Liz asked a week a go if I wanted to spend the weekend camping. We both had the holiday off and thought it would be a good chance to ignore just about everything. Liz is a damn good sport when it comes to my idea of camping, this usually involves fewer people (not a single other person), more bugs and no bathrooms or running water, well there is running water but the trout live in it and it requires boiling or filtering to drink. We arrived Friday evening after getting a few things ready at home. To my dismay the spot I had initially wanted was taken forcing me to put the backup plan into play which was simple and required a small detour to a site downstream from my ideal location. I was pleased to get a spot, to camp in the woods with the bugs, the animals, the stream and the trout. No cell phone service signals our arrival.

Day 1:

Woke to make coffee almost cowboy style filtered by the napkins I had handy. Ran the dog hard through the woods and prepped breakfast, simple eggs and ham over toast made on the fire. Liz and I noticed a few Mayflies amongst a myriad of other insects around our camp, ticks and mosquitoes were present in large quantities. Saw many random specie of caddisflies throughout the day, something to think about with the occasional rise heard in the background as I lose yet another hand of Gin Rummy to Liz. With a good presentation I think this is the time to use that searching caddis pattern, change the size, mess with the color until the trout respond. On this stream all day long I could watch a row of upto a dozen smaller browns chase each other and prey as they sat within an inch of the surface, all day long.

I did no real fishing on Day 1, watched the crazy spinner swarm swell from ~10:30am-2:00pm with the highest density between 12noon and 2pm. Spinners began showing up dead around camp around 3pm but the trout didn’t seem to react to them as aggressively as I expected, few rose for these flies. I can’t explain that at all. I took a ton of photo’s to try and gather enough information to make a determination at home later, turns out that it was Leptophlephia nebulosa a lesser known Mayfly specie that I would imagine is limited to specific streams and it just so happened that I would be camping on a stream infested with them. Thanks to Jason at Troutnut.com and our local experts on the Coldwater Conservation forums for confirming my suspicions.  The heat was on beginning before noon and lasting through 5pm, we were camping in a valley on State Forest Land that was very tight making the hours of direct sunlight shorter than other areas which was nice for us. To pass the time in the heat we played cards, played with the dog, cooled off in the stream, basically just existing in the woods. As the evening came we prepped fire for dinner and did up pork chops, potatoes and veggies. I played my mandolin and relaxed taking in the environment, ever aware of the group of brown trout I kept hearing slamming random bugs through the evening hours. This trip was a camping trip, not a fishing trip and I knew that going into it. The low gin clear water combined with very active trout in thick vegetation with the dog that loves to get in the stream and it was clear that fishing was going to be limited but I was good with that. Liz and I wound the day down by taking a walk and hiking a bit through the woods to wear the dog down more, only here in this environment does my dog tire before me. The last thing we did before bed was take a photo of the stars, not bad for the simple point and shoot Lumix TS1. The Starry Sky setting allowed me to take a 60 second exposure on my tri-pod, not bad at all.

Day 2:

Woke a bit later, slept in and enjoyed that. Warm in the sun with the girl and the dog. Got up and did the morning routine, got the fire going to make coffee, checked the fish out, basically my ideal morning…. After breakfast and a short walk we decided to head to a nearby town to grab a bit more ice for the cooler and more drinking water as we had plowed through the amount that I thought was going to be needed for the weekend. The dog drank most of the water, town wasn’t far away and it gave us a reason to take a nice drive through the Driftless area. We got back to camp with our supplies and sure enough the few Leptophlephia nebulosa flies I had seen when we left had swelled into another swarm that hovered over the stream until about 4pm again. Interesting that these flies mate during the hottest part of the day. Day 2 saw more of the same from us as well, more cards, pretty sure by Sunday afternoon Liz was up over a thousand points ahead of me in our on going Rummy battle. We enjoyed a few beers in the sun and let the dog do her thing, chase the ball, run down a butterfly or two. It was all fun and games until we heard the dog haul off at full speed through the creek, then the sound of yelping. Not sure what happened but I think  my hound got on an otter, maybe a beaver but no harm came to her. I am pretty sure the yelping came out of complete excitement wanting to find her prey, when I came up on her she was scouring the banks trying to find whatever she was chasing with no regard for me what-so-ever.

