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.

Bugs…Beer…Browns…. My yearly excuse (birthday) to take some vacation time occurs during one of the best times to be a trout angler in S.E. Minnesota. The end of April, typically rather nice, bugs about, hungry fish too. This year I lucked out, three days sandwiched between two seven day long periods of nastiness. The 25th was a quick precursor, more of a warm up my casting arm, to be followed by the 26th and then the 27th. The 26th involved a four mile hike on the way in to turn around and fish my way back out. I wasn’t in any big hurry, I parked around 9:30am right behind a fellow who sat in his truck sipping coffee waiting for the urge to go catch a fish. We chatted a bit, I asked if he minded if I parked behind him and I assured him if I did so that he wouldn’t see me again the rest of the day, he did not. I hiked, then hiked some more. I took a water temp at the first riffle I crossed, 48degrees on the dot at 10:15am. I checked rocks, saw a decent number of free living caddis larva and a few Baetis looking ready to pop but not a ton. The recent high water events had scoured most of the creeks pretty well and I’m wondering if a fair amount of the invertebrate population went downstream in the Wonka river. That translates into two thoughts, the first…fewer hatching insects, the second…hungry trout.

Downstream four miles (give or take a tenth of a mile or so) and I was staring at near gin clear water and to make it even better I only passed one other angler on the hike in, a bait fisherman who was contently perched on his bucket. The entire hike in I was looking for rising trout and saw nothing, I thought I saw one rise but I can’t be sure of it so I’m going to go with nothing. I started swinging my usual, streamers. Why? Because I wanted to move quickly. I felt like hitting every nook and cranny for almost four miles of creek, that’s hard work and you can’t linger too long in any single place to make it happen. I’d take a few trout from each spot, toss to where I thought the big one was and move on. I tried a handful of different streamers in various sizes including a new smaller streamer I think is finally ready to be released for public viewing. All in all things couldn’t have gone better, fishing upstream I was stripping layers off and down to a t-shirt by 1pm.

At 1:30pm I saw the first rise and then another and a moment later another. I put on a good stretch of 5x tippet and a #16 BWO, I then removed one of two Ranger IPAs from my bag and sat down. I watched the fish while I drank the first just happy to be outside in the sun again watching trout do their thing. When that bottle was emptied I started swinging, the wind didn’t help any but trust me, I wasn’t complaining one bit. I managed a good dozen trout from that spot over the course of the next hour and a half. When I was satisfied with dry fly fishing for the day I pulled the second bottle from my bag and sat back down to watch those trout keep on going. I didn’t see much more for rising after about 3:30pm and I didn’t see much for bug activity other than the few BWO’s that came off during my time on that single run. I should note that while fishing those dry flies I heard a bunch of rocks slide down the bluff above me, I looked (expecting to see nothing or a squirrel) to see something I’ve never seen before, what I believe was a coyote. It was up a good ways and watched me the entire time, it was tan and had a long bushy tail. I’m not an expert but it was bigger than what I imagined a coyote to look like. That animal climbed to the top of the bluff watching me as it went then stood on a rock for a good two minutes before leaving my sight, very, very, cool. I should also note that I did see several deer carcasses around that area and two were pretty fresh, one still had meat on a section of a hind leg that had been removed.

Upstream a good mile I’m back to swinging meat and the trout are darting, charging, and slamming it. It was a damn good day and by the end of it I questioned if that wasn’t the best use of vacation time I’ve ever had. It might have been the sun and the scenery, that combined with the eager trout, either way it was a day to remember. So I’m fishing across from a cut bank when I hear mud dumping into the creek, not unusual in any way except it continues and continues. I look back to see a basketball (or larger) sized snapping turtle dig it’s way out of the bank and drop into the creek then promptly dive to the bottom of a seriously deep hole. Shortly there after a TON of fish went shooting out in every direction. Sweet sight number two. Several hours later and my day was coming two an end, my pedometer logged me at over 9 miles by the time I got to the last stretch of creek I fished. I hadn’t caught anything huge all day, maybe a 16in fish around 4pm but nothing super small either. I was broke off once by a fish that felt strong but I didn’t see so much as a flash from that one, it wasn’t until the last cast of the day did I get to touch a nice 18 1/2 inch brown. I took one crappy ass photo of it too, low light and I didn’t dink around with him too long but hey, not a bad way to end a seriously excellent day. The birthday presents you give yourself are often the best especially if it’s a day fishing for trout.

