Driftless Gang Get-together, April 2017

[ia_trouter]

We held our first Driftless meet in the Decorah. Iowa area this weekend. I think the guys will post some PICs when they get a chance. We fished the famous Iowa streams. It was a little risky to do this first weekend of stocking but it worked out fine. Sunday weather was beautiful, a cold front moved in today. Crowding could have been far worse but fishing water that hadn't been visited by the spinner crowd didn't always happen. It worked out OK anyway.

Attendees-

fishiowa, Rich, Dubuque, IA

k_e_v, Kevin, Farmington, IL

kcdeal, Kent, Hampton,IL

iatrouter, Dewayne, LeClaire, IA

At least 20 flyrods were also in attendance, and many were top shelf. Rich and Kev have some really awesome gear and it was great to view some of it. Even if we did give them hell for having the audacity to own it.

Rich is the only one who has fished the area more than once so he took charge of organizing us. He made and/or printed some awesome detailed area maps. He didn't want to be the official "Guide" but we beat him into submission eventually. He showed us a great time. We saw most of the best water and avoided crowds well enough.

We stayed at Stoney Creek Inn in Waukon. It was a great pick by Rich. They had an outdoor area and we spent some time there getting to know each other. That was good because we were separated on the streams as we divided them up for best coverage. As I said, some new friendships were formed. Kent is my local fishing bud as we are both pretty new to this trout thing other than stocker bows. Rich has been a fly mentor of mine since the very beginning. Nobody has taught me as much about how to fish the Driftless. The rest of the guys had ever met each other until yesterday.

I hope the guys will share PICs and in my next post I will share my experience. I don't want to sour the opening post with personal challenges. Bottomline it is one of the more enjoyable times I have ever had on the fly. I started this idea and thanks so much Rich, Kev and Kent for making it a success.

We had a vote and unanimously decided Itchmesir (Eric of Viroqua, Wisconsin) should host the next Driftless event. We are confident he will be a very fine host.

Dewayne

 

[k_e_v]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

First, let me address the elephant in the room because I am sure no-one else will have the guts to. Kent is a Cardinal fan, I feel I should have been informed of this from the start.

And now on to the trip. What an awesome time.:thumbsupu If Rich hasn't already written a book on Iowa trout fishing he sure should. What a valuable resource to have along on my first trip to the Iowa portion of the Driftless. Speaking for myself I felt like I had been fishing with the others guys for years. I was a little worried about how everyones personalities would mesh and if fishing styles would be compatible and could not have felt more comfortable. Kent, Dewayne and Rich are topnotch stream partners and always seemed to have a cool drink available at the right times and I guess i found out that I like Chivas

Fishing was pretty decent on the first day with plenty of eager fish caught on the North Bear Creek. Pretty awesome looking place and I think it would be a great place to spend a day throwing hoppers in the upcoming months. Monday we fished the Waterloo River and found tougher conditions. This was definitely a "looks better from the road" stream. The fish were there but a little bit uncooperative although several were brought to hand.
I didn't take too many pics but here are just a few and the only trout pic I took.


Dewayne, Kent and Rich


North Bear Creek



Local Moonshiners



"Big Fish" ( you had to be there)

Need to do this again!! And to those who have never been to the Iowa Driftless or like me, was hesitant to go, do yourself a favor and do it. Nice scenery, reasonable rates and beautiful streams.

regards, kev

 

[ia_trouter]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

Kent just sent me about five PICs of trout he caught this weekend. They are not handled as well as they should be. He has only fished for trout a half dozen times and that was with me. I failed to give him the keep em wet lectures yet. He was just trying to gets PICs for me. I don't want to see him get beaten up. He had a great weekend for a guy that hasn't fished trout much at all.

I'll post the PICs by tomorrow.

And that must be a PIC of Kev's 20" brown. The man has huge hands.

 

[Ard]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

Hey Kev, I understand, I have the hand thing going on here buddy. I can make a ten pound fish look small. I would love to come down there and fish with you guys but Boss won't let me leave him behind so I just can't. He will be 12 soon and we are too close for me to leave him.

 

[mcnerney]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

Great trip report, looks like you guys had a great time, I'm jealous!

