A new Blog on the Radar : Fishing with Special Ed

A fellow by the name of Ed, a prominent Great Lakes (and beyond) fisherman just launched his blog over at Andrew Ragas's website, fishing headquarters. In an effort to build a network of stories and up to date fishing information I believe it is important to continue to build a community of bloggers who share the passion for fishing that we do. So please, if you have the time, have a look at Ed's new blog and enjoy.

Here is a little about Ed straight from his blog:

"I grew up in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, and started fishing as young as 2 years old. From subdivision ponds and forest preserves to our local rivers and streams, I have been fishing locally for almost 30 years.

With the time spent serving my country, I was able to fish the fresh and saltwater bodies of water off the islands in the Pacific Ocean, as well as the fertile waters along the coast of Northern and Southern California. Whether it’s from shore, chest deep in the current, or motoring around in my Mercury-equipped Alumacraft fishing boat, I am at home anywhere on the water.

Now I am living back again in the southwestern suburbs with my family, and go fishing every chance I get. If I had a goal in life it would be to spend the rest of my days learning new waters, sharing my knowledge of local waters, and enjoying the breathtaking scenery that nature surrounds us with."

Rise : Confluence Films Trailer

Featuring hatch reels. Thanks to a reader for bringing this to my attention.

"Rise" Trailer from Costa Sunglasses on Vimeo.

It really is a beautiful trailer. There is so much fishing to be done in the world, I'm just thankful I'm right in the heart of it... the Great Lakes.

Ginger Rogers : Life Magazine Cover

A photograph from 1942, actress Ginger Rogers holding fly rod as she sits on ground while taking a break from fly fishing on her 1,000-acre ranch in the Rogue River Valley.


I wonder how many actresses these days own a 1000 acre ranch to fly fish on... I would wager not many.

Great Lakes, Asian Carp, and the Obama Administration

During a flurry of media, accusations, and assumptions about who is doing what and how come this level headed writing comes from Andy Buchsbaum, a name you, my readers, will come to know in the years to come I'm sure.

"As the legal briefs fly and the rhetoric heats up, I think it’s important to remember that every government agency involved in this process cares deeply about the Great Lakes and is exerting enormous efforts to keep the invasive carp out of the Great Lakes. We may disagree with their strategy or methods, but folks in the Obama Administration and the Illinois DNR have been pulling all-nighters through the holidays to try to get a handle on how to protect the lakes from the carp and we need to recognize that.

And we can’t lose sight of the fact that this Administration has already, in its first year, done more for the Great Lakes than any other in history, that President Obama is truly our first Great Lakes president, and that we’re in agreement with the Administration on virtually every other Great Lakes issue."

He runs a blog of his own, Great Lakes on the Ground and is currently on his way to China to speak about the Great Lakes as a success story.

Obama, truly our first Great Lakes president. More than enough reason to support him right there and wait to see where legislation and support falls before we start throwing stones.

I encourage you to follow Great Lakes on the Ground, as it is a reputable source about the great lakes, straight from the mouth of National Wildlife Foundation.

Google Life Collection : Great Lakes Angler

Tonight I made a bit of discovery using google image search. If you type into the search bar : source:life "xxxxxx" anything you want, it will search their newly scanned archives of all of the Life Magazine articles and feed you the images associated with the articles it finds.

Thus a search of "source:life greatlakes" will get you images of the great lakes from articles from decades ago, which makes for some great images that you have likely never seen.

I naturally tried "source:life wisconsin" and found this beautiful trout stream image.

Here is another from "source:life greatlakes"

Finally this great image of "the Swanson family" on Oak Street Pier with a trot line out for yellow perch. This image was taken in 1950.

Have a look yourself, you might enjoy it.

Fly Fishing for Musky

Catching a Musky can be a once in a lifetime experience for an angler. I myself have only logged two of them in my lifetime, caught this past summer and the summer before. Catching them using normal tackle or specialized musky tackle is the method of choice to get the job done. Catching one on a fly rod... well that's something else entirely.

Musky Chronicles Trailer from Lee Church on Vimeo.

I've seen photographs of them with big flies sticking out of their mouths but this video is really something else. It's a trailer for a video called Musky Chronicles, enjoy.

Great Lakes Angler : New Gear : Hatch 7 Plus Fly Reel

Well I finally have a setup worthy of the fish I fight on our wonderful Great Lakes Tributaries.

These are two photographs of my new hatch 7+ for my eight weight rod. I plan on dancing with Steelhead, Brown Trout, and even some Salmon on the tributaries throughout the great lakes region. I also picked this reel with Northern Pike and big Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass in mind, I shoot for those in May-August in Northern Minnesota.

I can't wait to put some miles on this set up, enjoy the photographs!

Catch Magazine : E-Magazine : January Issue

What could be better than a wonderful fishing magazine filled with good stories and even better photography that you don't have to pay a subscription fee for. Sure you don't get to hold in in your hands but their basic equation holds up : Water + Trees = Fish

Have a look at this months issue.

Chicago Trout Bum : A Year in Pictures

The Chicago Trout Bum, a (becoming) longtime friend of the Great Lakes Angler put together a good looking slide show of Trout and Salmon catches during the fall run of 2009. I make an appearance sporting a hefty Seeforellen Brown Trout, and a few other photographs I have taken of my own fish or fish friends of mine have landed made the show. There is plenty of eye candy from dime bright hens to tuna sized trout in here so buckle up and have a good watch.

Check out the Chicago Trout Bum here.

This is Fly : E-Magazine : January Issue

This is fly, January edition is out and it is certainly worth a read. As a matter of fact I should have just stayed in and read this in the warmth of my apartment today instead of hitting the ice and racking up such a low score on the fish. A report will come soon, until then, have a read.