Innate Fly Fishing

Local companies are always great.  It's fun to know something cool is being kicked out somewhere close.  

Recently I found out about a company in the area that's doing some great things on both the gear front and in custom hand tied flies.  The company is called Innate Fly Fishing and run by Jonas Nyqvist and Ben Glick.

I gave Ben a call recently and got the low down on what he's up to and where it all began.  

To start, there's two sides to Innate.  There's the rod and reel side of the business, geared towards bringing the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices.  The other side is Flyanthropy.  

Flyanthropy is an awesome economic incubator project that is helping bring a more ethical relationship to the fly tying industry.  With companies like Idylewilde, Umpqua and others going to the Far East to produce their flies, relationships can make or break a company.  If you're looking for an example of what I mean, just check out Idylewilde's blog and you'll see what I mean.  

As Ben and I starting talking, it was cool to hear the history of how he and Jonas sparked their friendship.  As an English teacher over in Thailand, they connected and discovered a mutual love of fly fishing.  The mutual love quickly became a business idea, and a way to bring better wages and more work to the local community of Trat, in the South of Thailand.  They work to provide not only jobs in fly tying, but also health, educational, and medical benefits to the local impoverished community.  

Getting to learn more about what they are doing was great and I look forward to getting the chance to spend some time on the water with Ben.  To learn a bit more about Flyanthropy or to get your hands on some great gear and high quality flies, give them a visit.

WDNR Feedback Survey

Have you told the WDNR what's important to you over the next 10 years?

There are some key items that are being bounced around the DNR up in Wisconsin, including lengthening the inland trout season, allowing some pretty serious fracking and mining in key watersheds, and the results of some previously made decisions.  

After connecting with a few WDNR agents over the last year or so, they really do want to help and are willing to listen.  

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We need your feedback!

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources would like your ideas about the conservation and management of Wisconsin’s fish and wildlife resources now and into the future.

We are currently updating two important conservation plans – the Wildlife Action Plan and the Fish, Wildlife, and Habitat Management Plan. Updates will act as a blueprint as the department continues to manage and protect fish and wildlife resources over the next ten years.

These plans must be completed in order to receive important federal funds that directly support healthy, sustainable fish and wildlife populations and their habitats, and provide outdoor recreation opportunities in the state.

But, we need your help! Please take this 5-10 minute survey - it will be open for participation until midnight on Friday, Nov. 14th. Please note that your privacy is important to us and your individual responses will remain strictly confidential.

To take the survey, follow the link above or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser: http://22.selectsurvey.net/DNR/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=88KK8pm2.

Pietsch Tree Inn

The first time you go there, you drive past the sign. Then you back up to locate the driveway and head uphill through a tunnel of trees where in about 150 yards  you see a barn and log cabin. The barn is like most of the barns in Wisconsin, in need of a coat of paint to make it the color you see in your child’s book, The Farm. I suppose you could say the color is peeling paint red. 

If you look to your right you will see what at first glance you think are Woolly Texas longhorns.  Then maybe Yak. They have their heads down chewing almost anything. No not Yaks, they are Scottish highland cattle and they are good at chewing on those nasty thorn bushes that puncture your waders faster than barbed wire. 

Arlene who runs the inn, has five and while we were there a truck came and picked up two. They are impressive looking animals with woolly coats that I think you could make some good sized streamers with. There temperament seems good, they didn’t attack me when I walked down to say hello and yep, they moo just like regular cows.  And I had heard that their meat was quite lean and tasty. However Arlene has named hers so I don’t think they’re being cut into steaks, just yet anyway. 

“Moo.” 

“Moo!” 

It was 5:30 am. Arlene had sold off one of the calves the day before and the momma was making a ruckus in the morning. I stole some apples off of Arlene’s trees from her small orchard and walked to the barn where I fed a half dozen to the agitated mother. Seemed to calm her down and I went back to making coffee so that I wouldn’t be mooing. 

There are a number of good places to stay when you travel to the Driftless region. This is one of my favorites and I tend to make two trips a year there: spring and fall. Arlene makes a great breakfast and we had everything from a frittata to stuffed French toast always served with juice and a fruit cup and good conversation. 

You are a short ride to the west fork and not far from a lot of good trout water.  Hunters book the Inn during the winter.

Arlene is a gracious host and the Inn is clean and a quiet place to settle into after a day of fishing, hunting or just getting away from it all. There is a book that she keeps there where people write down what they feel about being there, my favorite line, “I sit on the deck and just look up. The sky has exploded with stars!” 

And so one night I sat outside, bug sprayed up, and watched the stars including falling stars, space junk, and those bright northern lights that flash green and blue across the sky. 

“Moo. Moo. Moo!” 

Even Mary the tan colored Highlander seemed to be enjoying the view. 

If you’re headed up there, here’s the website. Call and book a weekend, you won’t be disappointed with the room, the fishing, the food, star gazing or watching Highland Cattle make short work of wild roses. 

Here’s the website: http://www.peachtreefarm.com/

Stuart Van Dorn