Not in Kansas, Not in Minnesota. Funny how I manage to find my way to trout even when I’m not trying. We happened to be in Washington for the week and although fishing isn’t an option due to our tight schedule a bit of hiking and a great view was in order. The park ranger here said that Lake Tipsoo was last stocked in 1970 with Rainbow and Brook Trout and since then they have been reproducing on their own. Park rules prohibit fishing but it was pretty cool just to see the trout splashing over the mosquitoes and midges that happened to be around. Gotta get to something like this someday with a fly rod, damn I could have hooked into so many fish here.

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My brother called me up again wanting to know if I was interested in taking him out again, I obliged thinking that an interest may be developing here. He drove to Winona the night before and hung out again, even if the fishing stinks it’s still a good reason to hang out with family. The night before saw Winona getting .54 inches of rain which isn’t much but has been known to throw a few systems near by off, picking the location for the day wasn’t going to be easy. In this situation I went with my gut and we drove South. Jake got a bit lucky again, the stream we picked was just stained from the rain making the mistakes and fumbles of a beginning angler less noticeable to the wary trout.

On stream at ~6:30am rigged and ready to go. I set Jake up with a two fly nymph rig consisting of a #14 Black Wet Fly for the lead fly with a #18 Pink Patrick trailer. Knowing that reports of fish eagerly taking terrestrials have been posted I felt it appropriate to tie on the BWF as the summer season and all the activity that comes along with it is here to stay for a while. The night before Jake and I tied leaders and worked on knots a bit which ended up helping throughout the day. Good to teach him how to do it so I can fish a bit while he is learning the ropes the hard way. That’s not to say I didn’t help him but today was a bit less instructional than the first time we went out, although I stayed by his side and watched I offered advice when necessary otherwise I stayed out of the way.

At the first spot we worked on getting the feel for a weighted two fly nymph rig, going over all the potential disasters that come with tossing this set-up especially when you consider the ever-growing jungle around us. Jake was working a smaller run with weeds on the side, the stained water allowed us to get in pretty close for a shorter cast. What he took away from this first spot was the notion of a good long drift. Casting across slower water holding vegetation can pull your line causing your flies to be pulled out of the deeper part of the run, to help extend the drift we worked on mending line. I turn around to grab my coffee mug and Jake is playing his first fish of the day, after about fifteen minutes stream-side. A smaller brown on a #18 Pink Patrick. Well the fear of a skunked day was set-aside, the sun was out and it was going to be an excellent day.

Water temp at 7:51 am was reading warm pushing 58 degrees, I wasn’t expecting it to be that warm before 9am. Between a few knots/tangles, one or two trees and the occasional snag Jake was getting the hang of casting this rig, trying to make sure he opens the forward cast enough to allow the flies, weight and indicator to land on the water correctly. He picked up a few dinkers, a couple of 10-12 inch Brown trout that were taken home for dinner and a Brookie all before 10am. The #14 BWF was taking more fish than the #18 Pink Patrick but enough were taking the pink attractor fly to keep it on and put a second one on after Jake busted it off on a fish setting the hook too sharply, alot of this comes with time and getting used to the feeling of it all.

The morning wore on and Jake was consistently able to pull a few trout out of each spot we stopped at, the stained water and active trout made for excellent day to nymph. A few rises were seen but nothing too exciting. Jake hooked into a larger (14-15in) Brown at the head of a run in the shallows, he had a great time playing the fish around the weeds and right as he got his hand around the fish to land it the fly let loose and the Brown knew it, forced a tail whip and away he went. By this point we were both fishing, I stayed behind offering a bit of advice as I watched but Jake was on his own for a good portion of the morning. I landed a few smaller Brown’s here and there as we went.

We pushed further upstream looking to get to a particular feature I wanted to fish, on arrival we noticed a shallow back water area that held the highest concentration of tadpoles I had ever seen. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of immature frogs. A sign of the water quality, frogs are good. Jake hooked into and lost a second larger trout as a result of just not being used to the rod/reel and entire feeling of hooking and dealing with a running trout. A few throughout the day were lost when excitement took over and the line was pulled to hard or he didn’t give the trout enough room but we couldn’t have been happier. Hooking fish every ten minutes for a beginning fly angler is good progress and practice. On the way out we stopped at a run we fished earlier, to my surprise Jake was able to hook and land six trout out of this one spot and once again as my back was turned he hooked the larger trout of the day. A nice 14in Brown nymphed from the deeper part of the run after he had already landed 5 others, not too shabby. I sat back and watched, again grinning. Photo’s were taken, the trout was released and we left certainty for uncertainty at a second location. The day had already gone well so I wasn’t going to be disappointed if the second spot was a bust. On the way out we were trudging through a mucky half-marsh section and Jake looks at me saying “is that a Turtle?” I turn around and sure enough Jake had seen me accidentally step on the shell of a snapping turtle pushing him down into the mud. Jake picked him up out of the mud to get his picture taken and then to be left alone.

