The 7th started out cooler and under clouded skies but it would end up turning around and becoming spring for a day. I met up with a friend of mine to fish a piece of recently scoured creek, the snow melt combined with a bit of rain had flooded the creek just enough to scour the holes out and clean some of the riffles up. White rocks clear of sediment and some invertebrates (there are trade offs with a bankful event) showed the power of water. In a few places the creek had blown way over her banks and attempted to channel a more direct path. We haven’t had many high water events over the last year or more, in fact I can’t think of even one event that sent the creeks out of their banks. Over this time sediment had collected throughout the creek we fished and the recent high water helped changed things up a bit.

Slightly stained water and rising water temps equal one thing to me…streamers, including my new test subject (more on that later). Fly chucking, moving through every inch of creek we fishing upstream hard. By the days end we would cover about four miles of trout water and touch quite a few brown trout, oh and a single brookie. The sun came out about an hour after arrival, the wind was low and for the next five hours we fished under glorious conditions. The trout were active, smacking my SMB regularly throughout the day. Carl landed a few nice trout including one that had a frog leg sticking out of it’s mouth? Think about that for a second, that frog leg was good sized and the trout maybe 13/14inches, that says something about their appetite and with a big meal on it’s way down that trout smacked Carl’s streamer hard wanting more. I was broke off by one fish I didn’t get a look at but it felt good, haven’t been broke off on 3x tippet in quite a while. All in all we had a blast and we took full advantage of the time we had knowing that the coming week would bring, rain, snow and ice and put a halt to the warm weather that was much appreciated.

No BWO’s were seen however the midges were out but only a scant few trout were surfacing all day. The rocks I did inspect showed plenty of Baetis nymphs but they all looked a bit immature yet and I would still give them another week of decent weather before they start going hard. If we get a fast warm up over a short period of time in the next couple weeks I wouldn’t be surprised if BWO’s, Grey Caddis and Dark Hendrickson’s all begin to come off on some of our creeks.

I fished for some portion of each day following the opener on the first. Fished different water and saw Grey Caddis and Baetis coming off regularly. The Grey Caddis kicked in most days around the 12-1pm range and continued to bring trout up through the early evening hours. The larger #14-16 flies showed up first and as the days progressed the smaller #18-20 flies arrived later. I spent one afternoon fishing the SMB and a #18 Grey Caddis imitation back to back. I’d approach a spot and knock the handful of smaller trout willing to take the dry fly then proceed to target the larger trout with the streamer. I remember sitting on a boulder in the middle of the creek with my feet in the creek thinking how excellent things can get. With my abundance of free time I plan to spend as many hours out of cell phone range as possible, the fishing will continue and continue to get better. When I wasn’t fishing the Grey Caddis hatch I was targeting some new non-designated water for larger trout. I rolled a couple nicer trout but missed them, my concolation prize… a couple Northern Pike with one pushing the 24inch mark, not bad for the 3wt.

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 Water Temp: ~44degrees at 10:52am
• Started Fishing a #8 SMB
• Water Temp at 12:28pm: ~47degrees
• Minimal or No Hatching Mayflies
• Fished the SMB all Day, Aggressive Strikes from Faster Water
• Landed a Brook, Brown and Rainbow
• Fished a New Stretch of Creek

After landing George the day before this was the icing on the cake, fishing streamers to aggressively feeding spring trout. Watched the water temps climb up into the BWO range (48-52) but didn’t see many emerge and the trout wern’t rising. The rocks showed large numbers of both Baetis nymphs but also Ephemerella Subvaria however most were immature and still needed time before they would be ready to hatch. I was content tossing the streamer and watching trout dart, slam and chase down my fly at every turn. Many missed fish due to the slightest amount of slack line when my fly was cast at a new spot, first cast inevitably led to a strike and despite anticipating that strike a lot of trout managed to hit and spit but quite a few got stuck. It was a good day fishing in minimal wind conditions with a very respectable air temp in the upper 60′s/low 70′s at the height of the day. Low point of the day… someone put their rod in my car then I rolled my back window down accidentally, then I rolled it back up and heard a crunch. Bummer. Down one rod.

