http://www.flyfishlist.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Jdunn 2026-06-09T20:58:53Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.25.1 http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Claude_Freaner%27s_Furled_Leaders&diff=1853 2013-03-24T22:23:20Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:BeadmanTrout.jpeg|frame|none|Claude&#039;s Beaded Trout]]<br /> <br /> Making Furled Leaders<br /> <br /> <br /> I was first shown a furled leader by Hans Weilenmann and was instantly impressed with the limpness and lack of memory of it. After doing a little searching I found instructions at Martin Joergensen&#039;s web site in which he had made some modifications to Henk Verhaar&#039;s instructions. I sent several questions to Henk about the process and he was gracious enough to take the time to answer them in detail. These instructions may be considered an update to Henk&#039;s original work.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ll be referring to the sketches in the [[Media:Leaderboard.jpg | leaderboard.jpg]] file, so I&#039;d suggest you download it and print it so you can follow along. I took a scrap piece of 1&quot; by 4&quot; lumber I had that was around 10 feet long and used it as the basis of my furled leader jig. A quick trip to the lumber store for a 36 inch long 1 inch diameter wood dowel (you could use an old broom handle), and I was nearly ready to go - just had to root around in the &quot;messy drawer&quot; to find a couple of cup hooks I knew were hiding therein. I took Henk&#039;s original measurements for dowel placement and marked them on the board. The dowel was cut into 4 inch long pieces; I then found some 1.5 inch long wood screws and drilled a pilot hole in the bottom of each dowel piece that was slightly smaller than the screw. Moving to the 1x4, I drilled a hole at each marked location slightly larger than the screw diameter, and then a counter-sink hole on the bottom of the board so that the screw head would be recessed and not scratch the furniture. I screwed the cup hooks into one end of the board, and ‘ was ready to go.<br /> <br /> The original measurements of Henk&#039;s ended up as a 10 foot long 5X leader when I finished. I&#039;ve also provided measurements for creating 8 foot and 12 foot leaders. The only decision left is what material to use in making the leaders. My first choice was 2 pound test Berkeley Trilene mono (standard mono fishing line), as I could buy it in a 400 yard spool. This turns out to make a decent 1X leader butt. Alternative materials I&#039;ve used, and now prefer, are standard 6/0 and 8/0 Unithread (used normally for tying flies...) The thread leaders are even limper, and seem stronger, than the 2 pound test mono. I&#039;d suggest the 6/0 thread for leaders fished with a 5wt or heavier line, and the 8/0 for leaders on 4wt or smaller line. Color is your choice; I&#039;ve seen yellow used (the whole leader is a strike indicator), and I&#039;ve used pale blue, light gray, and white. Since you&#039;re going to add a couple feet of mono tippet to the leader, it doesn&#039;t really matter much, in my opinion.<br /> <br /> Let&#039;s assume you&#039;re using 6/0 Unithread. Tie a large (3 or 4 inch) loop in the end of the thread using a figure 8 knot, surgeons knot, square knot, or whatever and put the loop onto one of the cup hooks. Now, take the thread down to the first dowel on that side of the board, go around the dowel and back to the cup hook, then back to the dowel, etc., making a total of 5 turns. As you pass the dowel following the 5th turn, continue on to the next dowel, go around it, and back to the first dowel. As you go around the first dowel, drop the thread spool through the first set of loops to interlock the loops - go back to the second dowel, around it, and back to the first where you drop the spool through the first loops again. Here’s a [[Media:Furling.jpg | furling.jpg]] that illustrates these instructions.<br /> <br /> Henk&#039;s original formula has 2 and 1/2 turns for this second set of loops - my spreadsheet analysis seems to show that 3 and 1/2 turns would make a more uniform taper to the leader. When I asked Henk about this, he agreed, but said that he had noticed no difference in fishing, and using the 2 and 1/2 turns, he could make 3 leaders from one 100 meter spool of thread. So, my conclusion is that you can do 2 and 1/2 turns or 3 and 1/2 turns - take your pick. Whatever you decide, when you do that number, go past the second dowel to the last dowel (the one in the center of the board), go around the last dowel and up to the closest dowel on the other side of the board, go around it, back to the center dowel and go around it, back to the second dowel on the first side, and as you go around it (from the inside to the outside - always), drop the spool through the previous loops to lock the loops together. Now go back around the center dowel at the bottom, and up to the closest dowel on the other side. If you pause to count, you&#039;ll see a total of three strands of thread between this dowel and the center dowel at the bottom, and three strands of thread between the center dowel at the bottom and the second dowel on the first side.<br /> <br /> Continuing on, make either 2 and 1/2 or 3 and 1/2 turns between the next two dowels on the second side, making sure to always drop the thread spool through the previous loops to lock them together. Then finish with 5 and 1/2 turns between the last dowel and the second cup hook. Cut the thread, and tie a 3 or 4 inch loop in the thread end and slip it over the cup hook.<br /> <br /> If you start with the first cup hook and count strands of thread, you&#039;ll see it starts at 11, goes to either 5 or 7, then to 3, goes around the center dowel at the bottom, increases to either 5 or 7, and ends with 11 again. Since the dowels are offset in distances, this will give you the taper when you finish. Now, close to the center dowel at the bottom, hang a weight on the thread (either side of the dowel), to maintain the tautness as you proceed to the next step. I used a couple of 1 ounce lead sinkers, hung from a paper clip (1 sinker for the 8/0 thread). Carefully pull each set of locked loops up off the dowels and toward the center of the board. You&#039;ll end up with the thread attached at the cup hooks on one end, going around the center dowel at the other, and kept tight by the lead weights. Go to the cup hooks; on either, slip a paper clip onto the little loop where it goes around the cup hook - this is so you can take the loops off the cup hook and have them fall apart. Keeping the thread loops tight (just tight enough to not get messed up) walk around until you&#039;re standing in line with the board and about 14 feet away from the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> At this point place the paper clip onto a cup hook that you have previously placed in the chuck of a reversible electric drill and left sitting here. What you should see is: connected to your drill is a paper clip attached to a fat bunch of thread that becomes a thinner bunch of thread loops, and then fattens up again as it approaches a cup hook around 14 feet away. Maintaining a slight tension on the thread with the drill, turn it on and twist up the loops. Look at the label on the drill and see how many rpm it does. You&#039;ll want a total of around 2400 revolutions for a 10 foot leader, maybe 2100 for an 8 footer and maybe 2700 for a 12 footer. keep the drill on however long it takes to get that many turns. You can make sure your thread doesn&#039;t get too tight and break by holding the drill in one handing and constantly &quot;tapping&quot; on the revolving thread to check its tension. Expect to have the thread shorten by about 10%, or 16 to 18 inches, when you reach the correct number of turns - so be prepared to continually ease the tension on the thread by moving the drill slowly toward the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> When you reach the right number of turns, carefully place the drill on the floor, a chair or whatever, maintaining the tension on the twisted thread (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT). Move up to the half-way point and make sure your lead weights are attached here via the paper clip and are hanging off the side of the board. If you have another person around to help, now is the time to use them. Letting the weights or the other person help keep tension at the midpoint, walk back around to the cup hooks with the drill. Carefully detach the paper clip from the drill and slip it over the cup hook that has thread twisted onto it (not the empty cup hook). If possible, clip the thread loops onto the cup hook so you can remove the paper clip. KEEP THE TWISTED THREAD UNDER TENSION AT ALL TIMES; otherwise it&#039;ll kink up on you and you can throw it away.<br /> <br /> Once you have the two thick ends on the same cup hook, take the drill down to the thin part that your weights or other person is holding. Attach a paper clip to the line at this point, and slip the paper clip onto the drill -keeping everything under tension. Reverse the drill motor so it will now &quot;untwist&quot; (spin counter-clockwise). Give it around 800 turns for a 10 foot leader, 600 for an 8 footer, or 1000 for a 12 footer. What you are doing here is actually allowing the twisted strands to kink, but in a controlled fashion. When you finish, set the drill down, unhook the paper clip from the cup hook in the drill, and, holding the twisted thread a couple of feet above the paper clip, let go of the clip and let it spin free - it should only twist one direction or the other for a very few turns. Move your hand another couple feet up the leader and let go of the paper clip again - continue to the cup hook. Before you slip the leader off the cup hook, insert a paper clip into the little loops so that the two twisted strands can&#039;t come apart. The small end of the leader won&#039;t come apart, but the heavy end will.<br /> <br /> Tie a loop of choice in the heavy end; I prefer a figure 8 loop, but a surgeon&#039;s loop and perfection loop knot will also work. This loop can then be interlocked with a loop on the end of your flyline. IMPORTANT: DO NOT TAKE THE PAPER CLIP OFF UNTIL YOU&#039;VE TIED A LOOP KNOT ON THE HEAVY END (it&#039;ll unravel on you). On the small end of the leader, you have a 1X tip so you should add a 12 inch or so long piece of 3X tippet to this, using loop knots, blood knots, or whatever, and then finish with 4X or 5X tippet, or even add another length and end up at 6X or 7X. After you&#039;ve made a couple of these, the total time you&#039;ll spend is around 15 minutes to make a leader - and that includes time to go get the drill, open up a beer, adjust the TV volume, and so forth. Here is another drawing that I made to help illustrate the process.<br /> <br /> These leaders will turn over a fly just casting with your hand - no rod needed! Drilling the extra holes in the board for the 8 foot leader and the 12 foot leader will allow you to move the dowels as necessary for making longer or shorter leaders. If you have any questions about this process - you can email me at .<br /> <br /> Here’s a [[Media:Leaders2.xlsx | leaders2.xlsx]] spreadsheet that can help you design your on furled leaders.<br /> <br /> Claude W. Freaner<br /> Lake Ridge, VA<br /> <br /> Copyright© March, 2002 by Claude W. Freaner<br /> This document may not be used for commercial purposes without the express written permission of the author, but may be distributed freely for non-commercial flyfishing and flytying purposes.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Claude_Freaner%27s_Furled_Leaders&diff=1852 2013-03-24T22:22:29Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:BeadmanTrout.jpeg|frame|none|Claude&#039;s Beaded Trout]]<br /> <br /> Making Furled Leaders<br /> <br /> <br /> I was first shown a furled leader by Hans Weilenmann and was instantly impressed with the limpness and lack of memory of it. After doing a little searching I found instructions at Martin Joergensen&#039;s web site in which he had made some modifications to Henk Verhaar&#039;s instructions. I sent several questions to Henk about the process and he was gracious enough to take the time to answer them in detail. These instructions may be considered an update to Henk&#039;s original work.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ll be referring to the sketches in the [[Media:Leaderboard.jpg | leaderboard.jpg]] file, so I&#039;d suggest you download it and print it so you can follow along. I took a scrap piece of 1&quot; by 4&quot; lumber I had that was around 10 feet long and used it as the basis of my furled leader jig. A quick trip to the lumber store for a 36 inch long 1 inch diameter wood dowel (you could use an old broom handle), and I was nearly ready to go - just had to root around in the &quot;messy drawer&quot; to find a couple of cup hooks I knew were hiding therein. I took Henk&#039;s original measurements for dowel placement and marked them on the board. The dowel was cut into 4 inch long pieces; I then found some 1.5 inch long wood screws and drilled a pilot hole in the bottom of each dowel piece that was slightly smaller than the screw. Moving to the 1x4, I drilled a hole at each marked location slightly larger than the screw diameter, and then a counter-sink hole on the bottom of the board so that the screw head would be recessed and not scratch the furniture. I screwed the cup hooks into one end of the board, and ‘ was ready to go.<br /> <br /> The original measurements of Henk&#039;s ended up as a 10 foot long 5X leader when I finished. I&#039;ve also provided measurements for creating 8 foot and 12 foot leaders. The only decision left is what material to use in making the leaders. My first choice was 2 pound test Berkeley Trilene mono (standard mono fishing line), as I could buy it in a 400 yard spool. This turns out to make a decent 1X leader butt. Alternative materials I&#039;ve used, and now prefer, are standard 6/0 and 8/0 Unithread (used normally for tying flies...) The thread leaders are even limper, and seem stronger, than the 2 pound test mono. I&#039;d suggest the 6/0 thread for leaders fished with a 5wt or heavier line, and the 8/0 for leaders on 4wt or smaller line. Color is your choice; I&#039;ve seen yellow used (the whole leader is a strike indicator), and I&#039;ve used pale blue, light gray, and white. Since you&#039;re going to add a couple feet of mono tippet to the leader, it doesn&#039;t really matter much, in my opinion.<br /> <br /> Let&#039;s assume you&#039;re using 6/0 Unithread. Tie a large (3 or 4 inch) loop in the end of the thread using a figure 8 knot, surgeons knot, square knot, or whatever and put the loop onto one of the cup hooks. Now, take the thread down to the first dowel on that side of the board, go around the dowel and back to the cup hook, then back to the dowel, etc., making a total of 5 turns. As you pass the dowel following the 5th turn, continue on to the next dowel, go around it, and back to the first dowel. As you go around the first dowel, drop the thread spool through the first set of loops to interlock the loops - go back to the second dowel, around it, and back to the first where you drop the spool through the first loops again. Here’s a [[Media:Furling.jpg | furling.jpg]] that illustrates these instructions.<br /> <br /> Henk&#039;s original formula has 2 and 1/2 turns for this second set of loops - my spreadsheet analysis seems to show that 3 and 1/2 turns would make a more uniform taper to the leader. When I asked Henk about this, he agreed, but said that he had noticed no difference in fishing, and using the 2 and 1/2 turns, he could make 3 leaders from one 100 meter spool of thread. So, my conclusion is that you can do 2 and 1/2 turns or 3 and 1/2 turns - take your pick. Whatever you decide, when you do that number, go past the second dowel to the last dowel (the one in the center of the board), go around the last dowel and up to the closest dowel on the other side of the board, go around it, back to the center dowel and go around it, back to the second dowel on the first side, and as you go around it (from the inside to the outside - always), drop the spool through the previous loops to lock the loops together. Now go back around the center dowel at the bottom, and up to the closest dowel on the other side. If you pause to count, you&#039;ll see a total of three strands of thread between this dowel and the center dowel at the bottom, and three strands of thread between the center dowel at the bottom and the second dowel on the first side.<br /> <br /> Continuing on, make either 2 and 1/2 or 3 and 1/2 turns between the next two dowels on the second side, making sure to always drop the thread spool through the previous loops to lock them together. Then finish with 5 and 1/2 turns between the last dowel and the second cup hook. Cut the thread, and tie a 3 or 4 inch loop in the thread end and slip it over the cup hook.<br /> <br /> If you start with the first cup hook and count strands of thread, you&#039;ll see it starts at 11, goes to either 5 or 7, then to 3, goes around the center dowel at the bottom, increases to either 5 or 7, and ends with 11 again. Since the dowels are offset in distances, this will give you the taper when you finish. Now, close to the center dowel at the bottom, hang a weight on the thread (either side of the dowel), to maintain the tautness as you proceed to the next step. I used a couple of 1 ounce lead sinkers, hung from a paper clip (1 sinker for the 8/0 thread). Carefully pull each set of locked loops up off the dowels and toward the center of the board. You&#039;ll end up with the thread attached at the cup hooks on one end, going around the center dowel at the other, and kept tight by the lead weights. Go to the cup hooks; on either, slip a paper clip onto the little loop where it goes around the cup hook - this is so you can take the loops off the cup hook and have them fall apart. Keeping the thread loops tight (just tight enough to not get messed up) walk around until you&#039;re standing in line with the board and about 14 feet away from the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> At this point place the paper clip onto a cup hook that you have previously placed in the chuck of a reversible electric drill and left sitting here. What you should see is: connected to your drill is a paper clip attached to a fat bunch of thread that becomes a thinner bunch of thread loops, and then fattens up again as it approaches a cup hook around 14 feet away. Maintaining a slight tension on the thread with the drill, turn it on and twist up the loops. Look at the label on the drill and see how many rpm it does. You&#039;ll want a total of around 2400 revolutions for a 10 foot leader, maybe 2100 for an 8 footer and maybe 2700 for a 12 footer. keep the drill on however long it takes to get that many turns. You can make sure your thread doesn&#039;t get too tight and break by holding the drill in one handing and constantly &quot;tapping&quot; on the revolving thread to check its tension. Expect to have the thread shorten by about 10%, or 16 to 18 inches, when you reach the correct number of turns - so be prepared to continually ease the tension on the thread by moving the drill slowly toward the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> When you reach the right number of turns, carefully place the drill on the floor, a chair or whatever, maintaining the tension on the twisted thread (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT). Move up to the half-way point and make sure your lead weights are attached here via the paper clip and are hanging off the side of the board. If you have another person around to help, now is the time to use them. Letting the weights or the other person help keep tension at the midpoint, walk back around to the cup hooks with the drill. Carefully detach the paper clip from the drill and slip it over the cup hook that has thread twisted onto it (not the empty cup hook). If possible, clip the thread loops onto the cup hook so you can remove the paper clip. KEEP THE TWISTED THREAD UNDER TENSION AT ALL TIMES; otherwise it&#039;ll kink up on you and you can throw it away.<br /> <br /> Once you have the two thick ends on the same cup hook, take the drill down to the thin part that your weights or other person is holding. Attach a paper clip to the line at this point, and slip the paper clip onto the drill -keeping everything under tension. Reverse the drill motor so it will now &quot;untwist&quot; (spin counter-clockwise). Give it around 800 turns for a 10 foot leader, 600 for an 8 footer, or 1000 for a 12 footer. What you are doing here is actually allowing the twisted strands to kink, but in a controlled fashion. When you finish, set the drill down, unhook the paper clip from the cup hook in the drill, and, holding the twisted thread a couple of feet above the paper clip, let go of the clip and let it spin free - it should only twist one direction or the other for a very few turns. Move your hand another couple feet up the leader and let go of the paper clip again - continue to the cup hook. Before you slip the leader off the cup hook, insert a paper clip into the little loops so that the two twisted strands can&#039;t come apart. The small end of the leader won&#039;t come apart, but the heavy end will.<br /> <br /> Tie a loop of choice in the heavy end; I prefer a figure 8 loop, but a surgeon&#039;s loop and perfection loop knot will also work. This loop can then be interlocked with a loop on the end of your flyline. IMPORTANT: DO NOT TAKE THE PAPER CLIP OFF UNTIL YOU&#039;VE TIED A LOOP KNOT ON THE HEAVY END (it&#039;ll unravel on you). On the small end of the leader, you have a 1X tip so you should add a 12 inch or so long piece of 3X tippet to this, using loop knots, blood knots, or whatever, and then finish with 4X or 5X tippet, or even add another length and end up at 6X or 7X. After you&#039;ve made a couple of these, the total time you&#039;ll spend is around 15 minutes to make a leader - and that includes time to go get the drill, open up a beer, adjust the TV volume, and so forth. Here is another drawing that I made to help illustrate the process.<br /> <br /> These leaders will turn over a fly just casting with your hand - no rod needed! Drilling the extra holes in the board for the 8 foot leader and the 12 foot leader will allow you to move the dowels as necessary for making longer or shorter leaders. If you have any questions about this process - you can email me at .<br /> <br /> Here’s a [[Media:Feaders2.xlsx | leaders2.xlsx]] spreadsheet that can help you design your on furled leaders.<br /> <br /> Claude W. Freaner<br /> Lake Ridge, VA<br /> <br /> Copyright© March, 2002 by Claude W. Freaner<br /> This document may not be used for commercial purposes without the express written permission of the author, but may be distributed freely for non-commercial flyfishing and flytying purposes.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=File:Leaderboard.jpg&diff=1851 2013-03-24T22:21:31Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div></div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Claude_Freaner%27s_Furled_Leaders&diff=1850 2013-03-24T22:21:05Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:BeadmanTrout.jpeg|frame|none|Claude&#039;s Beaded Trout]]<br /> <br /> Making Furled Leaders<br /> <br /> <br /> I was first shown a furled leader by Hans Weilenmann and was instantly impressed with the limpness and lack of memory of it. After doing a little searching I found instructions at Martin Joergensen&#039;s web site in which he had made some modifications to Henk Verhaar&#039;s instructions. I sent several questions to Henk about the process and he was gracious enough to take the time to answer them in detail. These instructions may be considered an update to Henk&#039;s original work.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ll be referring to the sketches in the [[Media:leaderboard.jpg | leaderboard.jpg]] file, so I&#039;d suggest you download it and print it so you can follow along. I took a scrap piece of 1&quot; by 4&quot; lumber I had that was around 10 feet long and used it as the basis of my furled leader jig. A quick trip to the lumber store for a 36 inch long 1 inch diameter wood dowel (you could use an old broom handle), and I was nearly ready to go - just had to root around in the &quot;messy drawer&quot; to find a couple of cup hooks I knew were hiding therein. I took Henk&#039;s original measurements for dowel placement and marked them on the board. The dowel was cut into 4 inch long pieces; I then found some 1.5 inch long wood screws and drilled a pilot hole in the bottom of each dowel piece that was slightly smaller than the screw. Moving to the 1x4, I drilled a hole at each marked location slightly larger than the screw diameter, and then a counter-sink hole on the bottom of the board so that the screw head would be recessed and not scratch the furniture. I screwed the cup hooks into one end of the board, and ‘ was ready to go.<br /> <br /> The original measurements of Henk&#039;s ended up as a 10 foot long 5X leader when I finished. I&#039;ve also provided measurements for creating 8 foot and 12 foot leaders. The only decision left is what material to use in making the leaders. My first choice was 2 pound test Berkeley Trilene mono (standard mono fishing line), as I could buy it in a 400 yard spool. This turns out to make a decent 1X leader butt. Alternative materials I&#039;ve used, and now prefer, are standard 6/0 and 8/0 Unithread (used normally for tying flies...) The thread leaders are even limper, and seem stronger, than the 2 pound test mono. I&#039;d suggest the 6/0 thread for leaders fished with a 5wt or heavier line, and the 8/0 for leaders on 4wt or smaller line. Color is your choice; I&#039;ve seen yellow used (the whole leader is a strike indicator), and I&#039;ve used pale blue, light gray, and white. Since you&#039;re going to add a couple feet of mono tippet to the leader, it doesn&#039;t really matter much, in my opinion.<br /> <br /> Let&#039;s assume you&#039;re using 6/0 Unithread. Tie a large (3 or 4 inch) loop in the end of the thread using a figure 8 knot, surgeons knot, square knot, or whatever and put the loop onto one of the cup hooks. Now, take the thread down to the first dowel on that side of the board, go around the dowel and back to the cup hook, then back to the dowel, etc., making a total of 5 turns. As you pass the dowel following the 5th turn, continue on to the next dowel, go around it, and back to the first dowel. As you go around the first dowel, drop the thread spool through the first set of loops to interlock the loops - go back to the second dowel, around it, and back to the first where you drop the spool through the first loops again. Here’s a [[Media:furling.jpg | furling.jpg]] that illustrates these instructions.<br /> <br /> Henk&#039;s original formula has 2 and 1/2 turns for this second set of loops - my spreadsheet analysis seems to show that 3 and 1/2 turns would make a more uniform taper to the leader. When I asked Henk about this, he agreed, but said that he had noticed no difference in fishing, and using the 2 and 1/2 turns, he could make 3 leaders from one 100 meter spool of thread. So, my conclusion is that you can do 2 and 1/2 turns or 3 and 1/2 turns - take your pick. Whatever you decide, when you do that number, go past the second dowel to the last dowel (the one in the center of the board), go around the last dowel and up to the closest dowel on the other side of the board, go around it, back to the center dowel and go around it, back to the second dowel on the first side, and as you go around it (from the inside to the outside - always), drop the spool through the previous loops to lock the loops together. Now go back around the center dowel at the bottom, and up to the closest dowel on the other side. If you pause to count, you&#039;ll see a total of three strands of thread between this dowel and the center dowel at the bottom, and three strands of thread between the center dowel at the bottom and the second dowel on the first side.<br /> <br /> Continuing on, make either 2 and 1/2 or 3 and 1/2 turns between the next two dowels on the second side, making sure to always drop the thread spool through the previous loops to lock them together. Then finish with 5 and 1/2 turns between the last dowel and the second cup hook. Cut the thread, and tie a 3 or 4 inch loop in the thread end and slip it over the cup hook.