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 Air Temp: 59°F at 10:29am
• Arrival Water Temp: ~49°F at 10:39am
• Low Slightly Stained Water
• Ephemerella Subvaria and Baetis Nymphs Present in Lrg #’s
• Baetis Nymphs showing Translucent Wing Pads (Not Fully Developed, See Image)
• Water Temp ~51°F at 11:43am
• BWO’s Arrive at 12:35pm but were Few in #’s
• Streamer Fishing in the AM and After Hatching
• Most Trout took the SMB in Faster, <3ft Deep Runs and in the Shallowest Riffles
• Fishing Slowed after 3:30pm with the SMB
• Air Temps rose into the Low 80′s Under Clear Sunny Skies

Glorious… a good word to describe the 16th of March walking around in a T-Shirt and Wet wading gear. This would mark the first of three days that saw me on the same creek fishing the same locations observing the Show, for this time of year that would be the emergence of BWO’s and the trout response. When I can I like to spend as many days in a row fishing the same location during an event like this to take notes, learn from each day and maximize my time on the water. I started the morning with the usual assessment, put on a #8 Sprinkle Me Baby and hiked downstream close to a mile. First cast set the scene for the day, a short roll cast brought a small brown charging and four casts in I had three trout to hand. Brown’s hit the SMB much harder in the faster runs that were less than three feet deep charging around boulders and downstream after my fly. The shallowest riffles held many trout, they too came charging and resulted in many excellent fish. No lie, I landed over forty trout between the SMB in the shallows and the #16 BWO Comparadun I fished from 12:35pm until 1:45pm. Browns aggressively leaping from the creek showing all fins and a tail before smacking the creek surface, this is the show. Fishing slowed after 3:30pm and I should have probably dropped the SMB and started fishing nymphs. 85% of the trout I touched were fat gutty fish and most were above 10inches in length, nothing larger than a 14inch male that took the dry fly with a mid air hookset, again… Glorious. The show…

Again in the Dark:

Slide Show

My boots the creek later in the afternoon, some indecision saw me finally leave for water at 2pm but with warm air temps and daylight savings time I had plenty of light to knock a few fish before the setting sun came. I got on the creek and rigged a #16 Pink Safety fly simply because I wasn’t confident a streamer would move fish and with my limited amount of time I expected the Pink Safety fly to land a few trout quickly. Three drifts in and I watched one fish rise upstream, another drift and another rise upstream. At this point I hadn’t gotten a strike with the fly I was fishing and so I opted to swap to a #20 Griffiths Gnat, I know Carl would have slapped that fly on as soon as he saw the first fish surface. Something about his blind confidence with the dry fly makes him successful, I’ve watching him pull fish up and out when I wouldn’t have expected a trout to rise let alone strike an imitation. His skill with a dry fly is something I need to work towards and so I put on a good stretch of 6x and started letting line fly. Two drifts later I was landing my first fish of the afternoon, moments after that and another was on the end of my line. I continued working each run up to the head with success at every spot, those fish simply wanted a well dressed small dry fly that was riding high. Evolving as an angler, it’s what I’m working on and this day proves that fishing like Carl has it’s place, I need to remember that.

The Beginning:

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

Woke at 3:45am on an air mattress with a dog snout in my face. Liz and I stayed at her parents house after a late evening dinner so I could be closer to optimum Trico water. I woke and readied my gear and mental state while Liz lay sleeping until 4:15am when I abruptly woke her with the line “Time to go, Trico’s wait for no one.” She dropped me of at Wendy B’s house at 4:35am then drove home to fall back asleep. Wendy B. and I left promptly for Trico rich trout water. Onstream at ~5:35am we rigged rods as the sun came up around us while drinking coffee and swapping stories. Once geared we assessed the creek and with no Trico’s about we headed downstream through head high grass wet with the morning dew. We hiked until it seemed we had put enough distance between us and the vehicle to make for a full morning. With the only visible bugs around being borderline microscopic and the fact that the Trico’s hadn’t made an appearance yet I rigged a #8 Olive SMB, third cast next to a small rock outcropping pulled a 10inch brown from the stream. Landing the fish I saw the first clear rise for a Trico. I took a water temp of ~62°F at 7:07am after the first rises were observed. Very few if any spinners were visible in the air, over the course of the next hour I tossed the SMB and a #8 Hairball with minimal success.

