run-off blues

Yes, it's that time of year again when the best laid plans go astray. As the temps start rising, the run-off can destroy your fishing. Yesterday, Roy bolted out of work and hustled down to the lower Kinni in hopes of recreating his opener magic - you know, the "two dozen" fish in one run. Anyway, the river was almost chocolate brown by the time he got there. Bummer, Roy.

Folks, if you're heading out in the next week or so, be sure to check on conditions. If you don't know anyone out here, you can always shoot me an email at joseph.paatalo@rfsd.k12.wi.us I'll be happy to give you a report. Unfortunately, I'll be gone for the next week, so you'll have to use another source.

In general, I've found that run-off after a storm takes about 36 hours to clear. The Rush and Kinni behave similarly. With snow melt, things get unpredictable. Until the snow disappears, the danger of dark, muddy water is always there. The other issue to be aware of is the "valley" factor. In some of those darker valleys, the snow hangs on longer due to lack of sun. So, things might seem great, but the river is still messed up. It only takes one valley to screw up everything downstream. When the snow is gone, you can be sure the upper Kinnin will be good.

That's it for now. Godd fishin' everyone!

Howdy, folks. Hope you enjoyed episode 9. Chris and I had a lot of fun with it. As mentioned in the episode, we're looking for stories or photos regarding fishing hats. We'd love to hear from you. Also, we still welcome items for "What do you put in your Vest?"

Ken recently submitted a nice piece on road music, which we will feature soon. So if you have suggestions for road music, or just music suggestions for the show, we'd welcome that as well.

This Friday, the 14th, I will be heading out to Montana for a week of, you guessed it, fishing. I look forward to reporting back to everyone. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to make people envious.

Keep sending fishing updates if you have any. We'd like to start posting reports.

Thanks for listening, and remember, ALWAYS GREASE YOUR NYMPH.

joe

Yes, the spring season started Saturday with a bang, literally! Later in the day, as we were heading up the trail to the fish shack, some yahoos decided to start firing their guns in the air above our heads in reaction to what they perceived to be trespassing. I don't think the land owner was actually present. From what I could see, it was a group of young men, probably relatives. These idiots are obviously in need of a hobby. Maybe they should take up fishing given their proximity to the stream. This incident does bring up the importance of annually communicating with land owners. We asked for permission to walk along that land a fews years back, but we'll need to check in again. Something to keep in mind if you are walking across private land.

Depsite getting shot at, we did have a great morning of fishing. Walking along the cedars, pines and limestone bluffs was a renewing experience to say the least. When I met up with Ken and Joe about a mile downriver, they had already been catching dozens of browns. I had no such luck, but enjoyed the hang.

Chris

Good tunes and the opener

I've been listening to Jeffrey Foucalt this week and have been blown away. If you haven't given this guy some time, please do. We featured him on episode 7, and he's worth the effort to find his stuff.

The opener, as always, was a lot of fun. It doesn't matter whether we catch fish or not because we're all about ritual, but this one was quite productive. The crew on the Kinni this year included Ken Hansen, Ben Brasser, Jim Paatalo, Neil Nelson, Roy Erickson, Chris Silver and yours truly. We caught a fair number of fish, especially when the water warmed up a bit and the sun hit the water full on. Roy laid claim to most fish, having hit the pot of gold in a sunny run. He took over 20 fish, and that my friends, is impressive.

I planned on fishing today, Sunday, with brother Jim, but was waylaid with school work. The weather was quite a bit nicer than yesterday, so I'm interested in how people did on the Rush. Please let us know.

On another note, I finished the first draft of my long suffering novel today. My goodness, I never thought I'd make it. I'm in a mood to party. Unfortunately, it's Sunday and I'm mentally exhausted. I'm afraid to read what I wrote today in fear it all sucks. But hey, I actually did it. It's amazing how fast eight years goes.

Some of you are still having issues accessing the site. That should be resolved soon.

Let us know how your opener was.

jope