Chapter meeting: Monday November 3, 2025Meeting has been moved to Monday due to Tuesday November 4th being election day!Meeting/presentation starts at 7:00 Network & Dinner at 6:00pm. Juniors Restaurant & Tap House 414 South Main Street, River Falls, WI
Kinnickinnic River Land Trust Director Steve Leonard and Marty Engel Land Stewardship Managerwill present an update on the efforts of the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust. The presentation will highlight the restoration effort at the Headwaters Preserve, the work St Croix County and farmers are doing in the upper watershed to protect water quality, and new educational programs.
Those unable to attend can stream the meeting on the Kiap-TU-Wish YouTube Channel with the link below! Subscribe to our channel to be notified of all uploads and access our content.
The Chapter is again holding a STREAM Girls event on May 17th for girls in grades 6-8. This is a day of fun on the Rush River in Ellsworth, WI at the beautiful Ellsworth Rod & Gun Club grounds. Students will learn about cold water ecology, how to cast a fly rod and tie a fishing fly. In stream activities include scooping up & identifying macroinvertebrates, calculating the river’s velocity and more!
No fee required! Registration limited to 18 participants Registrants will receive a confirmation email with more details Take home your handmade fishing fly and a keychain
Lunch & snacks along with all waders, fly tying materials and fly rods will be provided. The students end the day fly fishing with their own personal, experienced fly-fishing guide. No fly-fishing experience is necessary. Completion earns the students a STREAM Girls patch. Held rain or shine! For questions, contact Chapter Board member Michele Bevis at: MicheleBevis@kiaptuwish.org
The Shakey Beeley was named after a Yellowstone National Park ranger that was known to fish the Madison in the park. A detailed story of this pattern can be found in “Fly Patterns of Yellowstone volume two” by Craig Matthews and John Juracek of Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, MT.
The pattern as we know it today was created by Blue Ribbon guide Nick Nicklas. Nick tied the fly on a #12 DaiRiki 280 a curved hopper hook. A TMC 2312 or equivalent will work fine.
Like a lot of western flies I fish with, I’ve found the Shakey Beeley to work extremely well in our local waters. With the contrasting colors and flash, brook trout go nuts for it. I also tie it in purple.
Hook DaiRiki 280 hopper or TMC 2312 #12 Thread: Brown Tail: Dyed Mallard and Yellow Krystal Flash Body: Yellow Haretron or Awesome Possum Rib: Brown Spandex Thorax: Orange Ostrich Herl Hackle: Hungarian Partridge and Yellow Krystal Flash
A couple tricks: 1. When tying in the Krystal Flash for the tail, leave some facing forward to be used later to use as flash just behind the hackle. 2. Before tying in the partridge soft hackle, stroke the forward facing Krystal Flash back and wrap a few turns of thread surrounding the hook with flash. 3. Tie the partridge feather in at the stem and utilize some of the webby barbules to add a little bulk. This is not a sparse fly.
You can see Nick Nicklas tie this fly HERE. Tim Flagler does another nice version HERE.
First of all thank you all for supporting our auction and drawings, you are the ones that made this a smashing success!
In the end we sold out both the Norling and Sage rods and 91 tickets for the Cunningham painting. Thanks so much to the Norlings, Joshua Cunningham, Sage Rods, and Cabelas Rodgers for their generous donations!
Thanks to all the auction donors for their art, vacation stays, gift cards, gear, swag, guided trips, and other fun stuff. We had such fabulous items this year and the auction total reflected that.
I would like to thank the auction committee for their hard work in making these fundraisers a success: Ken and Missie Hanson, Suzanne Constantini, Tom Schnadt, Michele Bevis, Jeff Himes, Ben Belt, and Matt Janquart. It was fun working with you guys!!!
The totals:
Auction: $11,515
3 x 100 Drawing: $4820
Tattersall donation: $3000
Hap Lutter Appeal (thus far): $8290
Total total: $27,625!!!!!
Well, that’s a wrap, thanks again…..
Ah yes, hold on, you are reading this for the 3 x 100 winners! Here are the lucky ones and for the rest of you, including myself, better luck next year!
The Picket Pin is a pattern from the old west that gets its name from ground squirrels that were nicknamed “picket pins” by cowboys as they resembled the short stakes used to tie off horses. The original fly, developed by Jack Boeme, was tied with tail and body hair from these western ground squirrels. More modern recipes utilize fox squirrel and grey squirrel.
I tied some Picket Pins to try out in the smaller streams in Yellowstone and later realized they were a great pattern for brook trout around home. It’s a wet fly that you can drift or strip just under the surface. You can swing it towards root wads and brushy areas and strip it back just in time to avoid trouble. It often draws a chase from aggressive brookies. It’s white squirrel tail wing provides a good contrast to the body and allows you to focus on the fly and watch for fish. The only trick is to stay calm enough for them to take the fly before you strike.
Hook: 2XL Nymph hook size 10 or 12
Thread: Black
Tail: Fox squirrel tail fibers
Rib: Small copper wire
Body: Peacock herl
Hackle: Brown
Head: More peacock herl
After wrapping the body, add and palmer the hackle back towards the tail and secure by wrapping the wire forward woolly bugger style. A good example of this is covered by Tim Flagler’s tightlinevideo on YouTube
