Arrival time ~9am. Airtemp in the upper 20′s. With frost on the ground Carl and I began the morning hike downstream passing up over two miles of creek. I didn’t bother to stop once to look, the goal was to get to the starting point, a remote area that requires a serious hike from either direction to get to. This translates to a place where few frequent, the trout haven’t been pressured and the area is left untouched (for the most part). Places like this, far from roads, houses, people…they are rare and should be treasured. As we hiked downstream avoiding the temptation to glance at the water we were to see as our day progressed, the morning sun came out taking with it the frost and my need for an overcoat. January and I’m hiking the creek in a fleece because my traditional winter gear is simply too much for the almost 30degree airtemp at ~9am.

Once downstream I gazed upon large water with darting shadows, the shadows of trout, white suckers and the rosey cheeked creek chub. Due to the large water and not having fished this creek before I opted to swing a streamer. I fish a streamer in situations like this if the trout respond, my third roll cast saw a smaller brown chase the streamer almost to my feet, a good sign that my SMB would take fish this day. A couple casts later I had the first brown of the day on the line only to have it shake my barbless hook at the last moment. Minutes into the day of fishing and I knew my choice of fly was going to pay off. I’m not suggesting that nymphs wouldn’t have worked but given the size of the creek and not knowing the depth or location of the trout fishing a streamer was going to be the best choice for me. Upstream a bit I spied from the bank a larger shadow, clear blue water with big cover boulders piqued my interest. I opted to sit on it a bit, adding a splitshot and working my roll cast out a good forty feet I let my fly dead drift until my line came to a halt. I missed one but with the next pass my line went taught, a bit of a run and a fat splash showed a nicer 18 and a half inch brown trout, a Dogger. What a way to start the morning, second trout to hand pushing 19inches.

After releasing the larger fish I sat on that spot for quite a while repeating the same process landing two more and missing more than that. The slow lethargic strike was difficult to detect but the fish were eating the streamer and so it continued to be my fly of choice. My fishing partner Carl fished upstream from me and was doing quite well with his streamer choice, we continued to work the creek up enjoying the beautiful conditions. Further upstream the wind began to pick up a bit but not enough to make me put my coat on, we sat and watched for any rising trout. A few scattered midge were spotted hovering over the creek but by 11am we’d only seen a couple trout surface. I kept the streamer on for the next hour, by 12pm we came upon a run/pool system showing regularly rising trout. We crept up low and sat in the brush watching the trout and the midge, we swapped our large streamers for longer leaders and #20 flies. The wind made things difficult, as did the clear low water but Carl’s approach resulted in a fooled brown. I tried for another further upstream but was unsuccessful, even an attempt with a #20 Miracle Nymph was fruitless. Although a handful of fish were rising regularly they were hesitant and I opted to move upstream and put my streamer back on.

The beautiful day was made as fish chased down my streamer, a handful more came to hand and many were missed. No ice in the guides and sun on my shoulders, I can’t stress enough how wonderful these places are and the excellent weather was the icing on the cake. The rest of the day was much the same, following the winding creek upstream we ended up where we started the morning, fished out by 3:30 or so I was content to call the day successful and every bit as satisfying as any other day in the peace of the Driftless Area. Good to take full advantage of good airtemps and low wind in January, it can’t last forever.

Slide Show

Hit the creek on a mild January day to fish for spooky natural reproducing browns and brookies in low water conditions. Airtemp felt brisk on arrival but compared to last year it should be looked at as a heat wave. It’s weird walking around in waders, crossing the creek whenever simply because the conditions allow for it. This is January in Minnesota of all places, weird is an understatement. So the day began with a mile or so hike downstream to location A, a sexy run with a deep center channel holding both Rainbows and Browns. We arrived early enough to watch the sun crest over the bluff to take the layer of frost away. Seated in position we waited for the sun to top the trees, hit the creek and hopefully make the midge begin to emerge. After fifteen minutes the sun wasn’t moving fast enough and we opted to try small nymphs. A #18 BH Pheasant Tail was trailed by a #20 Miracle nymph, pretty standard winter rig for this time of the year.

