Started another day in the heart of the Driftless Area of Southeast Minnesota onstream at ~7:30am. The creek was at normal flow and gin clear. I picked a challenge this May morning, a long hundred yard stretch of very slow moving trout water slightly weeded up and about 4-5ft at its deepest along the far bank across from me. Over forty feet wide with a fair amount of obstacles behind me I chose my backcasts well and relied on a rollcast the rest of the time. In my first two years fishing the Driftless Area I spent many hours here landing few fish and getting snagged on high brush and trees quite often. Now, a bit wiser I got hung up only a handful of times and spent two hours figuring out what the trout wanted and how they wanted to see it. Upon arrival I noticed the wall of Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard) moving out of the forest and into the field adjacent. It’s moving fast and is borderline unstoppable, note the pictures below that illustrate its progression through this field. Soon it will take over and the diversity of this forest will be at serious risk to this invasive specie.

A #14 CDC and Elk was trailed by a #16 Sparkle Larva about 12inches down and after that a #16 Hot Yellow P&P. With the low light in the early morning hours I contemplated tossing a streamer but the slow moving gin clear creek made me think twice about tossing anything heavy. I didn’t want to start the morning sending trout fleeing upstream only to disturb the fish I would eventually be casting to. I also witnessed a handful of slow rises, I thought midge and damn small too. This made me confident that the fish were active and near the surface, thus the choice of a dry/dropper rig. I wasn’t expecting the dry to get much action and it didn’t but it makes for a good indicator and with this slow moving weedy water I didn’t want my flies to sink to the bottom and get hung up fishing a no indicator rig. I make my choice to fish an indicator or not based on the situation and the water, here it was important to keep the flies where I wanted them 12-18inches below the surface of the water. Interestingly enough it took a couple long, almost two-three minute drifts before my #14 CDC and Elk slowly sank, I set the hook on a 6inch Brown sporting some beautifullycolored fins. The #16 Hot Yellow P&P was the only one of the three to take fish but it did and I’m confident that it would have continued to catch more but slowly and with the fish all likely to be small.

The next twenty minutes saw two more smaller Browns come to hand but the action was slow and I knew they would take something else more readily. I also knew there were a handful of nice 18-22inch fish cruising this area and with that I swapped to a Black #8 Kiss My Leech. I chose the KML because I tied them much lighter than the SMBs I’ve been fishing which I was hoping would help keep the fish calm with less of a surface impact. A couple casts in and fish were following but few were striking, I missed two and landed one a bit larger at 12inches. I kept at it moving slowly upstream making long casts across the slow pool working my flies back to my feet but the fish remained hesitant and time was running out. I decided to swap to a less flashy #8 Hairball with a tungsten bead, on the second cast I felt a strong tug. The first of over a dozen lay at my feet just over 12inches. I doubled back and sat for a couple minutes sipping my coffee before proceeding to work the entire stretch up again with the #8 Hairball. The sun that greeted me at 7:30am was now hidden behind a thick layer of clouds.

Working up-stream going slow and staying as low as possible I began picking off trout ofter trout. The #8 Hairball was the fly they wanted and would take readily. When fishing streamers I typically try any number of retrieves and this morning the fish wanted a very slowly stripped in fly, almost dragging it across the bottom. A number of strikes were missed but a nice 19inch female Brown rolled and showed me her colors jumping a few times attempting to shake my hook to no avail. She came to my net and we hung out for a minute before I sent her back to the creek. I continued at it until my hourglass was almost empty, I landed a bunch of fish in the 12-14inch range and lost one that was pushing 20inches for sure. I watched it roll as I was stripping my line in, it tasted enough hook for me to know it wouldn’t be striking my fly again. With that I took off for work as the sun came back out and turned up the heat on the creek.

Post Note: Invasive species are here and our presence affects their movements. Learn what you can about them and know how they are spread and move. That knowledge can help you keep your effect on the environment around you to a minimum. Garlic mustard seeds in its second full year after the plant dies for the season and the long thin stems filled with seeds catch on clothing or fur. Deer spread this stuff quite rapidly and the seeds stay viable in the soil for up to 10 years. When I’m out during the time of year when the plant dies I wash my boots off afterwards to try to get any tiny seeds off, waders too. It should be noted that just being in a forest infested with Garlic Mustard you run the risk of picking up seeds from prior years and spreading them say clung to your boots in mud. I’m not sure how much of a potential risk that would present but something to think about year round. I’m hoping this helps me from spreading it to other areas I love. Forest diversity is important.

