I lived there for almost 6 years.
I have very many friends still there.
I come to this board for sentimental reasons.
My german is very poor nowadays.
I lived in germany from 1977 to 1984.
I visit there about every 2 years.
My friends from germany shared many memories with me there.
I was just trying to return the favor.
My friend from Augsburg attended my wedding in wisconsin in 1989.
He is a very good friend.
If you ALL prefer me to write ...I will try.
nicht weit von Oberau...
2005.
Mit mein freund Jan Tomasak von Augsburg.
Ehr ist im Munich Fisch Klub
Mein deustsch ist nicht sehr gutn heutezutage...
aber..
Mein leesen ist ok.
Ich habe im deustchland gefisched.
Bilden sacht alles....
Worten sind machtnichts.
Wann sie wunschen folleren fischen im wisconsin...
mein email addressee ist
[email protected]
.
please someone tell me how to EDIT or erase posts?
Thanks
Len
yesterday was my opening day for inland water trout.
This was my first cast of the season.
This is the third TIGER I have ever caught in my life.
17 inches of snow....13 degrees out....
Large snow drifts stream side.
Memorable open day.
Len *spinner* Harris
*The Heart Of The Driftless*
Southwestern Wisconsin
Trout Don't Live In Ugly Places
Written by: Len Harris
Photos by: Len Harris
It is the middle of winter. Close your eyes and dream about may and june. The sights the smells they are intoxicating....even with your eyes closed.
The sounds of water....the smell of the outdoors....It is all etched in your memories.
The world is new and beginning its rebirth.
Oh my .....it is almost impossible to describe the smells and the scenery.
The wind in the trees and the baby birds chirping.
A bee buzzing.....
Unexpected discoveries on the way to the stream.
May I open my eyes now? I believe it is time to fish.
The Curmudgeon
Written By: Len Harris
Photos by: Len Harris
Curmudgeon
definition:
cur·mud·geon
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
1 : a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old male trout
- cur·mud·geon·li·ness /-lE-n&s/ noun
- cur·mud·geon·ly /-lE/ adjective
A typical life expectantcy of a small stream trout
varies. If a trout finds a good stream or "home" and
it has the necessary cover and forage, a trout could
live to an age of around 12 years.
Five years ago I found such a "home". I walked
around the bend in a stream and it was before me. It
is a *WOW* hole. A *WOW* hole is one that totally
screams out "Large Trout Home".
The top of the hole has a current line for oxygen and
feed source. The hole itself is an old farm field
bridge that has caved in ages ago. The boulder at the
base of the bridge causes a severe step drop in depth.
A step drop is where the depth of a hole goes from 2
feet to 8 feet deep in about 2 feet distance.
The rest of the hole has some cover on the left and a
couple ambush points for The Cumudgeon to attack his
prey. The hole is about 8 feet deep in the center.
This allows the trout stay in this hole year round.
I scouted the hole from downstream in a crouched
postion for a short time. It was March and the
vegetation was limited. I watched the water. I saw no
obvious feeding action.
This hole was so far off the main roadway it
screamed Large Trout. It was way too far of a walk for
the casual angler.
I thought for a long time how to attack this hole.
The water was cold in March, so any possible large
fish would be in the slow moving deep water. I needed
to make a cast way up into the current to hide the
splash of my cast.
I was worried that a smaller fish might spook the
hole first and I would not have a chance at The
Curmdgeon. I figured if i was going do it...It would
be on the first 5 casts.
I casted for an hour at the hole with not even a
whisper of a fish in the hole. From my experience, I
learned that Old Male Trout are very territorial. When
they are really old they chase ALL other trout out of
the hole. They are Crusty and Ill Tempered.
After the hour I decided to walk out into the hole
and carefully map the bottom for structure. The best
way I knew was to actually wade the entire hole. I
started at the edges and worked my way to the fast
water funnel. The fast water funnel end was clearly
over my waders so I poked my pole into the depths.
Something flew out of the depths and did a circle in
the hole and then stopped on the other far side of the
hole.
From the wake the fish made in its circle..It was
obviously a Big Fish. I had thrown the kitchen sink at
this fish and had not even gotten a bump.
I visited this hole annually for five years. About
ten times each year. I varied my casts. I varied time
of day and night. I even sat on the hole in the middle
of the night with a chub tail and a night crawler. I
caught NO trout.
Last fall I was talking to a friend about The
Curmodgeon. He asked what I had tried so far. I told
him all of the tricks I tried. He asked me if I had
ever tried to ANGER the trout. Make it so angry it
would hit out of anger. I had my friend tell me what
he meant by that.
He said that an Old Trout that big would be
territorial and if i casted in and ripped the
presentation through the hole at 100 miles an hour...I
might anger it enough into hitting. I had tried
everything else...So what the heck.
Second cast.....was bringing it as fast as I
possibly could. It slammed it. It went deep and
hunkered down on the bottom. After a change of
direction battling it, I got it to the top of the
water. I was not disappointed. It was well worth five
years of hunting this fish.
I dubbed him ***The Curmudgeon*** and sent him on his
way.
Sugar & Spice
That is the way the rhyme usually begins.
Why can't it be finished like this?
Sugar and Spice
and
Spinners, Feathers and Fish Tails
That is what little girls are made of.
Why must the majority of anglers be men/boys?
Are the dads in the sport not giving their daughters
a fair chance to be an angler?
I think that it is high time that little girls
hit the streams just like little boys.
A little background here. I am from
a family of 5 girls and 1 boy. I was the only child
to show any WANT as my father put it. Want to learn the
ways of an outdoors person.
I am a father. I have one beautiful daughter. Her name is Anna and she is a chip off the old block.
From an early age it was obvious she had aptitude. She loved getting dirty and wet. Her excursions into the outdoors started at age 2. She was in a back pack that faced forward...So she could see the action and get into it as she watched me fish.
At age 3 landed her first trout. At age 5 she caught her first 20 inch brown. The 20 incher was not an easy catch either. It involved a little swimming by me for the pole she lost. The trout was still on.
At age 8 she had her first 2 twenty browns in one day. The season most memorable was when she was 9 years old. The entire season she caught a larger trout that me. A male brown 25 inches long.
Dads get those girls of yours out there FISHING!
Written by Len Harris
Photos by Len Harris
ALL taken with sony digital camera W-7
When you mix:
with this?
Caught on panther martin
Caught on wooley bogger in southwestern wisonsin
To Eli Fleischauer for editing this story for me.