An unexpected guest in the form of an 8 year old boy with a spinning rod approached our initial spot and tossed his spinner in the creek, a bit of frustration ensued but rather than scold the young man we moved on further upstream and allowed him to work his home water. With a longer leader and a single additional split shot even spooky fish were hitting the #20 Miracle nymph. A #8 SMB was employed for a bit but when the trout showed no signs of wanting the larger meal I switched back to the small nymphs. A most satisfying moment came when several small browns were nymphed up from a slow section where every cast sent the pod of fish scattering, making long casts to get the flies down at the right point to fool trout that know your there is one of the things about winter trout fishing I love. Small as those trout were they were every bit as enjoyable to catch knowing the challenge I was presented with.

Further upstream a #8 Hairball was employed for a brief time but seeing the trout ignore it forced my hand and the small nymphs came back into play. Sershen working upstream of me with a #20 PT was stalking a large brown when I landed a handful of smaller fish on the #20 Miracle nymph. As I was preparing to send my flies far upstream with a long cast the cry for aid was heard, my rod was immediately abandoned. My flies hooked one of my gloves as I tore off upstream to grab the net for my friend, I dropped my glove en-route and stood with the net readied as he moved it out of a thick swatch of water cress and away from a structure that would have most certainly caused his 6x line to break. With one quick motion the beautiful female was brought to hand. A 20 on a #20, what a beautiful thing. The lesson to take home here is that if the trout don’t want your streamer or larger nymph work the flies they are willing to take, even the big ones will eat a small meal. With the trout released we lay on the bank adrenaline still pulsing through both of us. What an awesome way to wrap the afternoon up. Maybe thirty more minutes of fishing was had, came across a large buck decaying in the creek, I plan to come back and attempt to remove the portion of the carcass I want for home. The last notable event occurred after a couple bad casts resulted in a tangled mess of my two nymph rig, knowing the day was basically finished I opted to cut my line back to my 3X tipped and put on a #8 SMB, sending it through a run a charge and quick swipe from a most beautifully colored brookie was seen, the fish tasting hook spit my fly before I could set the hook and instead of disappearing it remained holding less than five feet from me. I jokingly sent my fly to it again, nothing but it didn’t run for cover. Another attempt caused the brookie to move and look but not take, another attempt and it hit lightly but not enough to get a hookset. Again it remained holding, three more attempts and it moved on my fly one more time but didn’t hit. Finally I gave up and enjoyed watching those bright white fins from the bank. What an excellent way to end the day.

Slide Show

Winter season in Minnesota opened this morning, a friend and I proceeded to follow a ritual seen this day for the last four years. Wake, prep gear, drink coffee and drive to the spot. This spot is particular in that no matter the conditions the bugs are active and thus the fish follow suit. Some years this has worked better, some not as well but today was awesome. Windy as all hell on arrival but we found pockets of the valley void of wind and when we did get wind came in bursts allowing us to fish between gusts and see many fish come to hand. Interesting notes off the bat: the fish were very active on arrival and the fish activity tapered off around 1pm then proceeded to drop off a cliff after 2pm. Also, the creek was a bit stained, certainly not gin clear as I was expecting which perhaps benefited us. Finally, the bug activity on arrival was good, very good. My attempt with a #20 Griffiths Gnat saw many fish move for and even aggressively chase downstream leaving a wake as they came after my fly. Arrival airtemp was ~30degrees with a 26-30mph sustained wind from the WNW.

Several fish were nymphed up with a #20 Miracle nymph and a #18 Beadhead PT, those were the hot nymphs for the day and Sershen did quite well landing many right after I put all the rising fish down with a couple bad hooksets on the Griffiths Gnat. I swapped to the #20 Miracle nymph with a Hot Blue Wire rib rather than the traditional copper and it got crushed. The fish were hungry and active, so much so that fishing a no indicator rig was generally easy as they tugged line rather than slowly sipping the flies. As the morning wore on we moved to a spot that has in the past given up few fish but looks so damn good that it’s hard not to spend a short period of time with. Due to the depth and potential for larger fish I opted to try a new streamer pattern that is still in the proto-type phase and is not fully ready to be unveiled but I can tell you this much… the fish certainly enjoyed it. I’m calling this fly the “Jungle Boogie” and it’s for a couple reasons but I’ll get into that perhaps down the road a bit. All you need to know is that it brought trout after trout out from dark hiding places all the way to the surface of the creek to be smacked time and time again as I watched. I like fishing a dry fly as much as the next but watching a trout come from the depths of blackness following your fly to then open wide and hit it hard is a beautiful thing and I watched it happen several times this day. White mouth then hooked trout, brilliant.

