Parked 10am. 1/3 of a mile hike in some fluffy deep snow to get to the water then another mile upstream and the entire distance back out again. A total of close to 4,050 yards according to Google Earth. 40 football fields in 3-4 feet of snow. Reminds me of the crawling through sh*t line in Shawshank Redemption. Along the way we happened upon many sights, a pair of hawks flying above with a screeching mouse in tow for example. The hike in was slow, through some serious snow with nothing more than an animal trail over an old set of truck tracks from months ago to aid us. This would be worth it though. I expected to find warm gin clear trout water and that is in fact what I found. First water temp more than a mile downstream of two major springs held a temp of 46 degrees at ~10:30am.

Midge were already peppering the snow more than twenty feet from the stream when we began fishing. We nymphed, myself a #14 Pink Patrick with a #20 Beadhead Midge Larva. Simple, standard and effective patterns. The sun waited until late in the day to show itself, the photo’s reflect that aspect of the day well. We fished old H.I. work as we travelled to the source of this stream. We each managed a few takes on the way in but  water levels were down considerably through the section we fished. I wonder if the massive amount of instream growth this stream supports in the summer that shrinks in the winter might have something to do with it. The more instream vegetation, the more stuff to fill up the channel, thus making the stream look as if it has more water in it. Anyways just a side thought. We fished to source, hiked half the distance back out and fished up again.

At 1pm as we hiked downstream the midge began doing it, literally in the snow they would link up and the larger of the two would basically tow the other around in the snow. Interesting. We saw thousands of midge through the course of the day, with an initial water temp of 46 degrees and the fact that so many were already crawling around several feet from the stream I have to think a majority had hatched before we arrived, maybe before we woke to start the day. At 1:25pm I saw the first one float towards me. I had to stop for a second and really look to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was, as soon as I was sure I was diving in close to my waist to catch a few WINTER BWO’s? Yep. We watched as a good couple dozen emerged on the run I was fishing, float downstream and take off. Very cool, good day for bugs. Now to find a few trout.

We did eventually find a willing pod of fish that readily took a #20 Miracle Nymph like it was candy but it took nearly the entire day to find it and after swapping fish for an hour we were frozen and ready to head home. Heath had a nicer +16in fish on but as the net came out it spooked and bolted forcing a limp line and an empty net. I managed a few browns as well, typical winter fishing. It isn’t easy and sometimes you’ve got to work pretty hard to see your line tighten up but it makes those days in the spring and summer when it jumps upon a strike that much better. With frozen feet and smiles we hiked the last leg out quickly. It was 4:30pm. Potentially a top 10 day for 2010 and it’s not even March yet.

Notes: So we found Midge had already been hatching before we arrived, and BWO’s hatching as the water temp got up to 47-48 degrees at 1:30pm. The Miracle Nymph worked wonders today while the Pink Patrick did nothing and could have been split shot for all the trout cared, actually I think I’ve had trout more readily strike my splitshot than they did the Pink fly today.  Sometimes this thing can whack fifty trout, others it is a curse and is best left in the box. I learned this lesson today and will not forget it. Especially when the rocks showed about a million tiny nymphs, I was determined to feed them something twice as big and pink. I would have been better served fishing a WD-40 or a PT with the Miracle Nymph trailing. The BWO nymphs that were hatching were a yellow/cream color and were very apparent, I’m surprised and a little disappointed I didn’t take any pictures of them. Finally at the source of the stream we found a dead deer that was something’s dinner, when we hiked to a second spring we found a second carcass that had also been well fed on. I wonder if something large isn’t dragging them down into that valley, interesting… I apologize for the quantity of images but it was a day of things to see. Check the slideshow out on fullscreen.