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Another Sunday run south of the border. Crappy weather, my girl handled it very well. Windy, rainy, cold, the 1.5hrs of sunlight was welcome but left us for more clouds and rain in the later afternoon. Fished from ~12noon till ~6pm, first creek was a new spot. It was beaver town, slow backed up water that looked so damn good but held few fish and those that were seen were closer to 6inches rather than 16. Second creek was a bit turbid from cattle activity, the trout were in full spawn, redds everywhere. I watched a couple brown’s spawn for ~30minutes while Liz was working a group of trout upstream. Very cool to watch them so vulnerable up in the riffles, half exposed in some cases. I watched and took note of a brookie that swam up a riffle to root up a bed of cobble with which to lay her eggs in, sweet. Liz is coming along well, she has spent more time fly fishing than I have but that time was spent years ago when she would fish with her father, she is quickly falling back into the swing of things. Rounded out the day watching her take over a half dozen RBT and BNT roll casting a lightly weighted #12 Black Hairball (no indicator) on a long stretch of slow moving water that would give any fly angler a difficult time.

Other Notables:

• Viewed the Upper Iowa River from a most excellent perch.
• Brook, Brown and Rainbow trout slim covered my hands by the day’s end.
• Watched Liz crush a brown working a #18 BWO Dry fly.
• Liz fished nymphs without the aid of an Indicator and did very well.
• Many more Brook trout caught this day.
• #18-20 BWO’s seen hatching in small quantities at ~2:30pm.
• Liz had a BNT Dogger on the line but got off before it could be landed.

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Fished a creek with Sershen yesterday, we’ve been able to get out a handful of times lately and it’s been good. I’ve advocated creek dueling with a friend before. I dig talking trout, tactics and everything else while fishing with a good friend. Everyone has that person who matches their style well and things just work, simple. Simple is good. Once onstream we hit the creek hard and hiked close to a mile downstream without stopping or checking the creek out much. We moved far from the banks and took in the forest around us. Cooler air temps have created excellent afternoon fishing this August with hoppers hopping and BWO’s popping.

I fished a #8 Yellow Hopper first hoping that the pasture we found ourselves in had seen its share of these creatures and the fish would readily rise for a big meal opportunity. My instincts were right on, shortly after dressing my fly to ride high I was into wild brown trout. We fished a larger creek offering with it the opportunity to spend an afternoon in knee deep water tossing flies, I typically avoid standing in the creek but if done properly one can take quite a few fish from a single run even standing next to your prey. A bruiser took a swipe at my fly as I drifted it through a small piece of pocket water, it came riding by quickly and I think he simply missed the mark. I enjoyed seeing his backside flashing me before he dove for the depths.

We took a handful of trout with Hoppers and Stimulators as we worked the pasture up, splitting runs apart back and forth was common place, we also randomly drifted apart at times to get entire riffle/run/pool sections alone. The depth of the water was pushing me to see what a streamer might produce but the lure of the rise had me and it took a while to put the SMB on. Eventually working through a forested section I switched flies and roll casted my streamer to the opposite bank as we moved upstream. A handful of BWO’s ranging from #18-22 were seen and netted in my hat but few fish were surfacing. Working a deep hole a couple brookies chose to give up a picture with the Sprinkle Me Baby, I love catching brookies and I love seeing it go down even more. I watched as my fly drifted deeper and deeper until a white mouth opened wide and with that a tight line.

We pushed on but the setting sun forced us off the creek and to water closer to home before the day would be done. The first stop gave up a brown and two rainbows in ten minutes while a swarm of mosquitoes took their toll on exposed flesh. These super skeeters cut through shirts, pants and even my buff. Normally bugs don’t bother me but this was the exception. Ten minutes was all I could handle and we were off to the last spot of the evening. On location we peered through the weeds to see a scant few stocker rainbows, my dinner stop. I knew a few were around and with previous experience at this spot I slapped on a #8 Hairball and a single splitshot. A nice roll cast to sink the fly as close to the weed line as possible follwed by a short dead drift into a swing resulted in a handful of rainbows for dinner. Bows take the Hairball all day long. I found a smaller 8inch fish that took my fly as I dapped it on its face to get hooked and off only to get right back in line for another round with the Hairball. I figured this fish would only give it up twice but a decent drift with a twitch at the end put him right back on my Hairball for a third and final time. With dinner in one hand, my rod in the other and the sun setting behind me we took off for home. Brown, Brook and Rainbow, damn Southeast Minnesota has been good to me.

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The cooler air temp and lower humidity has made it a bit more manageable to get out during peak hopper hours. Heath and I have been fishing together since I began fishing for trout just over three years ago, he has been a sounding board for ideas and tactics, when we fish together we often stick close to one another and analyze flies, locations and presentations. The stream we fished was running gin clear and as we hiked downstream the five foot tall grass gave up the awe that is the plague. Hoppers, thousands in all colors and sizes, so many it bordered on the ridiculous if not the absurd. Rigged and ready we split up for a couple minutes, me with my Brown/Tan #10 Foam Hopper and Heath with what looked to be a #16 EHC. I took one on the second cast, a plop gave way to an aggressive strike from a 13inch brown. I fished back up to Heath and watched as his small EHC took a smaller Brookie, somewhere along the way Heath swapped to a hopper of his own and we progressed upstream. A short time later I heard something to the effect of “this is my first fish on a hopper.” Whaaaa?? A bit of floatant and a couple minutes later he fooled another, then another and another.