 

[ia_trouter]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

Kev fishes very hard. He's got the eye of the tiger. He cast's pretty and every one leaves the rod tip with optimism. I haven't met many with his enthusiam. Kodak reality says it wasn't a great catching weekend but the fishing was good. We'd love to fish some of these holes after they had 24hrs rest from the bait guys. That's hard to arrange on the best IA water.

---------- Post added at 11:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:25 PM ----------

Big fish of the weekend caught by the noob?



More bad C@R technique from Kent



kcdeal is going to beat me when he logs in lol.

 

[fishiowa]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

It was great meeting Kent and Kevin. I already knew Dewayne (and I went anyway). Had a great time and really enjoyed getting to know the guys a little. Had a great time and lots of laughs hanging around on the side of the road at the end of the day and on the patio back at the hotel. Even though after a few drinks we forgot to order pizza for dinner

Fishing was good on Sunday but our d*mn "guide" should have been more flexible with the changing weather conditions and changed the plan to a different kind of water for Monday. I do feel bad about that but the guys were great about it. Kevin and Kent go at it hard and Dewayne even with a bad back did not complain about it and kept up pretty well. Bottom line I would love to fish with any of these guys again.

This is the only pic I took in four days fishing (I started Friday). I'm a little hesitant to post as there was some mention of witness protection. It will probably be okay, I don't think anyone will recognize him with the D-bag waders, antique shades and all

 

[ia_trouter]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

The guys caught many more fish than I did. I tweaked my back and hip the day before the trip and thought I would be fine. I was definitely not fine and was hobbling around after just a few hours. I spent a lot of time trying to fish from a sitting position on shore. One of those buckets the bait guys use sure sounded good. My casting and mending could use some work even when I am standing. My Huck Finn casting stance was not working for me. I should probably change my forum name to ia-chubber. That's mostly what I caught. My browns were few and they were very small. I'll get them next time.

Rich, the stream section choices were just fine. It's hard to find many Driftless stream stretches truly large enough for four guys, and not already occupied. If we do this again with a larger crowd we'll have to split up in small groups as we discussed.

 

[itchmesir]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

Looks like you all had a great time. That's one chunky brookie! Wish i could've made it but life happens some times. Host? I'll certainly be your local guide for the next get together. But i don't think my neighbors would enjoy Dewayne's jug band jams.

There's also that Conclave coming up. May 19-21. For anyone who enjoys casting willow branches and outdated technology.

 

[ia_trouter]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

We aren't trying to make this hard Itch. To me "Host" means the following.

-start a thread way in advance to find a date. Suggest two dates to get the conversation started maybe?
-maybe suggest a few hotels so we aren't spread all over. It was highly advantageous we stayed together. And it was fun to hang out.
-scribble out a map to share with all your secret local spots clearly marked
-suggest a couple different plans that can adjust if we run into a crowd at the access.

I have ZERO complaints about the Decorah event, but we did have a "polite contest". Nobody wanted to be bossy and there was a time or two it might have been handy if we had a leader.

---------- Post added at 10:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 AM ----------

But i don't think my neighbors would enjoy Dewayne's jug band jams.

I am beginning to sense some "Hat Envy" on this thread.

Now I could have taken the d-bag route and bought a genuine kangaroo skin hat. Just an example Rich, I wasn't necessarily referring to your kangaroo skin hat that looks so stylish with your uppity waders and any of 14 high end 4WT rods, so don't be sensitive.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, my awesome hat. Just checked the label. I got it in Anchorage and they have no kangaroos in AK so I'm good there. It's very versatile. Well beyond the obvious that it excels at whiskey makin' and jug band events. In addition to a good fishin hat, so far I have used it on Halloween when I dressed as Freddy Krueger. Next year Jed Clampett perhaps? When I get a horse I'll be able to water him. I wonder how many 24" Driftless brown trout fillets would fit in it? At least a dozen I would think. Perhaps 25 if "Big Fish" Kev is taping the fish.

What a fine hat it is.

---------- Post added at 10:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 AM ----------

Another one of Kent's fish. Jeez, do you take a pic of every fish you ever catch?

