Winter season in Minnesota opened this morning, a friend and I proceeded to follow a ritual seen this day for the last four years. Wake, prep gear, drink coffee and drive to the spot. This spot is particular in that no matter the conditions the bugs are active and thus the fish follow suit. Some years this has worked better, some not as well but today was awesome. Windy as all hell on arrival but we found pockets of the valley void of wind and when we did get wind came in bursts allowing us to fish between gusts and see many fish come to hand. Interesting notes off the bat: the fish were very active on arrival and the fish activity tapered off around 1pm then proceeded to drop off a cliff after 2pm. Also, the creek was a bit stained, certainly not gin clear as I was expecting which perhaps benefited us. Finally, the bug activity on arrival was good, very good. My attempt with a #20 Griffiths Gnat saw many fish move for and even aggressively chase downstream leaving a wake as they came after my fly. Arrival airtemp was ~30degrees with a 26-30mph sustained wind from the WNW.

Several fish were nymphed up with a #20 Miracle nymph and a #18 Beadhead PT, those were the hot nymphs for the day and Sershen did quite well landing many right after I put all the rising fish down with a couple bad hooksets on the Griffiths Gnat. I swapped to the #20 Miracle nymph with a Hot Blue Wire rib rather than the traditional copper and it got crushed. The fish were hungry and active, so much so that fishing a no indicator rig was generally easy as they tugged line rather than slowly sipping the flies. As the morning wore on we moved to a spot that has in the past given up few fish but looks so damn good that it’s hard not to spend a short period of time with. Due to the depth and potential for larger fish I opted to try a new streamer pattern that is still in the proto-type phase and is not fully ready to be unveiled but I can tell you this much… the fish certainly enjoyed it. I’m calling this fly the “Jungle Boogie” and it’s for a couple reasons but I’ll get into that perhaps down the road a bit. All you need to know is that it brought trout after trout out from dark hiding places all the way to the surface of the creek to be smacked time and time again as I watched. I like fishing a dry fly as much as the next but watching a trout come from the depths of blackness following your fly to then open wide and hit it hard is a beautiful thing and I watched it happen several times this day. White mouth then hooked trout, brilliant.

At one point fishing the same hole we saw a double as I hooked a 15 3/4inch rainbow on the Jungle Boogie with Sershen hooking into a 16inch rainbow on his #18 PT nymph, because the net was closest to me I scooped my fish up then moved upstream ten feet to land the second trout, this was the first winter double I’ve been a part of. Shortly after this occurred I hooked another rainbow and pulled a rookie move shaking my glove off with my back to the creek only to find it floating in cold creek water. Note: always have a spare set of gloves, I’m glad I did. After landing a few more rainbows bringing the count to close to twenty apeice we decided to leave the comfort of rising rainbows and aggressive stockers for less pressured water containing browns and brookies. I continued to fish the Jungle Boogie as it was still producing trout after trout and I saw no reason to argue with its effectiveness. I managed a handful of browns that exhibited the same aggressive charge on my fly throughout the early afternoon. The last brown of the day was seen but not hooked as I made a short cast stripped my fly in and watched as a ~16+inch brown darted out from a rock that I was practically standing on to smack my fly startling me thus hampering my hookset, this was another highlight of the day. I don’t mind missing a fish when I get to see things like that.

After the couple mile hike upstream we headed back to where we started to find the wind picking up, the airtemp dropping and with it the fish activity. It doesn’t take much of a change in water temp (+/-1 degree often) to drastically alter feeding behaviour. At ~2pm the trout that had been previously so aggressive and willing to chase my streamer down were now looking and if presented properly were willing to hit it but not nearly as hard. Often it was sipped and not hit with the fervor of the earlier morning. I landed three or four more rainbows then opted to hike out, the wind was continuing to pick up and I had enjoyed the opening day of the winter season thoroughly. I saw no reason to sit in the wind struggling to force feed a handful of smaller trout. It should also be noted that the fish that were willing to strike in the afternoon were consistently smaller than the morning trout, an interesting note if you ask me. Despite the lack of snow it was a good day, very glad to be fishing the Minnesota water I love so much. To the 2012 trout season, it’s here and I plan to take full advantage of the time I have. Hope some of you got out and braved the wind to touch a trout on the 1st, I love the smell of trout stink on my hands.

Post Script: My 8’6 3wt Sage Flight was sent in on Dec. 4th, I shipped it regular mail to the factory in Oregon. After discussing my need to have the guides looked at and possibly replaced I was told upon inspection that several of my ferrules had cracks in them. Sage built me a brand new rod, cork handle, reel seat, guides and all. It was shipped overnight back to me on Friday Dec. 30th, just in time for the opener. Thank you Sage.