The rest of the afternoon was about as enjoyable a time I’ve had fishing since spring, taking turns casting big dry flies and enjoying the takes, splashy rises and sometimes awesome refusals. I eventually swapped to a #6 Brown/Yellow Foam Hopper simply because I was curious if the larger offering would produce larger trout. It produced one very nice fish that was improperly hooked and thus not landed, it also produced many, many taps and tugs from smaller fish. They were hitting the larger food item despite the fact they couldn’t fit it into their mouths, almost comical. Heath scored a rather nice looking brook trout to take the fish of the day and despite the fact that we had more time to fish we opted to head home. The heat was bearing down on us as a bit of cloud cover broke and we had gotten everything we came for. Fish the Driftless Area, Fish it Hard.

Post Note: A quick observation. How does a hopper end up in the creek? I figure one of three main ways, 1st the wind. 2nd, a disturbance in the grass like you or me… or cattle. Third, the random poor decision. I feel the first two are far more likely. So then it leads me to question: If cattle have recently come through and perhaps “primed” the creek by causing a handful of hoppers to become lunch will you have more luck as an angler because the fish have just had a consequence free meal? Or saw more hoppers in the creek in a shorter amount of time? Thinking out loud here.

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Damn, what an afternoon. Got onstream later than I wanted but found myself pulling up to a bridge with a family of six swimming in the big hole just downstream. The adults and I discussed fishing while I got my gear togather, the kids played in the cold water tossing sticks for the dogs. Trout water being enjoyed by all. As my time was short and I had not seen this section of creek we parted ways and I left the kids playing in the creek behind me. Weeds were of course up and tall crowding the already pretty thin stream. What it lacked in width it made up for with depth, a good situation for the trout and perhaps a more difficult one for me. I rigged a #14 Black Wet Fly and trailed it with a #16 Pink Squirrel, noting the depth around the first turn I added a single small split shot to aid the sink rate and moved upstream.

I found a good run and took my time getting into place. I could see from the banks I had chosen the right section of creek to satisfy my goals for the day…find brook trout. Their white fins giving them away as I peer through the weeds crouched on the bank. Rather than stand up on the bank and give my position away I slid down the bank wall and took a step into four feet of trout water. Normally I don’t cast from in the creek but sometimes it is the best option, a straight shot upstream with a marginally clear lane for a backcast behind me. The second my boots hit the creek I could see dirt plooms sending sediment downstream, those I had disturbed. I took another couple of minutes to let things settle and to observe my targets. I managed one decent cast with my two fly rig but missed the take it inspired only to lift my line up too sharply sending my flies into the bank riddled with 4-5ft tall weeds. I attempted to remove my flies without moving which resulted in a broken line and no flies…rookie mistake, 5x tippet… I could see my flies and rather than lose them I moved through the creek downstream to retrieve my goods.

On the bank I turned to see a rise from the run I was fishing, I looked at my flies and decided to try a #14 Orange Stimulator for maybe three reasons. 1st, there was a significant amount of instream vegitation which would hang up my two fly nymph rig, combine that with gin clear water and low flows resulting in disturbed trout from the splash of my flies hitting the creek. 2nd, Brookies take a Stimulator really well, they just don’t hesitate and tend to crush it. Finally the 3rd reason was my desire to fish a dry fly, to see the rise.

The first cast with the #14 Orange Stimulator proved I had made the right choice. Slam. A beautiful 8inch brookie, I’ve caught brookies before but not this many displaying the brightest colors I’ve ever seen on fish. I sat on that first run and moved maybe 2 feet in an hour. I’d catch one and send it downstream then turn wait a minute and cast again, for the most part they hit the Stimulator within two-three seconds of it hitting the water. They also tended to react more agressivly the higher the fly was floating, a couple nailed my fly as it was half sunk because I’m often too eager to stop and dress my fly properly (I’m working on that). I worked to the very very tip top of the riffle, in water less than 4 inches deep lay a nice 13inch brookie that I had seen rise once. I knew he was there, just a matter of get his friends out of my way without disturbing him. A couple more brookies and a brown later and I was grinning at the red belly flying through the air attempting to shake my hook.