At one point fishing the same hole we saw a double as I hooked a 15 3/4inch rainbow on the Jungle Boogie with Sershen hooking into a 16inch rainbow on his #18 PT nymph, because the net was closest to me I scooped my fish up then moved upstream ten feet to land the second trout, this was the first winter double I’ve been a part of. Shortly after this occurred I hooked another rainbow and pulled a rookie move shaking my glove off with my back to the creek only to find it floating in cold creek water. Note: always have a spare set of gloves, I’m glad I did. After landing a few more rainbows bringing the count to close to twenty apeice we decided to leave the comfort of rising rainbows and aggressive stockers for less pressured water containing browns and brookies. I continued to fish the Jungle Boogie as it was still producing trout after trout and I saw no reason to argue with its effectiveness. I managed a handful of browns that exhibited the same aggressive charge on my fly throughout the early afternoon. The last brown of the day was seen but not hooked as I made a short cast stripped my fly in and watched as a ~16+inch brown darted out from a rock that I was practically standing on to smack my fly startling me thus hampering my hookset, this was another highlight of the day. I don’t mind missing a fish when I get to see things like that.

After the couple mile hike upstream we headed back to where we started to find the wind picking up, the airtemp dropping and with it the fish activity. It doesn’t take much of a change in water temp (+/-1 degree often) to drastically alter feeding behaviour. At ~2pm the trout that had been previously so aggressive and willing to chase my streamer down were now looking and if presented properly were willing to hit it but not nearly as hard. Often it was sipped and not hit with the fervor of the earlier morning. I landed three or four more rainbows then opted to hike out, the wind was continuing to pick up and I had enjoyed the opening day of the winter season thoroughly. I saw no reason to sit in the wind struggling to force feed a handful of smaller trout. It should also be noted that the fish that were willing to strike in the afternoon were consistently smaller than the morning trout, an interesting note if you ask me. Despite the lack of snow it was a good day, very glad to be fishing the Minnesota water I love so much. To the 2012 trout season, it’s here and I plan to take full advantage of the time I have. Hope some of you got out and braved the wind to touch a trout on the 1st, I love the smell of trout stink on my hands.

Post Script: My 8’6 3wt Sage Flight was sent in on Dec. 4th, I shipped it regular mail to the factory in Oregon. After discussing my need to have the guides looked at and possibly replaced I was told upon inspection that several of my ferrules had cracks in them. Sage built me a brand new rod, cork handle, reel seat, guides and all. It was shipped overnight back to me on Friday Dec. 30th, just in time for the opener. Thank you Sage.

Slide Show

Fished another Sunday in Iowa, since Liz and I ended up purchasing a year license it only made sense we would use them as much as possible while the weather holds out. Arrival time: ~12:15pm, Departure Time: ~5:30pm. Airtemp was in the low fifties, the wind was calmer out of the WSW at ~10mph. The creek was a bit off on arrival but clean enough for me to spot trout hanging on redds. Trout were sipping something small on arrival, likely midge but with the recent Baetis seen Liz opted for a #18 BWO, second cast in and she was making it look easy. We hung around attempting to take a couple more on a dry fly before moving upstream but nothing was having the larger flies. I switched flies up a couple times, took a couple small Browns on a #18 Bead Head Baetis nymph I tied up for situations like this. The creek, full of weeds, full of spooky trout who bolt for cover when they see a larger or heavier nymph hit the surface are sometimes best presented something very small despite the difficulty detecting a strike. I lost three or four easily to late hooksets. I also fished the “safety” of the #16 Pink Squirrel for a while and took a handful of fish ranging from 10-13inches. Something about the fact that the trout just can’t help but hit that thing makes me want to fish it less, like it’s laced with some kind of trout chum they can smell from a mile away.

