2 Days on the Driftless

I believe the reports about the fishing on the Driftless being the best it's ever been.

 

Pike on the fly

Having fun with the pike fishing. 

James at work

DF&F, Lake Trout

Drawing Fish & Flies 52. This week's subject - lake trout and/or bunny leach.
Anyone following along is welcome to use my lake trout piece as screen wallpaper.

DF&F announces a weekly subject for those who want to play/follow along. Only one rule, 30 minutes for production. Check out Jason & Jeff's work at the links below.
Jason Borger - Lake Trout & Bunny Leach
Jeff Kennedy - Bunny Leach

Neuromasts of Esox Lucious

Look at all the neuromasts on the head of this predator. What a cool fish. All those spots and holes are part of the pike's lateral line -- the sensory system used to detect movement and vibration in the water.

Synopsis of Biological Data on the Northern Pike

excerpt: Frost and Kipling (1967) also studied the technique of prey capture of young northern pike. The pike "marks down" the prey which it stalks stealthily to within a certain distance and then, before striking, flexes  its body. This gives the impetus for the lightning dart forward strike. The prey is grasped crossways in the mouth and firmly held by the backwardly projecting teeth. Then it is swallowed head first. 

DF&F, Deceiver

Classic Deceiver

Anyone following along is welcome to use my Deceiver piece as screen wallpaper.

DF&F announces a weekly subject for those who want to play/follow along. Only one rule, 30 minutes for production. Check out Jason & Jeff's work at the links below.
Jason Borger - Striped Bass & Deceiver
Jeff Kennedy - Striped Bass & Deceiver 

DF&F, Bonefish and Crazy Charlie

Drawing Fish & Flies 52 - Bonefish & Crazy Charlie

Years ago when I was working as an art director at a small design firm we would get occasional illustration work.  I always enjoyed turning a quick sketch into something new. The 30 minute rule for DF&F production really puts me in high gear once I get things going with the sketch and computer. It's one of those 8:00AM after 3 cups of coffee productions. Prior to about 2005 the computers & software we designed on wouldn't have moved fast enough for me to compose with the computer so fast.

showing plastic layer & multiply transparency

Production Notes: Used the plastic scan from last week's brookie piece to give that ripple look. In Adobe Illustrator using the "Multiply Transparency & Opacity". This gives certain layers that "see through" quality.

Anyone following along is welcome to use my Bonefish piece as screen wallpaper.

DF&F announces a weekly subject for those who want to play/follow along. Only one rule, 30 minutes for production. Check out Jason & Jeff's work at the links below.

Jason Borger - Bonefish 

Jeff Kennedy - Crazy Charlie

Most used words on my blog

www.wordle.com

Pike in Black & White

This winter I've been spending time below the local spillway throwing meaty flies for pike. I started fishing pike this past summer with a local pike guru James O Durbin. Fishing Pike is a different game for me. Very different than fishing for carp, trout, bass, or anything else I chase here in Iowa. It's more physical -- long casts with big flies. Repetitive. I actually bought a heavier stick to throw meaty flies. It's also been a humbling fish to chase. Plenty of outings without a hit. Then you get that big one and you remember why you're pike fishing. 

  
Currently throwing Mike Schmidt's "Barry's Pike Fly with a Twist". & a variation of James O Durbin's Green Pike Fly

Woodblock Prints

One of the things I like about blogs is that they often motivate me to get something done. John's recent posts motivated me to get some scans done of a few woodblock prints I did several years ago. All were carved out of birch plywood, rolled with ink, and then put through a small press. Enjoy!
Trico
Caddis
Baetisca

Stonefly

Bugs & melting snow

This week the snow is melting on this small trout stream in Iowa. I look forward to Spring when the residents will chase streamers with wild abandon. On this day it felt like the fish were gone. Sometimes winter trout fishing can make you feel that way. Subtle bites on small midges.  

Jeez, what is that?

DF&F, Brook Trout and X-Caddis

Drawing Fish & Flies 52 - Brook Trout & X-Caddis.

Iowa Driftless Brook Trout

Began by tracing my brookie photo with marker on plastic. I wasn't sure if the scan would capture the ripples of the plastic but was pleased that it did. I gave this week's subject matter a couple days of thought before putting pencil to paper (or marker to plastic). I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted the piece to go before strarting the timer. Often the finished product is not what I envisioned but this time it was pretty much spot on. Process: Print Photo-trace-scan-photoshop-illustrator.