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Just another day around here. Woke early to take advantage of a couple hours before work. I see little reason to waste the day sleeping when there are trout to be had. This is the “busy” time of the year for me and as such I stow my gear in the car, it goes everywhere with me, you never know when an hour will appear and with trout this close I’d kick myself if I left my rod at home.

Onstream earlier at ~8am. I took my time due to the brisk air-temp that was making me wonder why I fish mornings and not more evenings. The usual mug of black stuff in tow and a #8 Olive SMB rigged roadside. Yawning I spied the creek from a ways out and became concerned. I knew the area got a bit of rain but this creek was looking much better just a day ago. I had chosen this stretch of this creek and my thought was to fish or go home. I fished. Second cast after a short upstream hike made the morning. Heavy, heavy stain on the creek, borderline mud and my streamer has a nice 14inch fish pulling it towards a tree branch that I can just barely make out through the turbid water. Good thing I got into fish early or I might have hiked out right there thinking nothing was going to see my fly. Next bend and another Brown came out, fishing the shallower edges rather than the deep pools payed off with the heavy stain. I tried fishing some of the usual deep spots but the stain was too great and I think most just couldn’t make it out unless I literally stuck it right in their mouths. Quite a few nipping trout, just tugging the tail of my streamer rather than committing to the ride. I almost got frustrated on a corner pool that I must have had ten fish do this exact thing but I was enjoying the cool air and hot coffee with plenty of creek still in front of me.

Upstream a bit and I had taken a couple more in the 10-13inch range. I figured out why the creek was stained as I turned around a bend. The herd, cattle. Fishing pastures can have its downsides, you might get a nicer backcast but you’ve got to deal with the bovine element. Cattle…better than corn I guess. The air temp rose quickly and it dawned on me why I fish mornings, sweating your ass off is no fun. I typically stay out of the creek if I can avoid it even in the warmer weather. Trout feel, see and hear us coming a mile away before getting into the creek. I fished upstream until I ran out of morning to enjoy and headed to work. Fishing before work, satisfying.

A quick run for some post work trout occurred this day. Bring your gear with you, you never know when you’ll find an opportunity to bump a trout. With little time to spare we met on the banks of a creek I know and love. Time was the issue here (not much of it) maybe an hour and a half to wet a line with a decent amount of hiking involved. Sershen was going to leave the spinning rod in the car but I convinced him to bring it along, there are a few spots that fly angling just isn’t an effective option here. On stream we hit a spot that has rolled a few larger trout but nothing would stir and remembering the time constraints we continued upstream after a handful of unsuccessful drifts resulted in both of us snagging a tree limb on the bottom forcing us to break and re-rig our line. This is streamer water, the fish are perhaps fewer and farther between but the rewards can be great, however going deep and losing a few heavily tied streamers is a common place event here.

Upstream at one of three specific locations I sat back and allowed my friend to cast a big, heavy homemade spinner up and into some ferociously fast and deep trout water. Less than a couple seconds later and he was tugging his line taught landing his first trout on a homemade spinner. We landed a couple more but not the big one we were after and with the tight time frame we moved on quickly, a couple drifts here and there on the way upstream to the next location. A random rise here and there was observed but few adult caddisflies were in the area, again this is streamer water. The big and ugly. I put Sershen on a spot I call the Fridge due to the very old and very large refrigerator that has carved out a nice hole in the stream but again nothing stirred. Upstream and a handful of browns less than 14inches later and we had split up a bit when from the other bank and downstream a bit I hear a whoop and a holler. Heath had gotten his fish of the day, a nicer 18inch brown but due to my poor location no photo was taken, he simply wanted the trout back in the creek. We fished for about twenty more minutes and hiked out but before we did I stood on a high bank, made one pass with my #8 SMB and saw what I believe to be a brown trout/shark hybrid stir and leisurely give its location away then scoot off to a deep dark hole. When they move slow enough your heart rate will jump pretty quick…I’ll be back soon.

