30-41 Achigan - Tight Lines Fly Fishing Co.

30-41 Achigan 6/19/06 7:32 PM Page 40
friend and former fishing partner Phil
Cochran, an ichthyologist now living in
Minnesota. In my mind he is the last of
a dying breed of old-school field naturalists.
He gets the credit for everything
I know about stream ecology, but certainly
none of the blame for all the
things I’ve forgotten, which are a lot.
Phil showed me my first caddisfly—
Helicopsychidae if I remember right—
the one whose case looks like a snail
shell. For the next few years he went on
to show me how a stream works. He
also showed me research of his friend
John Lyons, who most consider the
Wisconsin DNR’s expert on smallmouths.
Saltwater Streamers and Big Stinking
Bass
The result of all this fishy learning is
that I realized big saltwater streamers
T R A V E L T I P S
B A S S P ALA , O.F. ( O R I G I N A L FLOATING )
HOOK:
Northwoods Rivers and Shops
THREAD:
DON’T EXPECT “TOP 10 SMALLMOUTH RIVERS.” Similar articles
have turned weekend trout fishing on the spring creeks of southwest
Wisconsin into a team sport, complete with early morning
races to the one car pull-outs. Fortunately, many bass fishermen
focus on lakes in the summer and many smallmouth streams in
July and August can only be negotiated by wading or canoe. On
many summer days you can have a Wisconsin smallmouth stream
to yourself.
The DNR estimates about 3,500 miles of smallmouth water in
the Wisconsin. The northern water includes the big rivers and
flowages, such as the St. Croix and Wisconsin—almost all of which
can be fished by boat. The southwest streams are part of the spring
creeks region. This is small-stream wading or canoe water.
Buy DeLorme’s Wisconsin Atlas and Gazetteer for planning trips.
Wisconsin has excellent trout-only guidebooks, but Motovioloff’s
Flyfisher’s Guide to Wisconsin (2003) includes smallmouths.
Midwest Fly Fishing magazine regularly publishes articles on
smallmouth streams, patterns and tactics and can be found online
at www.mwfly.com. Russ Wayre’s Smallmouth! America’s Top Bass
Waters (Midwest/South ed.) profiles several lakes, rivers, and
flowages in Wisconsin.
Much more info on the “where” can be found on the Internet.
Many smallmouth waters are on state or federal land, or under the
pervue of power companies, and these folks are happy to supply
info. You shouldn’t have trouble finding them online. A good start is
the DNR website at www.dnr.state.wi.us. Use the U.S. Geological
LIP:
PATTERN BY NELSON HAM
TIED BY NELSON HAM
Mustad 3191, size 2/0 (straighten
offset bend with line pliers)
White Flymaster; white Flat-Waxed
Nylon for attaching foam
FlyLipp
UNDERBODY:
Pearl Estaz
BODY/HEAD:
Black over white strips of 2mm craft
foam
EYES: Silver or pearl 3-D molded, size 5.0
NOTE: Flash tail and rattle can be added. Short,
quick strips work best.
should work for imitating minnows
important to a river smallmouths diet—
sometimes more so than crayfish. And
there was no reason not to go big;
ichthyologists say that four or five inches
is an optimal forage size for larger
bass. Many minnows such as shiners,
dace, stonerollers and chubs have average
lengths of two-to-four inches, with
the largest adults being several inches
longer.
That is when I started using saltwater
patterns for smallmouth. New equipment
and tying materials meant I could
cast the flies easily and they had life in
the water. Most importantly, I caught
more big bass and fewer smaller ones.
When Tim and Bart trusted me to
show me their smallmouth “crusher,” I
felt an inner redemption. It was a fiveinch
saltwater pattern marketed by
Umpqua called the Murdich Minnow.
Fished like a dying minnow, it attracts
Bass in colder, less-productive, northern waters grow much slower than those in southern states.
A 20-inch river bass from northern Wisconsin is easily 10 years old or more.
Catch-and-release angling is vital to supporting and improving the fishery.
Survey’s website to monitor river discharge, especially with the
passing of summer storms (water.usgs.gov). You can assess
whether you’ll find a raging torrent or perfect conditions on your
favorite river.
The following are Wisconsin flyshops that can set you up with
equipment, flies, and a good guide. Local river knowledge is important.
Top-water and shallow-water fly fishing is a relatively short
season—plan ahead. July and August are the prime months. By the
way, we haven’t touched largemouth bass or lake fishing—
Wisconsin is black bass wonderland.
