Finding DNR Easements Online

Need help finding where you can fish on Wisconsin streams? Just follow the directions
below, provided by Mike Leonard of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. You can see maps of DNR easement properties and trout stream classifications by going to the DNR website. Under Favorites click on Maps, then clicking on DNR Managed Lands. Scroll down and click on DNR Lands to view fee and easement properties. With the zoom button on keep clicking on the stream location until you get
to the map size you desire. If you want look at trout stream classifications, go back to
Managed Lands and click on Recreation Lands.”

Tips from Members

If you use compartment type boxes to carry small flies, try this tip.
Take the square magnets from the Tiemco hook packs. Place them in your fly box, using double faced tape to hold them down, This keeps the flies organized and under control. The wind no longer affects them, and they don't clump together, thus
making them easier to handle. ~ Lou Olvitt

The following story appeared in the January, 2003, Wisconsin Trout.

Pink Squirrel – My all-around favorite fly

By John Bethke

While contemplating the writing of an article on my signature fly, the pink squirrel, I found myself with writer’s block. So I went to my tying bench in the bat cave, aka the basement, and tied some up.

This November I made a trip to Cabelas to buy 200 3906 #12 Mustad hooks and a couple hundred 1/8” brass beads. I have a large pile of tiny puffs of coral pink chenille pills on my tying table. It’s the scrap generated from stripping the fluff from the cotton core of chenille in order to tie it into the fly. The final step before I double whip finish and cement the head behind the bead. That pile represents a couple thousand pink squirrels tied in the past year — probably 2/3 of them given to friends, acquaintances, students, and donated with other flies to fundraisers for trout organizations or other groups. That leaves about 700 of them that I must have used myself. My present inventory consists of four containers with two dozen each of size 12s, plus a couple dozen in various fly boxes or vests.

I’ve always wished I had a peanut butter jar full of them, but fishing is my first priority, and I often find myself tying a half dozen pink squirrels before I head out the door to fish. The water based head cement I use is sometimes not even cured before the fly is in a fish’s mouth. I can be on a quality trout stream from my house in 20 minutes or less in any direction you care to point.

Some people have a lot of money. I have a lot of trout streams. I’ve not sold 100 pink squirrels in the five or six years I’ve been tying them. It’s not hard to figure where my priorities are.

So, why all the pink squirrels? I, like most people who fly fish, was overwhelmed with the variety of creatures fish eat, and even more so by the variety of flies made to imitate them. For season upon season I plied the waters of many places with countless varieties and techniques to try catching trout and panfish. I can’t say I haven’t enjoyed this experience, but I always in the back of my mind wished for a fly and technique that would always be effective. I suppose always is a little strong, so I’ll settle for 90+ percent of the time. Eureka! Eureka! I have found it.

In spite of the volumes of books and articles that deal with selectivity, I have concluded from personal experience that selectivity is a relatively rare phenomenon. Don’t get me wrong. I carry eight fly boxes in my vest, not including salmon, steelhead, and bass flies which I have for occasions when they are assembled for specialized trips. When I encounter a hatch or a steady riser, I have the knowl-edge and experience to know what to do. But day in and day out, I know trout and panfish will consistently take a well-presented pink squirrel. With this fly I’ve caught suckers, carp, bass, trout, steelhead, perch, crappie, sunfish, bluegill, and sheephead.

A few years ago, my friend, Hal Maier, invited me to fish his home water, Black Earth Creek. We drove from Black Earth to Cross Plains looking for an open stretch to fish, but found none until we were about 1/4 mile downstream of the town of Cross Plains. This stretch runs from town through a small neighborhood of homes and up to what amounts to the junk yard of the local farm implement dealer at the edge of town. After putting on our gear and assembling our rods, Hal asked what I was going to fish with.

“A pink squirrel, size 14,” I said.

“You’ll have to go smaller than that on this stream.”

“We’ll see,” I said.

There was no need to change my plan. We fished for over two hours and caught more than a dozen trout between us. In deference to delicacy, I added two feet of 5X to my usual 7-1/2-foot 4X leader. There were few risers, but those that did rise took a pink squirrel cast slightly up stream and drifted through their lies. Sacrilege, I know, but I’m apparently not too bright and think I’m having a good time when I do that.

I have some friends who are not inclined to even tie a pink squirrel on their leaders, not to mention use a strike indicator. These people prefer to fish in a more dignified or sophisticated manner. On rare occasions, I feel that way myself, and I can play those games fairly well. But mostly, I fish to enjoy the travel along my streams. Simply making proper presentations in often challenging environs gives me satisfaction beyond what the application of my time and labor might produce in, say, more commercially profitable pursuits. I suppose that might make me a trout bum candi-date, but I work a 40-hour week, and life is short, so I fish a lot.

If you want to make your own pink squirrels, I give the recipe at the conclusion of this article. Just having the fly will not make you catch fish. You still need to read the water, move with stealth, and make good presentations. People occasionally tell me they aren’t catching fish with the pink squirrels I gave them. I’ll bet they are failing in at least one of the three things mentioned above. Scared fish don’t bite, period, and you won’t catch fish where they ain’t.

I can tie about 20 pink squirrels in an hour, but I have more experience tying this fly than anyone. Any good tier can do 10 per hour. If you’re having trouble, call me and I’ll try to help. I’m usually at home after dark or if the weather is nasty.

Since I live within about one hour of northeast Iowa, my trout season never closes. Yesterday after my visit to Cabelas, I went to Iowa and fished in a 25 mile per hour wind. I caught seven trout, browns and rainbows. There were some fish rising to something I didn’t see, probably midges. Let’s see — 10’ leader, 6X leader, #20 fly, 20 mph wind. Guess I’ll throw a squirrel.

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MATERIALS LIST: Pink Squirrel Hooks — My favorite is a #14 scud hook, but they are expensive, so I use Mustad 3906 #12. Tail — Use 1/8” V of crystal flash. I have used several colors, but rainbow #13 is good, as are yellow or light purple. Rib — I use medium red copper salvaged from electronic fluorescent light ballasts. It’s not a critical element. Medium gold, copper, or silver is fine.

(John Bethke is a member of the Coulee Chapter. John has taken a lot of ribbing over the years for using a pink squirrel under just about any condition. But it’s hard to argue with success. If you’ve fished this pattern, you’ve caught fish. -Ed.)