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.

• BWO’s at 1pm

• Dark Hendrickson’s at 2:30pm

• Gray Caddis at 3pm

• Sunshine, Green grass, No wind. Enough said. GO FISHING!

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.

Slide Show

• Air Temp: ~30 Degrees F
• Water Temp: 52 Degrees F
• Conditions: Sunny Skies/Minimal Wind
• Time: 12:28pm

The first BWO’s I’ve seen since I stopped crossing the border showed up the other day. I nearly dove head first into the creek after them but it being ~30 degrees out I showed a bit of restraint. I blew the only hole showing rising trout just to get a couple pictures of these flies, they came and went quickly. Hatching lasted maybe 45minutes and the numbers were minimal, I counted a scant few float by every so often. This is just the beginning, they are here, check the rocks, look for those dark fat wing pads, then take note and go back. About time this season put up something to write about.

Slide Show

Biot Comparadun: #16 BWO

• Hook: #16 Dry Fly
• Thread: Olive UTC 70
• Tail: Dun Microfibbets
• Wing: Dun Deer Hair
• Body: Olive Turkey Biot
• Thorax: BWO Dubbing
• Head: Olive UTC Thread

Critical Thoughts: The wing is too long on some of the flies I tied, tails as well. The wing should sit more at a 45 degree angle to the rear and should maybe be a bit further towards the hook barb than in this example. Color is a decent match but the photos here do not do color any justice. I tied half with a lighter olive dubbing for the thorax and half darker. All in all I’ll venture to say they will bring a trout to surface and are a bit better option than what I currently have in my dry fly box, with that said more in a #18 and #20 are needed.

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

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

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.