<br /> <br /> If you start with the first cup hook and count strands of thread, you&#039;ll see it starts at 11, goes to either 5 or 7, then to 3, goes around the center dowel at the bottom, increases to either 5 or 7, and ends with 11 again. Since the dowels are offset in distances, this will give you the taper when you finish. Now, close to the center dowel at the bottom, hang a weight on the thread (either side of the dowel), to maintain the tautness as you proceed to the next step. I used a couple of 1 ounce lead sinkers, hung from a paper clip (1 sinker for the 8/0 thread). Carefully pull each set of locked loops up off the dowels and toward the center of the board. You&#039;ll end up with the thread attached at the cup hooks on one end, going around the center dowel at the other, and kept tight by the lead weights. Go to the cup hooks; on either, slip a paper clip onto the little loop where it goes around the cup hook - this is so you can take the loops off the cup hook and have them fall apart. Keeping the thread loops tight (just tight enough to not get messed up) walk around until you&#039;re standing in line with the board and about 14 feet away from the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> At this point place the paper clip onto a cup hook that you have previously placed in the chuck of a reversible electric drill and left sitting here. What you should see is: connected to your drill is a paper clip attached to a fat bunch of thread that becomes a thinner bunch of thread loops, and then fattens up again as it approaches a cup hook around 14 feet away. Maintaining a slight tension on the thread with the drill, turn it on and twist up the loops. Look at the label on the drill and see how many rpm it does. You&#039;ll want a total of around 2400 revolutions for a 10 foot leader, maybe 2100 for an 8 footer and maybe 2700 for a 12 footer. keep the drill on however long it takes to get that many turns. You can make sure your thread doesn&#039;t get too tight and break by holding the drill in one handing and constantly &quot;tapping&quot; on the revolving thread to check its tension. Expect to have the thread shorten by about 10%, or 16 to 18 inches, when you reach the correct number of turns - so be prepared to continually ease the tension on the thread by moving the drill slowly toward the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> When you reach the right number of turns, carefully place the drill on the floor, a chair or whatever, maintaining the tension on the twisted thread (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT). Move up to the half-way point and make sure your lead weights are attached here via the paper clip and are hanging off the side of the board. If you have another person around to help, now is the time to use them. Letting the weights or the other person help keep tension at the midpoint, walk back around to the cup hooks with the drill. Carefully detach the paper clip from the drill and slip it over the cup hook that has thread twisted onto it (not the empty cup hook). If possible, clip the thread loops onto the cup hook so you can remove the paper clip. KEEP THE TWISTED THREAD UNDER TENSION AT ALL TIMES; otherwise it&#039;ll kink up on you and you can throw it away.<br /> <br /> Once you have the two thick ends on the same cup hook, take the drill down to the thin part that your weights or other person is holding. Attach a paper clip to the line at this point, and slip the paper clip onto the drill -keeping everything under tension. Reverse the drill motor so it will now &quot;untwist&quot; (spin counter-clockwise). Give it around 800 turns for a 10 foot leader, 600 for an 8 footer, or 1000 for a 12 footer. What you are doing here is actually allowing the twisted strands to kink, but in a controlled fashion. When you finish, set the drill down, unhook the paper clip from the cup hook in the drill, and, holding the twisted thread a couple of feet above the paper clip, let go of the clip and let it spin free - it should only twist one direction or the other for a very few turns. Move your hand another couple feet up the leader and let go of the paper clip again - continue to the cup hook. Before you slip the leader off the cup hook, insert a paper clip into the little loops so that the two twisted strands can&#039;t come apart. The small end of the leader won&#039;t come apart, but the heavy end will.<br /> <br /> Tie a loop of choice in the heavy end; I prefer a figure 8 loop, but a surgeon&#039;s loop and perfection loop knot will also work. This loop can then be interlocked with a loop on the end of your flyline. IMPORTANT: DO NOT TAKE THE PAPER CLIP OFF UNTIL YOU&#039;VE TIED A LOOP KNOT ON THE HEAVY END (it&#039;ll unravel on you). On the small end of the leader, you have a 1X tip so you should add a 12 inch or so long piece of 3X tippet to this, using loop knots, blood knots, or whatever, and then finish with 4X or 5X tippet, or even add another length and end up at 6X or 7X. After you&#039;ve made a couple of these, the total time you&#039;ll spend is around 15 minutes to make a leader - and that includes time to go get the drill, open up a beer, adjust the TV volume, and so forth. Here is another drawing that I made to help illustrate the process.<br /> <br /> These leaders will turn over a fly just casting with your hand - no rod needed! Drilling the extra holes in the board for the 8 foot leader and the 12 foot leader will allow you to move the dowels as necessary for making longer or shorter leaders. If you have any questions about this process - you can email me at .<br /> <br /> Here’s a [[Media:leaders2.xlsx | leaders2.xlsx]] spreadsheet that can help you design your on furled leaders.<br /> <br /> Claude W. Freaner<br /> Lake Ridge, VA<br /> <br /> Copyright© March, 2002 by Claude W. Freaner<br /> This document may not be used for commercial purposes without the express written permission of the author, but may be distributed freely for non-commercial flyfishing and flytying purposes.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Claude_Freaner%27s_Furled_Leaders&diff=1848 2013-03-24T18:08:20Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:BeadmanTrout.jpeg|frame|none|Claude&#039;s Beaded Trout]]<br /> <br /> Making Furled Leaders<br /> <br /> <br /> I was first shown a furled leader by Hans Weilenmann and was instantly impressed with the limpness and lack of memory of it. After doing a little searching I found instructions at Martin Joergensen&#039;s web site in which he had made some modifications to Henk Verhaar&#039;s instructions. I sent several questions to Henk about the process and he was gracious enough to take the time to answer them in detail. These instructions may be considered an update to Henk&#039;s original work.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ll be referring to the sketches in the [[Media:leaderboard.gif | leaderboard.gif]] file, so I&#039;d suggest you download it and print it so you can follow along. I took a scrap piece of 1&quot; by 4&quot; lumber I had that was around 10 feet long and used it as the basis of my furled leader jig. A quick trip to the lumber store for a 36 inch long 1 inch diameter wood dowel (you could use an old broom handle), and I was nearly ready to go - just had to root around in the &quot;messy drawer&quot; to find a couple of cup hooks I knew were hiding therein. I took Henk&#039;s original measurements for dowel placement and marked them on the board. The dowel was cut into 4 inch long pieces; I then found some 1.5 inch long wood screws and drilled a pilot hole in the bottom of each dowel piece that was slightly smaller than the screw. Moving to the 1x4, I drilled a hole at each marked location slightly larger than the screw diameter, and then a counter-sink hole on the bottom of the board so that the screw head would be recessed and not scratch the furniture. I screwed the cup hooks into one end of the board, and ‘ was ready to go.<br /> <br /> The original measurements of Henk&#039;s ended up as a 10 foot long 5X leader when I finished. I&#039;ve also provided measurements for creating 8 foot and 12 foot leaders. The only decision left is what material to use in making the leaders. My first choice was 2 pound test Berkeley Trilene mono (standard mono fishing line), as I could buy it in a 400 yard spool. This turns out to make a decent 1X leader butt. Alternative materials I&#039;ve used, and now prefer, are standard 6/0 and 8/0 Unithread (used normally for tying flies...) The thread leaders are even limper, and seem stronger, than the 2 pound test mono. I&#039;d suggest the 6/0 thread for leaders fished with a 5wt or heavier line, and the 8/0 for leaders on 4wt or smaller line. Color is your choice; I&#039;ve seen yellow used (the whole leader is a strike indicator), and I&#039;ve used pale blue, light gray, and white. Since you&#039;re going to add a couple feet of mono tippet to the leader, it doesn&#039;t really matter much, in my opinion.<br /> <br /> Let&#039;s assume you&#039;re using 6/0 Unithread. Tie a large (3 or 4 inch) loop in the end of the thread using a figure 8 knot, surgeons knot, square knot, or whatever and put the loop onto one of the cup hooks. Now, take the thread down to the first dowel on that side of the board, go around the dowel and back to the cup hook, then back to the dowel, etc., making a total of 5 turns. As you pass the dowel following the 5th turn, continue on to the next dowel, go around it, and back to the first dowel. As you go around the first dowel, drop the thread spool through the first set of loops to interlock the loops - go back to the second dowel, around it, and back to the first where you drop the spool through the first loops again. Here’s a [[Media:furling.jpg | furling.jpg]] that illustrates these instructions.<br /> <br /> Henk&#039;s original formula has 2 and 1/2 turns for this second set of loops - my spreadsheet analysis seems to show that 3 and 1/2 turns would make a more uniform taper to the leader. When I asked Henk about this, he agreed, but said that he had noticed no difference in fishing, and using the 2 and 1/2 turns, he could make 3 leaders from one 100 meter spool of thread. So, my conclusion is that you can do 2 and 1/2 turns or 3 and 1/2 turns - take your pick. Whatever you decide, when you do that number, go past the second dowel to the last dowel (the one in the center of the board), go around the last dowel and up to the closest dowel on the other side of the board, go around it, back to the center dowel and go around it, back to the second dowel on the first side, and as you go around it (from the inside to the outside - always), drop the spool through the previous loops to lock the loops together. Now go back around the center dowel at the bottom, and up to the closest dowel on the other side. If you pause to count, you&#039;ll see a total of three strands of thread between this dowel and the center dowel at the bottom, and three strands of thread between the center dowel at the bottom and the second dowel on the first side.<br /> <br /> Continuing on, make either 2 and 1/2 or 3 and 1/2 turns between the next two dowels on the second side, making sure to always drop the thread spool through the previous loops to lock them together. Then finish with 5 and 1/2 turns between the last dowel and the second cup hook. Cut the thread, and tie a 3 or 4 inch loop in the thread end and slip it over the cup hook.<br /> <br /> If you start with the first cup hook and count strands of thread, you&#039;ll see it starts at 11, goes to either 5 or 7, then to 3, goes around the center dowel at the bottom, increases to either 5 or 7, and ends with 11 again. Since the dowels are offset in distances, this will give you the taper when you finish. Now, close to the center dowel at the bottom, hang a weight on the thread (either side of the dowel), to maintain the tautness as you proceed to the next step. I used a couple of 1 ounce lead sinkers, hung from a paper clip (1 sinker for the 8/0 thread). Carefully pull each set of locked loops up off the dowels and toward the center of the board. You&#039;ll end up with the thread attached at the cup hooks on one end, going around the center dowel at the other, and kept tight by the lead weights. Go to the cup hooks; on either, slip a paper clip onto the little loop where it goes around the cup hook - this is so you can take the loops off the cup hook and have them fall apart. Keeping the thread loops tight (just tight enough to not get messed up) walk around until you&#039;re standing in line with the board and about 14 feet away from the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> At this point place the paper clip onto a cup hook that you have previously placed in the chuck of a reversible electric drill and left sitting here. What you should see is: connected to your drill is a paper clip attached to a fat bunch of thread that becomes a thinner bunch of thread loops, and then fattens up again as it approaches a cup hook around 14 feet away. Maintaining a slight tension on the thread with the drill, turn it on and twist up the loops. Look at the label on the drill and see how many rpm it does. You&#039;ll want a total of around 2400 revolutions for a 10 foot leader, maybe 2100 for an 8 footer and maybe 2700 for a 12 footer. keep the drill on however long it takes to get that many turns. You can make sure your thread doesn&#039;t get too tight and break by holding the drill in one handing and constantly &quot;tapping&quot; on the revolving thread to check its tension. Expect to have the thread shorten by about 10%, or 16 to 18 inches, when you reach the correct number of turns - so be prepared to continually ease the tension on the thread by moving the drill slowly toward the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> When you reach the right number of turns, carefully place the drill on the floor, a chair or whatever, maintaining the tension on the twisted thread (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT). Move up to the half-way point and make sure your lead weights are attached here via the paper clip and are hanging off the side of the board. If you have another person around to help, now is the time to use them. Letting the weights or the other person help keep tension at the midpoint, walk back around to the cup hooks with the drill. Carefully detach the paper clip from the drill and slip it over the cup hook that has thread twisted onto it (not the empty cup hook). If possible, clip the thread loops onto the cup hook so you can remove the paper clip. KEEP THE TWISTED THREAD UNDER TENSION AT ALL TIMES; otherwise it&#039;ll kink up on you and you can throw it away.<br /> <br /> Once you have the two thick ends on the same cup hook, take the drill down to the thin part that your weights or other person is holding. Attach a paper clip to the line at this point, and slip the paper clip onto the drill -keeping everything under tension. Reverse the drill motor so it will now &quot;untwist&quot; (spin counter-clockwise). Give it around 800 turns for a 10 foot leader, 600 for an 8 footer, or 1000 for a 12 footer. What you are doing here is actually allowing the twisted strands to kink, but in a controlled fashion. When you finish, set the drill down, unhook the paper clip from the cup hook in the drill, and, holding the twisted thread a couple of feet above the paper clip, let go of the clip and let it spin free - it should only twist one direction or the other for a very few turns. Move your hand another couple feet up the leader and let go of the paper clip again - continue to the cup hook. Before you slip the leader off the cup hook, insert a paper clip into the little loops so that the two twisted strands can&#039;t come apart. The small end of the leader won&#039;t come apart, but the heavy end will.<br /> <br /> Tie a loop of choice in the heavy end; I prefer a figure 8 loop, but a surgeon&#039;s loop and perfection loop knot will also work. This loop can then be interlocked with a loop on the end of your flyline. IMPORTANT: DO NOT TAKE THE PAPER CLIP OFF UNTIL YOU&#039;VE TIED A LOOP KNOT ON THE HEAVY END (it&#039;ll unravel on you). On the small end of the leader, you have a 1X tip so you should add a 12 inch or so long piece of 3X tippet to this, using loop knots, blood knots, or whatever, and then finish with 4X or 5X tippet, or even add another length and end up at 6X or 7X. After you&#039;ve made a couple of these, the total time you&#039;ll spend is around 15 minutes to make a leader - and that includes time to go get the drill, open up a beer, adjust the TV volume, and so forth. Here is another drawing that I made to help illustrate the process.<br /> <br /> These leaders will turn over a fly just casting with your hand - no rod needed! Drilling the extra holes in the board for the 8 foot leader and the 12 foot leader will allow you to move the dowels as necessary for making longer or shorter leaders. If you have any questions about this process - you can email me at .<br /> <br /> Here’s a [[Media:leaders2.xlsx | leaders2.xlsx]] spreadsheet that can help you design your on furled leaders.<br /> <br /> Claude W. Freaner<br /> Lake Ridge, VA<br /> <br /> Copyright© March, 2002 by Claude W. Freaner<br /> This document may not be used for commercial purposes without the express written permission of the author, but may be distributed freely for non-commercial flyfishing and flytying purposes.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Claude_Freaner%27s_Furled_Leaders&diff=1847 2013-03-24T17:59:38Z

<p>Jdunn: Created page with &quot;Claudes Beaded Trout Making Furled Leaders I was first shown a furled leader by Hans Weilenmann and was instantly impressed with th...&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:BeadmanTrout.jpeg|frame|none|Claudes Beaded Trout]]<br /> <br /> Making Furled Leaders<br /> <br /> <br /> I was first shown a furled leader by Hans Weilenmann and was instantly impressed with the limpness and lack of memory of it. After doing a little searching I found instructions at Martin Joergensen&#039;s web site in which he had made some modifications to Henk Verhaar&#039;s instructions. I sent several questions to Henk about the process and he was gracious enough to take the time to answer them in detail. These instructions may be considered an update to Henk&#039;s original work.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ll be referring to the sketches in the [[Media:leaderboard.gif] leaderboard.gif] file, so I&#039;d suggest you download it and print it so you can follow along. I took a scrap piece of 1&quot; by 4&quot; lumber I had that was around 10 feet long and used it as the basis of my furled leader jig. A quick trip to the lumber store for a 36 inch long 1 inch diameter wood dowel (you could use an old broom handle), and I was nearly ready to go - just had to root around in the &quot;messy drawer&quot; to find a couple of cup hooks I knew were hiding therein. I took Henk&#039;s original measurements for dowel placement and marked them on the board. The dowel was cut into 4 inch long pieces; I then found some 1.5 inch long wood screws and drilled a pilot hole in the bottom of each dowel piece that was slightly smaller than the screw. Moving to the 1x4, I drilled a hole at each marked location slightly larger than the screw diameter, and then a counter-sink hole on the bottom of the board so that the screw head would be recessed and not scratch the furniture. I screwed the cup hooks into one end of the board, and ‘ was ready to go.<br /> <br /> The original measurements of Henk&#039;s ended up as a 10 foot long 5X leader when I finished. I&#039;ve also provided measurements for creating 8 foot and 12 foot leaders. The only decision left is what material to use in making the leaders. My first choice was 2 pound test Berkeley Trilene mono (standard mono fishing line), as I could buy it in a 400 yard spool. This turns out to make a decent 1X leader butt. Alternative materials I&#039;ve used, and now prefer, are standard 6/0 and 8/0 Unithread (used normally for tying flies...) The thread leaders are even limper, and seem stronger, than the 2 pound test mono. I&#039;d suggest the 6/0 thread for leaders fished with a 5wt or heavier line, and the 8/0 for leaders on 4wt or smaller line. Color is your choice; I&#039;ve seen yellow used (the whole leader is a strike indicator), and I&#039;ve used pale blue, light gray, and white. Since you&#039;re going to add a couple feet of mono tippet to the leader, it doesn&#039;t really matter much, in my opinion.<br /> <br /> Let&#039;s assume you&#039;re using 6/0 Unithread. Tie a large (3 or 4 inch) loop in the end of the thread using a figure 8 knot, surgeons knot, square knot, or whatever and put the loop onto one of the cup hooks. Now, take the thread down to the first dowel on that side of the board, go around the dowel and back to the cup hook, then back to the dowel, etc., making a total of 5 turns. As you pass the dowel following the 5th turn, continue on to the next dowel, go around it, and back to the first dowel. As you go around the first dowel, drop the thread spool through the first set of loops to interlock the loops - go back to the second dowel, around it, and back to the first where you drop the spool through the first loops again. Here’s a [[Media:furling.jpg] furling.jpg] that illustrates these instructions.<br /> <br /> Henk&#039;s original formula has 2 and 1/2 turns for this second set of loops - my spreadsheet analysis seems to show that 3 and 1/2 turns would make a more uniform taper to the leader. When I asked Henk about this, he agreed, but said that he had noticed no difference in fishing, and using the 2 and 1/2 turns, he could make 3 leaders from one 100 meter spool of thread. So, my conclusion is that you can do 2 and 1/2 turns or 3 and 1/2 turns - take your pick. Whatever you decide, when you do that number, go past the second dowel to the last dowel (the one in the center of the board), go around the last dowel and up to the closest dowel on the other side of the board, go around it, back to the center dowel and go around it, back to the second dowel on the first side, and as you go around it (from the inside to the outside - always), drop the spool through the previous loops to lock the loops together. Now go back around the center dowel at the bottom, and up to the closest dowel on the other side. If you pause to count, you&#039;ll see a total of three strands of thread between this dowel and the center dowel at the bottom, and three strands of thread between the center dowel at the bottom and the second dowel on the first side.<br /> <br /> Continuing on, make either 2 and 1/2 or 3 and 1/2 turns between the next two dowels on the second side, making sure to always drop the thread spool through the previous loops to lock them together. Then finish with 5 and 1/2 turns between the last dowel and the second cup hook. Cut the thread, and tie a 3 or 4 inch loop in the thread end and slip it over the cup hook.<br /> <br /> If you start with the first cup hook and count strands of thread, you&#039;ll see it starts at 11, goes to either 5 or 7, then to 3, goes around the center dowel at the bottom, increases to either 5 or 7, and ends with 11 again. Since the dowels are offset in distances, this will give you the taper when you finish. Now, close to the center dowel at the bottom, hang a weight on the thread (either side of the dowel), to maintain the tautness as you proceed to the next step. I used a couple of 1 ounce lead sinkers, hung from a paper clip (1 sinker for the 8/0 thread). Carefully pull each set of locked loops up off the dowels and toward the center of the board. You&#039;ll end up with the thread attached at the cup hooks on one end, going around the center dowel at the other, and kept tight by the lead weights. Go to the cup hooks; on either, slip a paper clip onto the little loop where it goes around the cup hook - this is so you can take the loops off the cup hook and have them fall apart. Keeping the thread loops tight (just tight enough to not get messed up) walk around until you&#039;re standing in line with the board and about 14 feet away from the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> At this point place the paper clip onto a cup hook that you have previously placed in the chuck of a reversible electric drill and left sitting here. What you should see is: connected to your drill is a paper clip attached to a fat bunch of thread that becomes a thinner bunch of thread loops, and then fattens up again as it approaches a cup hook around 14 feet away. Maintaining a slight tension on the thread with the drill, turn it on and twist up the loops. Look at the label on the drill and see how many rpm it does. You&#039;ll want a total of around 2400 revolutions for a 10 foot leader, maybe 2100 for an 8 footer and maybe 2700 for a 12 footer. keep the drill on however long it takes to get that many turns. You can make sure your thread doesn&#039;t get too tight and break by holding the drill in one handing and constantly &quot;tapping&quot; on the revolving thread to check its tension. Expect to have the thread shorten by about 10%, or 16 to 18 inches, when you reach the correct number of turns - so be prepared to continually ease the tension on the thread by moving the drill slowly toward the cup hooks.<br /> <br /> When you reach the right number of turns, carefully place the drill on the floor, a chair or whatever, maintaining the tension on the twisted thread (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT). Move up to the half-way point and make sure your lead weights are attached here via the paper clip and are hanging off the side of the board. If you have another person around to help, now is the time to use them. Letting the weights or the other person help keep tension at the midpoint, walk back around to the cup hooks with the drill. Carefully detach the paper clip from the drill and slip it over the cup hook that has thread twisted onto it (not the empty cup hook). If possible, clip the thread loops onto the cup hook so you can remove the paper clip. KEEP THE TWISTED THREAD UNDER TENSION AT ALL TIMES; otherwise it&#039;ll kink up on you and you can throw it away.<br /> <br /> Once you have the two thick ends on the same cup hook, take the drill down to the thin part that your weights or other person is holding. Attach a paper clip to the line at this point, and slip the paper clip onto the drill -keeping everything under tension. Reverse the drill motor so it will now &quot;untwist&quot; (spin counter-clockwise). Give it around 800 turns for a 10 foot leader, 600 for an 8 footer, or 1000 for a 12 footer. What you are doing here is actually allowing the twisted strands to kink, but in a controlled fashion. When you finish, set the drill down, unhook the paper clip from the cup hook in the drill, and, holding the twisted thread a couple of feet above the paper clip, let go of the clip and let it spin free - it should only twist one direction or the other for a very few turns. Move your hand another couple feet up the leader and let go of the paper clip again - continue to the cup hook. Before you slip the leader off the cup hook, insert a paper clip into the little loops so that the two twisted strands can&#039;t come apart. The small end of the leader won&#039;t come apart, but the heavy end will.<br /> <br /> Tie a loop of choice in the heavy end; I prefer a figure 8 loop, but a surgeon&#039;s loop and perfection loop knot will also work. This loop can then be interlocked with a loop on the end of your flyline. IMPORTANT: DO NOT TAKE THE PAPER CLIP OFF UNTIL YOU&#039;VE TIED A LOOP KNOT ON THE HEAVY END (it&#039;ll unravel on you). On the small end of the leader, you have a 1X tip so you should add a 12 inch or so long piece of 3X tippet to this, using loop knots, blood knots, or whatever, and then finish with 4X or 5X tippet, or even add another length and end up at 6X or 7X. After you&#039;ve made a couple of these, the total time you&#039;ll spend is around 15 minutes to make a leader - and that includes time to go get the drill, open up a beer, adjust the TV volume, and so forth. Here is another drawing that I made to help illustrate the process.<br /> <br /> These leaders will turn over a fly just casting with your hand - no rod needed! Drilling the extra holes in the board for the 8 foot leader and the 12 foot leader will allow you to move the dowels as necessary for making longer or shorter leaders. If you have any questions about this process - you can email me at .<br /> <br /> Here’s a [[Media:leaders2.xlsx] leaders2.xlsx] spreadsheet that can help you design your on furled leaders.<br /> <br /> Claude W. Freaner<br /> Lake Ridge, VA<br /> <br /> Copyright© March, 2002 by Claude W. Freaner<br /> This document may not be used for commercial purposes without the express written permission of the author, but may be distributed freely for non-commercial flyfishing and flytying purposes.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=File:BeadmanTrout.jpeg&diff=1846 2013-03-24T17:50:01Z

<p>Jdunn: Freaner beaded trout image</p> <hr /> <div>Freaner beaded trout image</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=File:Leaders2.xlsx&diff=1845 2013-03-24T17:48:41Z

<p>Jdunn: Furled leader charts for Claude Freaner&#039;s furled leader page</p> <hr /> <div>Furled leader charts for Claude Freaner&#039;s furled leader page</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=File:Furling.jpg&diff=1844 2013-03-24T17:47:37Z

