“Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come with talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains
Within the sound of silence”

-Simon and Garfunkle

Started the morning under cloudy skies, I opted to skip the day before knowing the nicer weather would draw other anglers out. I left the snowshoes behind and hiked to larger water. Airtemp was 17 degrees on arrival and predicted to climb to 25 by early afternoon. I opted for a smaller streamer sent to me by John Jensen a few weeks prior, I love getting his flies in the mail and his streamers rock. I’m guessing it was a #8, I liked the whiggly legs alot. It was light and I knew it wouldn’t make a large impact on trout and given the low water levels that was going to be important. I picked a riffle and let loose, several darted out from the fast moving water chasing Jensen’s fly to my feet. I was surprised to see the number of trout holding in the riffles, all day long the aggressive strikes and subsequent trout coming to hand came from the shallow riffles. The deeper pools held trout, lots of them as one would expect for this time of year but they were spooky and I didn’t feel like spending an hour attempting to get a #20 down four feet resulting in hundreds of spooked trout chansing away from my fly each time I put it in the drink. I was content to hike through the snow, pick of a fish here or there when the ideal riffle presented itself. Everyone of those riffles held trout, they all wanted that bigger meal and were willing to chase after it. It was a good day.

p.s. John, thanks for the flies. I’m working on the return package, it’s just taking me a while to get to everything on my plate. You are not forgotten, I appreciate the gesture. Super cool flies that went into my boxes immediatly. Thanks again.

Spent pretty much the entire day fishing on the 1st. Met up with Sershen early and fished the Five S. Bumped my first fish on the fourth cast, turns out it would be the longest for the day. I fished the SMB and the JB (Jungle Boogie) pretty much all day. Got to check up on one of my favorite creeks in Southeast Minnesota, enjoy the sun and do what I’ve grown to love, target trout on the snaggiest creek I know of. Airtemp in the morning was ~44 or so on arrival, overcast with minimal wind. The creek was a bit low and stained, ideal for what I wanted to do. Pretty damn good considering last April 22nd, I have notes fishing this spot at 8:30am with an airtemp of ~40. Fish took streamers in the shallower ~3ft deep portions of the creek but hesitated in the deep pools.

Moved out to fish another spot after Sershen and I split. I used the wind at my back to propel my heavy flies with a roll cast. As the early afternoon wore on the Grey Caddis came out for a solid two hours from 1-3pm (some days it lasted much later in the day). As I would see first hand this was the case pretty much everyday this first week of the season. A couple hard fighting fat browns were seen during the short time between fishing with Sershen and when I met up with Carl. I wanted to put Carl on water that was out of his element, no dry flies here, just fat streamers, dark water and big trout. We fished the later afternoon into early evening landing a good number of brown trout before pulling off to hit the night fishing spot to end the day. The fishing was good, not the best but better than the last C&R opener, either way I would have been satisfied not catching a thing. Being able to hike and fish all the water I’ve missed for the last few months made the day awesome and knowing that for the next few months I can pick up and fish where ever whenever made it that much better.

Note: This post was finished and ready to go on April 2nd but due to a bad file/computer crash I was forced to re-write it and between my lack of motivation and over abundance of time spent fishing this is what we get. I hate forcing out a post after the fact. Sorry guys.

Slide Show

Looking for new, unexplored winter trout water I found myself streamside at the usual hour for this time of year ~11:30am. I rigged a #16 Orange Scud to start the day with the hopes that by the time I was getting ready to make my first cast I would have to re-rig with a #20 Midge but despite the excellent conditions for the day only a scant few midge were seen and very minimal rising fish, I counted only three all day. With a projected high of 20degrees with literally NO wind we picked a spot that would otherwise be a windy nightmare. Setting boot to snow pack I was confident the snowshoes could sit in the car but after a few minutes of hiking I did a 180, turned around and grabbed the shoes, this made the day more comfortable and helped us cover alot more ground without sweating to death. If you have them, use them.

I fished with a friend again today each bringing our own perspectives to each potential spot to fish. Winter fishing is difficult enough but then to combine it with unseen water can make for a fish free day. When I can I like to get a second perspective on the situation. Fishing with a friend, sticking close and discussing the options can really work well. The #16 Orange Scud got a #20 Miracle Nymph trailer after a few strike free passes but on the third cast got lodged on a snag and I was forced to break my line. Note: Pinch your barbs at the vise, better than in the cold. I re-rigged the same flies and continued  but with minimal success. The first stretch we fished was an obstacle course requiring slow movements and roll casts. Unfortunately 90% of the fishy lies were clogged with sticks, logs, debris, habitat, nature’s defense against anglers like myself, you get the picture.

We continued hiking passing thousands of trout knowing that an attempt could be made but neither of us felt like spending our entire day losing flies every third cast. A few snaggy spots were fished, some so fishy looking I would have thrown an entire box of flies down there if I would have thought a fish was going to come up intime for me to get my flies out without something fouling up the works. Enjoyed the winter sun again, very few January days (especially weekends) will produce 20 degree air temps with no wind. The combination of the two made the day.

The stream eventually opened up a bit and we found a few good deep runs to spend a bit of time tempting trout. With the #16 Orange Scud and #20 Miracle Nymph trailer I got no strikes, not a single one. I put on a second splitshot to ensure I was getting deep enough when I snagged something and lost the entire rig down to the 4x tippet on the end of my leader. I made a choice, rather than spend the time to tie on a stretch of 5x tippet and top it off with a few smaller nymphs I opted to go straight to the #8 Olive Sprinkle Me Baby I had used the last time I was out. No additional weight, just the conehead and wraps of weighted wire to help sink the fat fly. A few passes later and I knew I was on to something as I had several noticeable strikes. I was expecting slower strikes but my fly line was jumping as if summer nymphing. Eventually I managed to get a good hookset and began the afternoon of back to back Brown trout.

