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

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

Started my day on the water at 9am under cloudy skies. Air temp was comfortable but hiking through thicker foliage after last nights rain made for a soggy morning but that wasn’t going to prevent me from swinging a few flies. I took a water temp and watched for any clues as to what to put on the end of my line. Cold water (~50 degrees) and no signs of fish near the surface told me to go deep so I rigged the same fly as yesterday, I tied two more of the same fly last night. Three casts in and I had the first brown of the day. I picked a few rocks and found interestingly little to no mayfly nymphs, I’m beginning to see similarities between “Mayfly” and “Caddis/Scud” creeks, just a generalization that I apply to some streams that seem to have a higher concentration of one or the other. This is a “Caddis/Scud” creek with plenty of old H.I. work done to keep the water deep, rocks lining the sides giving trout good cover and a place to thrive.

I worked my way downstream, the water was cloudy which would help me here,  normally it is crystal clear and the fish spook easily. I fished this for the first time this last winter and what a difference a few spring months make. My plan was to work the old H.I. work through the cow pasture and hit a hole in the middle of the jungle then work back up and out. I tossed the same fly the entire time, in shallow water it took fish, in deep water it took fish. I racked eight fish easily working downstream, I kept a couple. The stomach contents furthered my assumptions about the bio-mass in this stream, mainly scuds filled the brown I took home with me. 

I love mornings on a trout stream, well any time on a trout stream but mornings and dusk are two excellent times to be near water. Quiet and peaceful I fish silently, unless you saw me you wouldn’t know I was catching fish, you would have to hear the occasional splashing. I enjoy relaxing, concentrating on the moment in front of me, analyzing the best approach, losing myself in the water, bills and work have no place in my mind here. I moved to a spot I specifically came here to fish, deep water in a tight channel with old H.I. work around, I knew there were fish here. By this time I was getting pretty good at chucking this bugger pattern with some additional weight, some of these holes have to be more than 6-8 feet deep and not very wide requiring a longer cast to get the flies down but also accurate so your fly ends up in the water. I picked up a few more and moved downstream.

Working my way through the cow pasture I arrived at a wall of jungle. I knew there was a secret hole in the middle of it somewhere, better make it the shortest distance through this stuff. Burning Nettles stung my legs for a good five minutes but I remembered my way well and got to the spot in the shortest distance, it was worth it. I kicked three twelve inch trout into the depths when I came out of the jungle. I worked the bugger and picked up a tiny guy. A minute later with a great roll cast I watched a beautiful brown dart quickly and pick up my fly, my casting is improving for sure. Trudging through the jungle was worth it, this fish was a spotted beauty for sure. This fly was kicking ass at this point. I landed the nicer fish and headed back through the thickness, I bounced to each spot I had fished on the way downstream but found nothing wanted my fly. At noon I was where I started and so I took another water temp, the lack of sun prevented much change in temp, three hours later I had ~51 degrees.

I thought about moving forward upstream but I felt that little was going to happen with this fly and nymphing this tiny deep stuff was something for another time. Knowing that getting in the vehicle, breaking my gear down and getting to another spot would burn time I set my mind to water closer to home so I could move in that direction. I was greeted by this guy upon my exit, cool.I drove to a spot I fished early in my fly fishing adventure and I didn’t get much then, a few small ones but alot has changed since last summer. I stuck to the same fly, by this point I had pulled it out of a tree earlier in the day, pulled out a few plants with it and got it stuck on a log all on the last stream and managed to keep it with me. I rolled and lost the first fish that struck but I had a great day up to this point so I had little to complain about. I pulled a smaller 10in. brown out and decided it with the other I had would make a great dinner. I measured this fish, the regs on this stretch are 12″-16″ protected and I wanted to be sure. 