<p>Jdunn: Leader furling diagram for Claude Freaner leader page</p> <hr /> <div>Leader furling diagram for Claude Freaner leader page</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1729 2013-03-02T21:25:26Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://home.flyfishlist.org FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://archives.flyfishlist.org FF@ list archives]<br /> <br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Search for a page name like &quot;My great idea for a page&quot;, and then click &quot;create this page&quot;. Then, your content can be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * You can read the Wiki without registering, but you must be a registered user to edit the pages</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Template:News&diff=1728 2013-03-02T21:14:39Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&lt;div style=&quot;float: {{{1|none}}}; border: 2px solid black; background: white; margin: 1em; width: 35%;&quot;&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;background: #ffd080; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; border-bottom: 1px solid black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;NEWS&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;padding: 0.5em;&quot;&gt;<br /> * Remember &#039;&#039;&#039;YOU&#039;&#039;&#039; are empowered to create content on the wiki! We need your brain dump, on all things FF@<br /> * Be sure to use the new URL&#039;s to access FF@ resources:<br /> ** wiki = [http://wiki.flyfishlist.org http://wiki.flyfishlist.org]<br /> ** Danny&#039;s website = [http://home.flyfishlist.org http://home.flyfishlist.org]<br /> ** archives = [http://archives.flyfishlist.org http://archives.flyfishlist.org]<br /> * --Joel, FF@ WikiMeister<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;/div&gt;</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1727 2013-03-01T04:03:27Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://www.flyfishlist.org FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://archives.flyfishlist.org FF@ list archives]<br /> <br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Search for a page name like &quot;My great idea for a page&quot;, and then click &quot;create this page&quot;. Then, your content can be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * You can read the Wiki without registering, but you must be a registered user to edit the pages</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1726 2013-03-01T04:00:56Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://www.flyfishlist.org FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://archives.flyfishlist.org FF@ list archives]<br /> <br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Search for a page name like &quot;My great idea for a page&quot;, and then click &quot;create this page&quot;. Then, your content can be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * See list of [[Special:Listusers | all users]] that have registered so far!<br /> * You can read the Wiki without registering, but you must be a registered user to edit the pages</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Template:News&diff=1725 2013-02-28T03:42:58Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&lt;div style=&quot;float: {{{1|none}}}; border: 2px solid black; background: white; margin: 1em; width: 35%;&quot;&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;background: #ffd080; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; border-bottom: 1px solid black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;NEWS&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;padding: 0.5em;&quot;&gt;<br /> * Remember &#039;&#039;&#039;YOU&#039;&#039;&#039; are empowered to create content on the wiki! We need your brain dump, on all things FF@<br /> * Be sure to use the new URL&#039;s to access FF@ resources:<br /> ** wiki = [http://wiki.flyfishlist.org http://wiki.flyfishlist.org]<br /> ** Danny&#039;s website = [http://www.flyfishlist.org http://www.flyfishlist.org]<br /> ** archives = [http://archives.flyfishlist.org http://archives.flyfishlist.org]<br /> * --Joel, FF@ WikiMeister<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;/div&gt;</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1724 2013-02-28T03:09:41Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://www.flyfishlist.org FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://archives.flyfishlist.org FF@ list archives]<br /> <br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Search for a page name like &quot;My great idea for a page&quot;, and then click &quot;create this page&quot;. Then, your content can be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * See list of [[Special:Listusers | all users]] that have registered so far!</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1723 2013-02-28T03:09:03Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://www.flyfishlist.org FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://archives.flyfishlist.org FF@ list archives]<br /> <br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Search for a page name like &quot;My great idea for a page&quot;, and then click &quot;create this page&quot;. Then, your content can be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * See list of [[Special:Listusers | all users]] that have registered so far!<br /> <br /> --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 20:28, 31 January 2007 (EST)</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=FF@Wiki:Community_portal&diff=1722 2013-02-28T03:06:40Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>This is a place to put things of temporary or transient interest to the community. But it&#039;s a wiki, so it&#039;s all subject to change!</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=FF@Wiki:Current_events&diff=1721 2013-02-28T03:05:35Z

<p>Jdunn: Created page with &quot;Put current events here...upcoming shows, &#039;claves, etc...&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>Put current events here...upcoming shows, &#039;claves, etc...</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=FF@Wiki:Community_portal&diff=1720 2013-02-28T03:04:52Z

<p>Jdunn: Replaced content with &quot;This is a place to put things of temporary or transient interest to the community. We could put &#039;clave postings here, and things like that.&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>This is a place to put things of temporary or transient interest to the community. We could put &#039;clave postings here, and things like that.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Restoring_an_old_Bamboo_Rod&diff=1719 2013-02-28T03:02:06Z

<p>Jdunn: Created page with &quot;By: Steve Weiter I bought an old Gateway (South Bend) &quot;Ike Walton Deluxe&quot; 5505 9&#039; rod-Three piece, Two tips, one of them with an agate tip top. Probably made in the 1930s an...&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>By: Steve Weiter<br /> <br /> I bought an old Gateway (South Bend) &quot;Ike Walton Deluxe&quot; 5505 9&#039; rod-Three piece, Two tips, one of them with an agate tip top. Probably made in the 1930s and sold for around $15 at an antique store in Louisville about 8-9 years ago for $30. Missing some guides, most of the wraps were loose, ferrules loose as well, handle and seat pretty done for. Blank darkened with dirt and age, South Bend label was gone. Not sure why I bought it when I did, except we were shopping and it was bamboo, and it might hang on the wall someday. Left it in the closet for years, and mostly forgot it. <br /> <br /> [[File:similar ike walton.jpg]]<br /> <br /> Then last summer, Paul Schlote and I started talking about building an 10&#039;6&quot; 8-wt switch rod, for salmon and carp and such things. Paul wanted me to build it myself, or at least contribute to the construction. I had no experience with doing any of this stuff so convinced him to do the build. Gave him the H&amp;H blanks at Barking Dog Clave this year, and picked out threads, grip, etc. Can&#039;t wait to see how it turns out.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile that got me thinking about the bamboo rod in the closet and COULD I learn how to do this stuff and would it look like anything. So I decided &quot;what the hell, I can&#039;t ruin it anymore than it already has been&quot; so made restoring that rod my winter project. It might have been refinished once but I doubt it, given its condition. Too much left undone to be a good refinish, too much detail on the intermediate wraps to have been a half-ass job. Hard to tell though, might have been another amateur like me.<br /> <br /> Talked to Jim Tefft for some good advice, read some books, watched some youtube vids, and proceeded.<br /> Recorded the position of the guides and wraps, but did not take any &quot;before&quot; pictures - too anxious to start I guess.<br /> Removed the grip and seat which just crumbled under the heat gun and pressure. Saved the guides, and a bit of the thread so I could match what had been on there when I got it.<br /> Stripped the rod down to the wood. Wood was in excellent condition, and there are slight sets in the tips, but aside from that no cracks or separation.<br /> <br /> I put a couple fresh coats of oil finish on it, and varnished it. Put on a new handle and seat. Re-glued the ferules, and matched the existing wrap colors with some Pearsal’s silk. Two coats of epoxy on the wraps.<br /> <br /> Finish came out quite nice I think – very blond, but with some nice character in the bamboo in some parts. I am happy with the handle and seat, though not close to the original, and it is farther up on the rod than the old one, so the winding check wrap covers the “Gate” part of Gateway. The South Bend label is long gone. In hindsight I should have used an inlet handle and seat. I thought about shortening the grip so as to not cover the maker’s marking (hint received) but the core stem of the rod was only 6.25” AND the new grip and seat are flush, rather than inlet as the old one was. I was a bit nervous about hanging the ass of the seat too far off the back, without the added support of the in-letting into the grip . Had I shortened the grip, it would have been uncomfortable for me, and it would have looked out of proportion. Will know better next time. I did add a hook keeper, but spaced it ahead of the grip rather than next to the winding check so as to not cover up more of the maker’s mark. Were it more collectible, I would have worried about staying truer to the original, but figured this was undesirable enough in those terms so that it would be okay to mess with it in order to learn.<br /> <br /> Some of the wraps are not as smooth as they could be, nor are they precisely the same length, and some may be over long, although there is some degree of consistency. I have learned the difficulty of controlling “rod travel” while using a hand wrapper. Don’t think I will ever do cream accent wraps against a blond blank ever again.  I can’t see the damned things until 5-10 wraps.<br /> Color preserver did not prevent the epoxy from darkening the thread color, but that bothers me very little. <br /> <br /> Anyway, I think it turned out quite nice, though not a thing of beauty when but it might be fishable and serviceable as a fly rod.<br /> It is an interesting learning experience, and I find I like it, at least in so far as repairing and restoration, and I might actually get better at it, after a few more attempts. [[File:finished rod 1.jpg]]<br /> My next project will be a restore/conversion of a Phillipson Eponite blank that had been a spin caster in a previous life into a 7&#039;6&quot; fly rod. Not because it&#039;s a great idea, but it will look nice and I am still learning.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=HOW_TO&diff=1698 2013-02-25T20:45:23Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>This is a TUTORIAL for <br /> * Finding FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Finding PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Logging ONTO Flickr.com<br /> * UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com<br /> * MAPPING a photo on Flikr.com<br /> (more to come as needed or wanted) <br /> <br /> == FIND FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==FIND PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat FLYFISH@ (flyfishat)]] <br /> <br /> *Click Link above<br /> <br /> http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat<br /> *PC-users: Right-Click <br /> *** --&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste URL window or <br /> *** --&gt; save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Ctrl-D)<br /> <br /> *Mac-users: <br /> **Single-button Mouse users Ctrl+Click <br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> **Double-button Mouse Users Ctrl+ Right-Click or Cmd+Right-Click<br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox &amp; Safari: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> <br /> ==LOG onto Flickr.com==<br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/login Flickr login]<br /> <br /> * LOGIN: flyfishat<br /> * PASSWD: ffa2007yf<br /> * eMail: flyfishat@yahoo.com<br /> <br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat View the photos on the FF@ Flickr account]<br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/people/flyfishat View the profile on the FF@ Flickr account]<br /> <br /> * Account owned/created by Les Booth: contact via email: flyfishat@gmail.com<br /> <br /> ==UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==MAPPING a photo on Flickr.com==</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Shad_fishing&diff=1697 2013-02-24T22:09:32Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>= Roanoke River, NC =<br /> === Joel Dunn ===<br /> <br /> One of my favorite things about late winter is looking forward to March and the shad run on the Roanoke River. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory_shad Hickory shad] are an anadromous fish, coming up the rivers each year to spawn. They can provide exciting fishing with the hope of catching fish until your arms are tired. Nice Hickories can be up to 18&quot;, and provide strong fights in the fast moving spring waters.<br /> <br /> I try to make it annually, and have recorded several trips over the last several years in my blog. This [http://idlethoughts.jdunns.com/?s=shad search string] should produce a number of entries.<br /> <br /> I like to use mostly [https://picasaweb.google.com/118226027903350346744/ShadFly022904 pink and orange streamers], fished on a sink-tip line. I typically use 7wt rod, as casting a heavy fly with a sink tip on a light rod gets tiring over the course of a day.<br /> <br /> Shad are found on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts (I&#039;ve caught American Shad in the Russian River in California). I&#039;m hopeful that others can add to this topic.<br /> <br /> = Put your river here! =</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Shad_fishing&diff=1696 2013-02-24T20:55:03Z

<p>Jdunn: Created page with &quot;= Roanoke River, NC = === Joel Dunn === One of my favorite things about late winter is looking forward to March and the shad run on the Roanoke River. [http://en.wikipedia.o...&quot;</p> <hr /> <div>= Roanoke River, NC =<br /> === Joel Dunn ===<br /> <br /> One of my favorite things about late winter is looking forward to March and the shad run on the Roanoke River. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory_shad Hickory shad] are an anadromous fish, coming up the rivers each year to spawn. They can provide exciting fishing with the hope of catching fish until your arms are tired. Nice Hickories can be up to 18&quot;, and provide strong fights in the fast moving spring waters.<br /> <br /> I try to make it annually, and have recorded several trips over the last several years in my blog. This [http://idlethoughts.jdunns.com/?s=shad search string] should produce a number of entries.<br /> <br /> I like to use mostly [https://picasaweb.google.com/118226027903350346744/ShadFly022904 pink and orange streamers], fished on a sink-tip line. I typically use 7wt rod, as casting a heavy fly with a sink tip on a light rod gets tiring over the course of a day.<br /> <br /> Shad are found on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts (I&#039;ve caught American Shad in the Russian River in California). I&#039;m hopeful that others can add to this topic.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=HOW_TO&diff=1695 2013-02-24T20:10:03Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>This is a TUTORIAL for <br /> * Finding FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Finding PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Logging ONTO Flickr.com<br /> * UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com<br /> * MAPPING a photo on Flikr.com<br /> (more to come as needed or wanted)<br /> <br /> == FIND FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==FIND PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat FLYFISH@ (flyfishat)]] <br /> <br /> *Click Link above<br /> <br /> http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat<br /> *PC-users: Right-Click <br /> *** --&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste URL window or <br /> *** --&gt; save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Ctrl-D)<br /> <br /> *Mac-users: <br /> **Single-button Mouse users Ctrl+Click <br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> **Double-button Mouse Users Ctrl+ Right-Click or Cmd+Right-Click<br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox &amp; Safari: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> <br /> ==LOG onto Flickr.com==<br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/login Flickr login]<br /> <br /> * LOGIN: flyfishat<br /> * PASSWD: ffa2007yf<br /> * eMail: flyfishat@yahoo.com<br /> <br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat View the photos on the FF@ Flickr account]<br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/people/flyfishat View the profile on the FF@ Flickr account]<br /> <br /> * Account owned/created by Les Booth: contact via email: flyfishat@gmail.com<br /> <br /> ==UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==MAPPING a photo on Flickr.com==</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=HOW_TO&diff=1694 2013-02-24T20:08:54Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>This is a TUTORIAL for <br /> * Finding FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Finding PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Logging ONTO Flickr.com<br /> * UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com<br /> * MAPPING a photo on Flikr.com<br /> (more to come as needed or wanted)<br /> <br /> == FIND FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==FIND PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat FLYFISH@ (flyfishat)]] <br /> <br /> *Click Link above<br /> <br /> http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat<br /> *PC-users: Right-Click <br /> *** --&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste URL window or <br /> *** --&gt; save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Ctrl-D)<br /> <br /> *Mac-users: <br /> **Single-button Mouse users Ctrl+Click <br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> **Double-button Mouse Users Ctrl+ Right-Click or Cmd+Right-Click<br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox &amp; Safari: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> <br /> ==LOG onto Flickr.com==<br /> [http://www.flickr.com/login]<br /> <br /> * LOGIN: flyfishat<br /> * PASSWD: ffa2007yf<br /> * eMail: flyfishat@yahoo.com<br /> <br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat View the photos on the FF@ Flickr account]<br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/people/flyfishat View the profile on the FF@ Flickr account]<br /> <br /> * Account owned/created by Les Booth: contact via email: flyfishat@gmail.com<br /> <br /> ==UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==MAPPING a photo on Flickr.com==</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=HOW_TO&diff=1693 2013-02-24T20:05:43Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>This is a TUTORIAL for <br /> * Finding FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Finding PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Logging ONTO Flickr.com<br /> * UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com<br /> * MAPPING a photo on Flikr.com<br /> (more to come as needed or wanted)<br /> <br /> == FIND FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==FIND PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat FLYFISH@ (flyfishat)]] <br /> <br /> *Click Link above<br /> <br /> http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat<br /> *PC-users: Right-Click <br /> *** --&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste URL window or <br /> *** --&gt; save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Ctrl-D)<br /> <br /> *Mac-users: <br /> **Single-button Mouse users Ctrl+Click <br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> **Double-button Mouse Users Ctrl+ Right-Click or Cmd+Right-Click<br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox &amp; Safari: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> <br /> ==LOG onto Flickr.com==<br /> [http://www.flickr.com/login]<br /> <br /> * LOGIN: flyfishat<br /> * PASSWD: ffa2007yf<br /> * email: flyfishat@yahoo.com<br /> <br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat | View the photos on the FF@ Flickr account]<br /> * [http://www.flickr.com/people/flyfishat | View the profile on the FF@ Flickr account]<br /> <br /> * Account owned/created by Les Booth: contact via email: flyfishat@gmail.com<br /> <br /> ==UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==MAPPING a photo on Flickr.com==</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=HOW_TO&diff=1692 2013-02-24T20:01:08Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>This is a TUTORIAL for <br /> * Finding FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Finding PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com<br /> * Logging ONTO Flickr.com<br /> * UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com<br /> * MAPPING a photo on Flikr.com<br /> (more to come as needed or wanted)<br /> <br /> == FIND FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==FIND PHOTOS by FF@ on Flickr.com==<br /> [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat FLYFISH@ (flyfishat)]] <br /> <br /> *Click Link above<br /> <br /> http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyfishat<br /> *PC-users: Right-Click <br /> *** --&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste URL window or <br /> *** --&gt; save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Ctrl-D)<br /> <br /> *Mac-users: <br /> **Single-button Mouse users Ctrl+Click <br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> **Double-button Mouse Users Ctrl+ Right-Click or Cmd+Right-Click<br /> ***--&gt; Copy Link Location --&gt; Paste or <br /> *** --&gt; Save to Bookmarks (Firefox &amp; Safari: Cmd [AppleKey}+D)<br /> <br /> <br /> ==LOG onto Flickr.com==<br /> [http://www.flickr.com/login]<br /> <br /> * LOGIN: flyfishat<br /> <br /> <br /> ==UPLOADING photos to Flickr.com==<br /> <br /> ==MAPPING a photo on Flickr.com==</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=1sts_On_FF@&diff=1691 2013-02-24T19:26:54Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>== FF@ Special First Occurrences ==<br /> <br /> This list of &#039;&#039;&#039;Firsts&#039;&#039;&#039; and &#039;&#039;&#039;Special Occurrences&#039;&#039;&#039; were gleaned from personal email and the FF@ Archives; created and maintained by [[User:Jdunn]] (Joel Dunn). &lt;br&gt;I have verified each stated item with existing posts from the Archives. &lt;br&gt;If you can provide corrections to the following, &#039;&#039;Please do not erase the originally posted content&#039;&#039;. &lt;br&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Please:&#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;Please, append to end of the specific post&#039;&#039; &lt;br&gt;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;Origin of FF@&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> 01 October is the earliest entry in the current Archives .. but <br /> commentary lends us to believe it began a while earlier. But it <br /> doesn&#039;t seem likely that it began much earlier than October of 1990. <br /> The first Moderator seems to be Tom Williams .. or at least he was <br /> the first &#039;offical&#039; designated as such.<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;1st Post of Tom Williams&#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;original ListOwner&#039;&#039;<br /> An Awakening<br /> Date: Fri, 5 Oct 90 14:50:08 EDT<br /> Reply-To: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> Sender: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> From: TW-at-UMAB.BITNET<br /> In-Reply-To: Your note of 10/02/90 14:20<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;1st Post By Danny Walls&#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;current and 3rd ListOwner&#039;&#039;<br /> Subject of article unknown<br /> Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1992 17:00:40 EDT<br /> Reply-To: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> Sender: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> From: danny walls<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;1st Post by Joel Dunn&#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;FF@ Archivemeister and Wikimeister&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> NPS Campground Reservations <br /> Date: Thu, 14 May 1992 09:20:00 LCL <br /> Reply-To: Fly Fishing Digest <br /> Sender: Fly Fishing Digest <br /> From: LONGLEGS <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;1st Woman on FF@&#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;Marilyn Fetterman&#039;&#039;<br /> Re: rough fish<br /> Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1992 13:49:54 EST<br /> Reply-To: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> Sender: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> From: Marilyn Fetterman <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;First Post on FF@ &#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;Stephen M. Koza, Oct 1, 1990 &#039;&#039;<br /> An Awakening<br /> Date: Mon, 1 Oct 90 12:12:00 EST<br /> Reply-To: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> Sender: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> From: S_KOZA1-at-UNHH.BITNET&lt;br&gt;<br /> I thought that I would give a brief report on the salmon situation<br /> that I encountered on the Salmon River in and near Pulaski, NY. <br /> Frank, thanks for the advice. You mentioned , however, that you <br /> usually fished between 10 PM and midnite, but upon reading the <br /> somewhat confusing handbook wasn&#039;t sure if that was legal or not <br /> where I was. I did manage to go out early Sunday morn and get a <br /> strike on a fly. I had the fish on ( about 20-25 pounds, which in <br /> this instance is smallish ) for about 25 minutes but he managed to <br /> get away upon netting. For the most part we spent most of our time <br /> lobbing egg-sacks into the lake itself. Fishing was slow but my <br /> partner managed a decent size salmon ( 30 lbs. ) and a 12 lbs. Lake <br /> Trout and I was smudged. The atmosphere was bearable at least.&lt;br&gt;<br /> The sight in Pulaski of all the foul-hookers elbow-to-elbow trying <br /> to snag a salmon was as a grotesque an exhibition of &quot;sportsmanship&quot;<br /> as I have ever witnessed. It reminded me of a row of slot-machines <br /> in Atlantic City where people with emotionless faces put in there <br /> coin, pull the handle and see if there&#039;s anything there. It was <br /> depressing to say the least and really brought home to me the fact <br /> that alot of people just want to catch and kill fish period.&lt;br&gt;<br /> My suggestion for the appeasement of the masses is this: The NY F&amp;G <br /> should build a narrow sluice that the fish are made to swim up and <br /> the &quot;fishermen&quot; could then pay a few bucks, step up to the sluice <br /> and try to bonk a fish on the head w/ a ball-peen hammer. It would <br /> save these people a lot of money and generate a bunch for the F&amp;G. <br /> As well as providing anglers who want sport that opportunity also, <br /> and everybody would be happy.&lt;br&gt;<br /> Steve<br /> %** %<br /> % *o * &quot;There&#039;s mosquitoes on the river %<br /> % ** The fish are rising up like birds&quot; Grateful Dead %<br /> % (&#039;The Music Never Stopped&#039;) %<br /> % Stephan M. Koza %<br /> % UNH Chemistry Dept. Durham, NH [Bitnet:S_KOZA1-at-UNHH] %<br /> <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;1st Use of Signature&#039;&#039;&#039;-&#039;&#039;tight lines &#039;&#039;<br /> An Awakening<br /> Date: Fri, 5 Oct 90 14:50:08 EDT<br /> Reply-To: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> Sender: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> From: TW-at-UMAB.BITNET<br /> In-Reply-To: Your note of 10/02/90 14:20&lt;br&gt;<br /> The salmon snagging reminds me of shad fishing on the Susquehann<br /> River. Fishermen were standing elbow to elbow, tangling up their <br /> lines, trying to catch anything that swam. That was 20 years ago. <br /> Now, there aren&#039;t shad runs anymore, and you can&#039;t fish for shad in<br /> Md. Most of these guys took up trout fishing on the put-&amp;-take <br /> streams, and unfortunately, they brought their angling-etiquette<br /> with them.&lt;br&gt;<br /> tight lines,&lt;br&gt;<br /> Tom<br /> <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;1st South American POST &#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;Max Spiess, Chile, SA &#039;&#039; [also believed to be the first NON-US post]<br /> chilean beauties<br /> Date: Fri, 19 Oct 90 20:14:33 EDT<br /> Reply-To: MSPIESS-at-PUCING.puc.cl<br /> Sender: Fly Fishing Digest<br /> From: MSPIESS-at-PUCING.PUC.CL<br /> <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;Origin of Conrad The Barbarian &#039;&#039;&#039;-&#039;&#039;aka,Conrad Black &#039;&#039;<br /> Date: Thu, 24 Mar 1994 08:43:39 -0500 <br /> Reply-To: Fly Fishing Digest <br /> Sender: Fly Fishing Digest <br /> From: J Leslie Booth <br /> Subject: Re: Conrad the Barbarian... <br /> from &quot;C.K. Black&quot; at <br /> Mar 24, 94 07:25:19 pm &lt;br&gt;<br /> Conrad the Barbarian... [hope you don&#039;t mind me calling <br /> you that...] :{O writes... :))))) &lt;br&gt;<br /> &gt; Right!! That&#039;s it for you &#039;Merikans, I&#039;m going straight<br /> &gt; up to Taihape and will have a word with Norm C&#039;s witch!<br /> &gt; The earth will stop rotating on the N/S axis and Spring<br /> &gt; for you in the Northern Hemisphere is CANCELLED! <br /> &gt; -- <br /> &gt; Conrad Black Email: C.K.Black-at-massey.ac.nz <br /> &gt; Plant Science Dept., Massey Uni., <br /> &gt; Fax: [xxx]xxx-xxxx <br /> &gt; Palmerston North, New Zealand <br /> &gt; Phone: [xxx]xxx-xxxx &lt;br&gt;<br /> *** Conrad.. put away the sword and cancell the trip to <br /> Norm C.&#039;s friend of the nether-world... I can save the<br /> &#039;Merikans&#039; from the doom you propose... for I [and I am <br /> sure many others of us lowly &#039;Merikans&#039;] can even out the<br /> balance of fishing precariosity so imbalanced by &#039;Wild <br /> Bill&#039;. You say you fish once a month to <br /> WB&#039;s 2X/week... well I get out [at least since college <br /> began for me 4.5 years ago] only about 1X/quarter... <br /> YOW!! That&#039;s correct only one time every stinkin&#039; 3 <br /> MONTHS!!! So against WB, you are about 1:12. However, I <br /> am in the range of 1:36!!... 3X your deficit. That means <br /> that my paltry little time on the water alone, has more <br /> than evened the deficit caused by WB. &lt;br&gt;<br /> So, I believe you can call off the rotation hex and allow<br /> those of us &#039;Merikans... which BTW includes the WIZ... <br /> sheez, consider what the WIZ might have cooked up for the<br /> Zelanders if you had pulled that trigger so fast... <br /> YIPES!! that was close! &lt;br&gt;<br /> NOW...aren&#039;t you glad we had this little chat? Boy, I <br /> sure would hate the think of the possible calamitous <br /> events you almost put into motion... PHEW!!! &lt;br&gt;<br /> Now back to our regular shedualed CYBER FLY SHOP <br /> discussion... but stay tuned for another thrilling tale <br /> in the adventures of .... CONRAD THE BARBARIAN &lt;br&gt;<br /> Sponsored by &#039;Thrill-a-Minute&#039; tippet... the only tippet <br /> material manufactured with microscopic nicks. Use <br /> &#039;Thrill-a-Minute&#039; tippet material... and you will always <br /> know that you&#039;ll never know when you are going to loose <br /> that next big trophy. &#039;Thrill-a-Minute&#039;... the only <br /> guaranteed to loose a fish, sometimes, tippet material.<br /> &lt;br&gt;<br /> X &lt;br&gt;<br /> tight lines... yes, sometimes the shortest distance to <br /> disaster.... &lt;br&gt;<br /> les booth ?;{ + all comments stated herein are not <br /> boothl-at-pasture.ecn.purdue.edu = only my own, but no one <br /> else would be fax:[xxx]xxx-xxxx phone:[xxx]xxx-xxxx +<br /> crazy enough to admit to them..... &lt;br&gt;<br /> snailmail: POB 2765 West Lafayette, IN 47906-0765<br /> The flyfisherman who rides the mountains on a bike <br /> <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;more to come ... &#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;&#039; &#039;&#039; &#039;&#039;</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Scotch_Whisky&diff=1640 2007-03-17T18:29:05Z

