Beiträge von LenHarris

About 10am we came up on this hole. I have been letting Floren have most of the holes first.

Floren placed himself at the bottom left of the photo and cast up to the fast water on the left side....right where that little node sticks out. I was standing behind him about 2 steps up the bank. Floren finished his retrieve and was lifting out of the water ........

It happened in slow motion. I saw a little movement near the end of Floren's retrieve. Then there was this large white thing in the water. It was the trout opening its mouth. The fish slammed it about 15 feet in front of us. Floren set the hook and fish came to the surface for an instance and turn and out it popped. The line flew over Floren's shoulder and off went the biggest small stream brown I have ever seen lost. This female brown rivals Joe Chadwick's Once In A Lifetime Trout.

Floren and I sat down and regrouped. Floren was still swearing. Floren needed to sit because his legs were shaking and noodle like. We sat there for 30 minutes hoping the trout might calm down and forgot about us and feed again.

It did not.

I may go back after this fish at dusk tonight.

Today is the last day of season. I planned on sitting this one out. My left knee is swollen and my back.....It hurts.

Both will feel better as soon as I have a nice trout on the end of my line. I have 5 months to recuperate during

closed season.

These are for you guys looking out the window at work.

These are just to remind you that Wisconsin season closes next week.

I have one tomorrow and a couple others scheduled soon.

IF you were doing these presentations what would you include in it?

Chien Goh with his "BIGGEST" male small stream brown he has ever caught in his life.

Started at 10:20 am and stopped at 2pm.

Chien landed 14 and I landed 11.

Chien caught the above nice one and one just a little shorter. He was using Gulp and I was using Panthers.

Sunny....Not a cloud in the sky.

Chien lost an absolute monster. It shredded his size 3 gulp minnow.

dead drift

Let us see your photos of BUGS?

no weight....
just like a bugger.

Found this little critter yesterday on my deck. It is Wooly Worm time! Trout them. Next time out give them a try.

So you are sitting on your deck on a Saturday night after a couple adult beverages...What types of food do you snack on?

Recently I have been eating smoked oysters and mussels. Last weekend I was told by one of our deck guests that the

smoked appetizers tasted good with green Tabasco Sauce on them.

They were correct.

A couple of my friends decided to come fish the fabled waters of the driftless area last week. They were from Ohio and Tennessee and had never seen this area before.

They left with the promise to return and maybe stay here and possibly get lost permanently.

Healthy Obsession

The three Faber Boys have been bugging me to go to Gays Mills to fish the dam ever since they saw a photo in my Man Cave of a big pike I caught there. Yesterday was the day we picked to go. They were talking the entire way there how they were going to prepare the fish we caught there. I told them to quit planning. They were going to jinx themselves by talking about preparing fish they had not caught already.

Prior to getting there I gave them the speech about being courtesy to other anglers if there were any there upon our arrival and to NOT fish too close to others. I also warned them about the danger of big treble hooks. I also told them about leaders and how they could ruin the ends of their poles if reeled up in to the first eye of their pole. Safety was my first priority. They asked me non-stop questions on the way there. They worked themselves into a frenzy by the time we got there. They shot out of the vehicle like their life depended on it and went to the back and got their poles and sprinted to the river.

Rylee started out the outing with a decent smallie on a crawler and then had a huge pike follow and turn at shore. The three were all shaken and awed on the size of the pike. I told them the size requirements to keep fish on the Kickapoo River. These boys keeping fish and cooking them also. Dave caught a couple fish. Nothing big enough to keep. That big northern made another run at the black fury later and got the boys fired up. WD caught the above shown pike on the black fury. He had seen so many fishing shows and seen the huge teeth on the pike in those shows.....WD was terrified of the pike when it was flopping around on shore. He summoned his two brothers to help him.....but....I would NOT let them.

I told him: "It is your fish to land or lose....we aren't going to babysit you." After a couple tense moments there, WD quit being afraid of the pike and WD landed the pike and was sooooo proud that he did it on his own and he caught a bigger fish than his brothers. WD is his nickname. I gave Jordan that nickname earlier in the year. I told him any good angler has a nickname. WD stands for "Worm Dog." WD is proud of his nickname and asks all his friends and relatives to call him that.

I almost had to pry the three away from the river when it started to get dark. They wanted that big pike that came to shore two times. The older boys complimented their little brother about getting the biggest fish of the outing. Jordan "WD" Faber, age "11," plans on cubing that pike up and pickling it. They all are good at cleaning fish and are very good cooks. Their mother Cherish has given them good life lessons on cooking.

The three young brothers aged 15,13 and 11 fishing and the outdoors. Their mother tells me that they are obsessed with fishing and hunting. I told her that it is a healthy outlet for their energy and they could get into lots of trouble with too much time on their hands and the "outdoors" is a good thing to be obsessed with.