To take a trout with one of these. I picture it going down something like this… After a good long day of fishing the Driftless Area during spring/summer I will migrate towards home, along the way I will make a mental note of any and all areas I know to hold larger trout. I’ll pull up right as the sun is setting behind the bluffs, rig up and head to the spot. I’ll get there earlier than needed but that’s the kind of guy I am. I’ll scope the situation out, put myself in the right spot and wait until the light fades.  When the time is right I’ll plop one of these guys near the head of a pool, throw in a big upstream mend to counter the pull of the strong current. I’ll let it drift a bit maybe half way through the pool, then I’ll twitch one of these furry beasts to my feet hoping for the opportunity to take a Driftless Area trout on a mouse. This should pose a decent challenge, I’m sure I’ll let you know how it goes but first it’s got to warm up a bit around here.

Onsite arrival: 11:45am. I geared up and decided to take a quick peek at the situation prior to my compadre arriving at 12:30pm. I dawned a pair of new waders and boots today for the first time, my first set of breath-ables, about time… Snowshoes were a noticeable help immediately, it was very apparent we would be trailblazing after a hundred yards or so. Thanks to Sershen for lending out a pair so I could lend out mine. I was greeted by three large steers watching my every movement, I avoided them for the most part but managed to get a few good poses from the group. I rigged a single #16 Pink Patrick and let loose on the first hole I found fishy enough, several passes later I had just a twig from the bottom to show for my efforts. I chose not to dwell long and instead hiked back to the truck to meet Wendy B. Read the rest of this entry »

Fished two Iowa trout streams solo this day. First spot was the “for-sure” since I had seen it and knew where to put my flies I was confident I could take a few. I was wrong. The “put-and-take” fishery looked as if it had been taken. I spied the occasional Brown but only found one spot with even a marginal number of Rainbow trout. I tried switching between nymphs and streamers to tempt these fish with little to show for it. Conditions on the first stream were as expected, slightly stained but looking good with maybe a bit more flow than the last time I had been here. I fished it up stream as the morning progressed. The sun cresting over the bluffs made it enjoyable and although few fish were caught here I did stop at a shallow riffle and found not one Giant Water Bug but one on almost every rock I turned over, interesting. I am curious do these things have an “emergence” period? Are they just prevalent on this stream? I know if I was a trout and spied one of those things headed my way I’d be all over it. Read the rest of this entry »

Goals for the day:

• Find Trico’s Hatching
• Catch fish on Trico Pattern
• Enjoy another day on a S.E. Minnesota Trout Stream
• Work Hoppers Later in the Day

With the goals laid out before me I set out at 5am. Getting to the spot I wanted to fish was going to require a longer drive than normal but this provided the opportunity to find some rising fish, fish new water and see a stretch of water that I rarely get to visit. I met Joel, who became my Brother-in-Law this past Sunday at 5:30am. This outing was his last as a single man and it felt good to get him out. Read the rest of this entry »

Started the day early, waking to coffee during the pre-dawn hours preparing to take on the day and hopefully a few trout on dry flies. As it were it was not to be this day. Think of three points A. The house, B. The Spot for the Day and C. Trico Possibility. C was smack between A and B so I pulled over and watched the water for ten minutes drinking my coffee. I spied enough rising fish to make me think it was worth the effort, 6ft tall weeds soaking in morning dew made for a very wet fly factory. I knew the difficulty based on the stretch of water, slow, very slow. No virtually still, especially in the early hours of dawn. I rigged a long leader and a bit of 7x tippet for my trico attempt and then waited for the sipping to begin, it never really did. I put the fly on several risers and struck out every time, my casts were alright but I’m sure I could have landed the fly a bit gentler a few times. After close to an hour I picked up and left for point B. Read the rest of this entry »

The day was more about meeting up with a few friends of mine who happened to inform me of their camping plans not to far from my home but I managed to sneak a few hours of fishing in before they were to arrive. I had planned one route but as fate were to have it I made a wrong turn not thinking and decided to roll with the punches. I picked a spot that was close using this new route and drove, satisfied just to be in the moment of driving to my fishing destination.