<p>Jdunn: /* Islay. */</p> <hr /> <div>[[Image:Lineup.jpg]]<br /> <br /> Scotch whisky, or just Scotch, has gained a considerable reputation across the globe and of late there has been a surge in interest in the single malts produced by the various distillers located across Scotland.<br /> <br /> In theory Scotch should be a simple drink as the production process is largely a simple matter of distilling spirit and pouring it into a barrel where it is kept for some time. The mystery, however, lies in the wide variation of tastes which result from the storage in a second hand barrel which may have previously held sherry or burbon. How Laphroaig manages to mature to such a strange and amazing taste merely as a result of the simple process I have outlined is beyond me to comprehend, and how it manages to be so totally different from, say, Glenfiddich in terms of taste just highlights the mystery that is Scotch whisky.<br /> <br /> As an Irishman I feel that I should also mention that us Irish produce great whiskey with Black Bush being a favourite worldwide. I would (of course) argue that no Scotch can match the smooth taste of Black Bush though its production methods differ little from that of Scotch.<br /> <br /> When it comes to tasting I am of the view that more expensive is not always better, it just buys you something different and even less common. Of course it is possible, likely even, that some of the more expensive bottlings will taste better than some of the less expensive offerings to any given person but it is also entirely possible that such a person will find their favourite whisky among the less expensive expressions. With this in mind the only solution is to make every effort to sample as wide a range of whisky as possible and as miniatures are now available representing a very many of the whiskys on the market it is possible to taste and experience a very many whiskys without the expense of purchasing a large number of full sized bottles.<br /> <br /> Scotch whiskys have been broken down into a number of (sort of) geographical categories with the whisky of Islay having, perhaps, the most distinctive taste. <br /> <br /> == History. ==<br /> <br /> ====Origin of Name====<br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;Uisge Beatha&#039;&#039;&#039;: Scots Gaelic for aqua vitae, &#039;water of life&#039;, from the first part of which the word &#039;whisky&#039; derives. Uisge Beatha [Gaelic] That&#039;s whisk - beeth or as we now call it; whisky. 1618 - Early reference to &#039;uisge&#039;, being drunk at Highland chief&#039;s funeral. First reference was 1494, where a graindealers ledger stated the sale of barley towards the production of whisky.<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.uisge.com/wt/history.html The History of Scotch Whisky]&#039;&#039;&#039;, from &#039;&#039;The Whisky Trail&#039;&#039;, by Gordon Brown<br /> <br /> == Lowland. ==<br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.bladnoch.co.uk/index.htm Bladnoch]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> == Highland. ==<br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Aberfeldy_EN.shtml Aberfeldy]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Balblair_EN.shtml Balblair]&#039;&#039;&#039; <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Ben%20Nevis_EN.shtml Ben Nevis]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Blair%20Athol_EN.shtml Blair Athol]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/North%20Port_EN.shtml Brechin (North Port)]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Brora_EN.shtml Brora]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Clynelish_EN.shtml Clynelish (now Brora)]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Dalmore_EN.shtml Dalmore]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Dalwhinnie_EN.shtml Dalwhinnie]&#039;&#039;&#039; <br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Deanston_EN.shtml Deanston]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Edradour_EN.shtml Edradour]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Old%20Fettercairn_EN.shtml Fettercairn]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Glencadam_EN.shtml Glencadam]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Glenesk_EN.shtml Glenesk]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Glen%20Garioch_EN.shtml Glen Garioch]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.glengoyne.com/age_verification.php Glengoyne]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Glenlochy_EN.shtml Glenlochy]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Oban_EN.shtml Oban]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> == Speyside. ==<br /> Active Distilleries<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.aberlour.co.uk/welcome.asp Arberlour]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.benromach.com/ Benromach]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://uk.glenfiddich.com/index.html Glenfiddich]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> == Islay. ==<br /> <br /> Active distilleries:<br /> *Ardbeg.<br /> *Bowmore.<br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.bruichladdich.com/ Bruichladdich]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> *Bunnahabhain.<br /> *Caol Ila.<br /> *&#039;&#039;&#039;Lagavulin:&#039;&#039;&#039; <br /> ** Official whisky of the &#039;&#039;&#039;[http://tirebiter.net/lpc.html Northeast Conclave]&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> ** Tasting notes<br /> *** I&#039;m sitting in my easy chair grading midterms this chilly, breezy St. Patrick&#039;s day afternoon (2007). Poured a wee dram of Lagavulin 16 for the benefit of the students ;-). It&#039;s a wonderfully rich &amp; smoky whiskey. Not for those who want a delicate taste. Distinctive flavor, yet so smooth on the aftertaste. Highly recommended! --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 14:29, 17 March 2007 (EDT) <br /> *Laphroaig.<br /> <br /> == Islands. ==<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Campbelltown. ==<br /> <br /> == Resources ==<br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;[http://www.uisge.com/wt/ The Whisky Trail]&#039;&#039;&#039;, This is one of the most complete and interesting tellings of the History of Scotch Whisky and the famous, past and current distilleries of Scotland. A real must read for those with an interest in the &#039;&#039;water of life&#039;&#039;.<br /> <br /> *[http://www.uisge.com/wt/intro.html An Introduction to Scotch Whisky], from &#039;&#039;The Whisky Trail&#039;&#039;, by Gordon Brown<br /> <br /> *[http://www.uisge.com/wt/history.html The History of Scotch Whisky], from &#039;&#039;The Whisky Trail&#039;&#039;, by Gordon Brown<br /> <br /> *[http://www.uisge.com/wt/production.html How Whisky Is Made], from &#039;&#039;The Whisky Trail&#039;&#039;, by Gordon Brown<br /> <br /> *[http://www.uisge.com/wt/style.html Styles of Whisky], from &#039;&#039;The Whisky Trail&#039;&#039;, by Gordon Brown<br /> <br /> *[http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/index_EN.shtml Scotland: Whisky and Distilleries] - Superb resource on just about anything and everything you want to know about Scotch Whisky.</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=User:Davelewis&diff=1611 2007-02-12T14:26:38Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>I started in with the fly fish list back some time in 94. The only internet connection I had back then was with an account Mary Lu had through the county schools. My handle back then was Mary Lewis. I accessed the Internet only with email on an old then Mac SE30. The WWW was young then and I didn&#039;t get access to any kind of graphic capability till I joined AOL some time late in 1994, and even it didn&#039;t give access to the web till a couple years later. I still accessed the List with Mary Lu&#039;s edu account which allowed me one hour a day and everything had to be done real time. It was a good training for my typing skills. <br /> <br /> My first real contacts with folks on the list came at the fly shows that first year. I met several long standing members then. I remember meeting Bob Petti at the Fly Tyers Symposium in New York, Blake came to the New Jersey show. Some time about then I met Clyde and Bob Hautila, Dave Murphy, Drew, Dale Bonney dozens and dozens of folks came along in time over the first several years, many during my Montana summers. Jim Teft and his wife stopped by for dinner on their way south a few years ago. I surely haven&#039;t kept count but I imagine I&#039;ve have met in person over a hundred listers, most at the shows many have stopped by here at our Virginia home and several have spent time with us at our Montana home. The very first Lister I came to know was Elmer Meiler. He has visited with us here and in Montana several times. I&#039;ve gotten to know a whole bunch of southern listers through the show we did in Charlotte every year year. Many of them have become long standing friends. Mike Ray has visited with us in Montana, Frank Paul has visited with us both here and in Montana. Joel fishes with me every year here in Virginia and spent a week off and on with us in Montana several years ago. All around the country, I&#039;ve developed lasting friends. Bill Williams and John Lawrence have become some of our closest friends. John spent a day here with us back in the fall when he was back east looking after his home in West Virginia. Bill has become almost a brother to us. I&#039;ve even run into Sue K more times than either she or I would reckon, mostly at the dealer show in Denver. Lots and lots of others I could list here have become long standing friends.<br /> <br /> The Internet has been a wonderful social resource for me. Since I&#039;ve lost much of my hearing it provides me with much of my communication.<br /> <br /> [[image:Lewislewis.jpg]]<br /> <br /> Dave Lewis</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=User:Davelewis&diff=1601 2007-02-12T01:11:15Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div></div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=FF@Wiki:Community_Portal&diff=1579 2007-02-07T05:22:57Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;Put links here, such as:&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> * [http://www.flyfishlist.org FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://archives.flyfishlist.org FF@ list archives]<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://www.canerods.com Harry Boyd&#039;s web page]<br /> * [http://www.wnctrout.com Scott Cunningham&#039;s Western NC Page]<br /> * [http://gghull.home.mindspring.com/SCW-2007/scw-2007-home.htm SCW m&#039;Clave 2007 - April 20-22 - Davidson River Campground - Brevard, NC]<br /> * [http://www.dppoppers.com Steve D&#039;s DP Poppers Website]<br /> * [http://www.tirebiter.net Chris Knight&#039;s FF@ pages (Dogs of FF@, Institute for Bad FF@ Poetry, NEC 2007, etc)]<br /> * [http://www.danica.com/flytier/ofoy/names.htm OLD FF@ARTS ONCE YOUNG (photos of listers in their early years)]<br /> * [http://www.danica.com/kat/USUAL/ Kat&#039;s &quot;Anything but the Usual&quot; flyswap (variations on the usual theme...)]</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1578 2007-02-07T05:22:17Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://www.flyfishlist.org FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://archives.flyfishlist.org FF@ list archives]<br /> <br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Then, just let your content be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * See list of [[Special:Listusers | all users]] that have registered so far!<br /> <br /> --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 20:28, 31 January 2007 (EST)</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Template:News&diff=1577 2007-02-07T05:19:22Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&lt;div style=&quot;float: {{{1|none}}}; border: 2px solid black; background: white; margin: 1em; width: 35%;&quot;&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;background: #ffd080; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; border-bottom: 1px solid black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;NEWS&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;padding: 0.5em;&quot;&gt;<br /> * Remember &#039;&#039;&#039;YOU&#039;&#039;&#039; are empowered to create content on the wiki! We need your brain dump, on all things FF@<br /> * Be sure to use the new URL&#039;s to access FF@ resources:<br /> ** wiki = [http://wiki.flyfishlist.org http://wiki.flyfishlist.org]<br /> ** Danny&#039;s website = [http://www.flyfishlist.org http://www.flyfishlist.org]<br /> ** archives = [http://archives.flyfishlist.org http://archives.flyfishlist.org]<br /> * --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 00:19, 7 February 2007 (EST)<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;/div&gt;</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1574 2007-02-01T01:34:43Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/main.htm FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://ffarchives.jdunns.com FF@ list archives]<br /> <br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Then, just let your content be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * See list of [[Special:Listusers | all users]] that have registered so far!<br /> <br /> --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 20:28, 31 January 2007 (EST)</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Template:News&diff=1573 2007-02-01T01:33:41Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&lt;div style=&quot;float: {{{1|none}}}; border: 2px solid black; background: white; margin: 1em; width: 35%;&quot;&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;background: #ffd080; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; border-bottom: 1px solid black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;NEWS&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;padding: 0.5em;&quot;&gt;<br /> * Be sure to follow the community portal link to Chris Knight&#039;s pages to the Bad Poetry Institute for Cow Ku and other such stuff!<br /> * Remember &#039;&#039;&#039;YOU&#039;&#039;&#039; are empowered to create content on the wiki! We need your brain dump, on all things FF@<br /> * --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 20:33, 31 January 2007 (EST)<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;/div&gt;</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1572 2007-02-01T01:28:50Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> <br /> * [http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/main.htm FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://ffarchives.jdunns.com FF@ list archives]<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Then, just let your content be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * See list of [[Special:Listusers | all users]] that have registered so far!<br /> <br /> --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 20:28, 31 January 2007 (EST)</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Quetico_2006&diff=1559 2007-01-29T17:41:34Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;A paddle through Quetico Provincial Park with BSA Troop 449&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01334.jpg|frame|none|Early morning, Ottertrack Lake]]<br /> <br /> *Reported by Joel Dunn, Scoutmaster<br /> ** --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 17:51, 28 January 2007 (EST)<br /> *Crew: 6 scouts, two adult scouters, and one guide from BSA Sommers Canoe Base<br /> <br /> <br /> Arrived at about 3:30 PM on Friday 7/7/06, and outfitted. We were issued our tents, our crew gear, and our “gray whales” for our personal gear, and our food for the expedition. We verified that we had the right tent poles, that our stoves worked, and we had everything on our checklist. We checked that we had a week’s worth of grub, and packed into the food packs. Each canoe would have 3 people, either a food pack or the gear (kettle) pack, and a gray whale for the personal gear of the folks in the boat. For canoes, we had selected the 18’ Kevlar Champlain model from We-no-nah. Each canoe would be loaded heavily, with 700 pounds or so of scouts, leaders, and packs, as the full kettle/food packs and the whales each weighed 75-80 pounds. The canoe only weighed 45-50 pounds, but was somewhat awkward to carry until you got used to it, especially on steep/rocky trails.<br /> <br /> == Day 1 (Saturday 7/8/06) Base Camp to Carp Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 40 rods<br /> <br /> At about 9AM, we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01285.jpg left base camp] on Moose Lake, MN, and paddled across Moose, Newfound and Sucker Lakes on the way to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01290.jpg Prairie Portage] (left to right we are Jeff D, Joel, Eric, Justin, Hank, Adam, Jeff R, and Corey – Darren, our guide, took the picture), at the USA – Canada border. We presented RABC permits and paid the balance of our Quetico camping fees; listened to the ranger’s summary of the rules and regulations for Quetico. We left Prairie Portage and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01291.jpg headed northeast] along the US – Canadian border through Birch Lake, along the old trade route. Historically, the border in this area followed the route that the voyageurs took in support of the fur trade. Our Quetico entry permit was for Carp Lake, so we needed to stay somewhere in that vicinity. As we approached our first portage, each boat crew decided who would carry the kettle/food pack, the whale, and the boat. After crossing the 40-rod portage (our first of this trip) from Birch Lake into Carp lake, we turned north off the border and into Carp Lake proper. We paddled about 3 miles into Carp Lake. Carp Lake narrows again, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01298.jpg stopped to camp] on the lee side of a point not far from the portage to Crawford Lake. I decided to try some flyfishing, even though the wind was blowing briskly from the southwest, swirling all around the point, and making it difficult to cast in any direction. I tried briefly immediately in front of the campsite, but there was no place to get a good backcast, and with a heavily weighted wooly bugger, I couldn’t roll cast. There was a cove nearby, and I connected with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01299.jpg couple of smallmouth] on the deep rig. I picked up one bass in shallow water over some rock ledges using a light blue popper. The fishing was somewhat slow, my arms were sore from the unaccustomed work paddling, and as dusk came on, the bugs were more vigorous, so we retired to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 2 (Sunday 7/9/06) Carp Lake to Ottertrack ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 13 miles, 195 rods<br /> <br /> Slept in longer than we should have, finally stirring about 7AM. The wind was still blowing vigorously, but had now shifted 180 degrees and uncharacteristically, was coming from the northeast. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01306.jpg started out toward Crawford Lake] about 9AM. Did a 10-rod portage into Crawford Lake, and then the 180-rod Knife Portage back into Knife Lake, and back onto the border and the trade route. Started a long, difficult paddle against a 15-20mph wind up Knife Lake. Stopped in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01316.jpg lee of an island] for a break. Made it to Little Knife Portage (only 5 rods) at the end of Knife Lake about 3PM. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01321.jpg What a break]! Out of the wind at last. Paddled about 2 miles up Ottertrack and made camp. Jeff R. wanted to learn to flyfish, so I set him up with one of my outfits and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01329.jpg worked on his casting] for a long while that evening, in spite of the wind. No fish for him yet, though. I managed a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01332.jpg few more smallmouth] like this as well as a small pike, before dusk and “bug time” drove us to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 3 (Monday 7/10/06) Ottertrack to Silver Falls ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 241 rods<br /> <br /> Arose at 5:30AM, determined to get on the water early, as we were planning to go through the west end of Saganaga Lake and Cache Bay; given the expanse of water there, if the wind was still blowing, we wanted all the time we could get. However, dawn broke to glassy calm and we were anxious to get on the water, but [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01335.jpg not before coffee]! Paddled the 5 or so miles to Monument Portage through a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01340.jpg picture perfect north country morning]. Saw a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01350.jpg moose] (take my word for it, it’s there…just look on the shore for the dark spot right above the bow handle on the canoe) as we were approaching the portage. On the east end of Monument Portage (you walk along the border with the monument obelisks) is Swamp Lake. I was first there, carrying the canoe. There was a nice boardwalk going out across the mud into the lake, so I took that and stepped onto this nice, wooden canoe launching platform that was about 6 inches below the water. Bad move, as I quickly learned that flat boards underwater are slick. Fortunately, I sacrificed my body to preserve the canoe (don’t want to damage those high-dollar Kevlar jewels!) and got into the lake with a sore shin and bruised pride. Of course, that was better than the guide, Darren, who upon seeing my adventure tried to step in the water short of the platform, and he promptly sank up to his waist in the mud, under the canoe. It I hadn’t been nursing my wounds, I would have gotten a picture of that! We headed into Saganaga Lake, and the day was still calm. Stopped to see some cool Native American pictographs, and stopped for lunch on a spit connecting that area with the main body of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01355.jpg Cache Bay (Saganaga)]. Continued on northwest now, and headed toward Silver Falls. Made [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01357.jpg camp] in a little out of the way spot and enjoyed the warm early afternoon sunshine. The scouts swam in the stream, and I pulled out the flyrod, quickly connecting with many smallies [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01356.jpg like this one]. Jeff R. also [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01358.jpg connected with his first flyrod smallmouth], and he’s now a hopeless case, and was heading for the fly shop as soon as we got home. Caught fish well into the evening. Since Jeff R. was using my 7wt., I got out my 5wt. and continued to mop up many, many smallies along the rocky dropoff that separated the deep water in the center of this pool with a large riffle area. These were modestly fish, up to about 12 inches, so the 5x tippet on the 5wt spool was OK, I thought. Wrong! As I was working the edge, my rod suddenly bent nearly double, and I saw a flash of silver as something took that root-beer colored woolly bugger and headed to parts unknown. My guess, from the color and shape of the fish (which I saw in the clear water) was a nice walleye. I’ll never know, but that’s one of those “fish that got away” stories that you carry with you!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 4 (Tuesday 7/11/06) Silver Falls to McEwen Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 201 rods<br /> <br /> Another [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01367.jpg beautiful day], and we headed out at 7:30AM. Jeff R. got it off to a good start, following Darren’s example of the previous day and getting [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01369.jpg stuck in the mud]. Here’s what a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01370.jpg portage looks like from inside the boat]! A little [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01373.jpg “wet foot” portage] in Saganagons Lake (hmmm…all of them were “wet foot”) didn’t even slow us down. Headed down along part of the famous [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01378.jpg “Falls Chain,”] stopping at Bald Rock Falls for lunch and a swim! This started a really great part of the trip, since after we left Bald Rock falls, we didn’t see anyone outside our group until Thursday when we reached Agnes Lake. There’s something really great about being that far away from the crowd in this day and age. Made it to camp about 2:30 in the afternoon. Our guide, Darren, had never been on this part of the trip before, but he’d heard from a colleague that there was a great campsite with a south-facing sand beach on an island in McEwen Lake. Boy, did this place ever [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01387.jpg live up to expectations]! I rigged up my flyrod with a sink tip and a heavy black wooly bugger and quickly caught [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01388.jpg this fine bass]. Landed some other really nice fish along some rock ledges on the east side of the island. <br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01390.jpg|frame|none|Nice fish!]]<br /> <br /> At this point, I was content to watch the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01391.jpg boots dry] and take in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01392.jpg beauty and solitude] of McEwen Lake. The bonus at this campsite was that the warm southerly breeze off the lake drove away the bugs. We were even able to sit out at dusk and see the sun set on a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01395.jpg perfect day].