That would stand for Super Secret Sexy Streamer Stretch. Say that five times fast… Better yet? Hike around the Driftless Area for a couple years looking for the most amazing piece of streamer water holding some of the largest trout in high quantities, then if you find it… keep your mouth shut. It’s approaching the end of the season and the trout are putting the feed bag on in anticipation for the fall spawn, this means big fish looking for a big meal. I’ve been spying a new stretch of creek for a while now waiting for the right moment to tackle some steep banks and thick vegetation, with the cooler weather it seemed like the time was right. Sershen and I got on location and made a decision to hike downstream to point A, fish up to point B quickly then concentrate our efforts from point B to point C, a thickly wooded section of creek that just looked daunting. My fly of choice was a #6 Black Kiss My Leech as I have exhausted every last Sprinkle Me Baby that I own, the only ones left sit in the ceiling of my fishing vehicle, the only real trophies other than photos I collect when big trout strike. Conditions were about as good as I could have hoped for, a bit of overcast on arrival with the creek stained a bit. We knew this could turn out disastrous with few fish caught while struggling through a thick forested mess, on the other hand the potential for hooking into large fish lay on the other side of the coin. I guess I’m a gambling man and I’m of the opinion that unless you hike it and put your flies in the drink you really don’t know what’s out there, you have to see it with your own eyes.

Downstream ~45min later we were at point A. That’s right, 45 minutes of hiking through thick ass brush, weeds taller than the average man and more burning nettles than I think I’ve ever cursed before. Along the way the first of many trout was nabbed as our path forced us to cross the creek in a particularly tasty location, a deep drifted Kiss My Leech very slowly brought to the surface revealed a 14inch Brown trailing it only to strike within an inch from the surface. My experience has shown when drifting anything really really deep bring it up slowly, so many times I’ve had a fish trailing the fly all the way to the surface. I look at it like this, if the fish strikes, excellent. If not you now know a depth that a fish was holding at or at the very least that you were able to get deep enough to find a trout along the way back to the surface. If you arn’t getting your flies to the fish they will not strike. So the first fish showed its ugly face… literally. This fish looked like it picked a fight with a Heron or something, the jaw was busted in several places and was all bloodied up yet it still nailed my fly…

Downstream at point A we took turns presenting streamers to tasty looking water spending only a few minutes in each location. It’s important to spend enough time to be confident that your flies are getting to the right locations in the creek but not so much time that your wasting your afternoon. We tag-teamed specific runs and others we split and each took solo. Point A to B went quickly and a handful of Brown’s ranging from 13-15inches were caught before I managed the first dogger of the day. 18inches according to the tape, this trout caught me a bit off guard as I had pulled a smaller 15inch fish out just prior to hooking this guy and was not expecting much to come of a second pass, I was wrong. Several nice head shakes and this fish was working me over pretty well, I thought about reaching for my net as I hollered back to Sershen for assistance but ultimately opted to keep my hands on the rod and line which kept this fish from wrapping me around a tree limb. I eventually moved him to a shallow section full of mud and scooped him up with the net. Dogger #1.

We moved upstream and the #6 Kiss My Leech could do no wrong, it hit the creek and the brown trout turned and hit it just as quickly. The strike to hookup ratio was almost 1:1 by this point and things were looking excellent. We reached point B and took assessment of the thick jungle. We opted to hike the forested edge at first but I got sick of that after attempting to climb a steep bank up and out of the creek only to end up sliding face first into a bunch of nettles. Shortly after I hopped in the creek for good and made roll casts to any dark or deep peice of water basically continually moving upstream until I found something super tasty: like this, at which point Sershen and I would take turns attempting to pull something out.

This water was giving up 12-16inch Brown’s left and right to the Kiss My Leech, for a good hour I could do no wrong just put the fly on the fish, often they hit it so hard I didn’t have to do much to set the hook. As time wore on we began noticing the random aggressive rise and shortly after Sershen pegged the cause, big, ugly, flying beetles. There were so many that at one point I took more than one to the head and neck. I came to fish streamers through big ugly Driftless water so I stuck with the Kiss My Leech as it was kicking ass, Sershen opted to try a foam beetle pattern after loosing his streamer to a snag. He did manage one trout but before he could land the fish and retrieve his fly we watch the fish wrap him around a tree branch, shake once and take off. The streamer was re-applied in short order.

