Little-FishYou certainly don’t need someone prodding, and reminding you that the air is extra thick, soupy, smells funny, and your clothing is damp all of the time. We have almost made it through another summer, and things will get better soon. While the fishing is good in the summer, you may have trouble seeing through the sweat dripping in your eyes to tie on a new fly. This short story contains a fishing tale, asks for your participation in an important election, and invites you to go fly fishing.

While I fly fish as much as I can in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, I have other places that I like to visit and fish during the summer. One of those places is in northwestern Wisconsin on the Brule River. This is a spring fed, tree lined, Blue Ribbon Trout stream that flows into Lake Superior. It serves as a nursery for the big lake, and has Rainbow, Brook, and Brown Trout. On many occasion I have been able to catch all three species of fish in the same day. The small Brook Trout may be the easiest to catch, when I swing a soft hackle fly down stream. This is a good technique that will catch many fish.

I was expecting to catch small (6-10 inch) fish on my three weight fly rod. I had already caught several Brook Trout, one Rainbow, and three Brown Trout. I was casting at a 45 degree angle downstream in a riffle that has been productive in the past. I got another light tap and figured that I had hooked another small fish. As I started to play the fish out of the current, it kicked in the turbo charger and was controlling me. After a few moments of carefully playing the fish into slower water, I was able to determine that this fish was a trophy Brown Trout. My mind was racing as I reached for my fishing net, and planned on taking a hero picture of this 20 inch Brown. The fish is almost at my feet when it looks up and notices me. The fish grimaces, opens its mouth reluctantly, and slinks away leaving a dazed and confused Brook Trout attached to the soft hackle. After that experience I tried some Clouser Minnows, like the ones that I use at Rocky Point, and caught some larger fish on the river.

We have some great places to eat and drink in Rocky Point. When I visit for a weekend I run out of time before I can get very deep into my favorite places list. Most of my favorites have been suggested by friends. I would like you to respond to the question: “Who is your favorite Rocky Point bartender and where do they work?” Hopefully this will give all of us some new favorites. I am not actually looking to crown a winner but leave it open ended so that we can all find some winners. bartender.rptimes.com

Another fall is rolling around and the Desert Fly Casters will be hosting their 53rd anniversary fly fishing outing in Rocky Point on November 2-7. If you are interested in fly fishing Rocky Point check out the web page www.desertflycasters.com or stop by an upcoming meeting September 14, or October 12. Meetings are at the Chandler Elks Club 1775 W Chandler Blvd Chandler, AZ 6PM food and fish stories, 7PM meeting. Vince Deadmond The Fly Fishing Hardware Guy can be reached at Best Hardware 237 N Apache Trail Apache Junction, AZ vince@ajbest.com or 480-982-7461.