After that we kept a slightly tighter eye on the dog, I didn’t need her getting hurt because she couldn’t control herself. I’m glad she was fine and hadn’t run into a skunk or another animal that might have made things miserable. After that Liz gave me the go ahead to take off without the dog upstream a ways to find a trout or two. I fished the P&P pattern that I’ve been use as of late and the brookies on this stream loved it. Granted they were all dinkers but a fish is a fish to this fisherman. I stayed out just long enough to swap to a SMB to tempt one larger brown who struck once but my anxiousness got the better of me and I set the hook too early, this is the release part without the catch in front of it. No sweat, and I headed back to camp. As night approched Sunday it became clear that rain was coming. Liz and I drove up the valley to get cell phone reception to check on the weather conditions for the area, sounded like rain starting at about 9pm and lasting sporadically through the evening. Once back at camp we decided to tear 90% of our stuff down and put it in the truck for an early departure in the morning. I hate packing up a soaking wet camp. Liz and I did well, started a decent fire before any rain hit and had everything put away except for the tent by 8pm on Sunday. We left the stream early Monday morning to head home and tend to the house, the cats and the garden. A good weekend spent on a beautiful Driftless Area trout stream.

Slide Show

I’ve got a long list of things that need my attention and from the beginning this blog/journal/whatever you call it was supposed to be a semi-organized/semi-scientific approach to the Southeast Minnesota/Driftless Area.  I have organized some of the better photo’s of the natural insects seen on our streams and included a bit of hatch information for the ones I managed to stumble across. This is an incomplete and on going effort that I hope will grow over the years, it can be found here.

Look for more from the Winona Fly Factory with the coming year and the season changes it holds. With the updated and organized photo galleries I will be able to quickly add and compile images that will help myself and hopefully others tie the flies that make the Driftless Area what it is all about. The hatch information presented is based on a combination of first hand experiences, information from other local anglers who truly know this place and entomology texts I’ve read. If you have anything to add or if I made a mistake please feel free to contact me at: winonaflyfactory@gmail.com

I watched the Light Hendrickson’s hatch again today, I have been trying to watch this from the same section of stream several times during the entirety of this hatch to well, just to watch it and observe. Once again the cattle were around and that combined with almost an inch of rain yesterday made for some transparency issues on the stream today, that didn’t impede the hatch any, I think it prevented the trout from eating though.

I got to the stream and immediately saw several Light Hendrickson’s hatching, I collected a few and took photos, saw no rising trout. I waited for quite a while watching the same spot noticing a greatly increased volume of mayflies. I counted 5-10 pass every 10-20 seconds, this is much more than I observed last week. I expected to see rising trout and after a while and a little hiking to find some cleaner water I did in fact find rising trout. I love watching an excited trout rush your fly from the depths, keeps you on your toes man. I had a blast, caught several but most were small. I was a little disappointed that the hole containing the larger fish was being trampled by the cattle again, this kept the flow very muddy and I just watched hundreds of mayflies hatch without a single rise. I would be getting on stream earlier than you might think for this hatch, I would say to get a jump on it be ready at 10:30am and thats rigged and ready to go.

Slide Show

Left work the other day with an hour of light. The air temp on my way to the stream was 29 degrees but I was layered well and ready for a short romp in the water. There is something very calming and peaceful about being on the water at dusk. I stopped to watch a trout rise almost every two minutes to take something off the top of the water. I love watching trout hold a feeding pattern, something to take note of when it comes time to cast that fly. I collected samples from a specific spot on this stream because I fished downstream of where I took samples last season with my friend Heath. I remember I caught a few trout on Light Cahill dry flies. 

I drove home when I could no longer see well enough to take samples. Note: the water temp was a nice cool 40-41 degrees. I drove home in the dark listening to MPR. It reminded me of many trips this summer driving home after dark listening to the radio. It was a crisp but good hour in the stream. When I got home I examined my samples and found interesting results. 

It gave me confidence to remember I caught trout on Light Cahill patterns and then to find nymphs from the Macaffertium family. I haven’t come to a conclusion between Vicarium or Ithica but I’m going to figure it out. I also found several Baetis and Emphemerella nymphs. Note: the brighter yellow on the Baetis and as a result of that yellow I tied several size 16 and 18 Hare’s Ears with yellow and cream bodies. I’ll be posting new flies soon. One last thing to discuss here would be the second to last photo above. I have yet to figure out what it is. The side of the macro you can’t see has several suckers on it. It is definitely not a caddis larva, and it was very long probably 12-14mm. Anyone have any thoughts? I’ll be looking too.

