Howdy folks. Hope you've had a chance to listen to the latest podcast. We featured the music of Ray Wylie Hubbard, and it's been swimming in my head head all week. Great stuff. The episode was a hoot to record, lots of good yuks. Let us know what you think.

Fishing has been solid. I hit the Rush on Saturday with good friend Chris Wedholm. We spent a few hours on the stream with the highlight being a 22 inch sucker caught by yours truly. Hey, it was a nice fight. I also lost a big brown that might have been 16 plus. That's the thing about the Rush, there's always the chance for really big fish.

A special shout-out to all the volunteers on the Rush cleaning up the river. Great job, folks! It was great to see you out there. The river looks fabulous. Folks, as you make your way along your favorite river, be sure to carry a creel or a bag with you to collect trash. Rivers tend to collect refuse after the early season run-off. Let's help in keeping our rivers clean.

The catch and release season is closed this week to "rest up" the water for the opener this weekend. I tend to skip the opener, prefering to stay away from the crowds, but if you're out be sure to have some blue wings and hendricksons with you. If nothing else, a size 14 or 16 Adams will suffice. The fish are gettng more active, so look to the riffles if there's activity on the water. For those of you whose eyesight is getting weaker, look for the swallows darting around the riffles. It's a sure sign a hatch is on.

Fish camp is still on for May 8th. If interested in attending, drop us a note.
Thanks again to all the listeners out there. Drop us a line when you get a chance.

joe

Howdy folks. It's been a rather hectic around here as of late with school and coaching, but I've managed to get down to the river, no matter how tired I feel. Some things are too important to dismiss with excuses like grocery shopping or laundry. I walked down to the Kinni the other night after a day of steady rain and had a delightful hour and a half of fishing. I had the river and a light blue wing hatch all to myself. Not sure how many I caught, but the fishing was steady. Caught most on a blue wing dropper, and I took a number of fish on the swing, which is a sure sign fish are getting active. As the temps warm, the fish spread out and get more aggressive. If things are slow, try switching to a soft hackle under a beadhead, and be sure to let your flies go through the entire run before lifting for another cast. I've found success the last few years using pink sow bugs in April and May. I suspect they look like Hendricksons to the fish. Give it a try.

Chris returned this weekend from a few days at a music fest in Austin, Texas. As always, he picked up some great music and is looking forward to sharing it on FWJ. We hope to get into the studio mid-week, so we'll have an episode ready for your enjoyment soon. Stay tuned.

We haven't had much feedback lately, so please take a moment to share some thoughts with us. We'd like to think you're out there fishing and way too busy to send us a note, but we'd love to hear from you when you get the chance.

This coming week we'll be making preparations for Fish Camp. It promises to be a big year. If you'd like to join, please send us a note. We want to be sure to have enough pheasant and wild turkey chili. Again, the date is May, 8. If you come, we might make you buy a long sleeve t-shirt. We still have quite a few left, and we'd like to order our next product, the FWJ killer fish hat.

That's it for now, keep those stream reports coming. Hope to see you along the banks somewhere soon.

Joe

Getting Green

Howdy folks. I figure we're one good soaking rain away from greening everything up around here. I must say I'm looking forward to a new landscape. The rivers are running clear and low and could use a little boost as well.

Fishing has been good as of late, and I'm betting it's going to get even better. Chris and I were on the lower Kinni the other night for an hour or two and both of us did well, Chris especially. We got into one run where I watched him hook up with fish on every other cast. Fish were keying on a march brown soft hackle, but they were willing to take any smaller beadhead as long as the drift was decent. Fun stuff. I'm starting to see some caddis action later in the evening, and while it isn't enough to get the fish worked up, I suspect that will change soon. Still haven't seen the first Hendrickson, but when I do, or when I get a report of the lovely salmon colored fly coming off, I'll be sure to let you know. It may be my favorite hatch of the year.