Bouncing through the creek bank to bank is not the ideal way to go in my opinion but some situations call for it. The fish, despite my un-coordinated trudging remained eager to eat and relatively un-affected by my presence. I managed a nicer 16inch Brown along with a handful of 14-15inch fish along the way, they were promptly released without me so much as touching them, a simple grab and twist of my barbless fly put the trout back in the creek and kept me making casts and landing fish. We worked the wooded section up and came to a couple deep spots that deserved a bit more attention but only a couple shadows were seen, it was the faster deep riffles that held the bigger fish for the day. Sershen, after putting on a #8 Hairball, pulled two nice fish from a deep riffle then turned around and landed an 18inch female sporting a serious gut. This was the icing on the cake, Dogger #2. With both of us content and promising it wouldn’t be long before we were back on this water we quickly fished back to the vehicle with Monarch butterflies following us on our way out.

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After tying up my initial stash of #16 Free Range Soft-Hackle flies in a variety of colors I knew I needed to get creekside to test them out. I woke and got the girl out the door, ran the dogs hard and weeded my garden in the early morning hours. I planned to be fishing by 6am but the thunderclouds and their threat of lightening kept me at home being productive for an hour or so. Once things were settling down I headed out hoping by the time I got to the water that any threat would have passed. Onstream at ~7:15am I could tell the storm system was just finishing its pass, I needed to wait just a bit before I felt comfortable rigging my 8′ 6″ lightening rod. I took a water temp and strained various substrates for invertebrates. Scuds and free living Caddis larva were the most common inverts found.

As the sun came and drove away the rain I rigged a #16 Gorilla Beetle with a trailing #16 Free Range Soft-Hackle (Rust). My goals for the day were fairly simple, fish the Free Range Soft-Hackle in the film, just under the surface and sub-surface as a standard nymph. A handful of eagerly rising trout made the first goal simple, a decent cast and good drift resulted in aggressive rises, the Free Range Soft-Hackle fished in the surface film was bringing fish to rise every other cast. Moving upstream I tried various colors, Pea-Green, Lt. Grey, Brown Olive and Rust all brought fish to hand. As the morning wore on and the air temp rose I swapped to a two fly nymph rig keeping my rig light to stay just under the surface, fish after fish came to hand, most small under 10inches but a couple were pushing 12 or so.  The final goal was met with the addition of splitshot and a long drift allowing my flies to sink close to the creek bed. The Lt. Grey version did rather well fished close to the bottom, the Rust did the best in the surface film and they all performed about the same just under the surface. To round out the morning I swapped to a #8 Black SMB and sent it down a couple dark holes, I hooked a 16inch Brown but lost it as it was coming to the net. The SMB never fails to produce and I managed a couple other larger 14inch Browns before the heat forced me to pack it in for the day.

Note: The creek I fished was just barely stained on arrival, as the morning progressed I moved upstream to find the stain getting stronger and stronger. As the morning came to an end I found the reason for the ever increasing turbidity. Pastured cattle, roughly 30 head all standing side by side in a 5oft stretch of creek. I get a bit disturbed by sights like this, I’m curious what effect cow manure has when introduced to the watershed in a direct way like this.

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Field Notes:

• AT: 7:00am DT: 11:30am
• WT @8am: 57°F @11am: 56°F
• Clear Water on Arrival
• AAT: 75°F DAT: 84°F
• Rising Trout on Arrival

Onstream at 7am…late for this time of the year. I hiked downstream roughly a mile and began working back upstream to the truck. Started with a two fly nymph rig consisting of a #14 Pink Squirrel and a #16 Caddis larva. Picked off a couple but opted to swap to a #14 Stimulator due to observed rising. I tossed the Stimulator for an hour and picked off close to a dozen trout in the 8-11inch range. Looking for one or two larger fish I swapped to a #8 Olive Kiss My Leech. I opted for this particular streamer pattern for two reasons. The creek was gin clear, the fish were active and nearer to the surface making a lighter streamer less likely to spook trout but still get the attention of those feeding anywhere near the surface. I did put on a decent sized splitshot to drift a couple deeper spots but for the most part I was tossing the streamer and stripping it in fairly quickly. Many strikes observed the second the fly touched the surface of the creek, a nice tight cast was needed to hook up with an instant strike. The stimulator made its way into action over the course of the morning a couple more times dictated by the situation. Weedy? Go top water. Risers? Go top water. I assessed the bug situation and believe the tiny Baetis nymphs I observed with dark wingpads were the hatching insect bringing trout to surface. A well dressed, high floating Stimulator did the trick just fine and was much easier to see than a smaller #18-20 BWO. When the thunder clouds rolled in I rolled out leaving the creek at roughly 11:30am. Get conditioned to wake early… Trico’s will be upon us soon.

