Month: September 2015

We finally made it out camping, and it was, well, pretty good.  I collected the Troutslayer from elementary school on the Friday at 3.45 and we made a beeline for Yellow River State Forest, two and a half hours to the north.  It’s a lovely drive, first standard Iowa farmland, then after Strawberry Point you’re into the hilly and striking driftless on the River Bluffs Scenic Byway.  You cross the Volga, the Turkey River with the trout rearing station, then as you near the Mississippi you cross the storied Bloody Run.  You hit the Mississippi at Marquette (across the bridge from the much larger Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin) and drive north right along its western bank for a short while, then bend inland and climb out of the valley to eventually turn north and descend into the Paint Creek valley.  Yellow River State Forest is usually crowded, but it’s about as close as Iowa gets to a reasonable facsimile of beauty, topography, something wild, and even decent hiking trails.  There are two stocked trout streams, Paint Creek and its extremely popular tributary Little Paint Creek, which is basically Richmond Springs except perhaps a smidgeon less crowded and more scenic (though Richmond Springs is plenty pretty itself).  We arrived in Little Paint Campground to find it ~80% full, which was the only real downside to things.  But I can’t really complain – we got a walkup site with no hassle (though not my favourite one, which was occupied), and while we had plenty of neighbours, the campground is set up with generous space between the sites and the neighbours were all decent and well behaved.  The weather was excellent, highs just around 70 and really crisp nights down in the 40s.  Two life-affirming nights by the campfire with James toasting marshmallows and me reading John Gierach by headlamp.  We had planned to fish both Saturday and Sunday, but ended up just spending Saturday at Hickory Creek.  We visited Bear Creek in Fayette County on Sunday, but there were cars in the parking area (leading me to suspect strongly that it has been stocked since my last visit), then we went to STSNBN, but the water level was down to a trickle and we decided not to abuse the poor thing.

Continue reading Trip Report 2015 September 12 – Hickory Creek, Allamakee County, IA

The weather this weekend cancelled yet another camping trip, as it’s 93 today and that’s not a good number to be trying to fish.  However I dashed out to Bear Creek on a solo run, mostly because I was desperate to try out my Plus Size Killer Buggers.

Continue reading Trip Report 2015 September – Bear Creek, Fayette County, IA

So the weather is finally looking good for camping on Labor Day weekend (too hot, probably, high 80s, but we’ll take it).  So I’m trying to replenish the fly box, and I’m going to try to give some things a really extended try.  Top of the list is killer buggers.  I tied some black ones, following exactly the TenkaraBum instructions.  These are smallish, tied on a Daiichi 1560, so more Killer Bug than Woolly Bugger.  Black Killer Bug with a marabou tail, basically, and with one or two layers of small Ultra wire for the only weight.  I’ve caught fish with them, and have used them enough that the original four I tied have been whittled down to one survivor.  I haven’t caught trout on them, but that’s mostly because I haven’t really tried, I think.  Anyway, I’m going to make an effort.  I wanted something a little closer in proportions to a Woolly Bugger, so I used a Daiichi 1720 size 12 (the same 3X long nymph hook I use for my regular Woolly Buggers).  I wanted more weight, so I used an extended lead wire underbody.  And I threw in a few strands of Krystal Flash.  The body is Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift Bracken [edit: actually, it’s not – what TenkaraBum sells as olive killer bugger yarn is distinct from Bracken, and I don’t know what exactly it is], from one of the samples sent out with orders by TenkaraBum (so I only had enough right now for four, because I made them portly).  Apart from an education in why it’s a good idea to superglue the wire to the shank (what the…the fly is spinning…THE FLY IS SPINNING!), they seem fishable.  I thought about adding more bells and whistles, but the idea is to make a Killer Bugger, not a Woolly Bugger with yarn substituted for the chenille.  However, I might try some with a hackle collar behind the eye.  I’m going to tie up a bunch of black ones as well, and make a concerted effort to give them their due this weekend.  It’d be great if they subbed directly for Woolly Buggers, as they’re far easier to make.