Water Works

by Bob Luck
Two weeks ago, I tore myself away from the Driftless Area to spend a few days with some friends in the Boundary Waters.  I did manage to smuggle my new 8-weight into the canoe—the Ant Bullet that I won at the Oktoberfish silent auction last fall.  I must admit that catching smallmouths and northerns on poppers is a pretty fun way to fish, as well as providing some fresh meat to go along with those freeze-dried meal kits. 
Inspired by my BWCA adventure, I went to my friend Mike Miller’s farm last week, borrowed his ATV, and drove down to the Kinnickinnic River to fish at dusk.  Mike is far too sensible to fish at night.  He stayed in his house with his dog Ernie and a beer and told me to give him my report when I returned.  Figuring an 8-weight was overkill, I cast poppers into a large, slow-moving pool against the bluffs with my 5-weight.  Nothing.  Just in case, I tried a large hopper pattern.  A few casts later, the line started screaming off the reel.  After a few seconds, the line went slack, and I reeled in a straightened-out hopper with a few tufts of beaver fur attached. Time to go home.

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A straightened hopper with a tuft of beaver fur.  Chapter member Brent Porter asked if beavers go gray when they age.  Good question.

Thinking I would have less trouble navigating a dark trail without an 8-1/2 foot rod in my hand, I collapsed it, held the four pieces in my hand, and started walking back to the ATV.  A few seconds later, I stumbled over a log, and when I got up, I noticed there were now only 3 pieces of rod in my hand.  I searched around for a minute with my headlight, and, finding nothing, I tied a piece of orange caution tape around the log, figuring I could look for it the next day.  Which would also give me a great excuse to fish the Kinni again.
I drove back to Mike’s house the next afternoon.  We drove down to the river and found the tape, but no rod tip.  After a few minutes we gave up and went fishing.  I figured a vengeful beaver followed me down the trail and swiped the tip to use for its lodge.   Mike told me he could fish for about 2 hours before he had to get back to Ernie.  I went downstream and he went up.  I caught a few nice 11-inch fish and met up with Mike 90 minutes later.  He had caught 12 fish, including a 20-inch brown, his personal best.  In broad daylight, on a size 16 nymph, with a Tenkara rod on 5x tippet.  No beavers were harmed.