My afternoon was made, long casts, dry flies and beautiful brookies. I moved upstream and took a handful more with my fly before it disintegrated before my eyes after about the 20th trout jaw took its toll. I swapped to a #14 Pink Head Stimulator and sure enough the brookies took to it. I landed a handful more before turning to head out. On my way I spied a hole and decided to swap to a #8 Black SMB just to see if anyone was home, the most colorful fish of the day came as a result. The icing on the cake and with that I was on my way.

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I spent Saturday reflecting on the 28th and what I would have changed about my fly selection or choice of presentation that might have altered the outcome of the day before. Sunday I was given the go ahead to wrestle my demons and headed to the water arriving at roughly 11:40pm. Similar conditions to the previous Friday, heavy overcast with a minor breeze. The air temp was a few degrees colder but not much (~20). I rigged a #8 Hairball (Tan) with no additional weight. First thing I took note of was the minimal impact it had entering the water, exactly what I was looking for. This pattern also has less flash and the flash it does have is pretty subtle.

I started fishing up a long slow section of creek that I knew held quite a few fish, upstream a hundred or so feet I could see dimples. The trout were up, I tossed my fly and very very slowly brought it back to my feet. I got a few strikes fishing the shallow edges of the creek. My thought was if I put the fly in on the edges and let it sink it would have less of an impact and thus disturb fewer fish. What I found was that I was tossing the fly basically on top of some of the trout, a few took the bait but most took off for deeper water. I hooked into a smaller brown but lost the hookset on a nice flying leap.

I moved downstream and fished the same fly through a deep run getting only one strike. I added weight and an indicator to fish the very bottom. I took my time and waited maybe ten minutes hunkered down in the snow watching the midge before I presented my fly to that group of fish again. Despite waiting nothing was having my fly. I moved downstream and lost the #8 Hairball to a snag, rather than tie on another I opted for a #16 Orange Scud. The first cast I made and moments after my line left the rod I had a strong strike that caught me off guard, it was a decent brookie that flashed me its colors quickly before throwing the hook.

Hiking further downstream spying rising trout through the trees. I moved to a run with multiple snags, lost two more Orange Scuds then, a bit frustrated I tied on yet another #16 OS and moved back upstream. From the banks I could see a pod of trout and ocasionally the larger ones would open their mouths wide, white inside, and pick something from the drift maybe a foot under the surface. They would move up in the water column a good foot to pick from the drift then settle back to the stream bed. My location wasn’t ideal, a barbed wire fence and steep bank forced me to spend ten minutes very slowly crawling to get in position. Sitting next to a feeder spring I took a couple of minutes to settle, I spied a bright blue can laying in a pile of water cress. I love beer but not here and not like this, it had to go.

I added another 18inches of 6X tippet and trailed my scud with a #20 Miracle Nymph. I removed the single splitshot and waiting until the largest fish I could see ate in front of me. I let 20 feet or so of line drift downstream to get it in the water and off my spool without spooking the fish, then I proceeded to make the first of three roll casts. The first fell short and sent two fish downstream, I waited and tried again the second got a look but nothing. The third and I felt a jolt. Although my target was across from me as I sat on the bank I put my flies upstream so they would have enough time to drift down and into the target zone (1-2feet below the surface). The strike came from a fish hiding out of view further upstream from my intended target. I set the hook and the fish ran down and into the target group sending them scattering, it then promptly raced for a snag and took my flies with it. Alot of prep work to sight fish a nicer 18inch brown to have it ruined by the unseen 13inch fish holding upstream but fun just the same. Upstream to finish the day where I began it.

I slapped on the #8 Hairball pattern again and sent it through the same slow straight section of water I began on. I targeted the middle of the creek, earlier hiking downstream I had been kicking up quite a few fish that were hanging in the shallows on the very edges of the creek. I believe they were in the shallows because tiny black stoneflies were emerging. As the afternoon progressed (~2pm) their presence in the snow in higher concentrations tipped me off. These stoneflies emerge as adults by crawling to the shallow edges as mature nymphs then splitting their carapace to allow the winged adult to continue the journey crawling through the snow. By 3pm the ratio of stoneflies to midge was almost at 1:1 making this one of the largest emergences of this particular insect I’ve seen. A few minutes later after slowly dead drifting my fly down the middle I hooked up with a 15inch Brown that fought well and soon made my day. I opted to finish the stretch and head home, last cast of the day proved to be a good one as a 13inch Brookie was waiting for me. I got to drive home with a smile on my face and the smell of trout on my hands. A good day.

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