I lost two others and picked one last hole to fish before packing it in for the day. Upon seeing the hole I felt like something drastic had happened, there was a new sand bar built up providing a shallower spot in the middle of the hole now, before it was a deep drop off with a huge tree root structure blocking a majority of the water, a trout haven for sure. I got in position and made one roll cast across the shallow area and let slack out to allow the fly to sink. The current pulled the fly up and with that I saw alittle flash, I needed to get the fly deeper which meant a longer roll cast with more slack. Two attempts later I watched my fly creep up from the dark water below being pulled by my line crossing the current, the fish I watched trail it looked like a shark. As the fly passed through the shallowest part she struck, I got to watch again! Amazing. I set the hook and she was gone, I was almost convinced I was going to lose this fish after she ran the first time. My reel sang to me. This hole is big and deep, tree limbs, even with the 4x tippet I didn’t want to break her off so I took my time. She pulled hard, and I just hung on for the ride hoping I would be able to land this fish. She smacked the surface hard two or three times, you know the fish is a slab when you hear that deep smack. Once again no net I guess I didn’t think I’d need it. After fighting for several minutes I moved her up into a deeper riffle and allowed her to come downstream to me landed cradled in my arm. One photo next to the rod, three with me and I removed the hook, she was out only a brief minute or two. My heart was still pounding as I stood in the riffle holding this gorgeous fish, beautiful blue glimmer. I held her submerged for quite a while to ensure a full recovery, with one strong push she turned and took off. What a day. I was pleased to get my fly back, it is now in the ceiling of the truck next to the one from yesterday to give me a smile every time I get in to go fly fishing in the Driftless Area of Southeast Minnesota. 

Slide Show

 

As stated yesterday I saw the plan to fish some private trout water near home through today. Called Sershen, asked if he wanted to come scout the stream with me and sure enough he did. We got on site at 12noon and fished until about 2:30pm. We parked upstream from the area I wanted to scout and planned to hike in until we met a confluence between the main branch of the stream and a feeder brook. I didn’t even put my rod together, kept everything in my pack and my eyes open as we made our way downstream. Although I picked a few rocks for bugs I did not spend too much time taking photo’s as I found mainly what I saw yesterday. Today was more about the push to see the plan through, make it to the confluence, work it back up stream, don’t doddle and thats what we did.

The trout stream wound down into a highly wooded/forested area that clearly presented a challenge to a fly fisherman looking to use his backcast. As we hiked downstream we noticed trout rising but I had a feeling they were striking caddisfly larva, I could be completely wrong on this after knowing that none of the trout struck my pupa pattern but they did take the Caddisfly larva pattern I put as the lead fly in my two fly rig. Sershen and I have worked out a rythem and we quickly hopped from one opportunity to the next, it’s nice to get into the groove and leap frog your partner.  Working these smaller streams in the summer months can be difficult, in that the plants are already pushing head height which affects both your travel speed but also your approach to most casting situations on the stream.  I lost the first few strikes I had nymphing, I went blind with no indicator and little to no weight for three reasons. 1st, a ton of instream foliage, 2nd the clarity of the stream combined with the low water level made for spooky fish and 3rd because the fish were holding high in the water column for the most part.

Sershen swung a Bugger and I fished my two fly rig on our way upstream. We got on a section that held a 5-6ft. deep hole, I was up first and with Sershen as a lookout I managed to take a tiny brown holding high in the water at the head of the pool. Sershen at bat, Bugger off and on the last strip I watched his line just dive, I saw the ever familiar flash, the orange belly and it was on, Sershen had to turn it’s head quickly before it buried itself in a field of deep foliage. This was the fish we came to see and it was excellent, the picture says it all, after the release we both just smiled. I gave it ago with Sershens rig to see what I could come up with and on the third cast I had a decent brown on but it popped off before we could see it.

We headed further upstream and fishing to a few rising trout I lost my rig getting it stuck on a tree branch on the other side of the seam, rather than disturb the hole and retrieve my flies I broke off and tied only the single Caddisfly larva pattern on and swung again, expecting the shallower stuff to hold only small fish would be a mistake, I love fishing no indicator nymph rigs upstream and tight lining them as it drifts to my feet, the strikes can be intense, seeing your leader dart, other times they can be so subtle you never notice. I made one last cast on this spot and expecting an 8in trout I was given a fat 14in Brown that ran straight towards me, awesome.

