Trout Streams

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Wisconsin

> The Namekagon River

Brad Bohen and I were scouting on this canoe trip, so we didn't stop to fish this appealing remote hole. I suspect it holds monsters--it's certainly fine water, far from where others usually fish.

This deer ran at least a hundred yards in front of our canoe before it finally decided to get out of the river. Here it just hurdled a beaver dam.

This is one of the best-looking spots for a big trout that I've ever seen; all the river's current pushes food into one deep, narrow lane full of overhead cover and obstructions for fish to hold behind. I've not caught anything in the few times I've fished it, but I suspect that's my fault, not the river's.

A 19-inch smallmouth puts a hefty bend in my 5-weight.

The 5 am mist rises off a classic hole on a favorite river. I'd just spent (Spent: The wing position of many aquatic insects when they fall on the water after mating. The wings of both sides lay flat on the water. The word may be used to describe insects with their wings in that position, as well as the position itself.) the last few hours of that moonless night working this hole with big pusher flies in the pitch black darkness, running on caffeine until about 4:15 and adrenaline from that point on, after feeling a whale of a brown trout on my line for about 15 seconds. Unfortunately the fish spit the hook, but it was an unforgettable experience.

My parents fishing the lower Namekagon for smallmouths with Wendy from the Hayward Fly Fishing Company.