Slide Show

I don’t think I’ve been this anxious about anything regarding fishing, I want the winter season so damn bad I can practically feel my toes going numb from sitting in the same spot for hours trying to take tiny brown trout on a #20 Midge.  Everyone has their favorite time of the year to fish, mine just happens to be during the coldest part of the year. Fishing the four best hours of the day, going home to tie flies and sit infront of the fire. Someone cryogenically freeze me until  Dec. 31st, then thaw me out just enough so I can go fishing, right Carl?

Hiking through miles of snow covered bank, snowshoes, frozen guides, frozen fingers, crystal clear water, tiny bugs…I want it all and I want it now. I sound like a whiny girl, yea I can hit the road, be in Iowa shortly and no-doubt my boots will cross that border again before the winter season begins but not without a bad taste forming in my mouth. I like the fix that Iowa can give me but in the same respect, it’s not my water, it’s not my home and therefore I need to remember that the pause, the build up to the winter season is one of the reasons why I love it so much. Spending the three months prior tying flies, cleaning my gear, spying maps for new places to fish, all of it gets me so excited to see it that it turns the 5°F airtemp into a heatwave (that and I know what to wear). Below are the video’s I made last winter season, damn I am looking forward to the snow. Until then the list is long and I’ve got boxes and boxes to fill, things to scrub, places to dream about.

Things work out in interesting ways sometimes, had I not gone out with Carl two days prior I might have not fished the last day of the season which would have broken a three year tradition. Being busy with work and other obligations saw me missing hours of trout fishing until I got home. I tried to get ahold of Carl but he was busy catching trout in another valley void of cell reception and not wanting to miss out I took what I learned from Carl a couple days before and decided to go it alone. I took note of the type of water we fished, racked my brain for another location that I knew and took off as soon as I got home. The drive to the creek saw the sun setting in my rearview mirror, as the light grew dim my foot grew heavy and the car flew to the stream. My goal was to arrive with enough time to hike into the remote section I wanted to fish with plenty of sun to get a handle on the situation before the lights went out. I was fortunate and my lead foot got me to the creek with more than enough sunlight to accomplish my goals. Rigged at the car I was hiking by 7pm, the first section I wanted to fish required a decent hike through a very thickly wooded section of forest. My only thought at the time was of the hike back through in the dead of night, part of me wanted the daylight to get in so I was forced to deal with the forest in the night, sort of a trial by fire, do or die, go or sit at home on your fat ass kind of deal.

I made it to my location with enough sunlight to sit and enjoy the scenery, eat a sandwich and drink a beer, things I rarely get to do while out fishing but I wasn’t fishing yet. I could have tied on a streamer and hit something near by but opted to sit and wait for the light to fade. Hunkered low with my eyes set on the first location I waited, waited and waited some more. Silent, my ears started picking up rustling in the distance as the light dimmed the noises got louder and closer yet I sat low in the tall weeds waiting until I couldn’t see my hands held in front of my face. When the time was right and I couldn’t wait any longer I made a series of casts to a smaller pool, afterwards I believe the current was too fast and my fly just couldn’t produce the wake followed by the pause to illicit a strike. I moved up and out to the next stretch, the bats were coming out in droves by this point. I could feel them running into my flyline while I was stripping my fly slowly back in. The second location turned out to be the best of the evening and I took over a dozen trout between 12-15inches in length over the course of the first hour fishing in the dark. The sky was clear and the stars were out illuminating the rock wall I was casting to, this made the casting a bit easier but thinking to what Carl had said regarding the presence of light I was pleased to see so many trout attempt to take the mouse pattern.

By the time I had fished to the head of the pool I had moved into an area where the clear sky was no match for the valley walls, it was pitch black. I made two casts to what I thought was a downed tree trying not to get my fly hung up. On the second cast, the third pause I got what I came for… an explosion. The fish didn’t stay on long but it proved that this is going to be an effective way to find the larger trout. I wasn’t dissapointed that I missed the trout, it was the heart pounding strike that I was excited to get. I’ve read that big trout don’t eat the mice straight away, rather they grab their prey and play with it under the surface before eating it, some texts and articles say you should pause and not set the hook for a bit. Try getting your brain to not signal your hands to do what they are trained to do when that big boy hits… it’s going to be damn hard to overcome that instant response.