Upstream scoping the riffles I watched one trout rise, then another and another. Shortly after a #18 BWO flew past, I dropped the nymph instantly and swapped to the #18 BWO pattern again. I watched the riffle for another ten minutes, four different trout in four locations rose but they didn’t lite up the way I was hoping they would. There would be no major BWO hatch for us. Thinking I could pull a couple out I made close to two dozen casts with only one botched hookset on a 6inch Brown to show for it. We moved upstream and I looked at my flies and put on one of a couple dozen newly tied #8 Sprinkle Me Baby’s. Something about fishing this fly, I have so much confidence in it and my ability to fish it well that it just made sense. Trust Your Gut.

Working the later portion of the afternoon I was roll casting to deeper faster water, swapping a split shot for none and back again, working the weed lines and the dark spaces between them, the BNT were coming to hand quickly. I managed over a dozen in the first hour with a few misses between. They smack this fly so damn fast sometimes it’s hard to set the hook and make it stick. We got upstream to find a couple nasty deep looking pools, faster current feeding the far side. My gut… my gut was telling me to hit each with a down and across approach letting my fly sink then rise at a steady rate as the line tightened up. The second pool gave up the reason why I trust my gut, a nice 18inch Brown. He hit deep and I didn’t know what I was in for until he gave me a big flying leap from below, this was the Iowa Brown I’d been looking for these last few trips.

Upstream all of a hundred yards and I see one of the biggest, gnarliest beaver dam’s I’ve come across in my Driftless career. Standing close to five feet tall just pouring trout water from a weak portion in the center. We hiked upstream and spied dark deep trout water but few fish. I was concerned that their might not be much around but if there was something it might make the last fish look puny. I dropped a couple bombs in the creek but saw nary a flash, my gut was telling me to move on. A guy can spend all day casting into the darkness and get nowhere, I’m guilty of it from time to time but the day was growing short and with it the light so we moved on. Out of the beaver dam and into one of the sexiest pieces of trout water I’ve seen in Iowa. I was concerned that after the beaver dam it would be kaput, pitiful creek, I was dead wrong. I tossed a fly down under a boulder offering some excellent habitat for any trout and landed two smaller browns that proved there were fish above the beaver dam. This was motivation to keep going, Liz was doing her own thing, figuring her cast out and working a streamer, I was content to dissect the creek for the spots I knew would hold fish.

I got to a riffle with a bunch of overhanging branches, took one look and knew there had to be something tasty laying in wait. The first cast was too far up the riffle and got stuck on a rock, my fly came back covered in creek sludge. After a quick clean up I made a second attempt and planted my fly on the smallest of the overhanging branches, the sun was going down and I didn’t see it until it was too late. Something was on my side, my SMB popped off the branch instantly. My gut said one more… it was right again. By now I’m thinking, damn I should be telling Liz where to put her fly but I didn’t want to stand over her shoulder being overbearing. I landed the brown and sent him back to the creek with just enough daylight to work upstream another couple hundred feet. The sun was gone, the sky was lighting up with pink and orange colors. I saw one last spot that just screamed for a fly, first cast and a fat, I mean gutty fat holdover Rainbow came out. The picture doesn’t do the gut justice but damn I was taken back a bit. By this point the ground was looking black, I left the headlamp somewhere not in my gear and we were forced to hike over a mile back as the very last of the light left us.

Additional Notes:

• Watched a Bald Eagle fly overhead at less than a hundred yards.
• Observed a noticeable change in the creek vegetation above and below the beaver dam.
• Spent fifteen minutes chasing down an evening Caddisfly.
• Watched over a dozen deer silouetted by the sky chase through a herd of cattle down a bluff side.

Slide Show

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.

Slide Show

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.

Slide Show

The 2nd day of the weekend adventure saw me shivering as I rolled out of the tent, the night before as we pulled off the creek due to thunder and lightening we got a decent dousing. After a cold evening that shower coated everything in a thick layer of frost. I prepped the fire and got things going, a choice was made to pack up camp quickly and head out. We chose to hit the same creek as the day before, with Liz knowing the water a bit better the chance of her doing as well if not better than the day before was good. After a brief stop to get a cup of much needed coffee we were pulling up to an Iowa creek void of any other vehicles, good choice to go on a weekday.