Spot 2 wasn’t a total bust, Jake landed a few smaller rainbows while casting in the sun. We were looking for something easier, open casting lanes and the chance to fill the dinner table with stocked rainbows. There were a few about but all smaller, one as small as six inches? We fished in the sun until it was time to leave for home. A second great day fishing for trout in Southeast Minnesota, with a bit more time Jake will be a fly angler. Helping another learn to fly fish is a good way to test yourself, perhaps make you think a bit more about why you do some of the things you do onstream. All in all we couldn’t have asked for better, yet again. Thanks Jake, glad you had a great time. Again soon…

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How did that happen? Lord, seems like this season is blowing by, not enough time to fish and still take care of responsibilities. Got out for a couple hours before a responsibility that brought me streamside for a meeting. Not a ton of time to fish but enough for a guy to tempt a few, looks like the stocking truck has been here. Rainbows abound, everywhere. Kind of crazy to see it packed the way it was. Saw fish rising on arrival in the mid-afternoon. Didn’t see much in the way of adults to key me to what they were taking and the rises were inconsistent. A few would be splashy almost leaping rises that I would associate with the presence of caddisflies, others read mayfly with the gentle take just barely giving the trout away. I opted to try my luck with a #16 EHC. Landed one, lost two strikes before the trout were on to it and would have no more. Swapped to a #16 P&P and swung it down and across letting it rise as the current pulled my line. This resulted in some excellent fun with the fat stocker rainbows and a few went home for dinner.

Cleaning the first of three nice rainbows I noticed something bright red and spotted in the stomach contents. The shell of a lady bug, mostly digested but just enough remained to provide photographic proof that the trout here eat Lady Bugs and probably more likely the Asian Beetle. After seeing the one in the stomach I decided to look a bit at the plants around the spot I caught the fish, sure enough I found several just waiting to be blown to the trout dinner table. I moved upstream, fished the P&P as I went and it just reinforced why I love this fly. Cast it upstream and present it like a dead drifted nymph and it will take fish, do a down and across and it will take fish and the new method that happens to be very handy…. remove all weight from your line and fish it like a dry. Fishing longer slower sections I picked the trout rising the most consistently, put my fly just upstream of the target and without much hesitation it was picked off time and time again. My obligation pulled me from the stream as Lt. Hendrickson’s were hatching, pretty late in the day and they were VERY bright lending me to think the hatch I saw was Ephemerella dorothea otherwise known as out “Sulpher” hatch. I got a few craptastic photo’s before I had to go but I’ll take what I get, when I can get it. As I finished my meeting we noticed the spinner fall bring trout to rise in a steady rythem. I wish I could get more later evenings on the water.

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Made plans to meet up with a friend of mine yesterday morning to fish water new to both of us, so new infact we both had a hard time finding the darn spot which ended up costing us a few minutes but nothing major. It is easy to fish the same spots you know, trust and rely on to provide that experience you want but it is worth your time to explore some place new. Head in with the expectation that it might be a bust but unless you see it first hand you’ll never really know what is out there. On stream arrival roughly 6:38am rigged and hiking by 7am. Neither of us were expecting to find the size water we did, way more than either of us were used to. The banks were covered with thick vegetation and it became clear very quickly that we were going to spend our time on this stream wading with the fishes. Larger, deeper, faster, uglier trout water lends itself to the streamer and we both agreed that the fish were going to perhaps be larger in size but fewer in number. We used weighted streamers to search the broken water, the deep water, the slack water, frankly it was cast to any place that you would live if you were a Driftless Area trout and hope someone was home.

After wading upstream a ways and dealing with a few unpleasantries (Barbed Wire, Nettles) we decided that this place was perhaps best left for a day when time was of little concern, where a guy might try to float down enjoying the day and catching the occasional trout here and there. That was not going to be today, at roughly 8:30am we did an about face and headed straight to the nearest spot that we knew held trout. Thinking to the SMB that we were fishing at the time of departure it made sense to target some easy pickin’s and hit up a rainbow hideout.

