I had a blast fishing Wisconsin's catch and release artificial only opener. Len and I fished hard Saturday and Sunday. Saturday Chris Kittelson from Pronghorn Productions filmed us from 10:00 - 4:30. Lots of great footage. I'm pretty sure I'll also be in some of the bloopers. Chris says the show will not air until next spring... I guess Chris has his shows booked pretty far in advance.
In short the fishing was exceptional. We caught a lot of nice big fish including an honest 20" male brown, a 18.5" brown, a 17.5" brown, and a 14" brookie topping the list. Len is an expert at reading water and really did up my success rate considerably.
This 20" male brown hit on a #9 silver Panther Martin at 7:30 am. It was freezing rain outside, however better than early Saturday morning which was incredibly cold with our braided line and islets icing up.
What a big fat German tank. This guy is easily six pounds. He fought hard. Interesting I noticed I hooked him on the outside cheek early on so I loosened up my drag and did not muscle him as much as I normally would with a good hook set. After I got him in the net my spinner fell off...
Now if you can believe this, on my very next cast I catch this 18.5" male brown.
This weekend we fished both incredibly skinny headwater two feet wide for beautiful brookies as well as giant warm water river systems 50 feet wide. With the snow melt water temperatures were cold yet fishable. Fishing mainly spinners a slow retrieve was critical.
Here are other nice fish caught opening weekend:
Opening weekend was also a blast hanging out with the Harris and Kerr families as well as my new friend Patrick. Spotted Cow was purchased as well as two cases of our favorite wine from Spurgeon Vineyards. Life is good.
Story picked up in the Madison paper today:
http://host.madison.com/sports/recreation/outdoors/article_79316156-2a79-11df-9e27-001cc4c03286.html
Story also picked up by outdoor journalist Gary Enberg. Gary is a professional tournament angler and fishing guide. Gary's columns and writing are found in local, regional, and national publications.
http://www.garyengbergoutdoors.com/blog/2010/03/08/life-is-good-by-len-harris-3-7-2010/
7 comments:
You guys did great! That twenty incher and brook are some nice looking trout!
Mark, sure looks like some great early season fishing. Those are some great looking Browns. Great job on the photos as well.
what a great fishing day!!!
Those browns are just beautifull, congratulations.
Mark - GREAT photos - sounds liek a terific day on the water. I'm a bit surprised the fish were biting as well as they appear to with the cold run-off.
I'm going to get up to SW Wisconsin this year if it klills me!!
Wolfy
In order for a 20" trout to be over 6 lbs it would have to have a girth of at least 16"! That must have been quite a round one. Interesting. I would love to catch on elike that.
It's good they got that fish on film, otherwise nobody would believe you! You were fly fishing right?
Awesome opener! Those fish look like they had a fat and happy winter.
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