At ~8am the cloud began to form, this event is one to witness as photographs and video do the human eye no justice. Fish were surfacing in a regular rhythm but not at the boiling rate I was expecting to see. Wendy B. and I split up to fish runs with rising fish on them, shortly after I got my first of a handful on a #20 Trico Spinner I had tied last year for mornings just like this. From 8:30am until 10am fish were seen rising but getting a strike required precision and stealth, unlike the previous time I had witnessed this event the fish were skittish and would spook easily despite the bounty lying in the surface film. I could see them float past and yet the fish remained hesitant to take an imitation. I scooped a couple up for comparison and though my tails were a bit long and the body color Black rather than a Charcoal I thought my imitations were in the ball park. We moved further upstream after the cloud grew ever larger only to find another fella enjoying the spot we had planned to fish, the consequence was excellent. Forced to move on rather than disturb the other angler we fished upstream and saw water new to both of us. Trico’s were dying off in the upstream reaches but the handful of fish we found rising seemed much more receptive to our offerings, a creel was being filled in short order.

Somewhere around 10:30am the Trico’s all but disappeared, the only signs they were here were stuck in spiderwebs along the creek bank. A truly awe inspiring event to see a Trico spinner-fall. If you haven’t, I suggest setting the alarm clock and making this morning appointment, it’s worth it. With dry flies out and two fly nymph rigs in play Wendy proceeded to school me landing 5:1 easy on me, something was off and a particular tasty run gave up many fish to my friend but refused to let me land much more than a single 6inch brown despite my best efforts. The worst came when a dogger was hooked on my lead fly (#8 Hairball) only to escape when the 6inch fish mentioned above swooped in to tag the trailer (#16 Black PT), somewhere in the ensuing fight tension was released and the dogger swam away unscathed and un-photographed leaving me holding the 6inch fish. The consolation was that we both got to see the whole thing go down which more than made up for the lack of big brown stink on my hands. With the morning fading, the sun and temperature rising combined with creek chubs becoming ever more aggressive we called it a day and a good one at that. Thanks for the Trico trip Wendy, a good time as expected. This must become a yearly event, it is for the bugs and fish anyway, mid as well join in.

Slide Show

Woke early to arrive creekside at ~8:30am, took a gamble on a spot I’ve caught great caddis hatches in the past this time of year but found high flows, severely stained water and in-active trout. Based on the conditions I swung an SMB during the morning hours landing a handful and not much more. I took water temps every half hour to track any hatch potential but other than the scattered BWO and #30 Black Midges no other insect activity was seen. Water temps started at ~42°F at ~9am and warmed to ~48°F by 12:30pm. I fished until ~12:30pm when I became convinced that the high flows and colder water was not going to put off the hatch I was hunting for.

I blew out and decided to stop by a second location to see if the bugs I was searching for were around. At ~1pm the first glance at the creek from a ways away showed airborn trout, the caddis were here. I parked and hiked straight to the creek, put on a #18 Grey Caddis imitation and sat on the first run I came to landing close to fifteen smaller trout (<12in) and two slightly larger ones, all browns. After picking off quite a few and taking bug photo’s I progressed upstream. I came to fish a dry fly and thus I passed on any piece of water that didn’t show signs of rising fish, I wasn’t going to swap flies just to swap back a minute later.

I continued upstream picking off a handful of fish at each location. I finally came to a large open section that provided excellent fishing conditions, rising trout with thousands of caddis in the air. I observed several fish taking flies not from the surface but actually launching fully from the creek to snipe the food from mid-air. During the two hours I spent tossing dry flies here I noticed the rising come in waves, it seemed that in a moment the fish would all come to a halt and refuse to rise then a couple minutes later they would all begin the boil feverishly rising in rhythm. In these three hours I must have touched close to fifty trout all on the #18 Grey Caddis imitation. I didn’t take the time to dry out my fly after each fish, rather I fell into a pattern of catching a couple on a high floating dry fly after treating it with floatant then when it wouldn’t float well on it’s own I made a couple false casts and allowed it to sit half in the film, this continued to produce fish. When the fly was so saturated and I didn’t want to stop I simply allowed it to sink and fished it like a wet fly and sure enough it continued to snipe trout. When the rising died down I took the time to dry my fly out and applied floatant for the next wave to come. At ~4pm I had to leave the creek despite the hatch continuing to bring trout to the surface.