Could it be a Cranefly larva?

Finished work today and took another quick run to a stream almost in town. I did essentially the same routine as yesterday but yesterday being my first time taking samples today I found it easier to find what I was looking for. 

Things I found interesting:

-The curious amount of both Scuds and the Cased Caddis found in the picture above on the rock next to the mason jar. 

-The amount of another insect that I haven’t seen in a stream before, rather I used to see these in basements and under rocks outside. I’m curious if these were around due to the amount of decaying leaves in the water.  I compared them to scuds I found but they really are different. 

Answer: Sowbug – Research, Learn, Fish Smarter. 

- I found more stonefly and Baetis nymphs today as well as Trico’s I think… Am I correct in thinking these two below are two types of Baetis? Same shape, size, tail, gills just a different color. 

I’m still working on the best way for me to take better images with what I have at hand. I do want to learn about this, I just would rather save for a new rod or something along those lines. So, thats another afternoon tromping in the water. I found so many scuds it was crazy 10-1 for sure. I just had to state that again, I was surprised.

After work I dawned a set of hip-waders and a rain coat, no rod, no reel, and no fly box just a backpack, camera, and items for research. I drove to a stream that I spent much of my summer on. I figured this would be a good place to start gathering samples. The rain poured down as I walked the stream searching for the areas I wanted to sample. I brought several small mason jars to hold the captives until they could be more closely inspected at home. I stumbled through the water not really able to see the bottom because of the rain obscuring the surface of the water, as a result I almost stepped on a few trout that were held up in places that I hadn’t seen them in the summer months. I used a strainer, the handle broke almost instantly and I was forced to used my arm as a replacement to gather samples from shaken aquatic plants and kicked up substrate. The stream water and rain made me rather cold and wet but I had a hard time quitting. Two hours of taking samples, looking for the specifics I’ve been reading about and I decided to pack it in before catching something nasty.

I wanted to take a semi-scientific approach to this so I labeled my samples with the types of substrate or plant they came from, this to help in the future determine what lives where. I also started a field log with date, time, weather conditions and location. I plan to continue this behavior.

I brought my jars home and after gathering a few house hold supplies I was ready to begin my investigation. I did a rough count of each type of insect caddis, mayfly, scud, and what I believe to be midge pupa (maybe not). I measured in mm. many of the subjects and tried to figure out each species. I was pleased to see that my little stream camera takes decent close up images. 

In addition to the pictures above I found several examples of scuds and non-cased caddis. I believe that the picture labeled Nymph 2 is a Baetis. I compared it to images I have and I am pretty sure, it fits the right size in mm, and the right attribute with regards to the slightly shorter middle tail. I found no burrowers but I think I found both an example of a fast swimmer (Nymph 2 above), and a feeble legged crawler (Nymph 1 above). I found several types of caddis both cased and non. The image on the bottom right is of a caddis larva removed from its protective rock built shell. Note: this is not a tubular shell, it is the kind that looks like a tiny pile of pebbles stuck to a rock.

This was a good time.

p.s. After looking the photo’s over I think Nymph #3 is a Stonefly nymph, thoughts?

The Swimmers

The Darting Swimmers Families Baetidae, Siphloridae and Metretopodidae.

The two main species found in S.E. MN are two forms of the ever popular BWO. We have the Baetis and the Plauditus punctiventris. These are both found in the Baetidae family when identifying these nymphs from the other two families size is the best indicator. Siphloridae and Metretopodidae fall into the Large Swimmers while Baetidae fall into the much smaller size category. All have gills on the abdomen sections 1-7. One more overall comment about the Swimmers, they are the most varied group in the mayflies and emerge in cases all year round based on water temperature. One will find swimmers in almost every stream.

Little Blue-winged Olive (Plauditus punctiventris) 20-22 Pale yellow olive Late June-Oct.

