cutties on the fly.

I headed out the morning after storms rolled through bringing a lot of rain. The 3rd stream I stopped at wasn't chocolate milk, so I was able to catch some trout. I didn't go too far because the stream got really shallow and choked out, but it was a fun section while it lasted.