The second spot was not a total bust but it did not produce what I expected it to. Normally I have to beat the rainbows off the SMB with a stick but today that wasn’t the case. The rainbows would stalk it, turn on it, dart at it but never eat it. It’s hard to put that fly down when you see them come to your feet after it but never commit to dancing with you. If this scenario happens again and again I suggest you look at what the trout are doing and think twice before you spend all day trying to force feed the fish something they don’t want. After no fish on and perhaps a lost fly or two I was content with switching it up for a #16 Peacock and Partridge with a #20 Miracle Nymph trailer. Lifting my rod after my flies were sunk evoked responces from the Brown trout only and they were the dinkers. All these rainbows around and none of them want to taste my flies. After a bit Wendy B. and I moved downstream where we noticed a few rising trout, one in particular kept rising, over and over again. I’m tying a new fly on as I’m asking “is he still rising??” I was thinking of slapping on an Elk Hair Caddis but I saw the box of Gorilla flies that I had brought just in case.

I put the #18 Gorilla Lady on that rising trout and after two looks but no take it wasn’t looking good. Third time was a charm though and I picked that fish, stuck my bright red bug on it and sure enough, it ate it. Wendy B. is my witness, that and the picture pretty much says it all. Trout will eat a Lady Bug pattern. Much to still test here though, not sure if they ate it because it looked like a Lady Bug or because it happened to be presented in such a manner as to make it more palatable to the selective trout. One thing is for sure, you can’t miss this bright red fly as it’s floating high in the water. By the end that fly took three trout and although it needs a bit of a new paint job it can be easily re- colored to fish another day. Wendy B. and I parted ways around 11:30am and I split to check out one last spot before the day was to be finished.

I stopped here with the same goal in mind, tempt a few stocked rainbow trout with my SMB and hopefully have a blast in the process. Last year I caught several rainbows on nymphs and streamers in this spot but to my dismay I found not a single fish, oh yea wait one, single, individual, lone six inch trout. I put my fly in every crevasse that I thought might hold something but nothing, nothing but sand. I was prepared for this potential outcome and didn’t sweat it too much. Thunder and lightening were in the distance and it was time to get going. Walking past the plunge pool that I had been fishing with a straight upstream approach something caught my eye, a small pocket of slack water kind of in the middle of a large amount of flow. I cast one final time straight across into the most turbulant water stripping my streamer through that slack water and sure enough I felt my line tighten. At first I thought I snagged it but when my snag ran downstream at full force heading straight for a nasty looking cut bank I literally jumped in and had to run after it for a second before I was able to turn it away from the darkness. This fish is the reason why the net was sitting behind me, ready to rock. He ran once more and struggled as I forced him in but that is why I use 3x tippet when I fish the SMB now, so I can get those big ones in quick, land them to send them on their way. My 3wt doubled over is an awesome sight. Thunder from the clouds on the horizon sent me smiling home, that and the wonderful smell of trout on my hands. Thanks Wendy for another good time, always appreciate the good conversation.

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Day 2. Met with Sershen, drove to the spot and took the water temp. I was hoping for an opportunity to toss dry flies but to no avail. On arrival at 10:30am the temp was easily 42 degrees and by 1pm it was past the hatching temp for BWO’s and few were seen. What was seen however was a massive amount of Dark Hendrickson nymphs that are close to popping, I’ve never seen the quantity of nymphs holding as I did this day. Fishing faster deeper water hoping to take the larger fish we both stuck to streamers almost all day, my first cast landed my nicest fish of the day, a fat Rainbow pushing 15 inches. I remember thinking as it lept the first time, what did I hook? A pan fish? Something about the way it lept made it look exactly like a fat sunfish, I don’t know how but it did.

Not too much to report other than the fact that the bugs are coming, soon on some streams for sure and despite the recent rain combined with snow melt the streams are doing well, with a bit of knowledge finding a fishable one should be easy. I found the random sampling of invertebrates and then I found what Heath refers to as the “poo” fly which I knew immediately to be a Caddis fly larva named the Little Black Sedge (Chimarra aterrima). I knew because I had done the research and the image of this bright yellow larva was forever ingrained in my memory. I saw it and was amazed, found a serious amount of them as well. We fished the rest of the day into the early evening catching the occasional trout here and there, despite good water conditions the trout were biting very lightly making landing a fish a bit trickier as we both hooked, lost, and cursed several fish out, maybe me more so than my friend. A second day fishing all day in the sun in a t-shirt, it felt like June without the weeds or vegetation around to complicate matters, as they say in New Zealand “sweet-as”.