10am creekside and the airtemp was cool in the low 40′s. Layers of clothing were applied, the wind was not going to help us again but Liz was able to handle it the day before so I had no fears that it was going to hamper anything. She rigged her rod with the same #14 Pink Patrick as the day before and we hiked to the first spot for the day, our goal was to leisurely fish the rest of the creek that we hadn’t seen the day prior. I sat back and enjoyed my black coffee hunkered down low to keep out of the wind, I watched as my girl took aim at a slow section of water that had given up a handful of nicer sized rainbows the day prior. It wasn’t long before I was up off my ass taking photos, I let her do the landing and releasing as I won’t always be right by her side to do so. She worked that first spot over well and landed a half dozen or so rainbows before we moved upstream. By noon the sun was warming things up, I spotted a handful of rises upstream as we hung on another stretch that Liz was nymphing. It wasn’t long before I watched a BWO float past.

Thinking to the day before and Carl’s dry fly prowess I snuck away upstream after I spied the first handful of rises coming from a very long slow moving stretch of gin clear creek. I rigged my rod with a #18 Parachute BWO and tried to land my fly without sending the trout scattering. There is something so satisfying about taking a tiny trout under difficult conditions, being able to see that trout scoot over and nail your fly from thirty feet out is that much better. Shortly after I noticed Liz was behind me watching my approach and cast, she was studying. The first fish was a well earned brown, the two that followed were eager rainbows. I moved upstream and talked Liz through my approach, what I was thinking and what my goals were. Upstream a bit further and I was into my kind of challenge, a lone rising trout in a very difficult position, this was going to require some luck. Under a small rock outcropping was a lone rainbow rising every so often, I had to get my fly to land in just the right spot to allow for a drift under the rock outcropping without catching my fly on any one of the snaggs hanging from the rest of the rocks around. Liz and I waited and watched. A couple attempts and I got the perfect drift on the location which resulted in a splashy rise from a smaller rainbow, right under the rock outcropping. This was the day maker for me, the holy grail of fly fishing, the pick your fish.

With my day fully made I turned my attention back to Liz who was watching this show go down and getting eager to maybe toss a dry fly of her own. We tried the #18 BWO for a bit but it was soon apparent that she needed something a bit larger to start with, I had her stick on a #10 Stimulator and let loose on a run that was bringing trout to rise. Fifteen minutes later and she hadn’t landed a fish, hadn’t gotten a single strike but her backcast was getting better. She knew she had blown any chance at those fish and yet we sat there practicing that cast for another fifteen minutes. The smile on my face probably looked stupid but sitting in the sun watching her slap the creek with her line then slowly figuring it out couldn’t have been better. Truth be told I saw one trout rise in a rough spot and I asked if she wanted to try for it instead she handed me her rod. Second drift and I watched that rainbow turn downstream, chase after that Stimulator and nail it. The sun was glorious and the morning layers were shed during the afternoon hours making for a very enjoyable day on the water. We fished for another hour or so but wanted time at home before dark so we called it around 3:30pm and hit the road.  Can’t stress how fortunate I am, the pictures illustrate that well enough.

Slide Show

After the 1st 24hrs of the two day adventure it was clear… my gal can fish. If she keeps it up… we’ll I don’t even want to get into the thought that she’ll be out-fishing me soon. Plans were loosely laid out towards the end of the week, we both took Monday off and planned to get a few things done around the house before hitting the road for Iowa. We convinced Liz’s brother to watch our dogs, gear was packed and maps were looked over then looked over again. We drove around until a spot to camp was found, this ate up a bit more time than I would have liked but ultimately things worked out in our favor, got a spot less than twenty feet from a top notch Iowa stream all to ourselves. We quickly set up camp, prepared the fire pit for later that evening then split for trout water.

Earlier in the week Liz and I made a trip to the Driftless Angler, we had arranged a time with Mat to get into the shop for some much needed gear. Liz needed the basics, rod/reel/line and a pair of waders/boots. Mat had exactly what we needed and set us up in fine style. Liz tried out an 8’0″ Echo 4wt and we paired it with a Lamson Konic reel lined with some secret super line that I’ll get to another day. Mat also happened to have a pair of women’s chestwaders in the right size (finding the right size for Liz can be difficult). Boots worked and with that we had what the weekend demanded. Thanks to Mat for accommodating us, if you need Driftless gear…get a hold of Mat and goto the Driftless Angler.

