This Spring has been a flurry of craziness in our house. Between healing up my ankle and trying to be ready to run a 5k with the Mrs., the ups and downs of a career in sales, putting our house on the market, and myriad of other reasons, it's been a good, but crazy start to the year. Unfortunately things have suffered, including getting regular content up here.
One thing that I haven't been able to do much lately is sneak away to the local events taking place through Trout Unlimited, DuPage River Fly Tyers, DuPage Fly, Chi Tie, and even the local Orvis. Everyone has been having different events focused on local fishing opportunities, tying and all things Midwest fishing, and unfortunately I was finding out about things a day late.
Last week I received a message from a good buddy, Kyle Zempel of Black Earth Angling Co. looking to seeing if I had any plans for the weekend. He was coming in to town for the OakBrook TU chapters Spring Fling to give a presentation and talk about the Driftless Region and Wisconsin River fishing opportunities. He was hoping to take me up on my offer of a place to crash and I didn't hesitate. We stayed up late as he told me all about his epic trips down to the Bahamas chasing bonefish. Needless to say it's moved up a few spots on the bucket list.
Kyle awoke early and headed out to the show, leaving me to tidy up the house a bit and finish some weekend running around. I made my way in time for the brats (not a coincidence) and say hello to Jeremy from DuPage Fly Fishing Co, and friend of the blog, Mike Allen. As we walked in Mike spoke of the great times that were had at the recent Hardly Strictly Musky tournament down in TN. I've got musky high on my list for this year, but hearing about a weekend of casting flies the size of small varmit without a bite, sounds maddening. I don't have that much hair to pull out.
I went in and hung out with Kyle, checking in to see how the rain had affected the turnout. Turns out there weren't as many guys as I thought that got rained out like me. The numbers grew closer to Kyle's presentation and there seemed to be a good buzz as I made my way around the room. The event overall was nice and well put together. It was great to meet some of the members of the OakBrook chapter and get my TU membership back up to date. I appreciate what the organization does and hope I can help make an impact.
As I walked out Jeremy grabbed me and I told him about my finished Yomogi four weight. I just so happened to have it in the car and offered to have him a cast. I headed out and met back up with Mike who had some nice things to say. After both had cast it, neither wondered why it was quickly becoming my favorite rod. I look forward to a season of switching between my beloved Kabuto and now the Yomogi. Hopefully I'll have plenty of willing trout to test them on.