In Hatches 2 this is listed as Pseudocloeon anoka but has changed since publication. These are still swimmers and so they will have similar nymphal traits to the other swimmers but one quick way to distinguish these from other Baetis is the tail. Plauditus punctiventris has only two tails while Baetis has three, also the abdomen is thicker on these nymphs. These nymphs are 4-5mm in length, I’m noting this size for my own reference. These nymphs will most likely crawl on grass or other items to get out of the water during a hatch. They are less likely to swim to the surface and then hatch. Fish downstream of extensive weed beds.

Blue-winged Olive (Baetis) 16-22 Grayish olive to dark olive March-May & Sept.-Oct.

These nymphs will be found in underwater foliage. The slender bodies as well as legs make them ideal for swimming through aquatic plant life. The baetis nymphs have three tails like most other but the center tail is much shorter than the outer two. Note that the baetis will emerger early in the season and late in the season. One thing I’m finding is that the exact species of Baetis is not listed and as there are several this will be a task for me this coming year to determine which exact species inhabit the waters around me. The greatest numbers of these nymphs are found in alkaline waters with a ph. of 7.5 or greater. Hatching will occur between 11am and 4pm in March-April when water temp exceeds mid 60′s. Typically one will see these on overcast days and as a general rule overcast provides some of the best BWO fishing.

The Hatch

I saw this video on the Moldy Chum’s Blog and on Mountain River Journal’s Blog and found it to be quite informative and very well done. As it is of mayflies I thought it fitting to post it here for my future reference. Note: The nymphs in the beginning are defiantly in the burrowers category note the tusks and if I’m correct these are Ephemera guttulata. My reasons for this identification are the shape of the tusk on the nymphs, and the distinct light yellow gill section and the much darker abdomen. Also the duns appear to match the larger size and color of the guttulata. Unfortunately, these do not inhabit my waters.

The Burrowers

The Slit Dwelling Burrowers Families Ephemeridae, Potamanthidae and Polymitarcyidae

The first thing that should be said about the three species of mayfly I chose to research is that both The Hex, and the White Fly are both excluded from the hatch chart I’ve been using and the reason for that is that in this area The Hex and White Fly produce substantial hatch numbers but in the warmer areas of the Mississippi River and the waters flowing into the river. As a result these two will most likely not be trout fly options but I am planning on trying to find these hatches next year and fish for bass or panfish willing to take the large flies. 

With that said the burrowers can be found by sifting through the silt in the stream. With the flowing water easily able to sweep the nymphs through your fingers Hatches 2 suggests bringing a jar that you can fill and shake to stir up the contents to find the nymphs. Burrowers are easily identified by the two large tusks on the head of the nymph. Looking at photo’s one can clearly see the difference between nymphs with and without the tusks.

The Hex (Hexagenia limbata) 6-8 4x Long Tan-Dark Brown Late June-July

The nymphs and indeed duns of the Hexagenia are among the largest of the Mayflies. Note the hook size recommended for the duns of the Hex in 6-8 4x long. What I know of these for this area is that they tend to emerge only on parts of the Mississippi and that a friend of mine fishes this hatch on the river for all kinds of warmer water fish. Hatches 2 gives one hint as to how to distinguish Hexagenia from other burrowers. The other burrowers tend to have deeply forked tusks while Hexagenia have longer more rounded tusks.  The main reason I believe that this is not a source of trout food is that the Mississippi has a better substrate that can allow them to have their U-shaped burrows in 3-6 inches of frim silt. 

Yellow Drake (Anthopotamus distinctus) 10-12 Creamy yellow Late June-Early August

Hatches 2 has this species identified as Potamanthus distinctus. Looking at the nymphs of this species one can easily identify them by the gills that line both sides of the abdomen of the nymph. They are very long and have bristles spanning the distance between them. Tying these nymphs one might consider using very short ginger hackle to represent the gills on the sides, perhaps trimming the top and bottom feathers leaving only the sides. Hatches 2 suggests using a Light Cahill dry pattern in size 10.

White Fly (Ephoron leukon) 8-12 2x Long White Late August-Sept.

The white fly is most likely not going to be a large part of my fly box but I have heard whispers referring to the Ephoron Leukon and in my efforts to be prepared for next year I will not over look this genus of Mayfly. These white mayflies will emerge just after dusk in August and September. On my Dusk til Dawn run near the end of a long day on the water I watched what I thought at first was Ephoron leukon but turned out to be a white caddis fly. Hatches 2 has little to say about this species but all the more reason for me to try and find it next season.