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Fished most of the day, met up with one Wendy B. on location for a bit of morning coffee, good conversation and of course a few trout. We nymphed up rainbows with the typical Orange Scud and Miracle Nymph but after seeing a few larger fish I swapped to a streamer, Wendy B. did the same and we both nailed a few nicer fish. You have to love it when from on high you strip your streamer in, staring at your victim less than twenty feet away, you cry out “EAT IT” and the trout promptly turns and does exactly that, brilliant. Wendy B.= FISH ON! That was just the start to an awesome day, I mean by 11am I had enough good things happen to hold me over but as it were I had the day to myself and the weather was too good to turn down.

I left Wendy B. to stop off at a second spot, gin clear despite the rain and melt. I could have stayed and tempted fish but I hadn’t fished this spot before and I knew I could find a location that offered slightly stained water when usually it runs clear. Good to take note of locations like this, fish them after a rain event or the melt and take fish more easily as the water is tinted to your advantage. Second stream I stuck with my streamer expecting a few Browns to come out and play but no luck. I tried, tried some more but nadda. I picked bugs to get a feel for the situation and it was clear to me that a skinny BWO nymph was the way to go, the WD-40 #16. Good choice, as it was the only fly that took any trout on the second stream, it even took a few Brookies which made this my first day where I managed all three specie of trout you can find in S.E. Minnesota water.

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Notes of Interest:

• Arrival at ~10:30am Water Temp 42 Degrees, Air Temp Upper 30’s
• Nymphed up smaller Browns on a #20 Miracle Nymph
• Swapped to Streamers at 12:30pm. Water Temp ~44 Degrees
• Landed ~10 Browns/Rainbows between 10-14inches
• Stream Clouded up quite abit around 3pm, Fishing Slowed (No Water Temp.)
• No bugs today other than a few scattered midges, minimal rising from the trout.
• I emailed the DNR regarding the concerning Dam, I was told it will be removed ASAP.

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the 30th:

Fished for a few hours targeting the high air temp. Doing double duty I hit a local stretch that holds a particular significance for me, I approached this water for the first time shortly after I began fly fishing for trout in June of 2008. The previous August most of the area was affected by severe flooding and this stretch was forever changed, I wish I could have seen it before the floods but as it happens I viewed this stretch for the first time after it had been ripped up pretty bad.

Although there are plenty of trout hanging around these parts I worry about their ability to migrate up and downstream, this place is littered with deep holes and long wide slow sections that are separated by long very shallow sections that are often no more than a few inches deep. Steep cut banks that show the power of flowing water stretch for much of this part of the stream.

I spent most of my time dealing with ice shelves, catching a few flies on the lip as I raised my rod. I found that there was much more veg in the stream than I was expecting to find this time of year. I rigged to go deep with a #14 Brassie and trailing #20 Midge Larva and found myself catching all kinds of greenery but no trout. I didn’t stick around long and moved to a few other spots with similar results, I did manage a consolation prize on a dead drifted #8 Bead Head Woolly Bugger but at the cost of several flies, oh well. I headed home shortly after.

the 31st:

Caught up with one Heath Sershen, a local trout addict and friend of mine. This day has been seen before and will be seen again, maybe even this year. The two of us drive for a while, get out of the car, shiver for a while, rig our rods and begin the game of pick your fish. From above we perch spying the trout, watching them feed on the midges emerging. Today we watched several larger trout surfacing, Heath picked off the first decent sized fish with a #20 Miracle Nymph. I worked a #20 Black Midge Emerger and after a while I managed a couple of fatty 14in Rainbows. The fun and challenge here is that we chose our target, we could have caught any number of smaller trout that were feeding downstream of the larger few but the challenge presented was of too great a temptation, we both agreed that landing only a few of the larger fish was well worth the effort.

All in all it was a good weekend and the trout itch has been fully scratched allowing me to continue the week free of urges to stand out in the freezing cold. Look for more of the same in the coming weeks, try to find yourself on stream during the warmest part of the day, rig to deep nymph in most situations and watch for that golden opportunity to toss a #20 Midge to rising trout lips.

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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 »

The plan was hatched with little time to spare. The night before digging my gear from it’s hidden resting place, packing fly boxes, tying the last minute necessities and printing my stamp and license at home, sometimes you have to love the internet. We left with a few crappy maps (way to go Heath) to find trout in the state of Iowa, the place you go when your a Minnesotan in the off season if you want to scratch that itch that’s been nagging at you for seventeen days but who’s counting? We stopped off in La Crosse, Wisconsin to grab some winter gear that will be put to the test in the coming months (more on that later). After the stop we hit the road to ride the Mississippi down to our target. Read the rest of this entry »