Once we figured out where the trout were and what they were willing to take we each hooked up with several trout over 12inches. We each landed a few 14inch browns unfortunately I rolled and lost two approaching 18inches. That can be a bit disappointing but not when compared with the excellent weather conditions and otherwise cooperating trout. It seemed the larger the trout the slower and less pronounced the strike. I got to the point where any slow in my line resulted in a hookset no matter how insignificant it seemed. One of the larger trout lost was hooked in this manner but I was too late by the time by the time my line slowed. In a few instances the smaller 10inch trout would be willing to almost surface in pursuit of the streamer as it rose on the swing. A note worthy event considering the amount of calories burned by those trout chasing down my streamer.

This scene played out under the mid-day sun until close to 3pm when the sun eventually hit a bank of clouds, the air temp took a nose dive and the trout activity followed suit shortly after. We each landed a dozen easy and lost probably three times that many more, for a while it seemed every third drift resulted in a noticeable strike, on the #8 SMB of all flies, one reason to bring your streamer box with you everytime. There are some hungry trout out there just waiting for you to toss a meal in front of its nose, even in the dead of winter trout still have to eat.

Slide Show

Notes and Observations:

• On stream arrival at ~3:45pm, fished until 7:30pm
• Water Clarity: Stained but Very Fishable
• Air Temp: ~73 Degrees
• Streamer Fishing Produced Little, Again…
• Bummed to Find Fields of Garlic Mustard
• Trout Rising until 5:30pm, A Storm Blew In
• Fly Fishing a SERIOUSLY Deep Hole May Void Traditional Fly Fishing Rules

Being a stubborn ass I chose to visit the same site as yesterday, looking to land one of those larger trout I missed the day before. Seems to be a typical scenario for the W.F.F. as of late, lighter take, fish on, right about to my feet and it’s as if they could let go at any moment but noooo… they wait until after they’ve shown me their colors and are almost to my feet, at this point my line goes limp. Now I kind of set myself up for this again, a second day in a row, why you ask? Well I am always curious as to what affect a few small changes may make under similar conditions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Discipline By King Crimson. Check it Out, it might knock the hook out your vise.

Slide Show

• Prep Your Hooks In Advance (NFL Sunday)
• Prep Your Materials for the Quantity Your Going to Tie
• Tie with Your Scissors in Your Hand
• Keep Materials and Tools in the Same Spot, Your Brain Needs This
• Avoid Coffee to Avoid the Restroom to Keep Yourself at the Vise
• Keep Your Tunes Pumping
• Take Note of Materials Used for a Quantity of Fly at a Specific Size to Better Estimate Needs When Purchasing for the Future.

I spent time recently working on these Sprinkle Me Baby’s in the hopes that I won’t have to sit at the vise next season the night before I hit a stretch of the clear stuff. Tying more involved flies at a higher rate of speed without the loss of quality can be a tricky thing. Most of you veteran tiers already know and utilize the things that I’ve mentioned above. I know it’s taken me a while to approach my tying from this perspective but it’s a good thing to work towards, the methodical approach to construction. I spent a large amount of the off season last season tying flies that were new to me, some worked, some did not and others I didn’t even try. This year I know most of what I need to tie and I have a rough idea of the quantities needed. With the winter months I’m hoping to become a more efficiant tier. I managed to turn a fly that took me close to 10minutes to prep and tie, down to 5 minutes flat on average simply because I took a bit of time before to really ready myself. I think this is the way to go when dealing with the more time consuming of the flies we tie. It improves your tying skills, wastes less materials not to mention your funds and time.

Slide Show

It seems an unspoken truth that if you combine the color black, some kind of flash and a streamer hook your going to be catching fish be it trout, carp, bass, panfish, or pike. With that in mind I did a bit of digging and found a few leech patterns that use Zonker strips to form the majority of the fly, with this idea and a few items unique to the Winona Fly Factory bench I came up with the Kiss My Leech. In similar fashion as the Sprinkle Me Baby this fly has a collar but it’s made of Peacock Ice Dub and brushed out to be scraggly looking, also in the spirit of the SMB I plan to be singing come on baby, Kiss My Leech, Kiss My Leech, Kiss My…..Fish ON! Read the rest of this entry »

The Winona Fly Factory has been hard at work tying new and different flies for next season and this winter. Working on dry fly midges, white caddis, midge larva, deer emergers, ect. I will be posting those in the W.F.F. Flies page. This makes my winter tying total up to 18 dozen finished. 

I wanted to play with soft hackles but I don’t have much in the way for stores to buy materials and they are costly but I do happen to have a dog that pheasant hunts and I used feathers from a pheasant half to tie different soft hackle patterns based on the information I’ve been reading at Whiskey Creek’s site (link below). As a result of my interest in playing I tied a few different flies that I have attempted to name and will try next season to see if any will catch a trout. We shall see, but fun to experiment! Name suggestions welcome, I don’t know if I like the ones I have. 

I would like to note that the two streamer patterns are tied like salmon flies in that they are not much wider than the hook even with the feathers on top unlike the middle one which requires a front view to explain it a bit more. 

Check the W.F.F. Page for images of the other new flies. Recipie requests are welcome always, leave a comment and I would be happy to give any information I can.