The Best of Both Worlds
Nothing says R&R like a magnificent sunrise in the greater La Crosse area. A quick peek out my hotel window revealed a plethora of choices. Should I wander over to the Home Depot for some wallpaper paste, or hit the Olive Garden for the all you care to eat pasta bowl with extra Alfredo? I opted...
Up Shit Creek
In standard annual rite of passage fashion I strapped on the boots and donned the waders for celebratory purposes. It was birthday week here at the worldwide headquarters, and the gift that keeps on giving is a hearty round of chasing tail. For a second year in a row I was snubbed in the steelhead...
We’ve Only Just Begun
Are you tired of looking at my windshield yet? I should retire this photo from the usual assortment of flotsom, but I seem to keep snapping the pic and subsequently feel the need to post it. I think it may be a subconscious reaction to Phil Monahan after he posted one of my videos on...
Sorry Folks Park’s Closed
Better late than never? You bet. The long wait was over as I finally made my inaugural run into the badger state for some trouting last Friday. In typical fashion it was an early departure. Dawn raids are an imperfect proposition this time of year, but I don’t give a shit. While y’all were sleeping...
The All-American Rejects
My post holiday hangover has lingered into the new year. Day to day duties as chief brainstrust at Labor have kept me off the streams during the winter season thus far. Like clockwork, most of my clients have returned from break with guns blazing to get some actual work done. While I’m itching like mad to hit...
Duck and Cover
The proliferation of the duct tape and plastic sheeting mentality is not a new phenomenon. A wise man once exclaimed, “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Another one of my personal favorites is the classic cold war era Duck and Cover propaganda film where children were advised on how to protect themselves from an atomic blast. Paranoia and...
Apple Pie and Ice Cream
I knew that I was in trouble the minute we rolled into our 4th of July vacation destination. My wife’s Aunt has been lobbying us to visit her cabin in Mercer, Wisconsin for a number of years. I’m not sure why we haven’t take her up on the offer sooner? There is no arm twisting...
The Make Up Call
Is there anything worse than watching a basketball game where dubious officiating changes the course of the contest through the time honored tradition of the make-up call? Most of the time this curious act takes a bad situation and makes it worse. For those of us that prefer the comfort of a cold stream to...
Because It’s There
I woke up Saturday morning with the Dane County weed filled outing fresh in my mind, though the thought of scouting new subpar trout water also floated in my head like a mild hangover. I scoured Waukesha County last year in search of the trout that few deem worthy of pursuit, and I was dead...
Ron Dayne and Mary Jane
One of my many visits to Dane County was particularly unkind to me. It was fall 1999 and I found myself deep in enemy territory, outside Camp Randall Stadium. My beloved Iowa Hawkeye football team was in full rebuild mode following the departure of legendary coach Hayden Fry, yet I opted to dawn an obnoxious...
I’m Loving It
After seeing the movie Super Size Me I recall contemplating if this film would actually create a dent in the armor of the mighty “golden arches.” Most reasonable people are aware of the risks that fast food presents, but just don’t care in lieu of instant gratification and ease of caloric intake. Strangely enough trout streams...
It’s a Small World (after all).
My arrival home from fishing last week was greeted with my 4-year old son Jack saying, “Why can’t I go fishing, Dad?” Quickly my mind provided the silent retort, “Because we won’t catch any trout with your tornado-like streamside demeanor.” Though the real answer was, “Of course, let’s give it a go next week!” I...
Happy Birthday to Me?
My birthday was on Thursday. The tradition for my family has been to celebrate it in Milwaukee, as I have the coincidence of sharing a birthday with my mother-in-law. Typically I’ll have a few days to hit the Lake Michigan spring steelhead run. This year due to circumstances beyond my control, there will be no...
Brooks and Done
I’ll cut to the chase. This might be the worst blog title I’ve penned to date. For starters I’m not much of a contemporary country music fan and furthermore the title, while accurate, pushes this wacky headline thing a bit far. My apologies. I sent my video from Cozumel to my buddy Joel Woodward a few weeks...
Day of the Living Dead
Welcome to Adrift No. 1, now in High Definition! I’ve been appreciating how electronics manufacturers have been marketing digital cameras with “Full HD” the same way motels pitched COLOR TV 50 years ago. Enjoy! It was with a full belly of Thanksgiving turkey that I set out on Friday morning in pursuit of the world-class brown trout that the...
Tour de Pierce
School starts on Monday, so yesterday I decided I’d pile the youngsters in the car in search of trout and other trouble. I had been meaning to get deeper into Pierce county this summer, but hadn’t really made it. Our first stop (not including Dairy Queen in Ellsworth) was a quick stop to pay our...
It Just Wasn’t Meant to Be…
You ever have one of those trips where nothing seems to go right? This weekend was my turn to be Clark Griswold taking the family to Wisconsin Dells for my wife’s family reunion. The original plan was to venture a bit further away from the waterslide capital of the world to do a bit of...
Introducing the Unloved Trout of Waukesha County
For those who haven’t studied their geography map of Wisconsin lately, Waukesha County is suburban Milwaukee. I have family in the area and get there fairly frequently (including this weekend). In my 12 years of visiting there I’ve always bypassed the local stream trout water because I’ve been told by everyone I’ve chatted with that...
Touring the Heart of the Badger Beast
I Started the morning optimistically before dawn on a pasture section of Black Earth Creek with the fly rod. This was the first of many stops on my attempt to tour the streams of the greater Madison area on a half day outing. Threw a mouse just for fun in the dark until it was...
Little Trout, Big Smiles
My 4-year old son Jack got his first brown trout in about 30 seconds on his first cast with a worm. I opted to start his inaugural trout outing on the golf course like ease of the big numbers, little average size Upper Kinni. Hold on tight Jack! You’ll remember this one for awhile!...
Rush River = Hot Bite
I stopped by a few spots on the Trimbelle, but deemed it too muddy to fish yesterday. Then proceeded on to the Rush and fished 10-4 Caddis and BWOs were hatching when I arrived with noticeable risers in every stretch I encountered. Caddis were the ticket, I landed it 20 fish in relatively short...