Anyone following along is welcome to use my Brookie piece as desktop wallpaper.

Links to Drawing Fish & Flies 52 

Jason Borger - Brook Trout

Jeff Kennedy - Brook Trout

DF&F 52 - Cutthroat

Drawing Fish & Flies 52 - Cutthroat. I've never caught a cutthroat and I've yet to fish out west (I'm not counting that long ago family vacation to CO when I caught some trout with a nightcrawler). I hope to fish out west sooner than later.

I often design and sketch in layers. That's a byproduct of a graphic design background. It's what I studied at Iowa State University and practiced for a couple years. Five years ago I moved into a sales job and now design work is just a hobby done for my own personal enjoyment. You can see from my sketch I'm thinking of how I can layer things together using photoshop and illustrator. Sketch-Scan-Darken Lines-Vectorize-Turn on Bowie's "Andy Warhol"-and color.

Anyone following along is welcome to use my Cutthroat piece as a desktop background.

Links to Drawing Fish & Flies 52 

Jason Borger - Cutthroat

Jeff Kennedy - Cutthroat

Fly-Carpin Fly Swap

Carp flies going out the door for the Fly-Carpin fly swap. This varient carp fly gives credit to Trevor Tanner's Primordial Carp-Stew & Primordial Carp-Crust. I'm looking forward to seeing what the other carp aficionados tie up for the swap. Thanks to McTage for putting this awesome swap together!

John

Drawing Flies

Black Stonefly Nymph

I've been following the blogs of Jason Borger and Jeff Kennedy. These guys are super talented artists who weekly pick a fish and/or fly to draw in 30 minutes or less. Recently they decided to pre-announce the subject matter for anyone else to follow/play along. 

I thought the 30 minutes wouldn't be enough but I made it happen. Would have been a different story if I attempted to draw a fish into the piece. (sketch time @10 min, p-shop @20 min). Anyone reading this is welcome to use my black stonefly piece as a desktop background. Cheers!

John

First Ski of 2012

I purchased a new pair of skis in early Dec., the day after the first snow melted. I've been waiting ever since. The snow isn't deep right now, but it works. I'm ready for winter!

Big Flies, sore back

someone is missing a chair.

Dave hooked a nice one this week.

yesterday was 55 degrees, today is 14 with snow and wind. Good ol' Iowa

spot the pike?

Of streamers and short-strikes

I went to the river thinking I might film some dry fly fishing. The midges were coming off, but it was nothing special. No worries as the fish were taking streamers again.-in January, what?

Here is a conversation I often have with myself.

Me: The tails on your streamers are too long, results in too many short-strikes.

Antagonist: Any fish that doesn't have the balls to eat the whole thing isn't a fish you want to catch anyhows.

Me: How many medium sized fish (16 inches) do you think you miss because the tails on your streamers are too long?

Antagonist: I suppose a few, I don't really know.

Me: A 16 inch fish can make the difference between a good day and a really good day.

Antagonist: Neither of those days are what you should be after.

Pike on the Fly

Fishing in the city, you never know who's gonna show up. Yesterday I setup in this spot and shortly after arrival I was surrounded by 3 other fisherman. They gave me about 15 feet for a back cast and about 30 feet of water to fish. I had to just laugh and move to a different spot. I suppose I could have resumed my backcast and caught a redneck. Anyway, that's not my style. They only fished for about 20 minutes. Shortly after getting back to the spot I hooked this nice pike. 

I love Minnesota –and the ridiculously warm weather we have been having –and streamers in January –and this new little camera I’ve been playing around with –and this stream that has such incredibly stable water temps that the fish are seemingly in the same runs all year long.

Let me know what you think about these videos. I’m not spending a whole lot of time editing them right now. I spent a solid half hour getting the clips into imovie, chopping them up, and arranging them. I’m not trying to win any awards here, just want to bring you along.

New Year's Eve Pike

James and I took advantage of the open water and mild December air. I say "mild" but my legs were freezing in my breathable waders. Just enough fish caught to keep us in the water. 

Happy New Year All!