I honestly believe that pound for pound the smallmouth bass is the best fighting freshwater fish there is. AND when you hunt them with a fly rod the fight is awesome! How do I know that? Four FATC guys just completed what has to be one of the best fishing/catching trips I have been on in a long time.
FATC member, Ron “the Berwyn Bear” Fiala from Chicago set up a fly-fishing trip for smallmouth bass to the Menominee River near Pembine, Wisconsin. After a couple of “shuffles” in the players going we finally had our four participants. FATC members Greg Krochta from Denver and John Muckerman and I (Kenny) from St Louis joined forces with Ron and headed up to northern Wisconsin to Pembine. We arrived around 4pm after leaving Chicago on Sunday morning. Of course, along the way Kenny had to take a “bathroom” break at Lambeau Field in Green Bay (you see he and Ron are Chicago Bear fans, so we had to leave the Packer Fans a little something before the season starts). Our accommodations were at a small motel, and we set up house and had dinner at the Paris restaurant in Pembine. The special was Broasted chicken. It was exceptionally good, but we argued for hours on what in the world is “Broasted” chicken. You will have to look it up for yourselves.
On Monday we met our guides Gavin and Charlie from Tightlines fly shop (out of Green Bay). We decided since we were going to float fish three full days that we would switch around each day so each of our FATC guys fished with someone different. So, John and Kenny fished with Gavin on day one while Greg and Ron had Charlie as their guide. We would fish a different section of the river so we would not know how each of us did until we returned in the evening. The Menominee River has several “sections” you can fish that are usually divided by small dams and are a seven to ten mile floats.
On day one we all fished the lower section of the Menominee. Greg and Ron, the upper and Kenny and John the lower. We all were introduced to the mighty Menominee smallmouth right from the start. Big smallies were caught with many in the 17 inch – 19 inch range. A twenty inch or longer smallmouth is considered a trophy fish and we all were pulling out 19ers consistently. Unfortunately, the topwater bite (which we were really hoping for) had fallen off in the past two weeks. So, our guides had us using streamers (small meat whistle flies) and after a few BIG small mouth we forgot all about the top water bite. Of course, when we met up for dinner all four of us couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces. We did awesome!
On day two we switched up the players as Ron and John joined forces with Gavin and Kenny and Greg fished with Charlie. Again, we fished different sections of the Menominee river and didn’t see each other until dinner. Ron and John had an awesome day with some big fish on mostly streamers. Kenny and Greg started out with streamers but then the most amazing thing happened. Something I had never seen before. Charlie, our guide, talked about the “famous” ant hatch that takes place every year for only maybe three to four days. It is usually in September, and you can never predict it but when it happens – look out! After our lunch we noticed a lot of insects started flying around – tiny insects. Charlie looked at us and just smiled and said, “Ants”! The males were tiny, but the females were about four times their size. Now picture insects that would be about a size 18 trout fly. Now picture dimples all over on top of the water as the smallmouth would slurp them down. Now picture this happening in 12 inches of water. Charlie had us throw a small black Bugle Bug popper fly just in front of the dimple. A swirl – fights on – and a 19-inch smallmouth. I was utterly amazed. And this went on for at least 3 hours! Charlie said this was a once in a lifetime float on this special day.
On day three we switched up again and now we had the long-anticipated match up of Ron and Kenny with Charlie. They have fished together before, and all knew that there would be a little banter back and forth (Ron and Kenny have known each other since grade school). John and Greg floated with Gavin. Gavin took them to a section of river that would be fewer fish but bigger fish. At dinner we found out that they had a tough day but did get a few big smallmouth. On the other hand, Ron and Kenny floated a section called the Quiver Falls which is known for many fish but not of enormous size. They did very well with both numbers of fish AND size. Charlie estimated close to sixty smallmouth for the day. They had six doubles and even a triple!
The guys took the guides out for drinks and dinner on our last night in Pembine. The trip was more than memorable, it was impressive. Great fishing, tasty food, and good lodging, but most importantly loads of laughs. Thanks Ron!! One lessoned learned – always bring ear plugs even if you think you “don’t snore”. We all arrived back in Chicago on Thursday (after stopping in Wisconsin and smuggling some Spotted Cow across state lines). Greg was able to catch a flight home that evening and John caught his flight to Idaho Friday morning (he was now going on a hunting trip). Kenny drove back to St Louis on Friday with a sore right arm from fighting the mighty smallmouth on the fly!