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 5 (Wednesday 7/12/06) McEwen Lake to Louisa Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 15 miles, 364 rods (12 portages!)<br /> <br /> This was the day of portages! There are 320 rods in a mile, and while 1.1 miles of walking (364 rods) doesn’t sound like a lot, that was a dozen times to pick up the packs, pick up the canoes, and try to avoid getting stuck in the mud or slipping on the rocks. We left that wonderful McEwen Lake campsite about 8AM, after a bit of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01397.jpg canoe repair] (adjustment on one of the seats). Paddled a bit more than a mile to the end of McEwen Lake, and started up [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01398.jpg McEwen Creek]. The creek got [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01400.jpg smaller] and more [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01402.jpg “moosey” looking] but we didn’t see another moose on the trip, beyond the one on day 3. We paddled through a number of shallow areas as we negotiated the chain of small lakes (Glacier, Turn, Edge, Rod, Dumas) toward Louisa Lake. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01407.jpg stopped for lunch] on a point in Fauquier Lake (the crew loved the name of that one, and also “Dumas”; ah, those French names…). We continued on after lunch through two more very small lakes, Star Lake and Arp Lake. At the end of Arp lake, we had the longest portage of the day, a 96 rod jaunt to Louisa. We were getting hot and tired, and when we came out of trees onto the shore of Louisa, it was like a miracle. Most of the day’s portages had been rocky, muddy, swampy, steep, deep, as well as other unhappy descriptions. Ah, but Louisa! We came out onto a wide sandy beach, with a south wind blowing freshly into our faces, warm, clear water lapping at our feet, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01411.jpg dropped our loads and jumped in]! We floated, swam, and generally enjoyed this well-earned treat. However, that fresh wind was blowing right from the southwest, where we needed to paddle. We hopped into the boats, and charged off down 5-mile long Louisa Lake, making about 4 mph, even into the breeze, but we were paddling 3 men to a canoe. We took a quick break in the lee of an island, with Jeff R. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01416.jpg doing his best pirate imitation]. We made camp on a small peninsula jutting out from the west side of the lake. It was a nice place, and we were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01417.jpg quite happy to get there]. We were pleased to find that again, this was relatively bug-free, and the campsite had [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01419.jpg nice, soft pine needles] upon which we pitched our tents. This had been a long day. I thought about fishing, made a few casts, but decided it was too much like work. The crew did a bit of swimming, gathered some blueberries from an islet just south of the peninsula, and we cooked dinner and crashed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 6 (Thursday 7/13/06) Louisa Lake to North Bay (Basswood Lake) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 173 rods<br /> <br /> Dawn broke with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01421.jpg beautiful sunrise] across Louisa Lake. A [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01423.jpg quick breakfast] and we were out on the lake, heading to the south end of the lake and Louisa Falls. Louisa Lake drops very steeply to Agnes Lake, probably loosing 100 feet in a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01424.jpg precipitous 80-rod portage]. However, there is a great benefit, as there is a perfect [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01432.jpg “shower pool”] about ½ way between the two lakes. A great place to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01433.jpg wallow in the water a bit], and the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01434.jpg perfect morning shower]! Here are a couple of shots [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01438.jpg up] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01439.jpg down] from the mid-point. We got down to Agnes Lake without incident, and on the far shore, finally saw some other travelers, bringing to an end the complete solitude we’d enjoyed since Tuesday. Our plan was to paddle up Agnes about 3 miles and catch the 39-rod portage to East Lake. However, that portage trail is apparently very steep and must have fallen into disrepair, as we could not find it in about 30 minutes of searching. Plan B was to continue up Agnes around a point right as the lake opens up onto the main 10-mile long lake body. We did this and finally found the second portage into East Lake, though this detour gave us 5 miles of paddling to replace the 39-rod portage we missed. One of the reasons that we wanted to take this route, rather than the more traditional “S-chain” lake route (Silence, Sultry, Summer, Shade, etc.) was that this took us through Jeff Lake, and with two Jeffs on the trip, we figured that it was a “must-see.” If we thought that the route was small and tight on McEwen Creek, the creek between Jeff Lake and West Lake was [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01444.jpg really tiny]! We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01446.jpg paddled ahead], hoping that we’d have enough water to float our boats. We went through some amazing stands of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01448.jpg water lilies], and over several [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01450.jpg beaver dams]. Late in the day, slowed significantly coming through the swamp, we reached [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01454.jpg North Bay of huge Basswood Lake] for our last night of the trip. We thought about paddling further, but the wind was blowing briskly into our faces, and this was a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01455.jpg nice campsite], so we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01452.jpg settled in for the evening].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 7 (Friday 7/14/06) North Bay to Base Camp ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 170 rods<br /> <br /> Morning on the last day brought the familiar [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01460.jpg ritual application of suncreen]. We were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01461.jpg ready to go]! Three short portages and about 11 miles of easy paddling brought us back to border at Prairie Portage at the edge of the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01462.jpg Quetico-Superior Wilderness]. We had an early lunch, enjoying the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01463.jpg amenities of civilization], along with company from our friends [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01464.jpg Stripes] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01465.jpg Scruffy] (we were careful and didn’t feed them). We carried our gear from Canada back to the US, and headed toward Sommers Canoe Base. If the first part of the trip was easy paddling, the last part made up for it. We had a very tough paddle against a howling wind back across Sucker, Newfound and Moose Lakes. We were whipped puppies, but were very happy to reach the lee of “Boy Scout Island” right across from base. We swam and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01466.jpg enjoyed the afternoon] until our 3PM check in slot. Paddled over, and with a feeling of both accomplishment for what we’d done and sadness that the trip was over, we turned our gear in and unpacked.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Total 107 miles, 1384 rods</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=FF@Wiki:Community_Portal&diff=1557 2007-01-29T17:18:34Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;Put links here, such as:&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> * [http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/main.htm FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://ffarchives.jdunns.com FF@ list archives]<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> * [http://www.canerods.com Harry Boyd&#039;s web page]<br /> * [http://www.wnctrout.com Scott Cunningham&#039;s Western NC Page]<br /> * [http://gghull.home.mindspring.com/SCW-2007/scw-2007-home.htm SCW m&#039;Clave 2007 - April 20-22 - Davidson River Campground - Brevard, NC]<br /> * [http://www.dppoppers.com Steve D&#039;s DP Poppers Website]<br /> * [http://www.tirebiter.net Chris Knight&#039;s FF@ pages]<br /> * [http://www.danica.com/flytier/ofoy/names.htm OLD FF@ARTS ONCE YOUNG (photos of listers in their early years)]</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=1556 2007-01-29T17:17:31Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>Welcome to the FF@ Wiki! Please feel free to help us grow this resource. Wikis allow each of you to contribute. Just create a user ID (look in the upper right for the link), create an ID, and have at it!<br /> <br /> * [http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/main.htm FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://ffarchives.jdunns.com FF@ list archives]<br /> {{News|right}}<br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;See the current events page for upcoming conclaves &amp; other gatherings&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> If you have any questions, email [mailto:joel@jdunns.com Joel] the FF@ Wikimeister<br /> <br /> Create a page! Then, link your page in from the main page here or from the sidebar portal or current events page, or just let your content be found via the &#039;&#039;&quot;search&quot;&#039;&#039; feature in the sidebar (like [http://en.Wikipedia.org Wikipedia])...<br /> <br /> * See list of [[Special:Allpages | all pages]] that have been created so far!<br /> * See list of [[Special:Listusers | all users]] that have registered so far!<br /> * Community portal (in the navigation area on the left) will be a collection of links<br /> * Current events (likewise in the navigation bar) will be a set of conclaves, etc. This could even contain an embedded Google calendar link, for example<br /> <br /> --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 12:17, 29 January 2007 (EST)</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Template:News&diff=1555 2007-01-29T17:16:32Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&lt;div style=&quot;float: {{{1|none}}}; border: 2px solid black; background: white; margin: 1em; width: 35%;&quot;&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;background: #ffd080; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; border-bottom: 1px solid black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;NEWS&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;padding: 0.5em;&quot;&gt;<br /> * Be sure to follow the community portal link to Chris Knight&#039;s pages to the Bad Poetry Institute for Cow Ku and other such stuff!<br /> * --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 12:16, 29 January 2007 (EST)<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;/div&gt;</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=FF@Wiki:Community_Portal&diff=1551 2007-01-29T17:09:05Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;Put links here, such as:&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> * [http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/main.htm FF@ Home Page]<br /> * [http://ffarchives.jdunns.com FF@ list archives]<br /> * [http://www.canerods.com Harry Boyd&#039;s web page]<br /> * [http://www.wnctrout.com Scott Cunningham&#039;s Western NC Page]<br /> * [http://gghull.home.mindspring.com/SCW-2007/scw-2007-home.htm SCW m&#039;Clave 2007 - April 20-22 - Davidson River Campground - Brevard, NC]<br /> * [http://www.dppoppers.com Steve D&#039;s DP Poppers Website]<br /> * [http://www.tirebiter.net Chris Knight&#039;s FF@ pages]<br /> * [http://www.danica.com/flytier/ofoy/names.htm OLD FF@ARTS ONCE YOUNG (photos of listers in their early years)]</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Template:News&diff=1550 2007-01-29T17:07:24Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&lt;div style=&quot;float: {{{1|none}}}; border: 2px solid black; background: white; margin: 1em; width: 35%;&quot;&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;background: #ffd080; padding: 0.3em 0.5em; border-bottom: 1px solid black; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;NEWS&#039;&#039;&#039;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;padding: 0.5em;&quot;&gt;<br /> * Testing template<br /> * --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 12:07, 29 January 2007 (EST)<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> &lt;/div&gt;</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Quetico_2006&diff=1548 2007-01-28T22:51:08Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;A paddle through Quetico Provincial Park with BSA Troop 449&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01334.jpg|Early morning, Ottertrack Lake]]<br /> <br /> *Reported by Joel Dunn, Scoutmaster<br /> ** --[[User:Jdunn|Jdunn]] 17:51, 28 January 2007 (EST)<br /> *Crew: 6 scouts, two adult scouters, and one guide from BSA Sommers Canoe Base<br /> <br /> <br /> Arrived at about 3:30 PM on Friday 7/7/06, and outfitted. We were issued our tents, our crew gear, and our “gray whales” for our personal gear, and our food for the expedition. We verified that we had the right tent poles, that our stoves worked, and we had everything on our checklist. We checked that we had a week’s worth of grub, and packed into the food packs. Each canoe would have 3 people, either a food pack or the gear (kettle) pack, and a gray whale for the personal gear of the folks in the boat. For canoes, we had selected the 18’ Kevlar Champlain model from We-no-nah. Each canoe would be loaded heavily, with 700 pounds or so of scouts, leaders, and packs, as the full kettle/food packs and the whales each weighed 75-80 pounds. The canoe only weighed 45-50 pounds, but was somewhat awkward to carry until you got used to it, especially on steep/rocky trails.<br /> <br /> == Day 1 (Saturday 7/8/06) Base Camp to Carp Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 40 rods<br /> <br /> At about 9AM, we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01285.jpg left base camp] on Moose Lake, MN, and paddled across Moose, Newfound and Sucker Lakes on the way to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01290.jpg Prairie Portage] (left to right we are Jeff D, Joel, Eric, Justin, Hank, Adam, Jeff R, and Corey – Darren, our guide, took the picture), at the USA – Canada border. We presented RABC permits and paid the balance of our Quetico camping fees; listened to the ranger’s summary of the rules and regulations for Quetico. We left Prairie Portage and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01291.jpg headed northeast] along the US – Canadian border through Birch Lake, along the old trade route. Historically, the border in this area followed the route that the voyageurs took in support of the fur trade. Our Quetico entry permit was for Carp Lake, so we needed to stay somewhere in that vicinity. As we approached our first portage, each boat crew decided who would carry the kettle/food pack, the whale, and the boat. After crossing the 40-rod portage (our first of this trip) from Birch Lake into Carp lake, we turned north off the border and into Carp Lake proper. We paddled about 3 miles into Carp Lake. Carp Lake narrows again, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01298.jpg stopped to camp] on the lee side of a point not far from the portage to Crawford Lake. I decided to try some flyfishing, even though the wind was blowing briskly from the southwest, swirling all around the point, and making it difficult to cast in any direction. I tried briefly immediately in front of the campsite, but there was no place to get a good backcast, and with a heavily weighted wooly bugger, I couldn’t roll cast. There was a cove nearby, and I connected with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01299.jpg couple of smallmouth] on the deep rig. I picked up one bass in shallow water over some rock ledges using a light blue popper. The fishing was somewhat slow, my arms were sore from the unaccustomed work paddling, and as dusk came on, the bugs were more vigorous, so we retired to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 2 (Sunday 7/9/06) Carp Lake to Ottertrack ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 13 miles, 195 rods<br /> <br /> Slept in longer than we should have, finally stirring about 7AM. The wind was still blowing vigorously, but had now shifted 180 degrees and uncharacteristically, was coming from the northeast. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01306.jpg started out toward Crawford Lake] about 9AM. Did a 10-rod portage into Crawford Lake, and then the 180-rod Knife Portage back into Knife Lake, and back onto the border and the trade route. Started a long, difficult paddle against a 15-20mph wind up Knife Lake. Stopped in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01316.jpg lee of an island] for a break. Made it to Little Knife Portage (only 5 rods) at the end of Knife Lake about 3PM. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01321.jpg What a break]! Out of the wind at last. Paddled about 2 miles up Ottertrack and made camp. Jeff R. wanted to learn to flyfish, so I set him up with one of my outfits and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01329.jpg worked on his casting] for a long while that evening, in spite of the wind. No fish for him yet, though. I managed a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01332.jpg few more smallmouth] like this as well as a small pike, before dusk and “bug time” drove us to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 3 (Monday 7/10/06) Ottertrack to Silver Falls ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 241 rods<br /> <br /> Arose at 5:30AM, determined to get on the water early, as we were planning to go through the west end of Saganaga Lake and Cache Bay; given the expanse of water there, if the wind was still blowing, we wanted all the time we could get. However, dawn broke to glassy calm and we were anxious to get on the water, but [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01335.jpg not before coffee]! Paddled the 5 or so miles to Monument Portage through a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01340.jpg picture perfect north country morning]. Saw a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01350.jpg moose] (take my word for it, it’s there…just look on the shore for the dark spot right above the bow handle on the canoe) as we were approaching the portage. On the east end of Monument Portage (you walk along the border with the monument obelisks) is Swamp Lake. I was first there, carrying the canoe. There was a nice boardwalk going out across the mud into the lake, so I took that and stepped onto this nice, wooden canoe launching platform that was about 6 inches below the water. Bad move, as I quickly learned that flat boards underwater are slick. Fortunately, I sacrificed my body to preserve the canoe (don’t want to damage those high-dollar Kevlar jewels!) and got into the lake with a sore shin and bruised pride. Of course, that was better than the guide, Darren, who upon seeing my adventure tried to step in the water short of the platform, and he promptly sank up to his waist in the mud, under the canoe. It I hadn’t been nursing my wounds, I would have gotten a picture of that! We headed into Saganaga Lake, and the day was still calm. Stopped to see some cool Native American pictographs, and stopped for lunch on a spit connecting that area with the main body of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01355.jpg Cache Bay (Saganaga)]. Continued on northwest now, and headed toward Silver Falls. Made [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01357.jpg camp] in a little out of the way spot and enjoyed the warm early afternoon sunshine. The scouts swam in the stream, and I pulled out the flyrod, quickly connecting with many smallies [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01356.jpg like this one]. Jeff R. also [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01358.jpg connected with his first flyrod smallmouth], and he’s now a hopeless case, and was heading for the fly shop as soon as we got home. Caught fish well into the evening. Since Jeff R. was using my 7wt., I got out my 5wt. and continued to mop up many, many smallies along the rocky dropoff that separated the deep water in the center of this pool with a large riffle area. These were modestly fish, up to about 12 inches, so the 5x tippet on the 5wt spool was OK, I thought. Wrong! As I was working the edge, my rod suddenly bent nearly double, and I saw a flash of silver as something took that root-beer colored woolly bugger and headed to parts unknown. My guess, from the color and shape of the fish (which I saw in the clear water) was a nice walleye. I’ll never know, but that’s one of those “fish that got away” stories that you carry with you!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 4 (Tuesday 7/11/06) Silver Falls to McEwen Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 201 rods<br /> <br /> Another [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01367.jpg beautiful day], and we headed out at 7:30AM. Jeff R. got it off to a good start, following Darren’s example of the previous day and getting [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01369.jpg stuck in the mud]. Here’s what a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01370.jpg portage looks like from inside the boat]! A little [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01373.jpg “wet foot” portage] in Saganagons Lake (hmmm…all of them were “wet foot”) didn’t even slow us down. Headed down along part of the famous [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01378.jpg “Falls Chain,”] stopping at Bald Rock Falls for lunch and a swim! This started a really great part of the trip, since after we left Bald Rock falls, we didn’t see anyone outside our group until Thursday when we reached Agnes Lake. There’s something really great about being that far away from the crowd in this day and age. Made it to camp about 2:30 in the afternoon. Our guide, Darren, had never been on this part of the trip before, but he’d heard from a colleague that there was a great campsite with a south-facing sand beach on an island in McEwen Lake. Boy, did this place ever [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01387.jpg live up to expectations]! I rigged up my flyrod with a sink tip and a heavy black wooly bugger and quickly caught [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01388.jpg this fine bass]. Landed some other really nice fish along some rock ledges on the east side of the island. <br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01390.jpg| Nice fish!]]<br /> <br /> At this point, I was content to watch the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01391.jpg boots dry] and take in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01392.jpg beauty and solitude] of McEwen Lake. The bonus at this campsite was that the warm southerly breeze off the lake drove away the bugs. We were even able to sit out at dusk and see the sun set on a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01395.jpg perfect day].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 5 (Wednesday 7/12/06) McEwen Lake to Louisa Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 15 miles, 364 rods (12 portages!)<br /> <br /> This was the day of portages! There are 320 rods in a mile, and while 1.1 miles of walking (364 rods) doesn’t sound like a lot, that was a dozen times to pick up the packs, pick up the canoes, and try to avoid getting stuck in the mud or slipping on the rocks. We left that wonderful McEwen Lake campsite about 8AM, after a bit of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01397.jpg canoe repair] (adjustment on one of the seats). Paddled a bit more than a mile to the end of McEwen Lake, and started up [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01398.jpg McEwen Creek]. The creek got [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01400.jpg smaller] and more [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01402.jpg “moosey” looking] but we didn’t see another moose on the trip, beyond the one on day 3. We paddled through a number of shallow areas as we negotiated the chain of small lakes (Glacier, Turn, Edge, Rod, Dumas) toward Louisa Lake. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01407.jpg stopped for lunch] on a point in Fauquier Lake (the crew loved the name of that one, and also “Dumas”; ah, those French names…). We continued on after lunch through two more very small lakes, Star Lake and Arp Lake. At the end of Arp lake, we had the longest portage of the day, a 96 rod jaunt to Louisa. We were getting hot and tired, and when we came out of trees onto the shore of Louisa, it was like a miracle. Most of the day’s portages had been rocky, muddy, swampy, steep, deep, as well as other unhappy descriptions. Ah, but Louisa! We came out onto a wide sandy beach, with a south wind blowing freshly into our faces, warm, clear water lapping at our feet, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01411.jpg dropped our loads and jumped in]! We floated, swam, and generally enjoyed this well-earned treat. However, that fresh wind was blowing right from the southwest, where we needed to paddle. We hopped into the boats, and charged off down 5-mile long Louisa Lake, making about 4 mph, even into the breeze, but we were paddling 3 men to a canoe. We took a quick break in the lee of an island, with Jeff R. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01416.jpg doing his best pirate imitation]. We made camp on a small peninsula jutting out from the west side of the lake. It was a nice place, and we were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01417.jpg quite happy to get there]. We were pleased to find that again, this was relatively bug-free, and the campsite had [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01419.jpg nice, soft pine needles] upon which we pitched our tents. This had been a long day. I thought about fishing, made a few casts, but decided it was too much like work. The crew did a bit of swimming, gathered some blueberries from an islet just south of the peninsula, and we cooked dinner and crashed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 6 (Thursday 7/13/06) Louisa Lake to North Bay (Basswood Lake) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 173 rods<br /> <br /> Dawn broke with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01421.jpg beautiful sunrise] across Louisa Lake. A [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01423.jpg quick breakfast] and we were out on the lake, heading to the south end of the lake and Louisa Falls. Louisa Lake drops very steeply to Agnes Lake, probably loosing 100 feet in a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01424.jpg precipitous 80-rod portage]. However, there is a great benefit, as there is a perfect [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01432.jpg “shower pool”] about ½ way between the two lakes. A great place to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01433.jpg wallow in the water a bit], and the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01434.jpg perfect morning shower]! Here are a couple of shots [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01438.jpg up] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01439.jpg down] from the mid-point. We got down to Agnes Lake without incident, and on the far shore, finally saw some other travelers, bringing to an end the complete solitude we’d enjoyed since Tuesday. Our plan was to paddle up Agnes about 3 miles and catch the 39-rod portage to East Lake. However, that portage trail is apparently very steep and must have fallen into disrepair, as we could not find it in about 30 minutes of searching. Plan B was to continue up Agnes around a point right as the lake opens up onto the main 10-mile long lake body. We did this and finally found the second portage into East Lake, though this detour gave us 5 miles of paddling to replace the 39-rod portage we missed. One of the reasons that we wanted to take this route, rather than the more traditional “S-chain” lake route (Silence, Sultry, Summer, Shade, etc.) was that this took us through Jeff Lake, and with two Jeffs on the trip, we figured that it was a “must-see.” If we thought that the route was small and tight on McEwen Creek, the creek between Jeff Lake and West Lake was [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01444.jpg really tiny]! We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01446.jpg paddled ahead], hoping that we’d have enough water to float our boats. We went through some amazing stands of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01448.jpg water lilies], and over several [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01450.jpg beaver dams]. Late in the day, slowed significantly coming through the swamp, we reached [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01454.jpg North Bay of huge Basswood Lake] for our last night of the trip. We thought about paddling further, but the wind was blowing briskly into our faces, and this was a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01455.jpg nice campsite], so we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01452.jpg settled in for the evening].