Recent rain had muddied the stream a bit but I decided to press on. I had fished this spot once before and found it to be barren despite the appearance of greatness at the time. I don’t like writing a stretch of trout water off until I’ve given it a few attempts with failing outcomes each time, today was this spot’s second chance. With nothing rising and the heat on I rigged nymphs and attempted to go deep but found nothing but rocks on the bottom. I lost a few flies and managed to get almost no strikes, I did miss the one for-sure strike I had. After two hours of getting nowhere in the sun I pulled out to move closer to the final destination. Read the rest of this entry »

Woke at 4:45am to drive. I met Joel at 6am we grabbed a mug of the black stuff and headed towards flowing water. The goal for the day was to get Joel, my soon to be brother-in-law, his first trout on a fly rod. I posted a while back about lending him my old rod/reel to practice casting and I know he practiced, it showed on the stream today. I’m no guide, and I don’t have all the answers but I was hoping with some willingness and a bit of luck I might get this guy hooked. We arrived and took a water temp of ~60 degrees at 7:15am and upon assessing the stream and the fish I decided to get him a trout we were going to have to go deep and nymph fish. I brought my rod but did not rig it until later, for now I was concerned with making sure Joel could ask questions and get information and advice as we went. I rigged his rod with a #14 Caddis larva pattern with a trailing PT nymph, knowing the water I added one small split-shot and explained that casting this rig with an indicator was going to be very different from the practice casting in the yard with no weight. 

I’m not the best at casting and without being overbearing I attempted to walk him through each approach to a run or hole. Joel never having fly fished before and never having fished a smaller stream needed some guidance with respect to the water and where the fish were. I explained how we move from opportunity to opportunity passing the sections of stream that the fish avoid. Riffle, Run, Pool. We went through reading the water and how depending on your casting location the current might pull your flies and keep them from sinking properly. Joel did very well casting the weighted rig with an indicator, we all know the potential for disaster, I did untangle a few knots and tie on a bit of tippet but for the most part Joel was making it look easy. Fishing a slower deeper section Joel got to practice setting the hook on creek chubs hoping one would turn out to be a trout. Determined to get him a trout I decided to pack it in here and drive to the second spot I had in mind. 

Rather than sticking with the nymph rig I set him up with a #12 Stimulator to let him get the feel of drifting a dry fly. We worked upstream from our access and each time we saw a rise form I explained how we would need to target a bit upstream of that location without giving our position away or spooking the fish with the fly line and fly. Joel had his first top water strike and I could see the excitement in his face, improper line management made for a poor hook set but he was enjoying the day and we had wonderful weather. 

No surface flies and the sporadic rising scenario that seems to take place during the height of the day made me choose to rig both of us with a #12 Stimulator and a trailing Sparkle Larvae after my recent success with this set-up. We found a slower moving section of stream and was very wide and deeper on the opposite side. Never having fished this before it was a crap-shoot, might get something good but we might end up slowly drifting flies for the rest of the day coming up empty-handed. I started first and within three casts I was into a nice brown trout taking the sparkle larva. I knew if Joel could get his flies to the fish it would be nothing but smiles. I worked the fish downstream and set Joel casting upstream and across explaining that with the slower water he would have to allow for some slack so he didn’t drag the flies. 

I stayed downstream of Joel and after a few missteps he made a great cast and sure enough a brown launched and I had thought it took the Stimulator but it turned out later that he rose quickly to take the Sparkle larva as it entered the water. Joel set the hook and was quickly looking over his shoulder as the trout ran around him. FISH ON! I loved watching this, it made my whole day. I watched him play the fish loving the feeling, a minute later the fish surfaced and his first brown trout was a nice 14inch fish that fought him hard. I took another fish as Joel worked upstream, although he only took one fish he did lose one and missed a few other strikes but I think as a whole he had a great time. Fly fishing isn’t easy and even with someone helping you it can be frustrating, working with Joel I never once felt frustration from him, very commendable. We talked trout on the way home and I explained a few things he might want to get before heading out on his own, I also gave him a few of my maps with some good locations and directions for him.

I learned alot just watching Joel work the fly rod today, I observed behaviors that I know I need to work on, the eagerness that causes poor casts and other things that seem to go unnoticed in the moment. Watching Joel I noticed a feeling of accomplishment knowing that it was only a bit over a year ago that I was in his shoes just starting to figure the stick out. He has plans to continue working the stick and I might just have to donate my old gear to a worthy cause for the time being.