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Fished for three hours from ~1pm to ~4pm, hatching Caddis were beginning to show on arrival and continued to swell reaching a peak at ~3pm. Fish were caught on a #18 and #20 EHC with a Greyish Wing and Black/Grey Body. I fished a pupa trailer for the 1st half hour or so and picked up a handful but dropped it after the trout really began concentrating on surface adults. I lost count of how many trout were caught after 25 but it was substantially more than that, fairly easy pickings with a dead drifted EHC. The “wave” phenomenon that I had documented previously this season occurred again with long lulls and no rising, when the trout began rising again they would swell to a boil then drop off abruptly. The rising sections seemed to decrease in duration as the afternoon wore on with the length of the lulls getting progressively longer. There also seemed to be a relationship between the wind and rising, the windier it got the fewer fish rose, likely because the caddis just weren’t hovering over the stream during the wind gusts. I attempted various presentations and was surprised how many fish would take a sunk EHC stripped in like a streamer (very interesting). I attempted skittering for a while but found a dead drift producing more successful rises. I fished a single spot and didn’t move more than fifty feet but suffered a bit due to my choice of casting location, my belief is that when dead drifting a fly that is supposed to riding high any amount of drag can turn fish off, especially when they have so many perfectly safe choices swarming around. Due to my casting location I was crossing a couple currents leaving my “dead” drift a fairly short time frame before any drag would set in even when mending. I did fish a couple #18 and #20 EHC Puffs when the going got tough and I wanted something that would ride high but as with most things CDC after the first good dunking it lost some of its effectiveness. The afternoon ended with a fair amount of observation and camera work. Honestly I’m not thrilled with most of these photos the sun seemed to be working against me and I was trying different settings on my camera. Note the darker appearance of some of the caddis.

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A while back I was asked to submit any photos I had fitting the description of an angler with a “tight line” to the DNR Area Fisheries Office for a potential cover to the 2011 Trout Angling Opportunities Brochure for Southern and Central Minnesota. I thought about it for a bit and looked through a few options but nothing was jumping out at me, then it hit me. I can recall the April day clearly, we arrived earlier and happened upon an excellent caddis hatch that provided many “tight lines” and with it the opportunity for some good photos of which many were taken. I have to thank Wendy B. for a memorable day catching so many fish that I was able to get several of these shots easily. These brochures will be finding their way to places anglers frequent soon, this years edition contains new and updated easements on quite a few area streams as well as central state maps that were previously not included with the southern maps. Thanks also to the staff at the Lanesboro Area Fisheries office for considering and ultimately choosing to use this photo to represent trout angling in S.E. Minnesota, for me this is very cool. These books belong in your vehicle and should be a reference to ensure anglers are confident of the easement locations and regulations for various area streams. The DNR does a great job laying the streams and regulation information out in an easy to understand way for anglers of all ages. Now, time to find a new place to fish. There are so many of them…get out there.

Woke early again (~5am) to prep gear, coffee, breakfast and to spend a decent amount of time assessing precipitation totals and weather conditions. The wind was predicted at 20mph from the West all day long. Walking out to the truck at 7am was not encouraging, gusts up to 35mph were going to be common during the day and this combined with recent rainfall totals would determine the creek I ultimately ended up fishing. Picking a tight valley that ran perpendicular to the West wind would be critical in turning the lemons I was given into lemonade. With my mind set on one location I left the house to meet the guy I’d be fishing with for the day.

I met Paul parked off a side road, after a short hello we left for the chosen location. Parking, I was again a bit concerned regarding the wind and air temp, it was cold with the blowing wind and I knew it would hamper the days progress if we were unable to escape it. A  bit later and a couple hundred feet down into a tight valley we were pleasantly surprised to find minimal wind with the occasional gusty moments that almost dictated we stop to avoid making poor casts into the wind. We chose a short hike downstream after viewing a fellow with similar thoughts on avoiding the wind fishing upstream from our access. The morning saw us chucking streamers into higher stained water with the water temp at ~44°F around ~9am. The creek was still up a good six inches which created faster flows and deeper water. 

We got a couple strikes earlier in the morning but nothing stuck and we didn’t dwell on any one spot for too long. In retrospect I think had we sat alittle longer and maybe added more weight (I was already chucking the upper end of the weight spectrum I typically use) we might have stuck a couple more but the higher flows really seemed to hamper our flies ability to get down and stay down. We fished a few shallower riffle areas with minimal success, the first hour saw no fish come to hand. We progressed upstream and fished a couple areas out of the wind hunkered next to the bluffs enjoying the simple fact that we were able to pick a location that provided us with decent conditions given the situation. Still no trout to hand by ~10:30 or so, Paul had switched to a two fly nymph rig and my stubborn ass  chose to continue tossing the SMB despite its lack of action for the morning. Here is where I admit to myself that I should have given nymphing a shot for a while, some good nymphing water around and I chose to toss a #6 that was getting me nowhere. 

