In Defense of Hip Boots

In other words, Wet Wading 101

Soft hackles strike again!

The creeks have been running a little higher than normal with the extra rains we've had recently. However, in spite of this, the creek I stopped at yesterday had exceptional clarity. I did choose to wear hip boots instead of my chest waders, which with temps in the 80's seemed okay. This quickly turned into an extreme form of wet wading with added resistance of water filled boots. I did catch browns though, working my way to holes that few anglers would dare to approach. After working a spot for a sufficient amount of time, I would simply sit upon the bank and drain each boot by laying back and raising each foot up. This is a good way to stay cool, considering the water here is well covered from the sun and stays below 60 in the heat of the day. My dear rubber hip boots also provide excellent leg cover from thorny brush and are impenetrable by the vicious swarms of mosquitoes I've been encountering. In an emergency they will make nice water buckets for making camp. All hail the mighty hip boot.

The leaves are beginning to hint at fall. Green grasses have begun to golden. The sun in the morning mists hints at the changes coming soon. It has neither the freshness of early summer nor the crispness of Autumn, but is unique to now. It is not tired, but life in transition. Birds are hustling. I had a hummingbird fly right up to me yesterday and inspect me for a moment. I could've reached towards it, but I was just pleased with its company. I saw two fawns and a family of wood ducks. The fawns only recognizable by the fading spots on their sides. The wood ducks now hard do distinguish juveniles from adults at a distance. 36 days until duck season, but I'm not ready.

8/16

I went out yesterday to fish a different section of a stream I've been frequenting this summer. I was pretty slow getting out so the sun was pretty high by the time I was on the water and had to hike quite a bit to find undercut banks and lies that were out of direct sunlight. This stream does get hit pretty hard on the weekends, so I hike a lot to get away from regularly fished areas anyway. Nothing big, but great energy and beautiful colors.

First Post-Summer 2016

Hi there! I'm Jeremy. I play trombone and I'm an avid outdoorsman. I'm crazy about Bach, Mahler, Stravinsky, Xenakis, ducks, and trout on a fly. I truly believe that nature has perfected what we try to achieve in art, and I seek its lessons as often as possible.

Little jewel of a brookie on a hippie stomper.

I'm at home in the driftless, spending most of my adult life in the middle or on the border of it. This year I've covered many parts of the Wisconsin driftless chasing brook trout and brown trout with feathers tied too hooks. In the past I had only fly fished for panfish, but for reasons too long to list, decided it was time to make the deep dive. Pardon the pun: I'm hooked. Not that it hasn't been without frustration. I've lost a lot of flies, been skunked a lot of days, gotten insane wind knots, and walked through long lengths of brushy woods only to arrive at silty, stagnant, mosquito packed pools without so much as a chub in sight. That said, I always feel better for the adventure each time I go out. I love the zeal with which small trout fly out of the water after a dry fly, and the fight and challenge of landing a bigger brown...Okay, I haven't landed many big browns this year, but every fish I've had on has been a blast.

Soft hackles have been my jam for browns lately. 

Not that I'm a purist and only fish for trout and only use a fly rod. If I know that a stream is going to be inhospitable for fly fishing, I'll still bring a spinning rod with a gold panther martin. I won't catch a trout on a worm. I've had some great bass days on my fly rod this summer. I have yet to catch a northern pike on a dare-devil up in the Northwoods still this year. One of those things that just needs to be done. I like hardware, and save the worms for sitting on a boat with a bobber after bluegills.

My main gig is being a musician and music educator. I play classical, jazz, rock, latin, whatever music ends up on my stand on a given day. I am passionate about instilling young people with a life long love of music. I play in a rock band called The Lower 5th. We are currently raising funds to record an album. Our sound is best described as "Midwestern Soul," mixing elements of Americana, Reggae, Rock, Blues and R&B. Playing with this band has pushed me to explore some different aspects of my musicianship from my classical heavy background. It's good to grow.

That's all for now. Was last out fishing Tuesday, getting antsy to go back, but the rain is keeping me in. Guess I'll tie some san juan worms.