Guest Post - Len Harris of 'The Stream of Time'

I've been a fan of Len Harris' writing & photography for some time.  I think we first crossed paths on a fishing message board 3 or 4 years ago, and I was taken aback not only by his writing, but the beautiful area he called home.  Since then we've become friends from afar, shooting emails back and forth from time to time to talk trout, blogging, and some of the great looking food Len cooks up.

I recently asked Len if he would write a short guest post introducing my readers to the place he loves dearly, The Driftless Area of Wisconsin.  I was thrilled when he graciously accepted my invitation, so I'm happy to present his guest post to you now.

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Hello from Wisconsin's fabled driftless area. If you don't know the area, it is in the southwest corner of Wisconsin.  Driftless comes from the lack of a glacier in the last ice age. The glacier typically leaves drift or remnants of its  handy work after it leaves. No glacier means rolling hills and hidden valleys Every little valley has a trout stream  in it and the streams are loaded with trout.

Wisconsin's native species is the brook trout. All other trout are either hybrids or species brought from
Europe or from the local hatchery. A big brookie here is anything over 13 inches. My favorite species
here are the brown trout that were imported from Europe. A big brown here is anything over 20 inches.

I am a throwback angler. I use any legal means to trout fish. I also like to keep trout. I practice responsible
harvest and selective harvest. If you find me fly fishing i typically have a woolly bugger on. If you find me
beating the bushes and searching for my next big brown fix, I typically have a size 9 panther martin on.

I guided for 5 years but stopped doing that 3 years ago. Guiding was "ok" but the watching others fishing
wore on me. I equate it to going to a gold mine without a shovel.

Along the way to fishing I love to take photos of anything that gets close enough for me to photograph.

I also like to write stories about the people I meet along the way. The stories vary from fishing with Coach Bobby Knight  to taking a family of young boys under my wing to teach them trout fishing. My stories are simplistic and are written in a campfire story writing style. I always say if you find a twenty-five dollar word in my story..."I didn't write it."

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I'd encourage everyone to check out Len's blog "The Stream of Time."  He posts regularly, and is not the type of angler that holds back when it comes to sharing his knowledge of the region.  An accomplished author who has had many of his stories published in several prominent magazines, Len has also written a book of stories under the same name, which will be released later this summer.  I look forward to adding it to my collection.