My daughter Anna asked me three weeks ago if I had any problems with her getting colored contacts. I fought the idea of her covering her big beautiful brown eyes with green or blue contacts. Was I naive or not clear on my questions?? I my daughter and gave in.

I guess I need to be more specific the next time.

This odd looking insect is outside on my screen door. I knew it was some form of Walking Stick but I wasn't sure which kind.

It is a Diapheromera femorata .

All my Tom cat wants to know is if it is of the edible species.

My daughter's first day of school. "Preschool"

Anna's first day of 10th grade.

Last week I decided to spray just a little of my bear spray to test it to see if it was still functional and charged. I purchased it 1.5 years ago.

My 26 years in Law Enforcement taught me to check my gear. The gear that could save your life needs to function properly.

As a cop we replaced our pepper spray often and gave it a "little" squirt to make sure it was still pressurized and the pepper still smelled strong.

We always did this outside and we sprayed it down wind and just gave it a small spray to test it and let up on the pressurized button so you wouldn't waste pepper spray.

I took off the safety cap and pointed the spray down wind and barely pushed on the pressurized button.

The plunger of the bear spray sucked down immediately and emptied the entire contents of my $57.00 bear spray. I attempted to get the plunger for the spray to get back up but it kept blasting away.

It was an expensive test but I guess if a bear was charging me my life is worth $57.00 and I would want to empty the entire contents on it.

I have already order a new canister.

For those of you that shake your heads and say there are no bears in southern wisconsin...I have had encounters 5 times and all of them have been with baby bears .

The bear spray is also used for aggressive dogs, bulls, and landowners.

I have also been freaked out once by 4 coyotes around me howling at first light.

The Whisper Of The Wind

It comes from the Northwest with bad intentions. My eyes ice up and my casting is labored. It changes directions and thwarts my best cast causing it to land in the frozen underbrush. My hands are chapped and cracked from its endless attack. I finally get a decent cast against my bitter adversary. The reward is short lived because of no eager trout discovered on the cast. It blows the snow across my water and causes the water to dance and mock me. I plod on and thank the wind for reminding me that I am still alive and life is not supposed to be easy. The wind whispers in my ear and tells me that it is March and better days lay ahead.

Another day and another experience is before me. Today the wind is from the West is much less harsh. It is actually inviting me to come and feel its greatness. The wind engages the trees and they do a slow methodical dance. The buds are emerging and the wind tickles them and it asks the leaves to appear. This same wind carries the smells of the unfrozen earth and gives me a sensory experience unrivaled by the best perfumes. These are the days that my casts hold true and my trout are eager. The wind whispers as I exit the stream and head home. It says: “Come again.”

The rain pounds me. It comes sideways due to the aggressive nature of the south wind. It has no intentions of allowing me to fish. It has me in its clutches and wants to show me who is boss. I wade upstream and the wind is blocked by the hillside but it is still raining. The fishing is insane. I lose track of how many trout I catch. I must walk back to the truck. The wind is waiting for me around the corner like an impatient school teacher. The wind coupled with its sister the rain escorts me to my truck. I am thoroughly drenched. The wind forgot to whisper today. It screamed and it still was an excellent day.

It is late June and the wind sleeps today. The humidity is stifling and I wish for my friend to appear. The wildflowers are bursting and filling the stagnant air with promise. The bugs are buzzing and the trout are feeding on the top. My day is phenomenal. The trout are eager and almost fly on to my hook. There is something missing this day. The stream is just too quiet. It is almost deafening. I whisper to the wind: “The day was silent and fulfilling but empty without your company.”

Fall comes in like a lion. The kaleidoscope of leaves is torn from their trees by what appears to be an angry mistress. The tapestry of leaves escape across the fall landscape and shout that winter is soon to be here. The wind whips the leaves into a frenzy and it picks up a couple unwelcome pieces of trash. My wind asks me to remove this unwelcome guest from its grasp. I pick up the garbage and place it in my vest pocket. My outing is short and no trout are to be discovered. The wind whispers to me as I leave: “Thank you for coming and removing the unwelcome guest.” “Come again my friend.”

between nowhere and somewhere

exactly.

Every Fall I do an end of the year "Brookie" hunt.

This September will be no different.

These above brookies were caught all in the same stretch.

Earlier this year I fished the same stretch with my friend Fritz Durst and Fritz was rewarded
with this amazing brown from under a down tree on that 4 foot wide waterway.

Now for the tease.....

I explored upstream towards the headwaters. A place I have never fished and found another
dozen amazing holes.

Very rare to be able to do on the same stream.

I had to switch streams to complete the QUAD.

The bow was the last one caught in the same day

on a different stream.