H is for Hayward

Most people have never heard of Hayward, much less it being the Muskie Capital of the World. Yep true, even though the picture above shows a smallmouth statue and not a muskie. The second shot, by the way, is Jimbo Meador and a famous Hayward guide Wendy Williamson, at the start of a float down the East Fork of the Chippewa River,a gorgeous little wet spot on the planet. She took us out for a few days and showed us the good places to catch both muskies AND smallmouth. We caught both I am happy to say. Hayward Fly Fishing Company sure treated us right. Good people. Good fly fishing instructors as well. Hayward, like most great places, is hard to get to. It is deep in flyover country, closer to Duluth than any other airport. Remote, beautiful, hard to get to. Don't tell anyone about it.

Season ending musky from Hayward Fly Fishing

The big one that didn't get away

Larry and Wendy, our guide friends from Hayward Fly Fishing Company, sent us this today. It is their season ending musky. 52+ inches, 35+ pounds, on a fly, out of a drift boat, on the same stretch of the Chippewa River that we floated this summer making our movie. 5 degrees when they left their shop, 20 degrees at the put-in. I suspect the adrenaline they ingested catching this fish more than made up for the temperature!

"inland waters kayak fishing" has been released

After a few months of virtual heavy lifting as well as watching some very talented people do their own heavy lifting while filming and editing, we would like to announce that Quietwater Films' fourth movie, "inland waters kayak fishing" is now available.

Jimbo Meador (front) and John Reinders (back) navigating a stream while poling their Native Watercraft Ultimate kayaks

Jimbo Meador, John Reinders, Wendy Williamson, and Larry Mann provided the paddling, poling, and fishing while we were out on the water. Damon Hennessey and Christina Smith did a wonderful job behind the scenes working the camera and editing our footage. And of course there are the boats. Even though they are inanimate pieces of plastic, those Ultimate kayaks are worthy of thanks for the wonderful job they did floating everyone around on the lakes, rivers and streams of the Chippewa Flowage, a slice of paradise in northern Wisconsin. The two muskies, numerous smallmouth bass, northern pike, along with "all the ones that got away" also made for some nice days fishing as well!