Fished the spot again today, had some time to chew up and the air temp today was going to read higher than it has in a week and higher than it will for a few more days. Look to Sunday for a decent air temp and clearer skies around here, forecasts are making me wish I didn’t have plans for the 10th.  So I pull up, rig my rod and get down to business. The point today was to test a few things under a semi-controlled environment, in that I know these fish, where they lie and what has worked in the past under similar conditions.

I concentrated on dead drifting and swinging down/across several different patterns. The control, that Sershen showed me and in the past has always produced several trout was the Miracle Nymph in a #20. Gold Bead on a 1X Short Scud hook with a body made of white UTC thread and a rib of Copper this fly is simple and effective, I tied several of these for this place and this time. Today this fly (as always) rocked and picked up six rainbows both dead drifted and on the swing as it rose to the surface. My new hand tied leader helped this process, limited memory allowed for a tighter line which in turn made hook-sets more accurate and the piece of Hi-Vis Mono meant to help indicate subtle takes did just that. I decided after I lost the first rig to a rock that it was time to try something different. Read the rest of this entry »

Approximate arrival onstream: 9:00am. 100% clean and clear flows containing the same spooky trout, same as the last time I was here just less than a week ago. I wanted another crack at the fish in this stream, this time I came armed with another brain to bounce ideas off. The word for the day would be drift, proper drift. We started by tempting a smaller pod of trout holding in a shallower (3ft) run, using smaller lightly weighted scuds nothing would take, line and flies sent dozens of fish, fish dawning the best camouflage imaginable scrambling for cover. A recurring theme today was the super camo these fish were sporting, if you saw one be sure there were twenty you didn’t. It would serve me better to just trust that something might hold fish and rather than have to peer in, just make my presentation to where the fish may be holding. We hung on a super deep hole for a while after seeing the shadows below, the fish were again lethargic. I was hoping that due to the overnight low in the region dipping to only 43 degrees that the fish would perhaps be more actively feeding but this was not our observation. Takes were super subtle and several fish were hooked but lost due to this fact. The correct amount of weight and drift were the key to taking these fish, with a super deep (10+ft) dive in a short distance you have to weight heavy and let it go hoping your line may bounce, pull, stop, anything to indicate a fish. Sershen took a 13in Brown with a #14 Pink Scud but after close to an hour I had lost three takes and landed nothing, par for the course for me I suppose.

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The Black Wet Fly tied Winona Fly Factory Style

• Hook: #12-#18 Wet Fly/Nymph Hook
• Weight: 10 Turns of .15 (for a #14)
• Thread: Black 8/0
• Bead: Optional
• Rib: SM Black Ultra Wire
• Undershell: 6 Strands of Peacock Herl
• Overshell: 16 Strands of Black Krystal Flash
• Underbody: Black Dubbing + Peacock Ice Dub (Blended)
• Hackle: Black (Oversized)
• Collar: Peacock Ice Dub

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This was a season to remember as it was my first full season fly fishing the driftless area from January 1st in the frozen tundra, to September 30th with the arrival of fall. My goal was to see as many of the natural processes first hand as I could, to record and use that knowledge later to improve my angling abilities and my understanding of the fish I pursue in the environment they reside in. With confidence I can say that I did my best and although I missed a few things I have enough first hand information to begin the off season tying new patterns and altering old ones to better suit my needs. After having fished this entire season I have a better understanding of the changes that occur on our streams throughout the season and will use that knowledge to make better choices next season. I plan to concentrate on difficult to get to places earlier in the season and try to fish places that are more suitable after the full summer bloom kicks in, also for next season with the addition of a 9ft. 7wt rod that I have plans to build I will be targeting more warm water specie throughout the season, especially during the prime summer months of July and August. Read the rest of this entry »

I fished under sunny skies today, this the last day of my first full season fly fishing in Southeast Minnesota. The driftless area has been good to me, I’ve seen quite a few kick ass sights this season and to end the season here I visited two sites that have helped make me the angler I am.