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Damn, what an afternoon. Got onstream later than I wanted but found myself pulling up to a bridge with a family of six swimming in the big hole just downstream. The adults and I discussed fishing while I got my gear togather, the kids played in the cold water tossing sticks for the dogs. Trout water being enjoyed by all. As my time was short and I had not seen this section of creek we parted ways and I left the kids playing in the creek behind me. Weeds were of course up and tall crowding the already pretty thin stream. What it lacked in width it made up for with depth, a good situation for the trout and perhaps a more difficult one for me. I rigged a #14 Black Wet Fly and trailed it with a #16 Pink Squirrel, noting the depth around the first turn I added a single small split shot to aid the sink rate and moved upstream.

I found a good run and took my time getting into place. I could see from the banks I had chosen the right section of creek to satisfy my goals for the day…find brook trout. Their white fins giving them away as I peer through the weeds crouched on the bank. Rather than stand up on the bank and give my position away I slid down the bank wall and took a step into four feet of trout water. Normally I don’t cast from in the creek but sometimes it is the best option, a straight shot upstream with a marginally clear lane for a backcast behind me. The second my boots hit the creek I could see dirt plooms sending sediment downstream, those I had disturbed. I took another couple of minutes to let things settle and to observe my targets. I managed one decent cast with my two fly rig but missed the take it inspired only to lift my line up too sharply sending my flies into the bank riddled with 4-5ft tall weeds. I attempted to remove my flies without moving which resulted in a broken line and no flies…rookie mistake, 5x tippet… I could see my flies and rather than lose them I moved through the creek downstream to retrieve my goods.

On the bank I turned to see a rise from the run I was fishing, I looked at my flies and decided to try a #14 Orange Stimulator for maybe three reasons. 1st, there was a significant amount of instream vegitation which would hang up my two fly nymph rig, combine that with gin clear water and low flows resulting in disturbed trout from the splash of my flies hitting the creek. 2nd, Brookies take a Stimulator really well, they just don’t hesitate and tend to crush it. Finally the 3rd reason was my desire to fish a dry fly, to see the rise.

The first cast with the #14 Orange Stimulator proved I had made the right choice. Slam. A beautiful 8inch brookie, I’ve caught brookies before but not this many displaying the brightest colors I’ve ever seen on fish. I sat on that first run and moved maybe 2 feet in an hour. I’d catch one and send it downstream then turn wait a minute and cast again, for the most part they hit the Stimulator within two-three seconds of it hitting the water. They also tended to react more agressivly the higher the fly was floating, a couple nailed my fly as it was half sunk because I’m often too eager to stop and dress my fly properly (I’m working on that). I worked to the very very tip top of the riffle, in water less than 4 inches deep lay a nice 13inch brookie that I had seen rise once. I knew he was there, just a matter of get his friends out of my way without disturbing him. A couple more brookies and a brown later and I was grinning at the red belly flying through the air attempting to shake my hook.

My afternoon was made, long casts, dry flies and beautiful brookies. I moved upstream and took a handful more with my fly before it disintegrated before my eyes after about the 20th trout jaw took its toll. I swapped to a #14 Pink Head Stimulator and sure enough the brookies took to it. I landed a handful more before turning to head out. On my way I spied a hole and decided to swap to a #8 Black SMB just to see if anyone was home, the most colorful fish of the day came as a result. The icing on the cake and with that I was on my way.

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I love tossing them. I love the rise. I’ve been caught in the “I want a fish and I’ll just stick to my streamers or nymphs” rut to make sure I get my fix in and as such I’ve been trying to force myself to fish dry flies a bit more when there isn’t a hatch occurring to guide me to them. Tossing a #14 CDC and Elk (Olive Body/Grey Wing) I crushed close to twenty tiny browns from a single run. I took my time and worked the run slowly and managed to keep the fish rising for my fly without disturbing them as I kept pulling their friends out on after the other. The low flows, humid weather, tall weeds, standing in the creek…all made things difficult but the rise for a dry fly made it worthwhile. P.S. 1pm in July is not the best time to fish, with that said I take it when I can get it even if it’s 90 degrees and humid.