Tight Lines Fly Fishing Co.
Tim Landwehr
DePere, Wisconsin
920-336-4106
www.tightlinesflyshop.com
The Fly Fishers
Pat Ehlers
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
414-259-8100
www.theflyfishers.com
Hayward Fly Fishing Outfitters
Larry Mann & Wendy Williamson
Hayward, Wisconsin
715-634-8149
www.haywardflyfishingcompany.com
Angler’s All
Roger LaPenter
Ashland, Wisconsin
715-682-5754
lapenter@charter.net
Superior Fly Angler
Jeff Dahl
Superior, Wisconsin
715-395-9520
www.superiorflyangler.com
big smallmouth.
Unfortunately, the Murdich didn’t
survive in Umqua’s lineup—they never
figured out that Bill Murdich made a
killer smallmouth fly. Like me, you’ll
need to tie your own, but it is completely
worth the time and effort.
Believe me.
Smaller flies have their important
place in bass fishing—in spooky water,
for example—and sometimes bass simply
aren’t aggressive to larger prey and
thus larger flies. But the latest generation
of fly rods makes casting larger flies
easier, and new fly-tying materials allow
us to tie bigger patterns that are light,
maintain the appearance of bulk, shed
water easily and show life in slow-moving
water.
Don’t expect big streamers to be a
panacea. You’ll probably catch fewer
fish on average, sometimes very few, but
in the right situations you’ll be casting
the right fly to take some of the biggest
fish of the season.
It is the same principle used by
Whitlock, Galloup, and Linsenman to
target monster brown trout—big baitfish
patterns with big equipment for big
fish.
If you are serious about hunting big
bass, give big minnow patterns a try and
stick with them. We’ve waited far too
long to fish big “lures” to smallmouths.
The Bassmasters did it years ago, but
they had a good reason—they fish for
money.
I also have some new bass heroes—
Steve Farrar, Bill Murdich, Tim Borski,
Jack Gartside… the list goes on. The
next time you need some bass-fly inspiration,
look in the saltwater bins. You
might stumble onto a bass-wielding
treasure.
Just for a Moment
My new friends and I finished the
float last July by casting poppers to rising
fish, but the biggest fish that day
took a Murdich Minnow it saw only for
a second. The outside bank of a fast
sweeping bend had a rough rock wall
Just like putting together an opening paragraph or the foundation for a building, bass
fishing is all about structure. Find downed logs or rocky banks and you’ll find the fish.
with one eddy no wider than a shoebox.
Time for one cast and a quick strip.
I had to slip my boat slowly downstream
into quieter water so we could
land the fish—19-inches long and dark
SILI - SKIN M I N N O W
PATTERN BY STEVE FARRAR
TIED BY NELSON HAM
HOOK: Tiemco 8089, size 10
THREAD: White Flymaster or Danville
monofilament, ultra-fine
UNDERBODY:
Mother-of-Pearl Sili-skin rolled
around middle half of hook shank
TAIL: Silver Flashabou over Tan DNA
Holo-Chromosome over white
DNA Holo-Fusion
BODY/HEAD:
Pearl Flexicord Light (quarter-inch)
covered by Mother-of-Pearl Sili-
Skin
EYES: Silver or pearl 3-D molded, size 3.5
GILL SLIT: Red Pantone pen
HEAD COATING:
Dip in Softex, Softbody, or Plasti-Dip
as chocolate, but as beautiful as they
come.
On some days I’ve seen that river,
with the passing of a summer storm and
low fog, look a bit like the coastal rainforest
of Alaska. The rocks look eerily
like cloaked sentinels, standing guard,
unwilling to give in to the constant
passing of dark, acid waters born in
headwater bogs.
Similar is the smallmouth bass, a survivor,
unwilling to come to hand without
a fight—the one who struggles.
The Algonquin were right on, and
this struggle can mean many different
things.
If you come to the northwoods, you
might find yourself whispering achigan
when the fighter slips out of your hands
and back into dark waters.
Nelson Ham grew up the son of a Bavarian
fräulein and a U.S. Army combat soldier
who always let him go his own way. A
glacial geologist and college teacher by
trade, he spends his summers fishing and
guiding in northeast Wisconsin for Tight
Lines Fly Fishing. He lives in Green Bay
with his very understanding wife. She
even rows a driftboat.
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