I fished under sunny skies today, this the last day of my first full season fly fishing in Southeast Minnesota. The driftless area has been good to me, I’ve seen quite a few kick ass sights this season and to end the season here I visited two sites that have helped make me the angler I am.

Standing near gin clear water and with near record low flows I rigged one of the last two SMB’s I had in my box. I didn’t see any rising activity but I did see thousands of grasshoppers and perhaps I should have rigged one but I went with the SMB and picked up nothing. I had a few light strikes, all of which I missed. I watched a few fish think about it but if they think and turn my experience has shown me, especially in the slower water, that they arn’t going to give it a second thought. I moved upstream quickly as each fish ignored me. I managed one brown trout out of one of my favorite runs but not having been here in quite some time I was not prepared for the effects of the low water combined with the weeds, it just made everything more difficult. I lost a few more decent sized fish before I managed to catch my fly on a tree root under the surface, break off. I should also note that I only had the heaviest of the SMB’s I had tied earlier this season making everything even more difficult. It would have been wise to just go with something else but I’ll learn. Read the rest of this entry »

These last few days have seen me grasping at every moment to be near fishy water. The aggressive fish that begin to show spawning habits and the beautiful colors bring me to the water daily until the end. I stopped off at a spot I visit every so often for a short romp with the trout. I was looking mainly to get into something larger and not necessarily many fish. This spot just a month ago was so choked with weeds that it made getting your fly to the fish rather difficult, now as the cool nights make everything stay colder the weeds have receded leaving plenty of room to sink the SMB. Read the rest of this entry »

Took off after work and hit a quick stop hoping to get a look at a few spawners. I know there are brook trout here and I was hoping to get to see one or two but that didn’t happen. I did, however, get the chance to see a Male and Female Brown both full into the spawn. Upon arrival I rigged up an SMB simply because I didn’t have much time and wanted to target the larger hungry trout preparing for the next few weeks, also this spot has quite a bit of depth and a bigger fly was going to get to the fish faster. Read the rest of this entry »

Under cloudy skies with the occasional bout of rain and sunshine I fished Sunday. My plan was to return to a stream that I have fished several times before to see how it looked this late in the season. With little to no rain except only recently I was expecting to find low flows, what I wasn’t prepared for was the quadruple threat that made the first stop so challenging. To get a difficulty rating of 8+ combine the following: Extremely low flows, massive amounts of instream vegetation, crystal clear spring water and a micro trout stream often no wider than I can jump, oh then put it in a dense forest with little to no angler traffic. Now were talking.

Having been to this water before and knowing a fair amount about the life in the stream I rigged a Black Wet Fly trailed by a small Baetis nymph. This is a “Micro” trout stream and with the low flows and large amount of veg the fish would be very spooky so I opted to nymph a medium lengthed leader with no indicator. If the leader was too long I would miss every take, too short and the fish would see my fly line before my flies, also look at the pictures of the water, a long leader is just counter productive in such close quarters. I guess I wouldn’t rig anything longer than 8-9ft unless I had the opportunity to fish dries here. Read the rest of this entry »

The Pet-Fly Smackdown went down this last weekend, this “tournament” that is more of an outing, is just a reason to get together with like minded people and fish your ass off. We met at the chosen cafe to start the morning off right with coffee, eggs and the rest. Introductions and a bit of business were processed and after a bright orange fly box (that you could find buried under six feet of dirt) was filled with the flies for the day we ate and the split to find fishy water. Read the rest of this entry »

Working towards my goal of evening fishing I arrived stream-side with Sershen in the mid-afternoon to test a few pet fly options for the day of fishing this Saturday. Fall is fast approaching, this becomes apparent when leaves floating in the stream alter the drift you are attempting to achieve. Cooler night air temps have encouraged fish activity and streams are generally low but fishing well. Mayfly nymphs are on the rocks again (for those streams that don’t see many Trico’s) after the summer lull, another indication that it is later in the year. We started the day fishing a “hot spot” that has legend of large fair but for some reason has always turned out to be a bust for me, after a quick stop we moved to the main attraction and began the hike in. Read the rest of this entry »

This summer the fly factory has seen quite a few early mornings but few evenings, something I’d like to try and change over the course of this, the last month of the designated season for trout in Minnesota. Another goal this last month is to see a few stretches of new water and this morning I met with Sershen again to smack something unseen. On site by 9am and looking at trout actively feeding by 9:30am. The lack of rain has kept our streams very clear for almost a solid month now which was what we were expecting to find this morning and did. Stumbling through dew covered grass that passed our hips we took position downstream of a few really nice looking browns and a rainbow that were aggressively feeding on or very near the surface, at times turning completely around to strike. Read the rest of this entry »

Given a tip by a reliable source I found myself on the water at 8:30am rigged with a SMB. The hot tip was that the DNR in preparation for the holiday weekend had dumped a bunch of fatty rainbow stockers in a location that I visit on occasion, not really that hot of a tip as the DNR stocks certain waters before every holiday weekend. I wanted to get down there and take a few fish home for eats, knowing the reaction that the stocked Rainbow trout have had with the SMB I figured it would be pretty easy to take my share and be on my way. Read the rest of this entry »

I had an opportunity to fish some new trouty looking water with a friend of mine recently, although we didn’t have much time to fish and we chose to hike more than cast we still had a good morning. It’s easy to find a good morning in the Driftless Area. I woke, readied myself and called Sershen. Typically I’m the one biting at the bit to get to waters edge but this morning I called and expected to be waiting a bit but the voice on the other end of the phone promptly said “I’m already on my way man.” Now that’s sweet. We drove to water I hadn’t fished before. On arrival we hiked for close to half an hour to get to the run Sershen had in his head. Rigged, he ran a bright orange scud through and pulled out a brightly colored +14″  brown. I used Heath’s camera for those photos and I haven’t gotten them yet but when I do I’ll add them in. I do, however, remember thinking that the bright orange scud almost blended with the colors on the fish. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »