The beauty and awe of the Driftless area is in part due to the numerous springs that are the primary source of our coldwater, without it we would not have the wonderful place I call home and my back yard. I am possibly one of the most fortunate people on the planet and this video will hopefully put you in my boots for a minute. My creek comes from the ground, in the world of trout streams there are very few that originate this way. Driftless Love.

-the w.f.f.

Music by Winona native Mike Munson, I ran sound for his set at the Midwest Music Festival this year and this song really caught my ear, it just felt right for this video.

I don’t see my family all that often and truth be told (oh man am I gonna get it for this) I live in the boonies for a reason, I like solitude and doing my own thing. Maybe I’m selfish…maybe I’m smart, all depends on how you look at it I guess. I wake up a bit sore (you know, from the prior entire day of fishing) to hear the sound of a Yamaha crotch-rocket squeal past my house. Yep, I knew it was my brother immediately. We are very different people but I’ve really grown to appreciate him and he drove down from the cities on his bike at 5am to go fishing with me, that’s pretty cool. He was basically frozen so a bit of breakfast and some coffee got both of us straightened out. He doesn’t have gear of his own so I put him in my stuff and we got going close to 10am. I couldn’t decide on where to go, I wanted my brother to catch a few fish despite his inexperience with a fly rod or trout and given the lack of bugs the day before I was in a quandary. I knew the creeks could be a zoo considering the fact that most anglers would be out getting some sun on the first nice Saturday this season and so picking a spot to go was really giving me a hard time. Finally I just decided to start driving and in the end I pulled up to the exact same spot I had fished the day before. Why? Because I knew what to expect and that meant I had an edge which might allow me to get my brother a few fish. I knew other places might put off more bugs but I also figured they might be more crowded than the spot I drove to.

So we pull up to find no one, I was almost shocked. I figured the hike downstream we would have hiked past someone but we lucked out. My brother hadn’t touched a fly rod in a year, almost exactly a year and prior to that it had been a year before that. The creek was clear the same as the day before and despite the slightly later arrival at the creek things were pretty much a repeat of the day prior. Minimal bugs in the air, minimal rising but the trout were aggressively crushing a streamer, after a bit of coaching my brother was casting decently enough to nab a few brown trout on a streamer, he lost many due to poor line management but he was enjoying himself as the clear water afforded him the ability to see the trout dart from below up at his fly. Around 1:30pm we sat down on a most excellent run and started tossing a #16 BWO, the wind wasn’t helping again but the trout wanted that fly and even though it took quite a while and a bit of frustration he landed close to a dozen brown trout from that run over the course of an hour and a half. We finished with the dry fly and moved upstream where he missed a beast just before we had to call it a day. The trip ended a bit early due to the bonfire and food that was going to occur at my place in a few hours, by 5pm we had hiked out and split calling it a successful day getting my brother into a bunch of brown trout despite his inexperience with a fly rod felt pretty good, he does well every year picking it up quickly and paying attention to my suggestions without becoming too frustrated. Check out this grin on his face, that’s a guy who lives in the concrete jungle of the twin cities and who for one afternoon got to appreciate what I try not to take advantage of….my back yard.

The fishing was damn good today, I opted to get out today knowing that snow melt would be causing problems soon and right I was. With air temps climbing and the overnight lows staying in the upper 20′s/low 30′s the spring run off has begun. The creek I fished today started the morning with a water temp of 39.5 degrees at 9:36am with a bit of stain already visible. Those numbers were a bit discouraging as I was hoping to run into a BWO hatch, I knew the water temp would have to jump quickly for that to happen. The rocks showed a handful of mature BWO’s but most need another week or so of development before they will be ready to pop. Quite a few mature Ephemerella Subvaria crawling next to the Baetis tells me that if the air temps rise drastically some creeks will have BWO’s and Dark Hendricksons hatching shortly. At 11am the water temp was 41.5 and by 12pm it had risen to 44 degrees. Midge showed up thick around 11am but only a handful of rising trout led me to keep fishing my streamer. By 1:30pm with a water temp of 46 degrees the first BWO’s I’ve seen this year showed up to bring spring into view. By 2:30pm the creek was well on it’s way to chocolate milk and it was time to take off. I landed a good two dozen trout on a new mini-streamer I’m calling the Beamer between 6 and 14inches with two pushing 16 today, strong aggressive strikes came left and right. My thoughts are that much of the water in S.E. Minnesota will be unfishable through the weekend and into next week, I’m glad I was able to get out today before the chocolate took over.

Notes and Observations:

• Arrival Water Temp: ~53°F at 9:59am
• Arrival Air Temp: Low 60′s
• Again Low Stained Water
• Again Fished the SMB First
• First BWO’s arrived at 11:44am
• Fished the SMB after the Hatch Again
• A Down/Across into the Tail of Runs Worked Well

The third day of the show was almost exactly the same as the previous two, warm air temps on arrival, warm water too. BWO’s arriving just before noon and streamer fishing before that. Again the trout wanted the SMB in the faster runs that were less than 3ft deep. I love watching trout dart out and tackle my fly, this scene played out almost every other cast with the SMB. Stopped and sat on a run known for putting on the show, we waited and at 11:44 the BWO’s came and with them the full show, leaping trout, aggressive splashy strikes, everything we wanted. I fished with Sershen, George slayer and general trout enthusiast. We stood knee deep in trout water and took back to back trout on dry flies making short 15-20ft casts for close to an hour. The whole time watching rising trout all around us, nothing else compares. After the BWO’s came and went we moved upstream and I opted to go back to the SMB for a third day in a row. Upstream a ways during the lull that I had experience the prior two days where the trout just slowed down and didn’t want to aggressively hit my streamer I tried something different. I stood at the head of a run and tossed my fly in the tail, slowly I pulled it up and through the faster part of the run. My fly almost exposed exploded. One brown, again and another and again this time a brookie. That made the day, got to fish a hatch, take numerous browns and rainbows on a streamer then turned around the afternoon lull by hammering over a dozen trout from a single run two of which were beautiful brookies. A dozen times that same exact presentation pulled trout after trout up, why? What about my streamer hanging less than an inch from the surface would illicit such a response? I don’t know but it worked the rest of the day. Perhaps the lesson here is that if your fly isn’t producing the strikes you want alter the presentation before swapping the pattern, save yourself the time and tippet first then if all else fails try a different fly.

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Notes and Observations:

• Arrival Air Temp: ~62°F at 9:49am
• Arrival Water Temp 52°F at 9:59am
• Low Slightly Stained Water
• BWO’s Arrive at 11:45am
• Streamer Fishing First Few Hours of the Day
• Aggressive Strikes from Browns in the Riffles/Shallower Runs
• Broke my Tip Top Guide off Roll Casting Under a Tree
• Fished to Rising Trout From 11:45am-12:45pm

Similar day to the previous, beautiful weather, wet wading, aggressive trout, bugs, everything I could have wanted all packaged in a Mid 80 degree high temperature. Sunny skies with minimal wind, couldn’t ask for more. Fished the SMB early prior to the show then swapped to a #16 BWO Comparadun as I had the day before. Fewer bugs came off this day but a handful of Dark Hendricksons emerged between the BWO’s, the nice weather is nice but it’s a bit concerning when we see hatching a good two to three weeks early. Landed a good number of trout, swapped back to the streamer after the hatch had finished up. Again fishing slowed later in the afternoon for the SMB.

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Liz and I hit Iowa on Saturday and came across a spectacular emergence of fall Baetis. We parked the car at ~12noon and observed consistent rising almost immediately. The creek was running clear and maybe just a hair low, the air temp was in the low 50′s but a strong sustained wind of 20+mph was felt the entire time we were on the water. Despite the wind we opted to take advantage of the rising trout and put on dry flies knowing full well that casting a tiny dry in high winds can be a potential recipe for disaster. On a whim I stuck on a #12 Stimulator simply because it happened to be right at my fingertips, the second cast produced a ~13inch brown that sipped my fly. Convinced that as long as we could battle the wind, dry flies would be the best way to fish the afternoon. Several #18 BWO’s were seen drifting from the riffles many of which became trout lunch before they could take flight.

Liz needing to work on her backcast and dry fly presentation took the challenge of the wind in stride and opted to fish a #14 Adams at first. We chose that fly simply because it was a bit bigger and easier for her to see, it became painfully obvious after a dozen or more good presentations that the trout were not having the larger dry flies. We followed the dry fly creed and downsized the fly and went darker with a #18 BWO’s I tied in my fishing infancy. Most of the #18 BWO’s in my dry fly box looked pitiful and would not pass any sort of test, however, I did manage to find a couple that were worthy of placing in front of trout and it became clear after only a few presentations that the trout would accept these imitations.

Many of the rises we observed were in slower slackwater areas that posed a greater challenge with respect to dry fly presentation, we scanned the creek as we hiked upstream looking for a section of faster broken water with trout steadily rising to concentrate on. As we hiked I looked for specimens to document when I bent down near a small patch of water cress. When I knelt down became clear that we had arrived at the tail end of the hatch, looking at a one square foot section of watercress just downstream from a riffle I observed over fifty male and female Baetis duns sitting in the safety of the cress. The trout continued to rise and I sent Liz upstream to fish while I hung back to document as many Baetis mayflies as I could.

Moving upstream I saw exactly the spot I was looking for. After watching a faster broken run for a couple minutes I witnessed several rises in multiple spots, off to both sides of the seam, in the tail end of the run as well as splashy excited rises coming from the head of the run in the fastest water. I knew if she could get her fly up far enough without spooking the trout they would crush her imitation. I sat back and observed, she almost got hung up in a tree but working a side arm cast we avoided the first challenge. The second issue became the largest to overcome, the 20+mph wind. Despite her best efforts to produce a decent backcast the wind would blow hard and rather than allow a tight loop to form used to propel her line forward the wind caused the line to blow back at her taking all the energy out of line and rod. She kept getting her fly blown into her rod, tangled on the tip or at the fly line/leader connection. Frustration was mounting. I continued to assist her any way I could, often just untangling her line quickly so she could attempt another cast. After ~30minutes she hadn’t gotten a decent cast and thus presentation to the trout, she was stubborn and determined to sit there as long as the trout were rising. A few minutes later a colorful brown rose for her fly but a lack of line management failed to produce a good hookset and the trout was “quick-released”.

Her frustration continued and mine was building, I knew if we could just get one trout to hand she would relax and things would move along more smoothly. It took another ten minutes of trying and one more poor hookset before she nailed the first of a handful of nicer sized browns with the #18 BWO. After the first came to hand the second, third and fourth followed steady suit, all the while I sat back and sipped my coffee. We continued fishing to those rising trout until she had moved up the entire length of the run and either caught or put down every trout showing it’s face. Frustration turned into accomplishment, working a small dry fly in the strong wind was a good test of reslove. It should also be noted that even a 6inch fish would have been enjoyed but she managed to take two trout over 13inches with one pushing 14 and a half. I watched as it rose quickly thinking it was smaller than it actually was, not until it lept from the creek and came down with a deep smack did I have any idea it was as nice a fish as it was.

By this point the BWO’s had run their course, the trout ceased rising and we moved upstream. I stuck on a #8 Hairball and we proceeded to search close to a mile of new uncharted trout water. We never lingered long at any one spot but made a cast to almost every place that looked worthy of attention. I picked up a dozen browns and two rainbows within the first quarter mile of creek. We observed a dogger chase down my fly only to spook near the surface before it committed. We fished upstream until ~5:30pm then turned to hike out, I made a handful of casts as we did so but felt the day was a resounding success and as such I was content to enjoy another beautiful fall sunset rather than continue tempting trout.

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I don’t even know where to begin with the 18th. First off I left my camera at home which would have normally soured my mood but on a day when most of the trout bearing water in S.E. Minnesota was blown and brown Heath and I managed to find gin freakin’ clear flows so I couldn’t be upset, I was content to fish and borrow my friends camera from time to time. I took an initial water temp of ~47°F at about 11:15am on arrival. We were looking for BWO’s hoping that a handful of the fourth instar nymphs would hatch, we hiked downstream and planned to fish back up once the water temp had risen a couple degrees. I fished a #8 Tan Hairball in a couple spots heading downstream but came up empty handed. Once downstream a mile or so we hung on a run swarming with midge in the air. I took a handful on a #20 Jujubee Midge, we swapped fish back and forth.

