Old School: The Muskrat's Regret

One of  first flies my dad wanted me to tie for him, was a wet fly pattern called the Muskrat's Regret.  I had all the materials from when Dad bought the tying kit, and it was really simple - a Muskrat fur body with brown hackle , tied palmer-style.  That was it.   It was a popular pattern on Wisconsin rivers like the Brule in those days.  A lot of the old-timers my dad had me tie flies for asked for it, so I tied a lot of them.

I don't know where the pattern came from or why.  It's one of those patterns that represented almost anything in general and nothing in particular.  About all you could say with certainty was that it represented food, because the trout sure liked to eat it.

Encounter: Earl and the Arrowhead.

Earl and Sadie Grummet

Fly Tyers

..... at least that's what the sign said.

Out in TheMiddleOf Nowhere, Wisconsin, I saw this sign by the side of the road, hand painted and nailed to the mailbox post.

Little did I know ....

Encounter: The Wildcat Kid

The tail-out of Wildcat Rapids - Courtesy of Jason Neuswanger

There are two lakes on Wisconsin's Brule River - Big Lake and Lucius Lake. There's a stretch of fast water between them, less than 1/4 mile, called Wildcat Rapids.  It isn't the best known quarter mile of Wisconsin trout water, but I learned a lot there.