So, the fire was prepped, tent pitched, and a cold beer was about to be history when we geared up for an evening on the creek. We had roughly an hour and a half of daylight, I hiked us to a spot I know of and rigged Liz’s rod with a #14 Pink Patrick with a single splitshot and an indicator. We only had a couple hours before the sun set, I watched Liz roll cast to trout holding in a deep hole. These fish are pressured, they have seen anglers before and they know what a fly is. After about an hour of roll casting, mending and watching the drift Liz had missed two solid strikes, line management (lack there of) will burn the learning angler many times. We hung out casting to trout until it got so dark we couldn’t see the indicator anymore. We hiked back to the campsite, lit the fire up and cooked a quick dinner. An hour or so later Carl showed up wanting to hike through the woods to try a bit of night mousing. We hiked over two miles downstream and fished back up, a couple hours of fishing and we had nothing to show for it. Liz was a good sport and hung out with Carl and I while we got a couple strikes but never did end up landing a trout. Mousing has been spotty since fall has set in, I’m curious if it is a product of the change in season or the water we are fishing, something is not the same as it was a month ago.

Back at camp we finished the night with a good beer and a big fire. The next morning we shook off the frost and crawled out of the tent to find a beautiful blue sky with a bright sun staring back at us. The plan for the day, take off, search a new creek and maybe meet up with Sershen. Once cellphone reception was restored (I turned the phone on for the briefest of moments) we set a time/place to meet up with one of my friends, Carl who just couldn’t leave good fishing and who slept in the car came along for the search. The four of us met on a new creek, we picked a direction and split up. Liz and I moved upstream from our initial location and worked on roll casting a single nymph rig with an indicator. After working on her mending a bit more she was getting strikes regularly, it took a bit but she landed her first trout of the weekend shortly after our arrival. A puny rainbow with a tail deformity spared the fish a serious photo and instead we went right back to casting.

Liz continued to fish a #14 Pink Patrick while I tied on a slightly larger #12 Black Hairball and moved upstream from her, not too far as I was her source of tippet, nippers and other important supplies but enough that my presence wasn’t going to get in her way. The look of determination was plastered all over this girls face and I didn’t want to sound like a nagging fool so I tried to give her some space throughout the afternoon. She stuck at that first spot for quite a while before wanting to move on, maybe longer than I would have but I was enjoying seeing her take part in something I love.

We moved upstream to find cattle muddying the creek but that didn’t seem to bother the trout any. Liz continued roll casting her rig and continued to haul in trout. A couple hours after our arrival and I was fishing upstream on my own and every so often I would see her set a hook, watch the rod bend hard and land trout after trout. We sat in the sun for a while and enjoyed the beautiful weather, the wind which greeted us on arrival remained through the day but didn’t hamper progress much until near the end of the day. After several hours being separated from the rest in our group we hiked back downstream until we came across our friends. Sershen took off in search of other water while Carl, Liz and I continued back upstream to fish out the rest of the daylight. Liz was picking spots, making casts and landing fish. Carl fished a tiny dryfly for the majority of the day and continued through the evening while I tossed a Hairball landing a trout here and there. I fished some but I spent alot of my day content enjoying the creek and watching my girl get into browns and rainbows.

Again, this girl can fish. The sun came and went with the clouds, it would make random appearances throughout the afternoon before eventually hiding behind a wall of thunderheads that would later signal the end of the day. A couple light rain showers were enjoyed before the thunder came and with it the strong lighenting that forced us to put our rods down, pack our gear and head for camp. Day 1 was a good day, all goals were accomplished with style and more importantly Liz wanted more…

Note: Brown and Brook trout are spawning on the creeks in the Driftless Area. I was very careful to take steps to avoid all potential redds and to point out those I was sure held trout eggs. Liz and I crossed the creek only when we needed to and we crossed in deeper muddier spots avoiding riffles when possible. We never cast to any spawning trout and we try to make our impact on the fish during this time of the year as minimal as possible.

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