We fished a few more spots on our way back to the truck, we picked up a few more, I got one on and it tangled itself up in the weeds, sure enough once I had the trout on and backed away a bit Sershen was hooking his trout and we had two on at once, I even had to walk under his line because my fish was stuck to the side in the weeds as his trout was running him downstream, before I could get mine off he had already released his and was working on the next. We stopped and talked to the landowners for a few minutes, I introduced myself, gave them contact information and was given permission to come back and fish whenever I felt the itch. I would say this was better than I was expecting, it could turn into my lunch breaks during the summer.

Slide Show

 

Hit the water for two short but sweet hours this morning after I dropped Liz off from work. This stream has a very different personality than the previous stream I hit the last two times I went out. I love meeting water and figuring out all the angles. What am I finding in the water? Substrates? Macros? I look at everything and take mental notes and lots of pictures. I took the water temp on arrival, alittle higher than expected. I threw the leech on knowing I would have to have some good casts to land a fish here, this place was again crystal clear due to lack of rain.

I made some good casts with the marabou leech and took a nice fat brown. Made a few more and got strikes but couldn’t land two fish I had on, one of which I think was a brookie. I took bug samples finding this creek to have alot more mayfly nymphs of a variety I’m not 100% sure on at the moment. I will be researching and determining the species later.  I made another run at it with the leech but time was running out and obligations working on the yard and garden were calling. 

Sershen and I hooked up for a trip to a stream I visited only once this summer. We set out down this stream and it was as if I had just hiked it. This stream is similar to Possum in that it stays gin clear almost all the time. I love how different streams have drastically different personalities. Car Door Alley is a beautiful, lively, difficult stream to fish. The woods are right on top of you, your odds of needing a roll cast; 90 percent and there seemed to be a natural obstacle, log or a tree branch, something blocking every decent run or hole, a great environment for trout to thrive and here they do.

We started off and ran the first few runs and pools down quick, I would say that within fourty minutes we had fished and explored the entirety that I had seen this summer. We continued on up stream with the goal of exploring one of the two headwater systems that feed Car Door Alley. After a certain point catching a fish became less important than studying the creek. With several feeder springs in the headwaters we were busy picking bugs and taking water temps. This stream, just like Possum has a very large number of the rock cased caddis and we noticed the bio mass change drastically from one type of caddis to another in between feeder springs. I would guess this is related to the change in water condition between them. 

We caught few fish but studied the creek and prepared for the return. As we went we enjoyed the sunshine on our backs, one very nice thing about this place is that after four plus hours of hiking in after you break your rods down you can make it out in less than thirty minutes. Sershen has some great underwater photos here.

Thoughts:

Fly fishing for trout in Southeast, MN can be hunting, if you want it to be. I think about how one must be conscious of movement, location, relation to the prey. The fact that the nature of the skeptical trout constantly feeding makes the job of the fly fisherman challenging and exciting.

The spring creeks I visited this last summer made learning how to fly fish difficult at times. The tight proximity to trees, weeds, and any other object that might make a nice big back cast turn sour proved to be a great environment for me to learn.

Having to wade despite the obvious reasons not to, to present a fly to an unsuspecting fish less than fifteen feet away while standing in the water and still managing to fool it into the take. These are the things I think about when I remember my first summer of trout hunting. I enjoyed catching larger trout but found that even when I was in a place that only held eight inch trout I was pushed to learn a different skill or different approach. That is not to say you can’t find big open water, I just like the option to pick a challenge.

Fishing for trout on the fly is exciting and wonderfully peaceful. Hearing nothing but the sound of running water. Concentrating on nothing but the drift of your fly things like bills, work, back pain all seem to fade to a distant whisper. I always loved going to a new place, even if I didn’t catch anything I still had the journey of exploring around the next corner or in the next hole and since this was my first real season fly fishing in the driftless area there was a lot of new water to find. 

On a final note. I’ve learned more in the last six months than I ever thought possible. There is something about this that has fifty percent of my brain tuned in while the other half resumes mundane existence. At times I feel confident that I am using my time wisely and learning what I should in a way that applies to me, other times I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information I find and read. There can be alot to this if you want it to be, or you can be the guy who ties 10 patterns and fishes buggers the rest of the time. I guess for me this is more than a casual sport, this is life with my head stuck in the water.