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A while back I was asked to submit any photos I had fitting the description of an angler with a “tight line” to the DNR Area Fisheries Office for a potential cover to the 2011 Trout Angling Opportunities Brochure for Southern and Central Minnesota. I thought about it for a bit and looked through a few options but nothing was jumping out at me, then it hit me. I can recall the April day clearly, we arrived earlier and happened upon an excellent caddis hatch that provided many “tight lines” and with it the opportunity for some good photos of which many were taken. I have to thank Wendy B. for a memorable day catching so many fish that I was able to get several of these shots easily. These brochures will be finding their way to places anglers frequent soon, this years edition contains new and updated easements on quite a few area streams as well as central state maps that were previously not included with the southern maps. Thanks also to the staff at the Lanesboro Area Fisheries office for considering and ultimately choosing to use this photo to represent trout angling in S.E. Minnesota, for me this is very cool. These books belong in your vehicle and should be a reference to ensure anglers are confident of the easement locations and regulations for various area streams. The DNR does a great job laying the streams and regulation information out in an easy to understand way for anglers of all ages. Now, time to find a new place to fish. There are so many of them…get out there.

The close of trout season in Minnesota is nearing, the leaves are changing colors and beginning to foul up your drift. It’s a good time of the year to hook into trout down here and as usual I’m trying to get near cold water as often as I can. Managed to sneak away between obligations just before the massive rain event that blew most streams out a few days ago. The air temp was in the low 70′s and rain the night before added a bit more stain to already off water. My plan was to swing streamers.

Net in hand, I began with a #8 Hairball. I love this thing. Had a few follows but after 15 minutes I hadn’t hooked in to anything. I gave it a few more passes through a very deep trouty looking run with and on the lift of my rod I managed a twelve inch brown looking rather rotund. I stuck with the Hairball for a bit longer but after a few more non-committing trout I stuck it back in the box. At this point I distinctly recall about a dozen violent rises just upstream, one within 7-8 feet of where I stood. I ignored them thinking I had no visual clue what they were taking and the water was so stained I didn’t think a smaller caddis or general dry fly would be spotted. I swapped to the SMB and kept swinging ignoring the rising upstream.

I managed a couple smaller trout on the SMB but not what I was expecting it was slow going with lighter takes. I landed another couple of browns and a brookie by the time I decided to listen to the trout. I added an 18 inch section of 5x tippet to my leader and tied on a #16 Tan EHC, old faithful. I’ve heard stories of guys who fish only this pattern all year round and do quite well on it. I sometimes have a hard time trusting that the presentation and presence of one fly will attract the response I want. I greased up my fly and my leader and cast upstream through a tight deep run. I could barley see a foot under the surface.

A few passes later and in the blink of an eye a trout snatched my fly, sweet. I managed a nicer rainbow and a few brown trout working the EHC pattern through the murky water. I greased it up a few times and landed a few with a down and across swing over a riffle, I am thinking this is the act of “skittering” a caddis dry fly. After landing four fish the water calmed and nothing rose for a good long while. I decided to swap back to the Hairball and tempt fate: an ugly looking log jam that was likely to result in a lost fly. I let the line slack and the fly sink deep into the cut then stripped it back out quickly which prompted a very nice looking brown to show up. We danced and I sent him on his way back to that deep dark looking hole. I split shortly there after managing about 3 hours on the water. I guess the moral of this story would be to trust and listen to the trout and yourself. Next time when the trout are telling me they want something on the surface I will be taking note.

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Hit a stretch of the cold clear stuff last Friday morning, had a bit of time to kill and with the rapidly rising daytime air temps getting out while it is still cool makes for a much more enjoyable time on the water. I arrived at just after 7am and fished until about 9:45am, fished only a #8 SMB on a shorter leader trying to tempt anything willing to bite. The point of this morning was not to fish hard, no, more of a different kind of coffee to start my day. The smell of wet morning woods as I go hiking through the mud. I kicked up three Blue Herons, one was so close to me I jumped quite a ways.

Third cast and I was hooking into one of a few fish for the morning. The trout are becoming more active and willing to strike or think about striking a streamer than they were a month ago. Each pass on a new spot with the streamer induced several strikes but by the fourth pass if you hadn’t stuck the hook you were done. I lost a fair share of them but what I’m taking away from this one is that with the warmer weather the trout are becoming much more active and willing to smack anything that looks like it might be food. Take note of the water temp by 9:30am, 54 degrees, it reminds me to think early when it comes to the Light Hendrickson hatch that is either here or on it’s way soon. If it’s 9:30am and already pushing 54 degrees then it won’t be much later before it’s 58 degrees and those bugs are hatching. I ho-hummed it upstream and landed a few smaller trout and a couple of decent ones, enjoyed the rainy morning weather in comfort as I fished back up to the truck before taking off for work. The summer feels like it is here to stay.

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