Slide Show

• Onstream ~12pm to ~3:15pm
• Arrival Air Temp ~25°F, Departure Air Temp ~31°F
• Wind ~10mph from the SSW
• Overcast with No Sun
• Midge in the Snow on Arrival
• Rising Trout  Observed at ~1:15pm

Sunday I made it out for a few hours, my goal was to take it easy, enjoy the stream and hopefully the fish. Some days I plan to hike forever and I end up hiking maybe more than casting, that’s just the way I am about this place. I have a desire to see every bend, every run, every fish knowing full well that I’ll never get close. The desire this day was to see all the fish. I just wanted to catch a bunch of fish, didn’t care what size, I just didn’t want to spend the day hiking or casting. With midge in the snow shortly after arrival and with a higher predicted air temp it was inevitable that the trout were going to be rising as the afternoon wore on. I prepped my leader (8ft long tapering to 18inches of 4x tippet), then prepped two rigs. The first a #8 Hairball with a #16 Hot Spot Scud (Pink) trailing it with 16 inches of 6x (I’d ran out of 5x). The second was a simple #20 Midge Dry Fly with 18-20inches of 6x tied to it. I did this so I could easily switch back and forth between the two, just clip my line at the 4x knot and either tie the nymph rig on or go straight to the 6x tippet with the Midge dry. I left the one I wasn’t fishing in my chest-pack with a bit of tippet hanging out.

I fished with and without an indicator, I know some who swear by an indicator and others who would never touch a “bobber.” I on the other hand let the trout, the water and my fly selection dictate my choice to use an indicator. With that said I sat on a handful of decent runs I knew and picked off trout after trout. I was trying to create a numbers day. By the time I saw the first serious risers I had already touched a dozen brown trout mostly in the 8-13inch range. At ~1:15pm I saw consistant rising from several trout up and downstream from my location. I cut my nymph rig off at the 4x tippet connecting my #8 Hairball and trailing fly, packed those away and pulled out the #20 Midge Dry with 18inches of 6x tippet. This made for a quick and efficient transfer allowing me to pick up three more with a dry fly. Fishing a midge dry in the winter months with gin clear water producing committed strikes, few experiences top that.

After I took the few with the dry fly I swapped back to my nymph rig rather than hike in search of more rising trout. I worked one run for a long time pulling out brown’s every couple of minutes. The smaller fish took the smaller #16 Hot Spot Scud in larger numbers and the larger fish took the larger #8 Hairball, it was a pretty even 1:1 ratio between the two as the afternoon wore on. Around 2pm I opted to head back out to fish the spot I began with, as I peered over the bank to the stream I could see chasers, risers, the midge. I love watching a trout run around picking off randomly located surface flies or items from the drift, I refer to these fish as chasers. I played pick your fish for the next forty minutes or so. With one poor back-cast I allowed my #20 Midge dry to remain in a weed behind me about twenty feet. Rather than move and risk putting the trout down I tied on a #20 Jujubee Midge. The CDC is kind of a pain in the ass but this fly produces, period. I used it to pick off close to a dozen trout including one that continually rose every couple of minutes on the far side of the stream. I watched that fish rise over and over again until I had pulled all his friends behind him out then I played the timing game, on the third attempt I had him, that smaller 12inch brown was as satisfying as any fish I’ve caught. Pick your fish, dry fly fishing. Not a bad way to round out February.

Slide Show

The Field Report

• Arrival: ~8am, Departure: ~4:30pm
• Airtemp: Arrival ~35ºF, Departure ~42ºF
• Wind: NW 18mph at 8am slowing to 8mph at 4pm
• Water Temps: ~12:30pm 39ºF, ~2:45pm 41.5ºF
• Midge in the snow at 10:30am, Rising trout at 1:15pm

Wendy B. and I met roadside a bit before 8am under sunny skies. The wind was predicted to be a beast for the early morning hours dying down as the day wore on. We chose a spot that did not compliment the wind well, right in our faces for most of the day. With that said it posed minimal comfort issues but made casting a pain in the ass. After hiking in a ways we broke up and began casting nymphs. I played around with a #12 Hairball (tan) trailed by a #16 Pink Hot Spot Scud for a majority of the day. I know we sent most the fish at the first few places scattering, the wind was a hindrance the first hour or so. Winona County was under a wind advisory until 9am on the 14th. Just ask my 50ft white spruce that came down while I slept the night before.