After losing the big strike I decided it was time to make the trek back through the forest. I turned on my headlamp and looked to where I had to go, staring back at me were 8-10 sets of eyes clearly visible less than fifty yards in front of me. I had only one way I could go and that was through the forest, towards whatever it was that was out there with me. I grabbed another flashlight and made a bit of noise stumbling through the woods and never saw what was staring at me in the dark, I did however kick up a skunk who was not pleased to see me, thankfully he chose to spare me his wrath and I escaped without having to ride home to explain to Liz why I couldn’t step inside the house.

After trudging through the forest I fished two more locations that gave up a handful of trout each, by this point the airtemp was dropping quickly and I almost had to keep moving to keep the cold away. I planned the entire evening around the last section of creek, I felt it offered the best potential to produce larger fish in larger numbers. Hiking out of the woods and rounding the bluff I saw the potential for disaster. I had not anticipated a security light illuminating the creek and specifically the stretch I wanted to finish on. At 10:30pm I began fishing the last section up, it wasn’t until I was in the only spot that wasn’t directly illuminated by the light that I was able to bring trout to surface. I landed the last fish of the season at ~10:50pm and fished until the 11pm cut off. Not a bad way to end my third full season, trying something new, learning a bit about myself and a new take on fly fishing the Driftless Area.

Slide Show

Took a friend fishing the other day, woke early and drove for more than an hour to get streamside. That’s an hour for me… and over three for Paul. Coming from St. Paul this guy woke at 3:30am to get to my place at a good hour for the drive to the stream. Boots hit the creek at 8:05am with a water temp of ~52 degrees. The creek had very minimal stain bordering on clear but the deeper holes were a bit off providing good conditions to pull trout out with heavy streamers. I stuck on the fly of the month, a #6 Black Kiss My Leech and put Paul on the first hole we came to. A couple missed strikes and we moved on, I put my leech on the tail end of a pool allowing it to sink a couple feet before picking my line up. Again I can’t stress enough how many fish I have taken recently  just by simply raising my rod to bring my streamer up and out slowly, often an aggressive fish is following close behind. This morning my leech was trailed to the surface to be crushed by a nicer 15+inch brown. Shortly after Paul landed his first fish of many for the day and we busted ass to cover as much creek as possible in a single day.

By noon we covered a good mile of creek pounding each spot with streamers only lingering if fish were caught with any regularity. The trout were on and aggressively hitting a streamer all morning. I wanted to get Paul a bit further from his usual fishing haunts and cover as much of this water as possible. Rainbow bridge (a spot known for it’s stocked rainbows), gave up nothing and we moved upstream. I was a bit disappointed, I was hoping Paul would get a Brown, Rainbow and Brook all on the same creek but after striking out at Rainbow bridge I was pretty sure we’d only see a Brook and Brown. Turns out I was way off. Upstream just a bit and the rainbows were out numbering the browns which is very unusual, typically I notice Rainbows in a very specific spot on this creek but today they were everywhere, more than a mile from where I would have guess I’d find them. Paul nailed his fair share of rainbows stripping his version of an SMB back to his feet but as the day would have it the Brookie would not be seen, a goal for next time. We worked alot on roll-casting and getting a weighted fly up and out of the water with a smooth motion, this keeps your weighted fly as close to the surface of the water as possible when you go to start your roll cast. The result: less tension from the water on your fly allowing it to roll out nicely despite it’s weight. On a side note: I landed the first fish I’ve ever caught with someone elses fly stuck in it’s mouth… I promptly removed both flies and let the fish go about it’s way. Not the brightest trout…

Further upstream we busted out of the woods and found ourselves in a trimmed cow pasture, a beautiful dark dogger was seen but not caught, it moved on my fly and despite my best efforts refused every presentation. The bluff walls around us were sporting the beautiful colors of fall, many leaves were hampering drifts but the weather couldn’t have been nicer. At ~1pm we made a choice to travel into the unknown, unknown water for the both of us. A much smaller creek giving up brown trout and creek chubs as we moved upstream. My opinion of creek chubs is grim as where there is one there are usually many and they will often hit your fly before a trout can. The flipside to that coin is that where there are brown trout and a ready food source like the Rosey Cheeked Creek Chub you will find larger trout. The second creek had a few interesting attributes, the first and most notable was the swarms of #20-22 Trico’s that I was spotting at each riffle we came to, at 1pm in late September… that’s quite interesting but few trout were rising. The second notable item would be the stain on the creek that was clearly not mud but something else all together.

