Today was a day to remember for sure, starting early. Woke at just after 3am, anticipation, like the first day of school I guess. Prepared myself and my gear and left for the first of several stretches in a vehicle. I met with Wendy B. early and traveled south in-search of Trico action. Arriving at waters edge at 6:45am I half expected the hatch to be well underway but thankfully I was wrong, being new and not taking the cooler night temperature into consideration I hadn’t realized that the AM Trico hatch would be a Mid-Morning Trico hatch. Read the rest of this entry »

The Big Bad Biot Nymph and The Carpion by the Winona Fly Factory

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I agreed to watch my neice Chloe yesterday and with the nice weather I decided that we needed to get out of the house for an hour or two. Being realistic with my expectaions I picked a place that was easy to traverse, close to a public restroom and a park so we could play around for a bit should she decide that staying in the pack was not what she wanted to do. We arrived and I rigged my rod with a Caddis larva and a Pink Patrick prior to getting the little one out of the car seat and into the pack. I was smart to think that once in the pack she would not want to sit still so I prepared everything I needed prior to getting her out of the car. In the pack we quickly set off, I brought the rod but really didn’t think I would be fishing that much. Read the rest of this entry »

Goals for the day:

• Find Trico’s Hatching
• Catch fish on Trico Pattern
• Enjoy another day on a S.E. Minnesota Trout Stream
• Work Hoppers Later in the Day

With the goals laid out before me I set out at 5am. Getting to the spot I wanted to fish was going to require a longer drive than normal but this provided the opportunity to find some rising fish, fish new water and see a stretch of water that I rarely get to visit. I met Joel, who became my Brother-in-Law this past Sunday at 5:30am. This outing was his last as a single man and it felt good to get him out. Read the rest of this entry »

Stopped by a spot I visit every so often returning from CSMP work and dropped a hopper pattern looking for a quick dance with a trout. Not much time to fish, just trying to get one or two to come up and say hi. Noon with an air temp of 82+ degrees makes for happy hoppers warmed and active. Today there was a stiff wind making for tricky casting but I’ve found that some of the best hopper fishing involves wind, hoppers tend to end up in the water after wind blows in mid-jump or flight. I planed to fish a section of pasture that was easy to access, difficult to fish and offering large rewards. Read the rest of this entry »

Quick visit to my CSMP sites today at noon over lunch, took pictures quickly. Water temp 61-62 degrees. No rain just weekly visit, I’ve been trying to go on Thursdays. Note: several fish are showing sings of growth, three fish are getting to be good size. All brown trout although this creek has brookies in it, oh and I kicked up a blue heron trying to get dinner on my way out.

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Started the day early, waking to coffee during the pre-dawn hours preparing to take on the day and hopefully a few trout on dry flies. As it were it was not to be this day. Think of three points A. The house, B. The Spot for the Day and C. Trico Possibility. C was smack between A and B so I pulled over and watched the water for ten minutes drinking my coffee. I spied enough rising fish to make me think it was worth the effort, 6ft tall weeds soaking in morning dew made for a very wet fly factory. I knew the difficulty based on the stretch of water, slow, very slow. No virtually still, especially in the early hours of dawn. I rigged a long leader and a bit of 7x tippet for my trico attempt and then waited for the sipping to begin, it never really did. I put the fly on several risers and struck out every time, my casts were alright but I’m sure I could have landed the fly a bit gentler a few times. After close to an hour I picked up and left for point B. Read the rest of this entry »

Liz’s father who is largely responsible for starting my fly fishing journey recently dropped off a mug that has several flies painted on it. I dig it very much and have added it to my tying bench where it will hold something useful I’m sure. I can always put coffee in it as well! Thanks Jeff, its very cool.

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