Upstream and maybe a half hour later on a down and across swing I hooked up with the first fish of the day, a small 6-7inch brown. After continuing with the same approach and getting nothing we continued on. Around the next corner we witnessed perhaps one of the saddest things I’ve seen fishing the driftless area. A dozen or so cattle had gotten loose from their pasture on the ridge and wandered down to the creek, with the females were two calves both very young. A howling moo came from one of the cattle that was stuck in the mud to its shoulders, nothing could be done. The cattle, exhausted lay in the mud. We moved on and saw yet another in the same situation, both looking very stressed. Their was little we could do to help get a full grown cow out of the mud stuck the way it was and rather than linger we moved on.

Upstream we came upon the angler we had seen earlier in the morning. From behind I spied a backpack that looked very familiar, the white hat, it was a friend of mine. I hollered out and interrupted his fishing like a boob (sorry about that one man). Paul and I let Wendy B. fish out the area he was on then met up for a couple minutes to say hi and discuss the morning. After a couple minutes we parted ways allowing Wendy to continue upstream while we hung back to tempt a very fishy looking location. After adding even more weight to my rig I managed to get down deep enough to tempt a couple moe browns but the fishing continued to be slower for us.

Paul had yet to land a trout and I wanted to shake the skunk for the day. We moved upstream bumping into Wendy on his way out. He provided delicious cold pizza from the house of Berrell which was a welcome brief lunch for our day, thanks for that one man. Paul switched back to streamers but we both continued to struggle to bump a trout. Upstream and almost out of time for the day saw us fishing a couple deep spots when I look over to see Paul smiling, gripping a nice 14inch brown with a flashier looking streamer hanging from its jaw. We took a couple photos and sent the brown downstream. Paul informed me a minute later that he caught the fish on an SMB that he had tied, that was a day maker for me. We hung around a bit longer but continued with the slower than average day. Pleased that we were able to avoid the skunk and the wind we turned to hike out. Downstream I checked in on the cattle, one of the two had been able to escape the mud. The rest of the roaming cattle seemed to have moved on but the one still lay stuck close to its neck in the mud. We fished one last spot on the way out but our luck wasn’t changing and we excepted the end of the day. Thanks Paul for a good time and some good discussions along the way. On a follow up note I did contact the MN DNR and the Winona County Conservation Officer regarding the cattle. I gave a detailed description of the area and was told they were going to contact the potential owner of the cattle before nightfall.

Woke early to arrive creekside at ~8:30am, took a gamble on a spot I’ve caught great caddis hatches in the past this time of year but found high flows, severely stained water and in-active trout. Based on the conditions I swung an SMB during the morning hours landing a handful and not much more. I took water temps every half hour to track any hatch potential but other than the scattered BWO and #30 Black Midges no other insect activity was seen. Water temps started at ~42°F at ~9am and warmed to ~48°F by 12:30pm. I fished until ~12:30pm when I became convinced that the high flows and colder water was not going to put off the hatch I was hunting for.

I blew out and decided to stop by a second location to see if the bugs I was searching for were around. At ~1pm the first glance at the creek from a ways away showed airborn trout, the caddis were here. I parked and hiked straight to the creek, put on a #18 Grey Caddis imitation and sat on the first run I came to landing close to fifteen smaller trout (<12in) and two slightly larger ones, all browns. After picking off quite a few and taking bug photo’s I progressed upstream. I came to fish a dry fly and thus I passed on any piece of water that didn’t show signs of rising fish, I wasn’t going to swap flies just to swap back a minute later.

I continued upstream picking off a handful of fish at each location. I finally came to a large open section that provided excellent fishing conditions, rising trout with thousands of caddis in the air. I observed several fish taking flies not from the surface but actually launching fully from the creek to snipe the food from mid-air. During the two hours I spent tossing dry flies here I noticed the rising come in waves, it seemed that in a moment the fish would all come to a halt and refuse to rise then a couple minutes later they would all begin the boil feverishly rising in rhythm. In these three hours I must have touched close to fifty trout all on the #18 Grey Caddis imitation. I didn’t take the time to dry out my fly after each fish, rather I fell into a pattern of catching a couple on a high floating dry fly after treating it with floatant then when it wouldn’t float well on it’s own I made a couple false casts and allowed it to sit half in the film, this continued to produce fish. When the fly was so saturated and I didn’t want to stop I simply allowed it to sink and fished it like a wet fly and sure enough it continued to snipe trout. When the rising died down I took the time to dry my fly out and applied floatant for the next wave to come. At ~4pm I had to leave the creek despite the hatch continuing to bring trout to the surface.

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