Standing near gin clear water and with near record low flows I rigged one of the last two SMB’s I had in my box. I didn’t see any rising activity but I did see thousands of grasshoppers and perhaps I should have rigged one but I went with the SMB and picked up nothing. I had a few light strikes, all of which I missed. I watched a few fish think about it but if they think and turn my experience has shown me, especially in the slower water, that they arn’t going to give it a second thought. I moved upstream quickly as each fish ignored me. I managed one brown trout out of one of my favorite runs but not having been here in quite some time I was not prepared for the effects of the low water combined with the weeds, it just made everything more difficult. I lost a few more decent sized fish before I managed to catch my fly on a tree root under the surface, break off. I should also note that I only had the heaviest of the SMB’s I had tied earlier this season making everything even more difficult. It would have been wise to just go with something else but I’ll learn. Read the rest of this entry »

These last few days have seen me grasping at every moment to be near fishy water. The aggressive fish that begin to show spawning habits and the beautiful colors bring me to the water daily until the end. I stopped off at a spot I visit every so often for a short romp with the trout. I was looking mainly to get into something larger and not necessarily many fish. This spot just a month ago was so choked with weeds that it made getting your fly to the fish rather difficult, now as the cool nights make everything stay colder the weeds have receded leaving plenty of room to sink the SMB. Read the rest of this entry »

Took off after work and hit a quick stop hoping to get a look at a few spawners. I know there are brook trout here and I was hoping to get to see one or two but that didn’t happen. I did, however, get the chance to see a Male and Female Brown both full into the spawn. Upon arrival I rigged up an SMB simply because I didn’t have much time and wanted to target the larger hungry trout preparing for the next few weeks, also this spot has quite a bit of depth and a bigger fly was going to get to the fish faster. Read the rest of this entry »

Under cloudy skies with the occasional bout of rain and sunshine I fished Sunday. My plan was to return to a stream that I have fished several times before to see how it looked this late in the season. With little to no rain except only recently I was expecting to find low flows, what I wasn’t prepared for was the quadruple threat that made the first stop so challenging. To get a difficulty rating of 8+ combine the following: Extremely low flows, massive amounts of instream vegetation, crystal clear spring water and a micro trout stream often no wider than I can jump, oh then put it in a dense forest with little to no angler traffic. Now were talking.

Having been to this water before and knowing a fair amount about the life in the stream I rigged a Black Wet Fly trailed by a small Baetis nymph. This is a “Micro” trout stream and with the low flows and large amount of veg the fish would be very spooky so I opted to nymph a medium lengthed leader with no indicator. If the leader was too long I would miss every take, too short and the fish would see my fly line before my flies, also look at the pictures of the water, a long leader is just counter productive in such close quarters. I guess I wouldn’t rig anything longer than 8-9ft unless I had the opportunity to fish dries here. Read the rest of this entry »

The Pet-Fly Smackdown went down this last weekend, this “tournament” that is more of an outing, is just a reason to get together with like minded people and fish your ass off. We met at the chosen cafe to start the morning off right with coffee, eggs and the rest. Introductions and a bit of business were processed and after a bright orange fly box (that you could find buried under six feet of dirt) was filled with the flies for the day we ate and the split to find fishy water. Read the rest of this entry »

This summer the fly factory has seen quite a few early mornings but few evenings, something I’d like to try and change over the course of this, the last month of the designated season for trout in Minnesota. Another goal this last month is to see a few stretches of new water and this morning I met with Sershen again to smack something unseen. On site by 9am and looking at trout actively feeding by 9:30am. The lack of rain has kept our streams very clear for almost a solid month now which was what we were expecting to find this morning and did. Stumbling through dew covered grass that passed our hips we took position downstream of a few really nice looking browns and a rainbow that were aggressively feeding on or very near the surface, at times turning completely around to strike. Read the rest of this entry »