March 14th, Day 1 in the Sun…

Fished most of the day, met up with one Wendy B. on location for a bit of morning coffee, good conversation and of course a few trout. We nymphed up rainbows with the typical Orange Scud and Miracle Nymph but after seeing a few larger fish I swapped to a streamer, Wendy B. did the same and we both nailed a few nicer fish. You have to love it when from on high you strip your streamer in, staring at your victim less than twenty feet away, you cry out “EAT IT” and the trout promptly turns and does exactly that, brilliant. Wendy B.= FISH ON![singlepic id=1379 w=320 h=240 float=right]That was just the start to an awesome day, I mean by 11am I had enough good things happen to hold me over but as it were I had the day to myself and the weather was too good to turn down.

I left Wendy B. to stop off at a second spot, gin clear despite the rain and melt. I could have stayed and tempted fish but I hadn’t fished this spot before and I knew I could find a location that offered slightly stained water when usually it runs clear. Good to take note of locations like this, fish them after a rain event or the melt and take fish more easily as the water is tinted to your advantage. Second stream I stuck with my streamer expecting a few Browns to come out and play but no luck. I tried, tried some more but nadda. I picked bugs to get a feel for the situation and it was clear to me that a skinny BWO nymph was the way to go, the WD-40 #16. Good choice, as it was the only fly that took any trout on the second stream, it even took a few Brookies which made this my first day where I managed all three specie of trout you can find in S.E. Minnesota water.

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Water temps rose steadily up to the magic numbers but with no BWO’s hatching, they are still out a ways and need more time to develop. Look for that 46-50 degree mark with respect to the water temp for BWO’s over the next few weeks. So an excellent day in the sun but I can’t decide which aspect of the day I liked best. Seeing all three specie of trout in my hands, meeting up with a good friend, fishing in a t-shirt for 6 hours on March 14th, or watching a 13 year old boy nymph up a 12in Brown trout and show it to his mother waiting for him in the car along the road, I watched in amusement. His mom got out of the car and we talked a bit. It turns out young Cannon ties his own flies and is very interested in trout, the streams and fly fishing. Very, very, cool. Our resource needs engaged young ones to see it into the future.

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