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 7 (Friday 7/14/06) North Bay to Base Camp ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 170 rods<br /> <br /> Morning on the last day brought the familiar [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01460.jpg ritual application of suncreen]. We were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01461.jpg ready to go]! Three short portages and about 11 miles of easy paddling brought us back to border at Prairie Portage at the edge of the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01462.jpg Quetico-Superior Wilderness]. We had an early lunch, enjoying the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01463.jpg amenities of civilization], along with company from our friends [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01464.jpg Stripes] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01465.jpg Scruffy] (we were careful and didn’t feed them). We carried our gear from Canada back to the US, and headed toward Sommers Canoe Base. If the first part of the trip was easy paddling, the last part made up for it. We had a very tough paddle against a howling wind back across Sucker, Newfound and Moose Lakes. We were whipped puppies, but were very happy to reach the lee of “Boy Scout Island” right across from base. We swam and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01466.jpg enjoyed the afternoon] until our 3PM check in slot. Paddled over, and with a feeling of both accomplishment for what we’d done and sadness that the trip was over, we turned our gear in and unpacked.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Total 107 miles, 1384 rods</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Quetico_2006&diff=1547 2007-01-28T22:48:30Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;A paddle through Quetico Provincial Park with BSA Troop 449&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01334.jpg|Early morning, Ottertrack Lake]]<br /> <br /> *Reported by Joel Dunn, Scoutmaster<br /> *Crew: 6 scouts, two adult scouters, and one guide from BSA Sommers Canoe Base<br /> <br /> <br /> Arrived at about 3:30 PM on Friday 7/7/06, and outfitted. We were issued our tents, our crew gear, and our “gray whales” for our personal gear, and our food for the expedition. We verified that we had the right tent poles, that our stoves worked, and we had everything on our checklist. We checked that we had a week’s worth of grub, and packed into the food packs. Each canoe would have 3 people, either a food pack or the gear (kettle) pack, and a gray whale for the personal gear of the folks in the boat. For canoes, we had selected the 18’ Kevlar Champlain model from We-no-nah. Each canoe would be loaded heavily, with 700 pounds or so of scouts, leaders, and packs, as the full kettle/food packs and the whales each weighed 75-80 pounds. The canoe only weighed 45-50 pounds, but was somewhat awkward to carry until you got used to it, especially on steep/rocky trails.<br /> <br /> == Day 1 (Saturday 7/8/06) Base Camp to Carp Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 40 rods<br /> <br /> At about 9AM, we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01285.jpg left base camp] on Moose Lake, MN, and paddled across Moose, Newfound and Sucker Lakes on the way to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01290.jpg Prairie Portage] (left to right we are Jeff D, Joel, Eric, Justin, Hank, Adam, Jeff R, and Corey – Darren, our guide, took the picture), at the USA – Canada border. We presented RABC permits and paid the balance of our Quetico camping fees; listened to the ranger’s summary of the rules and regulations for Quetico. We left Prairie Portage and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01291.jpg headed northeast] along the US – Canadian border through Birch Lake, along the old trade route. Historically, the border in this area followed the route that the voyageurs took in support of the fur trade. Our Quetico entry permit was for Carp Lake, so we needed to stay somewhere in that vicinity. As we approached our first portage, each boat crew decided who would carry the kettle/food pack, the whale, and the boat. After crossing the 40-rod portage (our first of this trip) from Birch Lake into Carp lake, we turned north off the border and into Carp Lake proper. We paddled about 3 miles into Carp Lake. Carp Lake narrows again, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01298.jpg stopped to camp] on the lee side of a point not far from the portage to Crawford Lake. I decided to try some flyfishing, even though the wind was blowing briskly from the southwest, swirling all around the point, and making it difficult to cast in any direction. I tried briefly immediately in front of the campsite, but there was no place to get a good backcast, and with a heavily weighted wooly bugger, I couldn’t roll cast. There was a cove nearby, and I connected with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01299.jpg couple of smallmouth] on the deep rig. I picked up one bass in shallow water over some rock ledges using a light blue popper. The fishing was somewhat slow, my arms were sore from the unaccustomed work paddling, and as dusk came on, the bugs were more vigorous, so we retired to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 2 (Sunday 7/9/06) Carp Lake to Ottertrack ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 13 miles, 195 rods<br /> <br /> Slept in longer than we should have, finally stirring about 7AM. The wind was still blowing vigorously, but had now shifted 180 degrees and uncharacteristically, was coming from the northeast. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01306.jpg started out toward Crawford Lake] about 9AM. Did a 10-rod portage into Crawford Lake, and then the 180-rod Knife Portage back into Knife Lake, and back onto the border and the trade route. Started a long, difficult paddle against a 15-20mph wind up Knife Lake. Stopped in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01316.jpg lee of an island] for a break. Made it to Little Knife Portage (only 5 rods) at the end of Knife Lake about 3PM. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01321.jpg What a break]! Out of the wind at last. Paddled about 2 miles up Ottertrack and made camp. Jeff R. wanted to learn to flyfish, so I set him up with one of my outfits and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01329.jpg worked on his casting] for a long while that evening, in spite of the wind. No fish for him yet, though. I managed a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01332.jpg few more smallmouth] like this as well as a small pike, before dusk and “bug time” drove us to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 3 (Monday 7/10/06) Ottertrack to Silver Falls ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 241 rods<br /> <br /> Arose at 5:30AM, determined to get on the water early, as we were planning to go through the west end of Saganaga Lake and Cache Bay; given the expanse of water there, if the wind was still blowing, we wanted all the time we could get. However, dawn broke to glassy calm and we were anxious to get on the water, but [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01335.jpg not before coffee]! Paddled the 5 or so miles to Monument Portage through a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01340.jpg picture perfect north country morning]. Saw a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01350.jpg moose] (take my word for it, it’s there…just look on the shore for the dark spot right above the bow handle on the canoe) as we were approaching the portage. On the east end of Monument Portage (you walk along the border with the monument obelisks) is Swamp Lake. I was first there, carrying the canoe. There was a nice boardwalk going out across the mud into the lake, so I took that and stepped onto this nice, wooden canoe launching platform that was about 6 inches below the water. Bad move, as I quickly learned that flat boards underwater are slick. Fortunately, I sacrificed my body to preserve the canoe (don’t want to damage those high-dollar Kevlar jewels!) and got into the lake with a sore shin and bruised pride. Of course, that was better than the guide, Darren, who upon seeing my adventure tried to step in the water short of the platform, and he promptly sank up to his waist in the mud, under the canoe. It I hadn’t been nursing my wounds, I would have gotten a picture of that! We headed into Saganaga Lake, and the day was still calm. Stopped to see some cool Native American pictographs, and stopped for lunch on a spit connecting that area with the main body of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01355.jpg Cache Bay (Saganaga)]. Continued on northwest now, and headed toward Silver Falls. Made [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01357.jpg camp] in a little out of the way spot and enjoyed the warm early afternoon sunshine. The scouts swam in the stream, and I pulled out the flyrod, quickly connecting with many smallies [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01356.jpg like this one]. Jeff R. also [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01358.jpg connected with his first flyrod smallmouth], and he’s now a hopeless case, and was heading for the fly shop as soon as we got home. Caught fish well into the evening. Since Jeff R. was using my 7wt., I got out my 5wt. and continued to mop up many, many smallies along the rocky dropoff that separated the deep water in the center of this pool with a large riffle area. These were modestly fish, up to about 12 inches, so the 5x tippet on the 5wt spool was OK, I thought. Wrong! As I was working the edge, my rod suddenly bent nearly double, and I saw a flash of silver as something took that root-beer colored woolly bugger and headed to parts unknown. My guess, from the color and shape of the fish (which I saw in the clear water) was a nice walleye. I’ll never know, but that’s one of those “fish that got away” stories that you carry with you!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 4 (Tuesday 7/11/06) Silver Falls to McEwen Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 201 rods<br /> <br /> Another [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01367.jpg beautiful day], and we headed out at 7:30AM. Jeff R. got it off to a good start, following Darren’s example of the previous day and getting [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01369.jpg stuck in the mud]. Here’s what a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01370.jpg portage looks like from inside the boat]! A little [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01373.jpg “wet foot” portage] in Saganagons Lake (hmmm…all of them were “wet foot”) didn’t even slow us down. Headed down along part of the famous [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01378.jpg “Falls Chain,”] stopping at Bald Rock Falls for lunch and a swim! This started a really great part of the trip, since after we left Bald Rock falls, we didn’t see anyone outside our group until Thursday when we reached Agnes Lake. There’s something really great about being that far away from the crowd in this day and age. Made it to camp about 2:30 in the afternoon. Our guide, Darren, had never been on this part of the trip before, but he’d heard from a colleague that there was a great campsite with a south-facing sand beach on an island in McEwen Lake. Boy, did this place ever [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01387.jpg live up to expectations]! I rigged up my flyrod with a sink tip and a heavy black wooly bugger and quickly caught [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01388.jpg this fine bass]. Landed some other really nice fish along some rock ledges on the east side of the island. <br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01390.jpg| Nice fish!]]<br /> <br /> At this point, I was content to watch the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01391.jpg boots dry] and take in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01392.jpg beauty and solitude] of McEwen Lake. The bonus at this campsite was that the warm southerly breeze off the lake drove away the bugs. We were even able to sit out at dusk and see the sun set on a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01395.jpg perfect day].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 5 (Wednesday 7/12/06) McEwen Lake to Louisa Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 15 miles, 364 rods (12 portages!)<br /> <br /> This was the day of portages! There are 320 rods in a mile, and while 1.1 miles of walking (364 rods) doesn’t sound like a lot, that was a dozen times to pick up the packs, pick up the canoes, and try to avoid getting stuck in the mud or slipping on the rocks. We left that wonderful McEwen Lake campsite about 8AM, after a bit of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01397.jpg canoe repair] (adjustment on one of the seats). Paddled a bit more than a mile to the end of McEwen Lake, and started up [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01398.jpg McEwen Creek]. The creek got [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01400.jpg smaller] and more [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01402.jpg “moosey” looking] but we didn’t see another moose on the trip, beyond the one on day 3. We paddled through a number of shallow areas as we negotiated the chain of small lakes (Glacier, Turn, Edge, Rod, Dumas) toward Louisa Lake. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01407.jpg stopped for lunch] on a point in Fauquier Lake (the crew loved the name of that one, and also “Dumas”; ah, those French names…). We continued on after lunch through two more very small lakes, Star Lake and Arp Lake. At the end of Arp lake, we had the longest portage of the day, a 96 rod jaunt to Louisa. We were getting hot and tired, and when we came out of trees onto the shore of Louisa, it was like a miracle. Most of the day’s portages had been rocky, muddy, swampy, steep, deep, as well as other unhappy descriptions. Ah, but Louisa! We came out onto a wide sandy beach, with a south wind blowing freshly into our faces, warm, clear water lapping at our feet, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01411.jpg dropped our loads and jumped in]! We floated, swam, and generally enjoyed this well-earned treat. However, that fresh wind was blowing right from the southwest, where we needed to paddle. We hopped into the boats, and charged off down 5-mile long Louisa Lake, making about 4 mph, even into the breeze, but we were paddling 3 men to a canoe. We took a quick break in the lee of an island, with Jeff R. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01416.jpg doing his best pirate imitation]. We made camp on a small peninsula jutting out from the west side of the lake. It was a nice place, and we were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01417.jpg quite happy to get there]. We were pleased to find that again, this was relatively bug-free, and the campsite had [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01419.jpg nice, soft pine needles] upon which we pitched our tents. This had been a long day. I thought about fishing, made a few casts, but decided it was too much like work. The crew did a bit of swimming, gathered some blueberries from an islet just south of the peninsula, and we cooked dinner and crashed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 6 (Thursday 7/13/06) Louisa Lake to North Bay (Basswood Lake) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 173 rods<br /> <br /> Dawn broke with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01421.jpg beautiful sunrise] across Louisa Lake. A [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01423.jpg quick breakfast] and we were out on the lake, heading to the south end of the lake and Louisa Falls. Louisa Lake drops very steeply to Agnes Lake, probably loosing 100 feet in a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01424.jpg precipitous 80-rod portage]. However, there is a great benefit, as there is a perfect [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01432.jpg “shower pool”] about ½ way between the two lakes. A great place to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01433.jpg wallow in the water a bit], and the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01434.jpg perfect morning shower]! Here are a couple of shots [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01438.jpg up] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01439.jpg down] from the mid-point. We got down to Agnes Lake without incident, and on the far shore, finally saw some other travelers, bringing to an end the complete solitude we’d enjoyed since Tuesday. Our plan was to paddle up Agnes about 3 miles and catch the 39-rod portage to East Lake. However, that portage trail is apparently very steep and must have fallen into disrepair, as we could not find it in about 30 minutes of searching. Plan B was to continue up Agnes around a point right as the lake opens up onto the main 10-mile long lake body. We did this and finally found the second portage into East Lake, though this detour gave us 5 miles of paddling to replace the 39-rod portage we missed. One of the reasons that we wanted to take this route, rather than the more traditional “S-chain” lake route (Silence, Sultry, Summer, Shade, etc.) was that this took us through Jeff Lake, and with two Jeffs on the trip, we figured that it was a “must-see.” If we thought that the route was small and tight on McEwen Creek, the creek between Jeff Lake and West Lake was [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01444.jpg really tiny]! We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01446.jpg paddled ahead], hoping that we’d have enough water to float our boats. We went through some amazing stands of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01448.jpg water lilies], and over several [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01450.jpg beaver dams]. Late in the day, slowed significantly coming through the swamp, we reached [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01454.jpg North Bay of huge Basswood Lake] for our last night of the trip. We thought about paddling further, but the wind was blowing briskly into our faces, and this was a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01455.jpg nice campsite], so we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01452.jpg settled in for the evening].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 7 (Friday 7/14/06) North Bay to Base Camp ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 170 rods<br /> <br /> Morning on the last day brought the familiar [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01460.jpg ritual application of suncreen]. We were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01461.jpg ready to go]! Three short portages and about 11 miles of easy paddling brought us back to border at Prairie Portage at the edge of the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01462.jpg Quetico-Superior Wilderness]. We had an early lunch, enjoying the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01463.jpg amenities of civilization], along with company from our friends [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01464.jpg Stripes] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01465.jpg Scruffy] (we were careful and didn’t feed them). We carried our gear from Canada back to the US, and headed toward Sommers Canoe Base. If the first part of the trip was easy paddling, the last part made up for it. We had a very tough paddle against a howling wind back across Sucker, Newfound and Moose Lakes. We were whipped puppies, but were very happy to reach the lee of “Boy Scout Island” right across from base. We swam and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01466.jpg enjoyed the afternoon] until our 3PM check in slot. Paddled over, and with a feeling of both accomplishment for what we’d done and sadness that the trip was over, we turned our gear in and unpacked.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Total 107 miles, 1384 rods</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Quetico_2006&diff=1546 2007-01-28T22:46:13Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;A paddle through Quetico Provincial Park with BSA Troop 449&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01334.jpg|Early morning, Ottertrack Lake]]<br /> <br /> *Reported by Joel Dunn, Scoutmaster<br /> *Crew: 6 scouts, two adult scouters, and one guide from BSA Sommers Canoe Base<br /> <br /> <br /> Arrived at about 3:30 PM on Friday 7/7/06, and outfitted. We were issued our tents, our crew gear, and our “gray whales” for our personal gear, and our food for the expedition. We verified that we had the right tent poles, that our stoves worked, and we had everything on our checklist. We checked that we had a week’s worth of grub, and packed into the food packs. Each canoe would have 3 people, either a food pack or the gear (kettle) pack, and a gray whale for the personal gear of the folks in the boat. For canoes, we had selected the 18’ Kevlar Champlain model from We-no-nah. Each canoe would be loaded heavily, with 700 pounds or so of scouts, leaders, and packs, as the full kettle/food packs and the whales each weighed 75-80 pounds. The canoe only weighed 45-50 pounds, but was somewhat awkward to carry until you got used to it, especially on steep/rocky trails.<br /> <br /> == Day 1 (Saturday 7/8/06) Base Camp to Carp Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 40 rods<br /> <br /> At about 9AM, we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01285.jpg left base camp] on Moose Lake, MN, and paddled across Moose, Newfound and Sucker Lakes on the way to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01290.jpg Prairie Portage] (left to right we are Jeff D, Joel, Eric, Justin, Hank, Adam, Jeff R, and Corey – Darren, our guide, took the picture), at the USA – Canada border. We presented RABC permits and paid the balance of our Quetico camping fees; listened to the ranger’s summary of the rules and regulations for Quetico. We left Prairie Portage and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01291.jpg headed northeast] along the US – Canadian border through Birch Lake, along the old trade route. Historically, the border in this area followed the route that the voyageurs took in support of the fur trade. Our Quetico entry permit was for Carp Lake, so we needed to stay somewhere in that vicinity. As we approached our first portage, each boat crew decided who would carry the kettle/food pack, the whale, and the boat. After crossing the 40-rod portage (our first of this trip) from Birch Lake into Carp lake, we turned north off the border and into Carp Lake proper. We paddled about 3 miles into Carp Lake. Carp Lake narrows again, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01298.jpg stopped to camp] on the lee side of a point not far from the portage to Crawford Lake. I decided to try some flyfishing, even though the wind was blowing briskly from the southwest, swirling all around the point, and making it difficult to cast in any direction. I tried briefly immediately in front of the campsite, but there was no place to get a good backcast, and with a heavily weighted wooly bugger, I couldn’t roll cast. There was a cove nearby, and I connected with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01299.jpg couple of smallmouth] on the deep rig. I picked up one bass in shallow water over some rock ledges using a light blue popper. The fishing was somewhat slow, my arms were sore from the unaccustomed work paddling, and as dusk came on, the bugs were more vigorous, so we retired to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 2 (Sunday 7/9/06) Carp Lake to Ottertrack ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 13 miles, 195 rods<br /> <br /> Slept in longer than we should have, finally stirring about 7AM. The wind was still blowing vigorously, but had now shifted 180 degrees and uncharacteristically, was coming from the northeast. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01306.jpg started out toward Crawford Lake] about 9AM. Did a 10-rod portage into Crawford Lake, and then the 180-rod Knife Portage back into Knife Lake, and back onto the border and the trade route. Started a long, difficult paddle against a 15-20mph wind up Knife Lake. Stopped in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01316.jpg lee of an island] for a break. Made it to Little Knife Portage (only 5 rods) at the end of Knife Lake about 3PM. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01321.jpg What a break]! Out of the wind at last. Paddled about 2 miles up Ottertrack and made camp. Jeff R. wanted to learn to flyfish, so I set him up with one of my outfits and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01329.jpg worked on his casting] for a long while that evening, in spite of the wind. No fish for him yet, though. I managed a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01332.jpg few more smallmouth] like this as well as a small pike, before dusk and “bug time” drove us to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 3 (Monday 7/10/06) Ottertrack to Silver Falls ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 241 rods<br /> <br /> Arose at 5:30AM, determined to get on the water early, as we were planning to go through the west end of Saganaga Lake and Cache Bay; given the expanse of water there, if the wind was still blowing, we wanted all the time we could get. However, dawn broke to glassy calm and we were anxious to get on the water, but [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01335.jpg not before coffee]! Paddled the 5 or so miles to Monument Portage through a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01340.jpg picture perfect north country morning]. Saw a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01350.jpg moose] (take my word for it, it’s there…just look on the shore for the dark spot right above the bow handle on the canoe) as we were approaching the portage. On the east end of Monument Portage (you walk along the border with the monument obelisks) is Swamp Lake. I was first there, carrying the canoe. There was a nice boardwalk going out across the mud into the lake, so I took that and stepped onto this nice, wooden canoe launching platform that was about 6 inches below the water. Bad move, as I quickly learned that flat boards underwater are slick. Fortunately, I sacrificed my body to preserve the canoe (don’t want to damage those high-dollar Kevlar jewels!) and got into the lake with a sore shin and bruised pride. Of course, that was better than the guide, Darren, who upon seeing my adventure tried to step in the water short of the platform, and he promptly sank up to his waist in the mud, under the canoe. It I hadn’t been nursing my wounds, I would have gotten a picture of that! We headed into Saganaga Lake, and the day was still calm. Stopped to see some cool Native American pictographs, and stopped for lunch on a spit connecting that area with the main body of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01355.jpg Cache Bay (Saganaga)]. Continued on northwest now, and headed toward Silver Falls. Made [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01357.jpg camp] in a little out of the way spot and enjoyed the warm early afternoon sunshine. The scouts swam in the stream, and I pulled out the flyrod, quickly connecting with many smallies [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01356.jpg like this one]. Jeff R. also [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01358.jpg connected with his first flyrod smallmouth], and he’s now a hopeless case, and was heading for the fly shop as soon as we got home. Caught fish well into the evening. Since Jeff R. was using my 7wt., I got out my 5wt. and continued to mop up many, many smallies along the rocky dropoff that separated the deep water in the center of this pool with a large riffle area. These were modestly fish, up to about 12 inches, so the 5x tippet on the 5wt spool was OK, I thought. Wrong! As I was working the edge, my rod suddenly bent nearly double, and I saw a flash of silver as something took that root-beer colored woolly bugger and headed to parts unknown. My guess, from the color and shape of the fish (which I saw in the clear water) was a nice walleye. I’ll never know, but that’s one of those “fish that got away” stories that you carry with you!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 4 (Tuesday 7/11/06) Silver Falls to McEwen Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 201 rods<br /> <br /> Another [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01367.jpg beautiful day], and we headed out at 7:30AM. Jeff R. got it off to a good start, following Darren’s example of the previous day and getting [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01369.jpg stuck in the mud]. Here’s what a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01370.jpg portage looks like from inside the boat]! A little [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01373.jpg “wet foot” portage] in Saganagons Lake (hmmm…all of them were “wet foot”) didn’t even slow us down. Headed down along part of the famous [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01378.jpg “Falls Chain,”] stopping at Bald Rock Falls for lunch and a swim! This started a really great part of the trip, since after we left Bald Rock falls, we didn’t see anyone outside our group until Thursday when we reached Agnes Lake. There’s something really great about being that far away from the crowd in this day and age. Made it to camp about 2:30 in the afternoon. Our guide, Darren, had never been on this part of the trip before, but he’d heard from a colleague that there was a great campsite with a south-facing sand beach on an island in McEwen Lake. Boy, did this place ever [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01387.jpg live up to expectations]! I rigged up my flyrod with a sink tip and a heavy black wooly bugger and quickly caught [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01388.jpg this fine bass]. Landed some other really nice fish along some rock ledges on the east side of the island. <br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01390.jpg]]<br /> <br /> At this point, I was content to watch the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01391.jpg boots dry] and take in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01392.jpg beauty and solitude] of McEwen Lake. The bonus at this campsite was that the warm southerly breeze off the lake drove away the bugs. We were even able to sit out at dusk and see the sun set on a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01395.jpg perfect day].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 5 (Wednesday 7/12/06) McEwen Lake to Louisa Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 15 miles, 364 rods (12 portages!)<br /> <br /> This was the day of portages! There are 320 rods in a mile, and while 1.1 miles of walking (364 rods) doesn’t sound like a lot, that was a dozen times to pick up the packs, pick up the canoes, and try to avoid getting stuck in the mud or slipping on the rocks. We left that wonderful McEwen Lake campsite about 8AM, after a bit of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01397.jpg canoe repair] (adjustment on one of the seats). Paddled a bit more than a mile to the end of McEwen Lake, and started up [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01398.jpg McEwen Creek]. The creek got [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01400.jpg smaller] and more [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01402.jpg “moosey” looking] but we didn’t see another moose on the trip, beyond the one on day 3. We paddled through a number of shallow areas as we negotiated the chain of small lakes (Glacier, Turn, Edge, Rod, Dumas) toward Louisa Lake. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01407.jpg stopped for lunch] on a point in Fauquier Lake (the crew loved the name of that one, and also “Dumas”; ah, those French names…). We continued on after lunch through two more very small lakes, Star Lake and Arp Lake. At the end of Arp lake, we had the longest portage of the day, a 96 rod jaunt to Louisa. We were getting hot and tired, and when we came out of trees onto the shore of Louisa, it was like a miracle. Most of the day’s portages had been rocky, muddy, swampy, steep, deep, as well as other unhappy descriptions. Ah, but Louisa! We came out onto a wide sandy beach, with a south wind blowing freshly into our faces, warm, clear water lapping at our feet, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01411.jpg dropped our loads and jumped in]! We floated, swam, and generally enjoyed this well-earned treat. However, that fresh wind was blowing right from the southwest, where we needed to paddle. We hopped into the boats, and charged off down 5-mile long Louisa Lake, making about 4 mph, even into the breeze, but we were paddling 3 men to a canoe. We took a quick break in the lee of an island, with Jeff R. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01416.jpg doing his best pirate imitation]. We made camp on a small peninsula jutting out from the west side of the lake. It was a nice place, and we were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01417.jpg quite happy to get there]. We were pleased to find that again, this was relatively bug-free, and the campsite had [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01419.jpg nice, soft pine needles] upon which we pitched our tents. This had been a long day. I thought about fishing, made a few casts, but decided it was too much like work. The crew did a bit of swimming, gathered some blueberries from an islet just south of the peninsula, and we cooked dinner and crashed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 6 (Thursday 7/13/06) Louisa Lake to North Bay (Basswood Lake) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 173 rods<br /> <br /> Dawn broke with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01421.jpg beautiful sunrise] across Louisa Lake. A [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01423.jpg quick breakfast] and we were out on the lake, heading to the south end of the lake and Louisa Falls. Louisa Lake drops very steeply to Agnes Lake, probably loosing 100 feet in a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01424.jpg precipitous 80-rod portage]. However, there is a great benefit, as there is a perfect [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01432.jpg “shower pool”] about ½ way between the two lakes. A great place to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01433.jpg wallow in the water a bit], and the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01434.jpg perfect morning shower]! Here are a couple of shots [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01438.jpg up] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01439.jpg down] from the mid-point. We got down to Agnes Lake without incident, and on the far shore, finally saw some other travelers, bringing to an end the complete solitude we’d enjoyed since Tuesday. Our plan was to paddle up Agnes about 3 miles and catch the 39-rod portage to East Lake. However, that portage trail is apparently very steep and must have fallen into disrepair, as we could not find it in about 30 minutes of searching. Plan B was to continue up Agnes around a point right as the lake opens up onto the main 10-mile long lake body. We did this and finally found the second portage into East Lake, though this detour gave us 5 miles of paddling to replace the 39-rod portage we missed. One of the reasons that we wanted to take this route, rather than the more traditional “S-chain” lake route (Silence, Sultry, Summer, Shade, etc.) was that this took us through Jeff Lake, and with two Jeffs on the trip, we figured that it was a “must-see.” If we thought that the route was small and tight on McEwen Creek, the creek between Jeff Lake and West Lake was [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01444.jpg really tiny]! We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01446.jpg paddled ahead], hoping that we’d have enough water to float our boats. We went through some amazing stands of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01448.jpg water lilies], and over several [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01450.jpg beaver dams]. Late in the day, slowed significantly coming through the swamp, we reached [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01454.jpg North Bay of huge Basswood Lake] for our last night of the trip. We thought about paddling further, but the wind was blowing briskly into our faces, and this was a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01455.jpg nice campsite], so we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01452.jpg settled in for the evening].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 7 (Friday 7/14/06) North Bay to Base Camp ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 170 rods<br /> <br /> Morning on the last day brought the familiar [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01460.jpg ritual application of suncreen]. We were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01461.jpg ready to go]! Three short portages and about 11 miles of easy paddling brought us back to border at Prairie Portage at the edge of the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01462.jpg Quetico-Superior Wilderness]. We had an early lunch, enjoying the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01463.jpg amenities of civilization], along with company from our friends [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01464.jpg Stripes] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01465.jpg Scruffy] (we were careful and didn’t feed them). We carried our gear from Canada back to the US, and headed toward Sommers Canoe Base. If the first part of the trip was easy paddling, the last part made up for it. We had a very tough paddle against a howling wind back across Sucker, Newfound and Moose Lakes. We were whipped puppies, but were very happy to reach the lee of “Boy Scout Island” right across from base. We swam and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01466.jpg enjoyed the afternoon] until our 3PM check in slot. Paddled over, and with a feeling of both accomplishment for what we’d done and sadness that the trip was over, we turned our gear in and unpacked.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Total 107 miles, 1384 rods</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=File:DSC01390.jpg&diff=1545 2007-01-28T22:44:10Z

<p>Jdunn: Quetico Smallmouth</p> <hr /> <div>Quetico Smallmouth</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Quetico_2006&diff=1544 2007-01-28T22:42:45Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;A paddle through Quetico Provincial Park with BSA Troop 449&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01334.jpg|Early morning, Ottertrack Lake]]<br /> <br /> *Reported by Joel Dunn, Scoutmaster<br /> *Crew: 6 scouts, two adult scouters, and one guide from BSA Sommers Canoe Base<br /> <br /> <br /> Arrived at about 3:30 PM on Friday 7/7/06, and outfitted. We were issued our tents, our crew gear, and our “gray whales” for our personal gear, and our food for the expedition. We verified that we had the right tent poles, that our stoves worked, and we had everything on our checklist. We checked that we had a week’s worth of grub, and packed into the food packs. Each canoe would have 3 people, either a food pack or the gear (kettle) pack, and a gray whale for the personal gear of the folks in the boat. For canoes, we had selected the 18’ Kevlar Champlain model from We-no-nah. Each canoe would be loaded heavily, with 700 pounds or so of scouts, leaders, and packs, as the full kettle/food packs and the whales each weighed 75-80 pounds. The canoe only weighed 45-50 pounds, but was somewhat awkward to carry until you got used to it, especially on steep/rocky trails.<br /> <br /> == Day 1 (Saturday 7/8/06) Base Camp to Carp Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 40 rods<br /> <br /> At about 9AM, we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01285.jpg left base camp] on Moose Lake, MN, and paddled across Moose, Newfound and Sucker Lakes on the way to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01290.jpg Prairie Portage] (left to right we are Jeff D, Joel, Eric, Justin, Hank, Adam, Jeff R, and Corey – Darren, our guide, took the picture), at the USA – Canada border. We presented RABC permits and paid the balance of our Quetico camping fees; listened to the ranger’s summary of the rules and regulations for Quetico. We left Prairie Portage and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01291.jpg headed northeast] along the US – Canadian border through Birch Lake, along the old trade route. Historically, the border in this area followed the route that the voyageurs took in support of the fur trade. Our Quetico entry permit was for Carp Lake, so we needed to stay somewhere in that vicinity. As we approached our first portage, each boat crew decided who would carry the kettle/food pack, the whale, and the boat. After crossing the 40-rod portage (our first of this trip) from Birch Lake into Carp lake, we turned north off the border and into Carp Lake proper. We paddled about 3 miles into Carp Lake. Carp Lake narrows again, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01298.jpg stopped to camp] on the lee side of a point not far from the portage to Crawford Lake. I decided to try some flyfishing, even though the wind was blowing briskly from the southwest, swirling all around the point, and making it difficult to cast in any direction. I tried briefly immediately in front of the campsite, but there was no place to get a good backcast, and with a heavily weighted wooly bugger, I couldn’t roll cast. There was a cove nearby, and I connected with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01299.jpg couple of smallmouth] on the deep rig. I picked up one bass in shallow water over some rock ledges using a light blue popper. The fishing was somewhat slow, my arms were sore from the unaccustomed work paddling, and as dusk came on, the bugs were more vigorous, so we retired to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 2 (Sunday 7/9/06) Carp Lake to Ottertrack ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 13 miles, 195 rods<br /> <br /> Slept in longer than we should have, finally stirring about 7AM. The wind was still blowing vigorously, but had now shifted 180 degrees and uncharacteristically, was coming from the northeast. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01306.jpg started out toward Crawford Lake] about 9AM. Did a 10-rod portage into Crawford Lake, and then the 180-rod Knife Portage back into Knife Lake, and back onto the border and the trade route. Started a long, difficult paddle against a 15-20mph wind up Knife Lake. Stopped in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01316.jpg lee of an island] for a break. Made it to Little Knife Portage (only 5 rods) at the end of Knife Lake about 3PM. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01321.jpg What a break]! Out of the wind at last. Paddled about 2 miles up Ottertrack and made camp. Jeff R. wanted to learn to flyfish, so I set him up with one of my outfits and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01329.jpg worked on his casting] for a long while that evening, in spite of the wind. No fish for him yet, though. I managed a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01332.jpg few more smallmouth] like this as well as a small pike, before dusk and “bug time” drove us to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 3 (Monday 7/10/06) Ottertrack to Silver Falls ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 241 rods<br /> <br /> Arose at 5:30AM, determined to get on the water early, as we were planning to go through the west end of Saganaga Lake and Cache Bay; given the expanse of water there, if the wind was still blowing, we wanted all the time we could get. However, dawn broke to glassy calm and we were anxious to get on the water, but [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01335.jpg not before coffee]! Paddled the 5 or so miles to Monument Portage through a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01340.jpg picture perfect north country morning]. Saw a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01350.jpg moose] (take my word for it, it’s there…just look on the shore for the dark spot right above the bow handle on the canoe) as we were approaching the portage. On the east end of Monument Portage (you walk along the border with the monument obelisks) is Swamp Lake. I was first there, carrying the canoe. There was a nice boardwalk going out across the mud into the lake, so I took that and stepped onto this nice, wooden canoe launching platform that was about 6 inches below the water. Bad move, as I quickly learned that flat boards underwater are slick. Fortunately, I sacrificed my body to preserve the canoe (don’t want to damage those high-dollar Kevlar jewels!) and got into the lake with a sore shin and bruised pride. Of course, that was better than the guide, Darren, who upon seeing my adventure tried to step in the water short of the platform, and he promptly sank up to his waist in the mud, under the canoe. It I hadn’t been nursing my wounds, I would have gotten a picture of that! We headed into Saganaga Lake, and the day was still calm. Stopped to see some cool Native American pictographs, and stopped for lunch on a spit connecting that area with the main body of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01355.jpg Cache Bay (Saganaga)]. Continued on northwest now, and headed toward Silver Falls. Made [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01357.jpg camp] in a little out of the way spot and enjoyed the warm early afternoon sunshine. The scouts swam in the stream, and I pulled out the flyrod, quickly connecting with many smallies [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01356.jpg like this one]. Jeff R. also [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01358.jpg connected with his first flyrod smallmouth], and he’s now a hopeless case, and was heading for the fly shop as soon as we got home. Caught fish well into the evening. Since Jeff R. was using my 7wt., I got out my 5wt. and continued to mop up many, many smallies along the rocky dropoff that separated the deep water in the center of this pool with a large riffle area. These were modestly fish, up to about 12 inches, so the 5x tippet on the 5wt spool was OK, I thought. Wrong! As I was working the edge, my rod suddenly bent nearly double, and I saw a flash of silver as something took that root-beer colored woolly bugger and headed to parts unknown. My guess, from the color and shape of the fish (which I saw in the clear water) was a nice walleye. I’ll never know, but that’s one of those “fish that got away” stories that you carry with you!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 4 (Tuesday 7/11/06) Silver Falls to McEwen Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 201 rods<br /> <br /> Another [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01367.jpg beautiful day], and we headed out at 7:30AM. Jeff R. got it off to a good start, following Darren’s example of the previous day and getting [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01369.jpg stuck in the mud]. Here’s what a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01370.jpg portage looks like from inside the boat]! A little [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01373.jpg “wet foot” portage] in Saganagons Lake (hmmm…all of them were “wet foot”) didn’t even slow us down. Headed down along part of the famous [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01378.jpg “Falls Chain,”] stopping at Bald Rock Falls for lunch and a swim! This started a really great part of the trip, since after we left Bald Rock falls, we didn’t see anyone outside our group until Thursday when we reached Agnes Lake. There’s something really great about being that far away from the crowd in this day and age. Made it to camp about 2:30 in the afternoon. Our guide, Darren, had never been on this part of the trip before, but he’d heard from a colleague that there was a great campsite with a south-facing sand beach on an island in McEwen Lake. Boy, did this place ever [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01387.jpg live up to expectations]! I rigged up my flyrod with a sink tip and a heavy black wooly bugger and quickly caught [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01388.jpg this fine bass]. Landed some other really [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01390.jpg nice fish] along some rock ledges on the east side of the island. At this point, I was content to watch the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01391.jpg boots dry] and take in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01392.jpg beauty and solitude] of McEwen Lake. The bonus at this campsite was that the warm southerly breeze off the lake drove away the bugs. We were even able to sit out at dusk and see the sun set on a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01395.jpg perfect day].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 5 (Wednesday 7/12/06) McEwen Lake to Louisa Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 15 miles, 364 rods (12 portages!)<br /> <br /> This was the day of portages! There are 320 rods in a mile, and while 1.1 miles of walking (364 rods) doesn’t sound like a lot, that was a dozen times to pick up the packs, pick up the canoes, and try to avoid getting stuck in the mud or slipping on the rocks. We left that wonderful McEwen Lake campsite about 8AM, after a bit of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01397.jpg canoe repair] (adjustment on one of the seats). Paddled a bit more than a mile to the end of McEwen Lake, and started up [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01398.jpg McEwen Creek]. The creek got [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01400.jpg smaller] and more [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01402.jpg “moosey” looking] but we didn’t see another moose on the trip, beyond the one on day 3. We paddled through a number of shallow areas as we negotiated the chain of small lakes (Glacier, Turn, Edge, Rod, Dumas) toward Louisa Lake. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01407.jpg stopped for lunch] on a point in Fauquier Lake (the crew loved the name of that one, and also “Dumas”; ah, those French names…). We continued on after lunch through two more very small lakes, Star Lake and Arp Lake. At the end of Arp lake, we had the longest portage of the day, a 96 rod jaunt to Louisa. We were getting hot and tired, and when we came out of trees onto the shore of Louisa, it was like a miracle. Most of the day’s portages had been rocky, muddy, swampy, steep, deep, as well as other unhappy descriptions. Ah, but Louisa! We came out onto a wide sandy beach, with a south wind blowing freshly into our faces, warm, clear water lapping at our feet, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01411.jpg dropped our loads and jumped in]! We floated, swam, and generally enjoyed this well-earned treat. However, that fresh wind was blowing right from the southwest, where we needed to paddle. We hopped into the boats, and charged off down 5-mile long Louisa Lake, making about 4 mph, even into the breeze, but we were paddling 3 men to a canoe. We took a quick break in the lee of an island, with Jeff R. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01416.jpg doing his best pirate imitation]. We made camp on a small peninsula jutting out from the west side of the lake. It was a nice place, and we were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01417.jpg quite happy to get there]. We were pleased to find that again, this was relatively bug-free, and the campsite had [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01419.jpg nice, soft pine needles] upon which we pitched our tents. This had been a long day. I thought about fishing, made a few casts, but decided it was too much like work. The crew did a bit of swimming, gathered some blueberries from an islet just south of the peninsula, and we cooked dinner and crashed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 6 (Thursday 7/13/06) Louisa Lake to North Bay (Basswood Lake) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 173 rods<br /> <br /> Dawn broke with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01421.jpg beautiful sunrise] across Louisa Lake. A [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01423.jpg quick breakfast] and we were out on the lake, heading to the south end of the lake and Louisa Falls. Louisa Lake drops very steeply to Agnes Lake, probably loosing 100 feet in a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01424.jpg precipitous 80-rod portage]. However, there is a great benefit, as there is a perfect [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01432.jpg “shower pool”] about ½ way between the two lakes. A great place to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01433.jpg wallow in the water a bit], and the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01434.jpg perfect morning shower]! Here are a couple of shots [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01438.jpg up] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01439.jpg down] from the mid-point. We got down to Agnes Lake without incident, and on the far shore, finally saw some other travelers, bringing to an end the complete solitude we’d enjoyed since Tuesday. Our plan was to paddle up Agnes about 3 miles and catch the 39-rod portage to East Lake. However, that portage trail is apparently very steep and must have fallen into disrepair, as we could not find it in about 30 minutes of searching. Plan B was to continue up Agnes around a point right as the lake opens up onto the main 10-mile long lake body. We did this and finally found the second portage into East Lake, though this detour gave us 5 miles of paddling to replace the 39-rod portage we missed. One of the reasons that we wanted to take this route, rather than the more traditional “S-chain” lake route (Silence, Sultry, Summer, Shade, etc.) was that this took us through Jeff Lake, and with two Jeffs on the trip, we figured that it was a “must-see.” If we thought that the route was small and tight on McEwen Creek, the creek between Jeff Lake and West Lake was [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01444.jpg really tiny]! We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01446.jpg paddled ahead], hoping that we’d have enough water to float our boats. We went through some amazing stands of [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01448.jpg water lilies], and over several [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01450.jpg beaver dams]. Late in the day, slowed significantly coming through the swamp, we reached [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01454.jpg North Bay of huge Basswood Lake] for our last night of the trip. We thought about paddling further, but the wind was blowing briskly into our faces, and this was a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01455.jpg nice campsite], so we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01452.jpg settled in for the evening].<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 7 (Friday 7/14/06) North Bay to Base Camp ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 170 rods<br /> <br /> Morning on the last day brought the familiar [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01460.jpg ritual application of suncreen]. We were [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01461.jpg ready to go]! Three short portages and about 11 miles of easy paddling brought us back to border at Prairie Portage at the edge of the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01462.jpg Quetico-Superior Wilderness]. We had an early lunch, enjoying the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01463.jpg amenities of civilization], along with company from our friends [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01464.jpg Stripes] and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01465.jpg Scruffy] (we were careful and didn’t feed them). We carried our gear from Canada back to the US, and headed toward Sommers Canoe Base. If the first part of the trip was easy paddling, the last part made up for it. We had a very tough paddle against a howling wind back across Sucker, Newfound and Moose Lakes. We were whipped puppies, but were very happy to reach the lee of “Boy Scout Island” right across from base. We swam and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01466.jpg enjoyed the afternoon] until our 3PM check in slot. Paddled over, and with a feeling of both accomplishment for what we’d done and sadness that the trip was over, we turned our gear in and unpacked.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Total 107 miles, 1384 rods</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Quetico_2006&diff=1543 2007-01-28T22:10:23Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;A paddle through Quetico Provincial Park with BSA Troop 449&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01334.jpg|Early morning, Ottertrack Lake]]<br /> <br /> *Reported by Joel Dunn, Scoutmaster<br /> *Crew: 6 scouts, two adult scouters, and one guide from BSA Sommers Canoe Base<br /> <br /> <br /> Arrived at about 3:30 PM on Friday 7/7/06, and outfitted. We were issued our tents, our crew gear, and our “gray whales” for our personal gear, and our food for the expedition. We verified that we had the right tent poles, that our stoves worked, and we had everything on our checklist. We checked that we had a week’s worth of grub, and packed into the food packs. Each canoe would have 3 people, either a food pack or the gear (kettle) pack, and a gray whale for the personal gear of the folks in the boat. For canoes, we had selected the 18’ Kevlar Champlain model from We-no-nah. Each canoe would be loaded heavily, with 700 pounds or so of scouts, leaders, and packs, as the full kettle/food packs and the whales each weighed 75-80 pounds. The canoe only weighed 45-50 pounds, but was somewhat awkward to carry until you got used to it, especially on steep/rocky trails.