Sat up listening to this… tied up these. Free Range Dubbing and Soft-Hackle equates to…deadly.

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.

Slide Show

Threw this thing together after being inspired by Sershen’s recent couple of excellent videos. Note: all the video here was shot on the Panasonic Lumix TS-1 that I take in the field with me, the same point and shoot camera that captures all the still images. Thanks Wendy for being an unknowing subject and Sershen for helping me get it all figured out and up on the web.  With that, here is the video for January 17th, 2011. Enjoy another good day in the Driftless Area.

Take advantage of the 720p HD setting in the lower right corner, it takes a bit longer to load but well worth it.

Couldn’t get to the water until 12:30pm. Clouds were about, air temp was cooler in the upper 40′s and rather windy. With a short hike downstream I rigged my line with a #16 Black Flashback PT with a #16 Partridge and Peacock trailer. I started with an indicator set about three feet above the my splitshot which was about 10inches from my 1st fly. I lost four of the first five strikes then landed the first of several brown trout, it took the #16 P&P. I would learn this day how absolutely ridiculous this fly is. If you don’t have this in your box, write the following down, stop reading this and go straight to your vise.

• Pull out a #16 Scud Hook (I like 1X Short)
• Grab a stretch of Hot Yellow SM Ultra Wire
• Wrap the wire on the shank, above the barb, tightly X 5 turns.
• Glue it in place (I like Zap-A-Gap)
• Tie in 70 Denier Black Tying Thread, Wrap Back to the Wire
• Tie in Peacock Herl, Wrap Thread Forward, Then the Herl, Tie Off, Clip
• Tie in A Soft-Hackle (I like White), X 2 Wraps, Tie Off
• Wrap Thread for a Small Head, Whip Finish
• Glue The Head, THIS FLY WILL BE ABUSED

Back to the 10th, it’s 1:15pm and I’ve been fishing for maybe twenty minutes, check the rocks and the water temp, it’s cool at 52 degrees, cloudy and the fish are active. I drop my indicator because the trout are crushing the #16 P&P almost every cast, what is the deal with this thing? I found I lost more fish with the indicator, they were smacking it right as it entered the water and it was easier to tighten my line and kind of drag the fly. Most of the trout were small under 10 inches for sure, maybe 20 fish in an hour. Moved upstream and hit a hole, by now the BWO’s were popping but the hatch was thin, I saw maybe 10 BWO’s float by in 5 minutes. Enough to keep the trout active and near the surface but not enough for me to try and force feed them an imitation, consider the wind in this scenario and the gin clear water.

I kept swinging the two fly rig and took only two trout on the PT, which I put on because the rocks were screaming Ephemerella, the Invaria are coming…Light Hendricksons, look for 58 degrees in the water. Today that wasn’t going to happen, second water temp a few hours later read 52 degrees? No change. No Hendricksons for sure now. No big deal. I missed A TON of strikes, a few of them hit the PT for sure. I took a couple on it but nothing compared to it’s partner. The rain was holding off and other than losing my rig to a tree across the stream on it’s ~25th trout I was in good shape. A bit of tippet and only a single #16 P&P I was off taking more colorful brown trout in no time. Landed nothing spectacularly large, just enjoyed working my nymphing skills and trying any spot that looked fishy.

Dinner was on my mind today, I chose this place because it offered a large amount of smaller trout that could easily become dinner for me and maybe a few of my friends. I wanted five, man did I get to pick my fish this day. I chose to take only the 10-11inch trout leaving the younger fish to grow and the older fish a chance to create tomorrow’s trout. Stomach contents were clear and read nothing but snail, snail, snail, caddis case, green goup, snail. I worked upstream, took a few more trout and enjoyed the forested area I moved into, shelter from the wind. Turned around and hit a spot or two on the way back to cull the last of my limit. Time to hit the bench and tie more of these flies, curious to see what the stocker rainbows will do when they see it.

Slide Show

On the 20th of December the predicted air temp for the 1st was grim topping out at twelve degrees. As the days crept closer it only got worse, the night before while most were celebrating I was prepping gear, packing my winter box and tying the last few flies I wanted before the winter season began. I had a few ideas on where I wanted to fish but the weather often dictates my movements.  Knowing the temp was going to be low I chose to fish a spot that never freezes and almost always has rising trout. I saw this place and the fish that reside here last winter and as such I prepared several midge larva and emerger patterns for this situation. I knew I would be fishing mainly size twenty flies hoping to take one or two on or near the surface and probably not hanging around for too long after. My goals were to see a few happily swimming fish, shake the last month off my shoulders and enjoy some moving water. On site I rigged my rod and got into place, my first mistake would turn out to really hamper my first day of the season.  Read the rest of this entry »

Hit the water for a short time today. Water clarity was superb, the temp was ~53 on arrival and it warmed to ~57 at noon. No bugs hatching when I got on site so I took the usual riffle sample and found a fair amount of Ephemerella nymphs still clinging to rocks with full wing pads, this is good, recent rains didn’t wipe the rest out. This hatch will be still going on for a while but not as heavy as previous weeks. I found free-living caddis larva and with that set myself up to nymph. Lead fly, Caddis larva pattern and the point man would be the standard Swimming PT nymph I’ve been fishing for what seems like a month now. I used a non-flashback PT that was more on the Brown/Red side due to the fact that I found several more Rotunda nymphs over Invaria which are almost black in color. Ended up taking  fish on both but the PT was the clear winner The question is, was it because it was the deeper of the two flies?

I decided to take a different approach on a favorite run of mine. I went with an indicator rig and thinking to what a wise man recently said to me I moved to put myself in a position to cast 3-4 feet above the start of the run, in the riffle. My flies were about 4-5ft under my indicator and weighted with only one extra small split shot but enough to get down to the trout, cooler water temps and a bit of observation told me to go to the briny deep if you know what I mean? Immediately I lost one take, four small fish later I was enjoying the sun. I kept at it, I know there are bigger fish in this spot I just had to meet their friends first. Sure enough I rolled a bigger trout but lost due to the fact that I fumbled with my line and let some slack allow for the removal of a barbless hook. I waited a bit and went at it again, same approach, looking for the best cast far up into the riffle for a good drift. I pulled out three more and then I got eager and lost a rig to some plants hanging above the hole. 

I tied on new tippet and flies and took another water temp, it had risen 4-5 degrees. I was expecting to see Light Hendricksons show up any minute, in the mean time the nymphing was too good to pass up. I went back at it and on the second cast I put another rig in the same plant…I took a deep breath. In these situations I usually try to think about how I could be watching tv or working. I tied everything on again, second drift through the sweet spot and I had the bigger trout. Probably 16in and beautiful, bright red spots. I made a few more casts and sure enough planted one more rig in the same plant, this time rather than breaking it off I went and retrieved it and my two other rigs knowing I would have to blow the hole, this is me accepting stream karma, move on. I found my other flies and an interesting looking bug near one of them, I thought he looked sweet so I took a picture. I took at least two more out after that from another hole upstream but didn’t linger, I had yard work to tend to. Before I left I did see Light Hendricksons coming off but I didn’t see rising trout, I’m sure had I stuck around I would have. 

Slide Show