Fishing was a bit slow the first couple of hours, we hiked and fished looking for good places to get out of the wind and into the sunshine, had their been no wind I would have been in a t-shirt most of the day. We sat on a few runs and I eventually landed a fish around 10am. Picking up a couple nymphing, the #16 Pink Hot Spot Scud out fished the #12 Hairball 2:1 easy over the course of the day. Wendy B. was successful with a #14 Orange Scud earlier in the day. We hiked upstream, the plan was to fish a while then access a second stream to finish the day out.

At site two I took an initial water temp and checked the rocks. Interesting how one stream will put off midge like crazy and the next puts off tiny black stones in large quantities. We had hoped to find a reason to fish this second site as far as the winter regulations would allow but after half a mile we hadn’t found what we were looking for. At 12:30pm we stopped in the sun and out of the wind to make lunch. I often want to bring lunch and stop to eat but rarely do, today the longer hours and distance travelled through thick wet snow almost demanded re-fueling. I managed to bust out a crude fire in the snow with a lighter and what nature had to offer around me in a reasonable amount of time. Wendy prepped kindling while I prepped the site and got the tinder needed to get flames roaring. Fifteen minutes later we were stuffing hot dogs topped with all the fixings down enjoying the moment in the snow. Trash packed away and fire covered with a foot of snow we busted out to find a trout, a decent lunch in less than thirty minutes.

We thought for a bit about hiking a ways and fishing something we both knew but decided instead to peek around the corner, glad we did. Once back on-stream we noticed rising trout almost instantly, consistently rising trout, launching trout. After watching a handful of brown trout propel out of the water we dropped our gear to rig 18inches of 6x tippet with a #20 Midge Dryfly. A few minutes later on my second drift a smaller brown came up for my #20 Jujubee Midge. We thought about splitting up but if done properly back to back trout dry fly fishing can be fun with a friend. The one who wasn’t fishing was taking pictures and landing trout with the net. I continued with the Jujubee midge but found that once the CDC wing was slimed the fly was useless. I believe it has its place in my box for finiky trout that demand the look and behaviour of this fly, the first two drifts showed why CDC can be so effective. I opted for a #20 Midge that had hackle rather than CDC for the wing/legs. We continued catching nicer back to back browns ranging from 10-13inches over the course of the next hour or so, we would have landed more if the wind hadn’t fouled a fair number of casts up. Nothing like watching your leader and tippet blown straight back at you as your line is laying down on the creek, it could have worse though. The dry fly hour can make a day, it did this day. The trout ceased rising at ~2:30pm, the water temp was 41.5ºF. We continued upstream swinging streamers through a few deeper sections with minimal results.

On my suggestion we opted to hike 95% of the way back out and round out the day sitting on a few runs. This was maybe not the best choice, we busted ass through the snow and by the end we were both pretty beat. We split up and each took a spot. I swapped my rig to the #12 Hairball (tan) trailed by the #16 Pink Hot Spot Scud and began picking off brown after brown. The nymphing was almost as good as dry fly fishing, I couldn’t keep the fish off my line had I tried. A couple of times I lost a fish as it struck my flies emerging from the water as I prepared to cast again. In forty minutes I must have managed close to dozen brown trout from 8-12inches and one pushing 13inches from the single run. I lost twice that for sure, takes ranged from aggressive to sluggish making it difficult to anticipate a strike, sometimes your line would twitch and others it would come to a very slow stop. The sun began to hide behind clouds and the air temp seemed to drop a bit signaling the end of the day.

The Bug Report:

With the warmer weather I spent a bit of time checking rocks, beginning the count and assessment of the hatches for the coming season. I hope to get out to a few places I’ve caught decent mayfly and caddis hatches the last two years to check the rocks and see where I should concentrate my efforts come spring. I can tell you now that the Dark Hendricksons are on the rocks. Ephemerella Subvaria were pretty thick on the creek we fished, the wing pads still have a ways to go before they are mature enough to hatch but provided we don’t get major flooding the Dark Hennies should be good to go. Other bugs spied…everything! This creek is alive. Caddis larva of all kinds, Maccafertium nymphs (either Light Cahills or March Browns), Giant Water Beetles and Leeches all clung to rocks I examined. 

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