At ~1pm the BWO’s began hatching, we spied two larger trout taking surface flies. I tied on a #18 BWO dry fly and took aim, the third or fourth cast and the larger of the two fish struck, I set the hook too fast, anxious. I got another attempt at the same fish even after it tasted just the slightest amount of hook. The second strike came and the hook bent (what I get for using a 2X Fine Dry Fly Hook) the fish got off within a second of being hooked. I was sure my chance had been blown but he surfaced again just moments later. Mind you we are standing less than twenty feet from this fish and it kept coming back for more, the power of the hatch. The third time it struck I lost the hook set again, I shouldn’t have used the same fly. I should have swapped it out after the hook bent rather than bend it back with my forceps but eager to get the trout before it took off for the depths I had to keep going and it cost me the final chance. I should have been happy enough being able to try but unfortunately I got frustrated and allowed my mood to slip, this normally doesn’t happen when I’m trouting. The rest of the day was a half-assed botched attempt at casting combined with poor fly selection, I just wasn’t trying. Sershen fishing a #18 Bead Head Nymph pattern crushed trout after trout. That’s about all I have to say about this one.

• AT: 8:46am, DT: 3:50pm
• AAT: ~36°F, DAT: ~37°F
• WT: 8:46am 42°F, 11am 44°F, 3:50pm 46°F
• Wind Nil until 2pm
• Clear Water on Arrival
• Midge in the Snow on Arrival

I planned to assess the water where I parked then hike downstream but after taking initial water temps and checking the rocks, the trout rising at ~9am were too much for me to walk away. I told myself one or two then downstream, a dozen or so later and it was 10am. I was fishing a longer (11ft) leader and had some trouble getting it to open up completely with the slight breeze coming at me. I moved maybe 6ft in the first two hours, thinking to the recent reading regarding the speed of sound through water. Trout less than twenty feet away and my clunky boots grinding the gravel. The midge in the morning were larger,  #20′s with a few #22′s mixed in. As the day would have it the trout did not stop rising.

I fished the first two hours in the same spot in just my long sleeve shirt with the net handy quickly landing trout and cleaning up my fly. Landed quite a few fish with a single #20 Jujubee Midge, nothing over 12inches and nothing under 7inches a steady hard fighting group, most were picked off by sight, waiting, fishing to the rise in rhythm. A handful came as pleasant surprises when a poor cast was allowed to drift long or an unintended target swooped in for the take. At 11am I had fished the run through and either put down or caught every fish that was rising, some remained striking the surface in upstream reaches but they had slowed and were in slower slack water. I put on my coat and hiked downstream.

Swung a #8 Black SMB for quite a while getting nowhere. Looking for a bigger brown or rainbow but neither were seen. One long distance release on a brown that looked to be roughly 14inches. I rigged a #8 Hairball and trailed it with a #16 Black Swimming PT, my Dark Hendrickson (E.Subvaria) nymph imitation. The PT took more fish than the Hairball but it got a couple in. The afternoon was kind of slow, hiking back upstream fishing a pocket here or a run there picking up a bit of trash as I went. Sad to see such an excellent fishery with such life littered with aluminum and plastic, in my time visiting here this seems to be the rule and thus the name Trash Creek.

I rounded the day out hiking further upstream than I had planned but I saw aggressively rising trout and didn’t want to waste the opportunity. My #20 Jujubee Midge fooled three but the rest weren’t having it, size does matter. The majority of the afternoon midge were much closer to #24/26. I swapped back to the #8 Black SMB and fished a couple more deep holes managing a handful of 12-13inch browns. Hiking upstream I took note of brown puddles created by perhaps a concerning amount of cow manure coming from a pasture area upstream. Piles of manure all the way to waters edge, this can’t be good for the water quality. Trash Creek, bummer. I finished and hiked out taking a final water temp (46°F)  in the same riffle I took the morning assessment.  Final Note: Ephemerella Subvaria and Baetis were here in large quantities, Baetis in the slightly slower water upstream from faster riffles and the Subvaria all over the rocks in the fastest part of the riffles. Get ready, provided things go well with the melt April looks to be excellent.

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Notes of Interest:

• Adult Winter Stones and Midge on Arrival (~11am)
• BWO’s at ~12:30-1pm as the Water Temp Rose to 49 Degrees
• Despite Higher Water Temps Minimal Rising Trout
• Saw Four Deer When I Usually See None
• Found 3 Deer Carcasses, One Way Too Fresh To Show Here
• Attempted Bug Photo’s with Reference Tape in mm, worth the effort, will continue this practice.
• Flies that worked: #20 Zebra Midge and a #18 Pheasant Tail Nymph
• New Water Today With a Nice Trail, Google Earth Estimates 2.4 Miles Travelled One Way

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