On a different note, good buddy John Eret reports steelhead fishing on the Brule was excellent this past Friday. He hooked into several nice fish, but as usual with John, he didn't land any. (He's into long distant releases.) I'm hoping to get up there in two weeks to try my hand at it. Steelheading is a different game altogether, but it's easy to get hooked after you land one of these beatiful fish. I mean, look at John. He hasn't landed a fish in years but still goes back to the river enthusiastically.

Chris leaves today for a music fest outside of Austin, Texas, so we won't be in the studio until the weekend at the soonest, which is fine with me. I've got two essays in progress, but with all my writing, it never goes as smoothly as I want it to. On a good day, I might get half a page written that doesn't suck. One might think the writing would get easier with age, but sadly, that's not the way it works. I've been crafting essays, on and off, for over ten years, and I think by this summer I will have enough for a collection worthy of a book. We'll see.

Chris has been in the studio working on his newest album, and from what I've heard so far it sounds terrific. Hopefully, I can can talk him into doing some more of his new music on the show.

Fish camp is on for May 8th, and Chris and I are excited about this year's event. I'm planning pheasant and wild turkey chili, and we'll have a keg of Rush River beer to wash everything down. Looks like we'll have a great turn-out, so if you're interested in joing us, be sure to let us know. We'll give you directions if you need them.

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to listen to our show and offer feedback. We really appreciate it. And thanks Sue for blogging in. Always good to hear from you. Be well folks. Hope to see you streamside soon.

joe

Young Fly Fishers Need Vises

Hi Folks,

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Evan Griggs who is a junior at Southwest High School in Minneapolis. Evan is the leader of the school's fly fishing club. I learned about the club while attending the recent Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo. At the Expo I spoke to a young lady who was covering a booth for the club. While we talked, she was tying flies.

Some of you may have heard on a previous episode that Roger Olson gave us a donation of fly tying materials. When Joe and I visited Roger, he gave us the contents of several large plastic storage tubs full of fur, feathers, chenille, thread, tinsel, etc. You may also recall some references in previous episodes to bucktails as Roger's collection of tying stuff included hundreds of bucktails in all colors. Roger's hope was that these materials would be used to get kids involved in fly tying. His only request was that some day we send him a fly tied by a young person.

At the time, we weren't sure how we were going to put Roger's materials to use but when I was at the Expo the light bulb went on. I asked the young fly tier if she could use some tying materials and she said I should talk to Evan and gave me his card. Last night I met with Evan and his Mom and handed off Roger's collection. As we talked, I learned that Evan is enthusiastic about fly fishing and about getting people involved in the fishing and conservation aspects of the sport. His club has been on a fishing outing to the Kinni, they will be attending the upcoming Rush River Cleanup on April 25th, and will assist with a stream electro shocking survey that will be conducted by the MN DNR on the Vermillion.

Evan and his Mom were very grateful to receive the materials and told me they could really use some more tying vises so that all members of the club could tie at the same time. If there is anyone out there that can help with a donation of an old vise or perhaps some tying tools, please let us know. I will be attending some of the club's future meetings and will see that donations will get to this group of young fly fishers.

Thanks

Ken

(The picture is actually my grandson at the tying bench)

Howdy folks. Hope you had a chance to listen to the latest episode of FWJ, featuring the great music of Dave Moore. We spent some time talking about the latest trip out west, so if you'd like some inspiration, check out the photos. Ken, our guru, has posted them. Fishing partner John Eret will be sending some more as soon as he figures out how this funky digital stuff works.

Been busy coaching baseball, so I haven't been out on the water much. Reports are coming in about the BWO's coming off, so I'd suggest having some size 16's and 18's with you. Comparaduns work well, and I'd also suggest throwing an olive soft hackle behind the dry or a Shillingslaw emerger. (If I'm getting too technical, just let me know and I'll be a bit more specific next time.)

I plan on getting out this weekend, even though it is Easter. I do my worshiping at the stream. I've yet to find a church or cathedral that measures up in beauty.

Be well, folks. Hope to see you on the stream soon.

joe