<br /> <br /> == Day 1 (Saturday 7/8/06) Base Camp to Carp Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 40 rods<br /> <br /> At about 9AM, we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01285.jpg left base camp] on Moose Lake, MN, and paddled across Moose, Newfound and Sucker Lakes on the way to [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01290.jpg Prairie Portage] (left to right we are Jeff D, Joel, Eric, Justin, Hank, Adam, Jeff R, and Corey – Darren, our guide, took the picture), at the USA – Canada border. We presented RABC permits and paid the balance of our Quetico camping fees; listened to the ranger’s summary of the rules and regulations for Quetico. We left Prairie Portage and [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01291.jpg headed northeast] along the US – Canadian border through Birch Lake, along the old trade route. Historically, the border in this area followed the route that the voyageurs took in support of the fur trade. Our Quetico entry permit was for Carp Lake, so we needed to stay somewhere in that vicinity. As we approached our first portage, each boat crew decided who would carry the kettle/food pack, the whale, and the boat. After crossing the 40-rod portage (our first of this trip) from Birch Lake into Carp lake, we turned north off the border and into Carp Lake proper. We paddled about 3 miles into Carp Lake. Carp Lake narrows again, and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01298.jpg stopped to camp] on the lee side of a point not far from the portage to Crawford Lake. I decided to try some flyfishing, even though the wind was blowing briskly from the southwest, swirling all around the point, and making it difficult to cast in any direction. I tried briefly immediately in front of the campsite, but there was no place to get a good backcast, and with a heavily weighted wooly bugger, I couldn’t roll cast. There was a cove nearby, and I connected with a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01299.jpg couple of smallmouth] on the deep rig. I picked up one bass in shallow water over some rock ledges using a light blue popper. The fishing was somewhat slow, my arms were sore from the unaccustomed work paddling, and as dusk came on, the bugs were more vigorous, so we retired to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 2 (Sunday 7/9/06) Carp Lake to Ottertrack ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 13 miles, 195 rods<br /> <br /> Slept in longer than we should have, finally stirring about 7AM. The wind was still blowing vigorously, but had now shifted 180 degrees and uncharacteristically, was coming from the northeast. We [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01306.jpg started out toward Crawford Lake] about 9AM. Did a 10-rod portage into Crawford Lake, and then the 180-rod Knife Portage back into Knife Lake, and back onto the border and the trade route. Started a long, difficult paddle against a 15-20mph wind up Knife Lake. Stopped in the [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01316.jpg lee of an island] for a break. Made it to Little Knife Portage (only 5 rods) at the end of Knife Lake about 3PM. [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01321.jpg What a break]! Out of the wind at last. Paddled about 2 miles up Ottertrack and made camp. Jeff R. wanted to learn to flyfish, so I set him up with one of my outfits and we [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01329.jpg worked on his casting] for a long while that evening, in spite of the wind. No fish for him yet, though. I managed a [http://www.jdunns.com/quetico2006/DSC01332.jpg few more smallmouth] like this as well as a small pike, before dusk and “bug time” drove us to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 3 (Monday 7/10/06) Ottertrack to Silver Falls ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 241 rods<br /> <br /> Arose at 5:30AM, determined to get on the water early, as we were planning to go through the west end of Saganaga Lake and Cache Bay; given the expanse of water there, if the wind was still blowing, we wanted all the time we could get. However, dawn broke to glassy calm and we were anxious to get on the water, but not before coffee! Paddled the 5 or so miles to Monument Portage through a picture perfect north country morning. Saw a moose (take my word for it, it’s there…just look on the shore for the dark spot right above the bow handle on the canoe) as we were approaching the portage. On the east end of Monument Portage (you walk along the border with the monument obelisks) is Swamp Lake. I was first there, carrying the canoe. There was a nice boardwalk going out across the mud into the lake, so I took that and stepped onto this nice, wooden canoe launching platform that was about 6 inches below the water. Bad move, as I quickly learned that flat boards underwater are slick. Fortunately, I sacrificed my body to preserve the canoe (don’t want to damage those high-dollar Kevlar jewels!) and got into the lake with a sore shin and bruised pride. Of course, that was better than the guide, Darren, who upon seeing my adventure tried to step in the water short of the platform, and he promptly sank up to his waist in the mud, under the canoe. It I hadn’t been nursing my wounds, I would have gotten a picture of that! We headed into Saganaga Lake, and the day was still calm. Stopped to see some cool Native American pictographs, and stopped for lunch on a spit connecting that area with the main body of Cache Bay (Saganaga). Continued on northwest now, and headed toward Silver Falls. Made camp in a little out of the way spot and enjoyed the warm early afternoon sunshine. The scouts swam in the stream, and I pulled out the flyrod, quickly connecting with many smallies like this one. Jeff R. also connected with his first flyrod smallmouth, and he’s now a hopeless case, and was heading for the fly shop as soon as we got home. Caught fish well into the evening. Since Jeff R. was using my 7wt., I got out my 5wt. and continued to mop up many, many smallies along the rocky dropoff that separated the deep water in the center of this pool with a large riffle area. These were modestly fish, up to about 12 inches, so the 5x tippet on the 5wt spool was OK, I thought. Wrong! As I was working the edge, my rod suddenly bent nearly double, and I saw a flash of silver as something took that root-beer colored woolly bugger and headed to parts unknown. My guess, from the color and shape of the fish (which I saw in the clear water) was a nice walleye. I’ll never know, but that’s one of those “fish that got away” stories that you carry with you!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 4 (Tuesday 7/11/06) Silver Falls to McEwen Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 201 rods<br /> <br /> Another beautiful day, and we headed out at 7:30AM. Jeff R. got it off to a good start, following Darren’s example of the previous day and getting stuck in the mud. Here’s what a portage looks like from inside the boat! A little “wet foot” portage in Saganagons Lake (hmmm…all of them were “wet foot”) didn’t even slow us down. Headed down along part of the famous “Falls Chain,” stopping at Bald Rock Falls for lunch and a swim! This started a really great part of the trip, since after we left Bald Rock falls, we didn’t see anyone outside our group until Thursday when we reached Agnes Lake. There’s something really great about being that far away from the crowd in this day and age. Made it to camp about 2:30 in the afternoon. Our guide, Darren, had never been on this part of the trip before, but he’d heard from a colleague that there was a great campsite with a south-facing sand beach on an island in McEwen Lake. Boy, did this place ever live up to expectations! I rigged up my flyrod with a sink tip and a heavy black wooly bugger and quickly caught this fine bass. Landed some other really nice fish along some rock ledges on the east side of the island. At this point, I was content to watch the boots dry and take in the beauty and solitude of McEwen Lake. The bonus at this campsite was that the warm southerly breeze off the lake drove away the bugs. We were even able to sit out at dusk and see the sun set on a perfect day.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 5 (Wednesday 7/12/06) McEwen Lake to Louisa Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 15 miles, 364 rods (12 portages!)<br /> <br /> This was the day of portages! There are 320 rods in a mile, and while 1.1 miles of walking (364 rods) doesn’t sound like a lot, that was a dozen times to pick up the packs, pick up the canoes, and try to avoid getting stuck in the mud or slipping on the rocks. We left that wonderful McEwen Lake campsite about 8AM, after a bit of canoe repair (adjustment on one of the seats). Paddled a bit more than a mile to the end of McEwen Lake, and started up McEwen Creek. The creek got smaller and more “moosey” looking but we didn’t see another moose on the trip, beyond the one on day 3. We paddled through a number of shallow areas as we negotiated the chain of small lakes (Glacier, Turn, Edge, Rod, Dumas) toward Louisa Lake. We stopped for lunch on a point in Fauquier Lake (the crew loved the name of that one, and also “Dumas”; ah, those French names…). We continued on after lunch through two more very small lakes, Star Lake and Arp Lake. At the end of Arp lake, we had the longest portage of the day, a 96 rod jaunt to Louisa. We were getting hot and tired, and when we came out of trees onto the shore of Louisa, it was like a miracle. Most of the day’s portages had been rocky, muddy, swampy, steep, deep, as well as other unhappy descriptions. Ah, but Louisa! We came out onto a wide sandy beach, with a south wind blowing freshly into our faces, warm, clear water lapping at our feet, and we dropped our loads and jumped in! We floated, swam, and generally enjoyed this well-earned treat. However, that fresh wind was blowing right from the southwest, where we needed to paddle. We hopped into the boats, and charged off down 5-mile long Louisa Lake, making about 4 mph, even into the breeze, but we were paddling 3 men to a canoe. We took a quick break in the lee of an island, with Jeff R. doing his best pirate imitation. We made camp on a small peninsula jutting out from the west side of the lake. It was a nice place, and we were quite happy to get there. We were pleased to find that again, this was relatively bug-free, and the campsite had nice, soft pine needles upon which we pitched our tents. This had been a long day. I thought about fishing, made a few casts, but decided it was too much like work. The crew did a bit of swimming, gathered some blueberries from an islet just south of the peninsula, and we cooked dinner and crashed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 6 (Thursday 7/13/06) Louisa Lake to North Bay (Basswood Lake) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 173 rods<br /> <br /> Dawn broke with a beautiful sunrise across Louisa Lake. A quick breakfast and we were out on the lake, heading to the south end of the lake and Louisa Falls. Louisa Lake drops very steeply to Agnes Lake, probably loosing 100 feet in a precipitous 80-rod portage. However, there is a great benefit, as there is a perfect “shower pool” about ½ way between the two lakes. A great place to wallow in the water a bit, and the perfect morning shower! Here are a couple of shots up and down from the mid-point. We got down to Agnes Lake without incident, and on the far shore, finally saw some other travelers, bringing to an end the complete solitude we’d enjoyed since Tuesday. Our plan was to paddle up Agnes about 3 miles and catch the 39-rod portage to East Lake. However, that portage trail is apparently very steep and must have fallen into disrepair, as we could not find it in about 30 minutes of searching. Plan B was to continue up Agnes around a point right as the lake opens up onto the main 10-mile long lake body. We did this and finally found the second portage into East Lake, though this detour gave us 5 miles of paddling to replace the 39-rod portage we missed. One of the reasons that we wanted to take this route, rather than the more traditional “S-chain” lake route (Silence, Sultry, Summer, Shade, etc.) was that this took us through Jeff Lake, and with two Jeffs on the trip, we figured that it was a “must-see.” If we thought that the route was small and tight on McEwen Creek, the creek between Jeff Lake and West Lake was really tiny! We paddled ahead, hoping that we’d have enough water to float our boats. We went through some amazing stands of water lilies, and over several beaver dams. Late in the day, slowed significantly coming through the swamp, we reached North Bay of huge Basswood Lake for our last night of the trip. We thought about paddling further, but the wind was blowing briskly into our faces, and this was a nice campsite, so we settled in for the evening.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 7 (Friday 7/14/06) North Bay to Base Camp ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 170 rods<br /> <br /> Morning on the last day brought the familiar ritual application of suncreen. We were ready to go! Three short portages and about 11 miles of easy paddling brought us back to border at Prairie Portage at the edge of the Quetico-Superior Wilderness. We had an early lunch, enjoying the amenities of civilization, along with company from our friends Stripes and Scruffy (we were careful and didn’t feed them). We carried our gear from Canada back to the US, and headed toward Sommers Canoe Base. If the first part of the trip was easy paddling, the last part made up for it. We had a very tough paddle against a howling wind back across Sucker, Newfound and Moose Lakes. We were whipped puppies, but were very happy to reach the lee of “Boy Scout Island” right across from base. We swam and enjoyed the afternoon until our 3PM check in slot. Paddled over, and with a feeling of both accomplishment for what we’d done and sadness that the trip was over, we turned our gear in and unpacked.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Total 107 miles, 1384 rods</div>

Jdunn http://www.flyfishlist.org/index.php?title=Quetico_2006&diff=1542 2007-01-28T22:02:23Z

<p>Jdunn: </p> <hr /> <div>&#039;&#039;&#039;A paddle through Quetico Provincial Park with BSA Troop 449&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> &#039;&#039;&#039;WIKI MARKUP IN PROGRESS&#039;&#039;&#039;<br /> <br /> [[Image:DSC01334.jpg|Early morning, Ottertrack Lake]]<br /> <br /> *Reported by Joel Dunn, Scoutmaster<br /> *Crew: 6 scouts, two adult scouters, and one guide from BSA Sommers Canoe Base<br /> <br /> <br /> Arrived at about 3:30 PM on Friday 7/7/06, and outfitted. We were issued our tents, our crew gear, and our “gray whales” for our personal gear, and our food for the expedition. We verified that we had the right tent poles, that our stoves worked, and we had everything on our checklist. We checked that we had a week’s worth of grub, and packed into the food packs. Each canoe would have 3 people, either a food pack or the gear (kettle) pack, and a gray whale for the personal gear of the folks in the boat. For canoes, we had selected the 18’ Kevlar Champlain model from We-no-nah. Each canoe would be loaded heavily, with 700 pounds or so of scouts, leaders, and packs, as the full kettle/food packs and the whales each weighed 75-80 pounds. The canoe only weighed 45-50 pounds, but was somewhat awkward to carry until you got used to it, especially on steep/rocky trails.<br /> <br /> == Day 1 (Saturday 7/8/06) Base Camp to Carp Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 40 rods<br /> <br /> At about 9AM, we left base camp on Moose Lake, MN, and paddled across Moose, Newfound and Sucker Lakes on the way to Prairie Portage (left to right we are Jeff D, Joel, Eric, Justin, Hank, Adam, Jeff R, and Corey – Darren, our guide, took the picture), at the USA – Canada border. We presented RABC permits and paid the balance of our Quetico camping fees; listened to the ranger’s summary of the rules and regulations for Quetico. We left Prairie Portage and headed northeast along the US – Canadian border through Birch Lake, along the old trade route. Historically, the border in this area followed the route that the voyageurs took in support of the fur trade. Our Quetico entry permit was for Carp Lake, so we needed to stay somewhere in that vicinity. As we approached our first portage, each boat crew decided who would carry the kettle/food pack, the whale, and the boat. After crossing the 40-rod portage (our first of this trip) from Birch Lake into Carp lake, we turned north off the border and into Carp Lake proper. We paddled about 3 miles into Carp Lake. Carp Lake narrows again, and we stopped to camp on the lee side of a point not far from the portage to Crawford Lake. I decided to try some flyfishing, even though the wind was blowing briskly from the southwest, swirling all around the point, and making it difficult to cast in any direction. I tried briefly immediately in front of the campsite, but there was no place to get a good backcast, and with a heavily weighted wooly bugger, I couldn’t roll cast. There was a cove nearby, and I connected with a couple of smallmouth on the deep rig. I picked up one bass in shallow water over some rock ledges using a light blue popper. The fishing was somewhat slow, my arms were sore from the unaccustomed work paddling, and as dusk came on, the bugs were more vigorous, so we retired to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 2 (Sunday 7/9/06) Carp Lake to Ottertrack ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 13 miles, 195 rods<br /> <br /> Slept in longer than we should have, finally stirring about 7AM. The wind was still blowing vigorously, but had now shifted 180 degrees and uncharacteristically, was coming from the northeast. We started out toward Crawford Lake about 9AM. Did a 10-rod portage into Crawford Lake, and then the 180-rod Knife Portage back into Knife Lake, and back onto the border and the trade route. Started a long, difficult paddle against a 15-20mph wind up Knife Lake. Stopped in the lee of an island for a break. Made it to Little Knife Portage (only 5 rods) at the end of Knife Lake about 3PM. What a break! Out of the wind at last. Paddled about 2 miles up Ottertrack and made camp. Jeff R. wanted to learn to flyfish, so I set him up with one of my outfits and we worked on his casting for a long while that evening, in spite of the wind. No fish for him yet, though. I managed a few more smallmouth like this as well as a small pike, before dusk and “bug time” drove us to our tents.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 3 (Monday 7/10/06) Ottertrack to Silver Falls ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 14 miles, 241 rods<br /> <br /> Arose at 5:30AM, determined to get on the water early, as we were planning to go through the west end of Saganaga Lake and Cache Bay; given the expanse of water there, if the wind was still blowing, we wanted all the time we could get. However, dawn broke to glassy calm and we were anxious to get on the water, but not before coffee! Paddled the 5 or so miles to Monument Portage through a picture perfect north country morning. Saw a moose (take my word for it, it’s there…just look on the shore for the dark spot right above the bow handle on the canoe) as we were approaching the portage. On the east end of Monument Portage (you walk along the border with the monument obelisks) is Swamp Lake. I was first there, carrying the canoe. There was a nice boardwalk going out across the mud into the lake, so I took that and stepped onto this nice, wooden canoe launching platform that was about 6 inches below the water. Bad move, as I quickly learned that flat boards underwater are slick. Fortunately, I sacrificed my body to preserve the canoe (don’t want to damage those high-dollar Kevlar jewels!) and got into the lake with a sore shin and bruised pride. Of course, that was better than the guide, Darren, who upon seeing my adventure tried to step in the water short of the platform, and he promptly sank up to his waist in the mud, under the canoe. It I hadn’t been nursing my wounds, I would have gotten a picture of that! We headed into Saganaga Lake, and the day was still calm. Stopped to see some cool Native American pictographs, and stopped for lunch on a spit connecting that area with the main body of Cache Bay (Saganaga). Continued on northwest now, and headed toward Silver Falls. Made camp in a little out of the way spot and enjoyed the warm early afternoon sunshine. The scouts swam in the stream, and I pulled out the flyrod, quickly connecting with many smallies like this one. Jeff R. also connected with his first flyrod smallmouth, and he’s now a hopeless case, and was heading for the fly shop as soon as we got home. Caught fish well into the evening. Since Jeff R. was using my 7wt., I got out my 5wt. and continued to mop up many, many smallies along the rocky dropoff that separated the deep water in the center of this pool with a large riffle area. These were modestly fish, up to about 12 inches, so the 5x tippet on the 5wt spool was OK, I thought. Wrong! As I was working the edge, my rod suddenly bent nearly double, and I saw a flash of silver as something took that root-beer colored woolly bugger and headed to parts unknown. My guess, from the color and shape of the fish (which I saw in the clear water) was a nice walleye. I’ll never know, but that’s one of those “fish that got away” stories that you carry with you!<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 4 (Tuesday 7/11/06) Silver Falls to McEwen Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 201 rods<br /> <br /> Another beautiful day, and we headed out at 7:30AM. Jeff R. got it off to a good start, following Darren’s example of the previous day and getting stuck in the mud. Here’s what a portage looks like from inside the boat! A little “wet foot” portage in Saganagons Lake (hmmm…all of them were “wet foot”) didn’t even slow us down. Headed down along part of the famous “Falls Chain,” stopping at Bald Rock Falls for lunch and a swim! This started a really great part of the trip, since after we left Bald Rock falls, we didn’t see anyone outside our group until Thursday when we reached Agnes Lake. There’s something really great about being that far away from the crowd in this day and age. Made it to camp about 2:30 in the afternoon. Our guide, Darren, had never been on this part of the trip before, but he’d heard from a colleague that there was a great campsite with a south-facing sand beach on an island in McEwen Lake. Boy, did this place ever live up to expectations! I rigged up my flyrod with a sink tip and a heavy black wooly bugger and quickly caught this fine bass. Landed some other really nice fish along some rock ledges on the east side of the island. At this point, I was content to watch the boots dry and take in the beauty and solitude of McEwen Lake. The bonus at this campsite was that the warm southerly breeze off the lake drove away the bugs. We were even able to sit out at dusk and see the sun set on a perfect day.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 5 (Wednesday 7/12/06) McEwen Lake to Louisa Lake ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 15 miles, 364 rods (12 portages!)<br /> <br /> This was the day of portages! There are 320 rods in a mile, and while 1.1 miles of walking (364 rods) doesn’t sound like a lot, that was a dozen times to pick up the packs, pick up the canoes, and try to avoid getting stuck in the mud or slipping on the rocks. We left that wonderful McEwen Lake campsite about 8AM, after a bit of canoe repair (adjustment on one of the seats). Paddled a bit more than a mile to the end of McEwen Lake, and started up McEwen Creek. The creek got smaller and more “moosey” looking but we didn’t see another moose on the trip, beyond the one on day 3. We paddled through a number of shallow areas as we negotiated the chain of small lakes (Glacier, Turn, Edge, Rod, Dumas) toward Louisa Lake. We stopped for lunch on a point in Fauquier Lake (the crew loved the name of that one, and also “Dumas”; ah, those French names…). We continued on after lunch through two more very small lakes, Star Lake and Arp Lake. At the end of Arp lake, we had the longest portage of the day, a 96 rod jaunt to Louisa. We were getting hot and tired, and when we came out of trees onto the shore of Louisa, it was like a miracle. Most of the day’s portages had been rocky, muddy, swampy, steep, deep, as well as other unhappy descriptions. Ah, but Louisa! We came out onto a wide sandy beach, with a south wind blowing freshly into our faces, warm, clear water lapping at our feet, and we dropped our loads and jumped in! We floated, swam, and generally enjoyed this well-earned treat. However, that fresh wind was blowing right from the southwest, where we needed to paddle. We hopped into the boats, and charged off down 5-mile long Louisa Lake, making about 4 mph, even into the breeze, but we were paddling 3 men to a canoe. We took a quick break in the lee of an island, with Jeff R. doing his best pirate imitation. We made camp on a small peninsula jutting out from the west side of the lake. It was a nice place, and we were quite happy to get there. We were pleased to find that again, this was relatively bug-free, and the campsite had nice, soft pine needles upon which we pitched our tents. This had been a long day. I thought about fishing, made a few casts, but decided it was too much like work. The crew did a bit of swimming, gathered some blueberries from an islet just south of the peninsula, and we cooked dinner and crashed.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 6 (Thursday 7/13/06) Louisa Lake to North Bay (Basswood Lake) ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 173 rods<br /> <br /> Dawn broke with a beautiful sunrise across Louisa Lake. A quick breakfast and we were out on the lake, heading to the south end of the lake and Louisa Falls. Louisa Lake drops very steeply to Agnes Lake, probably loosing 100 feet in a precipitous 80-rod portage. However, there is a great benefit, as there is a perfect “shower pool” about ½ way between the two lakes. A great place to wallow in the water a bit, and the perfect morning shower! Here are a couple of shots up and down from the mid-point. We got down to Agnes Lake without incident, and on the far shore, finally saw some other travelers, bringing to an end the complete solitude we’d enjoyed since Tuesday. Our plan was to paddle up Agnes about 3 miles and catch the 39-rod portage to East Lake. However, that portage trail is apparently very steep and must have fallen into disrepair, as we could not find it in about 30 minutes of searching. Plan B was to continue up Agnes around a point right as the lake opens up onto the main 10-mile long lake body. We did this and finally found the second portage into East Lake, though this detour gave us 5 miles of paddling to replace the 39-rod portage we missed. One of the reasons that we wanted to take this route, rather than the more traditional “S-chain” lake route (Silence, Sultry, Summer, Shade, etc.) was that this took us through Jeff Lake, and with two Jeffs on the trip, we figured that it was a “must-see.” If we thought that the route was small and tight on McEwen Creek, the creek between Jeff Lake and West Lake was really tiny! We paddled ahead, hoping that we’d have enough water to float our boats. We went through some amazing stands of water lilies, and over several beaver dams. Late in the day, slowed significantly coming through the swamp, we reached North Bay of huge Basswood Lake for our last night of the trip. We thought about paddling further, but the wind was blowing briskly into our faces, and this was a nice campsite, so we settled in for the evening.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> == Day 7 (Friday 7/14/06) North Bay to Base Camp ==<br /> <br /> <br /> 17 miles, 170 rods<br /> <br /> Morning on the last day brought the familiar ritual application of suncreen. We were ready to go! Three short portages and about 11 miles of easy paddling brought us back to border at Prairie Portage at the edge of the Quetico-Superior Wilderness. We had an early lunch, enjoying the amenities of civilization, along with company from our friends Stripes and Scruffy (we were careful and didn’t feed them). We carried our gear from Canada back to the US, and headed toward Sommers Canoe Base. If the first part of the trip was easy paddling, the last part made up for it. We had a very tough paddle against a howling wind back across Sucker, Newfound and Moose Lakes. We were whipped puppies, but were very happy to reach the lee of “Boy Scout Island” right across from base. We swam and enjoyed the afternoon until our 3PM check in slot. Paddled over, and with a feeling of both accomplishment for what we’d done and sadness that the trip was over, we turned our gear in and unpacked.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Total 107 miles, 1384 rods</div>

Jdunn