That was a joke. I asked him to and I am glad he did because I sure didn't take any. Kent apparently didn't get the memo on the cold front Monday and just caught a few more anyhow. Monday was pretty tough fishing.

 

[kcdeal]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

It is only by the grace of god that us Cardinal fans are to tolerate the northsiders.

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 PM ----------

I did not take pics of all my fish, there would have been a bunch more pics!!

 

[ia_trouter]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

It is only by the grace of god that us Cardinal fans are to tolerate the northsiders.

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 PM ----------

I did not take pics of all my fish, there would have been a bunch more pics!!

When one has all the Kodak they get to talk a little trash. :bowdown:

That's cool, I was getting a little tired of watch Itch and Unknown catch all the Driftless fish anyway.

Sorry for the heat on fish handling. I just didn't want to see you get lit up and you were the only one with good PICs buddy. Less than a year ago you bought a $25 trout rod from me and now you are kicking butt with it. I'm very proud of your accomplishments. I don't think you realize decent brookies don't grow on trees this far south. I think Eric and Steve will back me up on that. Your improvement has been beyond amazing. Now stop it or I'm not tying any more flies for you.

 

[ia_trouter]

Yep damn nice brook trout for sure. Year of the brookie!

I hate to admit it Steve, but I have seen so damn few brookies my first few years on the fly that I have to stare at them a minute before I say something stupid like "is that an odd patterned/colored brown"? I'm used to seeing a couple skinny 10s all season and they clearly came off the stock truck. Overall, Iowa water is absolutely not as good as WI and MN, but our DNR does a pretty good job with the water we have that can self sustain to some degree.

 

[GrtLksMarlin]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

Does anyone else when your mouse cursor passes over the above photo, suddenly have banjo music start playing out of your speakers? :upset: Odd.

:shades:

B.E.F.

 

[ia_trouter]

Re: Driftless Gang Get-together, May 2017

Does anyone else when your mouse cursor passes over the above photo, suddenly have banjo music start playing out of your speakers? :upset: Odd.

:shades:

B.E.F.

Come on out sometime and maybe Kent and I will take ya "fishin". I think we may have Deliverance on VHS.

 

[psishapiro]

Looks like fun! Hope to see info of an event in 2018!


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[rcrfc]

I have a trailer home in Lansing Iowa that can accommodate 6-8 people comfortably(ish) and a few more if people want to get cozy.
Wouldn’t cost anywhere near a hotel per head. Plus it has fridge, oven, stove etc so cooking on the cheap.
If y’all are interested let’s set something up.



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[ia_trouter]

I have a trailer home in Lansing Iowa that can accommodate 6-8 people comfortably(ish) and a few more if people want to get cozy.
Wouldn’t cost anywhere near a hotel per head. Plus it has fridge, oven, stove etc so cooking on the cheap.
If y’all are interested let’s set something up.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nobody is in charge, so at some point somebody can just throw out an initial date and see how much interest there is. Then discuss it for a week and hopefully accommodate most schedules. About the only thing we determined last year is four is about the limit before we need to split up during fishing time. Plenty of streams to do that.

 

[rcrfc]

Good thing about Lansing is the options of streams to fish. Iowa streams to the west, Wisconsin streams right over the bridge east and Minnesota streams north and west. Plenty of options.
One of my best investments last year was the Wisconsin stream guide book.
I work every 3d weekend so better off than not I’d be available.
For March the weekends I’m off: 9-10, 16-17, 31-1.
Plus I only work 3 days per week so if some wanted to go during the week instead I’d be game. I’d be game if only one guy wanted to go, but the more the merrier!


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[psishapiro]

Good thing about Lansing is the options of streams to fish. Iowa streams to the west, Wisconsin streams right over the bridge east and Minnesota streams north and west. Plenty of options.
One of my best investments last year was the Wisconsin stream guide book.
I work every 3d weekend so better off than not I’d be available.
For March the weekends I’m off: 9-10, 16-17, 31-1.
Plus I only work 3 days per week so if some wanted to go during the week instead I’d be game. I’d be game if only one guy wanted to go, but the more the merrier!


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What book are you referring to? Is that it’s title?


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