I know what you’re thinking,
Wisconsin –
Paradise? Well I am not going to lie to you, its not palm trees and bikinis. If hooking big hard fighting fish is what you dream about try
Wisconsin.
I stripped my fly all the way back to the boat without a strike. I leave my fly in the water for a few seconds before I recast, then it happens. A huge flash of green and yellow rockets out from beneath the boat, a big pike. I really COULDN’T TELLYOU IF I SET THE HOOK, OR JUST TRIED TO HOLD ON. The razor toothed marauder engulfed my red and white buck tail streamer and then turned directly back under the boat. My brand new sage slams into the boat railing. I let the fish pull drag off my reel so I can maneuver. I get to the front of the boat desperately trying to pry this fish out from beneath me. He quickly darts away heading for a big patch of weeds. Before he gets there I lean into him and win the battle. After a quick release I turn to see two old timers pan fishing, “that looked like fun”, they said. It was.
With the economic crunch felt by most of us, a trip to
Bonefish Island might not be in the budget. If you still need to get your fly fishing fix on,
Wisconsin is less than one day’s drive from almost any where in
America. Instead of bonefish you have carp. Instead of permit try a smallmouth, and if you want to catch a fish that can pull your arm out of its socket then bight your hand off try pike.
Wisconsin is blessed with an abundance of species and places to fish.
Lake Michigan and its tributaries are loaded with salmon, steelhead, and brown trout. The Northwood’s offers giant muskies and walleyes in a spectacular setting. Don’t forget the mighty
Mississippi and the
Wisconsin rivers. For this article however I concentrated on a few lakes just west of
Milwaukee; Okauchee, Pewaukee, and Lac la belle. All of them hold a multitude of fly fishable species.
Fishing in
Wisconsin is hugely popular, witch means pressured water. This is where flies have an advantage. The breathability of most streamer patterns I feel is something that most pressured fish haven’t seen. In fact most people think I’m crazy when I’m out there with my fly fishing gear on a not so tropical day. They don't know the success I’m having. I once caught what I call a
Wisconsin River slam; smallmouth, pike, and a walleye on three consecutive casts stripping a yellow woolly bugger on sinking line.
When you are out on the water the last thing you want to be doing is wasting time with your equipment instead of patterning and catching fish. So lets talk about the gear. For most game fish I’m throwing 6-9 wt. If strictly fishing for Muskie you can use up to a 12 wt. It will help cast monster flies. I prefer slightly smaller flies just so I can catch more of a variety of fish, and your arm wont fall off after a week of casting what feels like a wet sock. Floating lines are fine in the shallows, and I always bring a sinking line for any thing deeper than 8 feet. What I feel is the most important thing is your leader. From my fly line I attach an 7 ft 0x leader, then a small swivel. The swivel keeps down line twist, and makes it easier to reattach tippet material. I also think that in certain situations the swivel looks like bait fleeing from my fly.
Rio tie able wire is the best all around tippet/ leader material when there are toothy critters around. It’s strong, flexible, and most important its easy to tie. I tie about 2-3 feet of it to my swivel with a cinch knot. I then use a loop knot to attach my fly directly to the wire. The loop knot allows for awesome free swimming action from your fly. One small pike will make a mess of the plastic coating in the wire, but all you have to do is cut a couple inches and retie.
This has been my experience with other leader material; Fluorocarbon seams like it would work great, unfortunately you need 60-80 lbs test to prevent bite offs from pike and muskie. That size of flourocarbon is too bulky. It inhibits fly action, is more visible, and does not tie easy. Store bought leaders have too many snaps and swivels, and are usually too short. The only other leader I use is single strand Malin wire. Single strand wire has a very small diameter and is very strong. The bad part is that it is hard to tie. If a fish bends it too much you’ll have to retie difficult knots witch is time consuming, and hard to do in bad weather. Bass, especially small mouth are leader shy. If I’m targeting bass I’ll tie 5 feet of 10 lbs mono from my swivel. It never fails though, if you don’t have a wire leader on you will inevitably get bite off from the biggest Muskie in the lake.
Fly fishing can be an advantage in pressured waters. Fish there haven’t seen too many flies. If you have spots that you think are going to produce fish then motor to em’ and start casting. But when trying to locate fish I like to set up drifts, keeping that fly in the water as much as possible. If your just motoring from spot to spot struggling with your equipment, your fly isn’t in the water long enough to get bit. To set up a drift I head right into the wind then let the wind blow me along a bank or flat using my out board as a rudder. If there isn’t any wind then I’ll resort to a trolling motor, but let me tell you a running motor and fly line don’t mix well. I’m also going to set up so that the wind is keeping my fly to the right side of my head while casting since I’m a right handed caster. No sense in letting the wind blow your 3’0 saltwater hook towards your head. Anybody that is not knowledgeable in hook removal may want too debarb before your trip.
Now we have are boat set up on a controlled drift down a bank, or across a flat. We are almost ready to start fishing. Remember when I said that fly line and trolling motors don’t mix, well fly line also doesn’t mix well with anchors, seat cushions, spare rods, or dogs. So get all that stuff out the way. Next get your self a comfortably amount of line out. This is not the place to be practicing your distance. More line equals more problems. I like just enough line out that I can recast in three false casts. The amount of line your able to cast in three false casts may vary from person to person. The trick is to keep it simple, and keep your flies in the water. If you’re untangling line every other cast you’re not fishing. If tangles are common reel in some line and get things under control. Besides its hard enough to drive a hook into a boney fishes jaw at ten feet let alone 70 feet.
I usually angle my cast in the direction I’m moving. If you just cast perpendicular to the moving boat half way through your retrieval your fly will just be dragging behind the boat. Allow your fly to sink to your desired depth and start stripping. Vary your retrievals to pattern the fish. Sometimes fast erratic strips, then maybe let it sink for a while with slow strips. No matter what retrieval I use I’m always pointing my rod tip right at the fly. This way the flexible tip of a fly rod won’t take away from the action of a fly when being stripped. It also gets you in the correct position for the hook set. Keep a tight grip on your fly line when stripping. A fish will pull two feet of line out on the strike if you let him, and you’ll never get a hook in. When you do feel that tug strip hard and try to break that rod by moving it right or left. Not up! Pike strike like lightning and you will miss some. By strip setting to the side your fly will stay in the water on a missed strike, and a fish might take a second swipe at it. If no strike occurs during your initial retrieve stop stripping within a couple feet of the nail not, and watch for follows while twitching the fly into a figure eight. I never finish a retrieve by stripping in past my nail knot. You never want to hook a fish boat side with that nail knot stripped in past the tip of your rod. It could inhibit a run, and destroy your rod. Once sure there’s not a 48 inch fish under your boat ready to inhale your fly its time to recast.
One last bit of advice when fly fishing for pike or Muskie be prepared with a large release net. Have jaw spreaders and long needle nose pliers handy. With the right fly on the end of your line it may end up deep inside a toothy mouth.
Wisconsin might not be a popular fly fishing destination, but it should be. It’s great for families, inexpensive, and provides some great fishing action. Fly fishing for warm water species, like pike and bass, is the fastest growing sector of the sport. It is a challenge to cast and retrieve big flies. Hooking and landing powerful fish on a fly rod is not easy. Fish however seam to love the different look that flies and a fly rod provide. Keep it simple, keep your fly in the water, and hold on tight.