The final note would be that as we fished upstream we caught fewer browns and more creek chubs. I ended up loosing the one KML that had taken every fish up to that point in the day. I decided to swap to a heavy as hell #8 Hairball with a tungsten bead and nymph some deep water, then something spectacular occurred… I caught a Carp on a trout stream, on a designated freakin trout stream. It was awesome! Trout and Carp love the Hairball, my 3wt looked like I had 6lbs of Brown trout giving me hell and all from a tiny carp. This thing was so small I bet the ones on the Columbia are born bigger! This fish totally made my day and I wanted to stay and tempt more but time was running out and another hour long drive was in order so we split, and that’s how Paul and I spent the last Saturday of the season, catching many trout and one awesome carp. Crazy.

Slide Show

I met with Winona Senior High students taking the Fish and Wildlife class on Monday, May 24th. I gave a re-vamped version of the trout presentation that I gave last year but this year I updated it and tailored it more to explain the Driftless Area and the trout that reside here. I gave the usual PowerPoint presentation so that the students get some hard solid information regarding the specie of trout, the habitat they require, behaviors exhibited, food and diet, ect… We talk about angler ethics with regard to Catch and Release and we go over locations to fish. For me it is fun to talk to young minds that may perhaps be swayed to go find a trout stream later, maybe that one kid will grow up enjoying our resource and may contribute to it’s preservation in the future. Even with how good this place is now it can always be better.

I brought bugs that I picked from a stream earlier in the morning and passed them around explaning various aspects of their importance to trout, the jar of bugs tends to get kids to pay attention a bit more. This year I included more information on Fly Tying and I demonstrated three simple but VERY effective patterns, a Caddis Larva, Grey Caddis Adult and a Peacock and Partridge (because I had everything handy). I also decided to bring everyone outside for a short casting demonstration with the last ten minutes of the class period. Let me tell you, an hour and twenty minutes is no where near enough time to cover all that I could discuss regarding this subject. I hope I made it enjoyable. Thanks to Brian Sather and the Fish and Wildlife class for having me, I’ll be back the next time you call.

-the w.f.f.

Slide Show

Day three found me hitting two creeks with plans to meet up with Wendy B. at a pre-determined location around 2pm. Knowing this I decided to hit my home waters quick prior to meeting later in the day. Slightly frustrated at this point I had felt as if I was slipping, I hadn’t caught a fish in too long it seemed. I started fishing a run that I know like the back of my hand and I can almost always pull a fish from this spot. I fished, and fished some more and eventually decided to figure out what the deal was…well as it turns out there wernt any fish in the hole. I was stunned, this is my goto run when I need to see a fish I go here. I’m still formulating ideas regarding where the fish are but at this point I moved upstream and fished some more enjoying another beautiful morning on the water.

I picked quite a few bugs taking samples as I went. On this trip I found my first Cranefly larva, I was surprised to see the size of the larva, huge in comparison to most of the macro-invertebrates found in the trout streams around here. I can see trout taking this guy to the dinner table for sure. Despite the warmer temperatures I was finding little surface activity so I spent most of the morning fishing streamers trying to entice a lunker to take my Rabid Rabbit.

I moved and left with some time to scout out the second location prior to Wendy’s arrival. I found several other fishermen on the stream this day, signs that I haven’t fished this time of year before, normally I don’t see anyone else but spring seems to bring traffic to the streams. This fact has made me alter my opening weekend plans but more on that later.

Wendy and I met and had a short introduction before hiking upstream quite aways to avoid the other stream traffic. I’ve been wanting to meet this guy for a while, knowing that we have much in common I knew we would get along well and we did. I asked my questions and we fished. I spent more time getting my line untangled than fishing but I was happy just to be in the sun. Wendy caught his share of browns nymphing holes and runs and I unfortunately caught nothing continuing my losing streak but I knew it would end eventually. After a few hours in the sun we headed back downstream and fished streamers. I took a water temp of 43 degrees at ~2pm and 47 degrees at ~6:15pm.

So, I haven’t posted much, this is a good thing. I’ve been playing in the water with trout rather than staring at a screen of any kind. Busy work and fishing schedules combined with getting three dogs the exercise they need has worn me out this week. I’m excited for Liz’s return tomorrow, I plan to fish the 1st half the day until about 11am, this will complete a very long, educating first week of spring that I was fortunate enough to fish much of. Pictures of all the days will follow this week. I even got a good one of a BWO, they were hatching today in water temps topping out at 52.5 degrees. Peace

-The Winona Fly Factory

I was invited back to speak with students from Winona Senior High’s Fish and Wildlife class. I did my previous presentation with alittle bit of new information that I have added since the last time I gave my trout dork speech. This time, however, I found I had to fight alittle to get students to respond but they came around towards the end when I got into tying. 

I discussed trout in Minnesota ranging from species, location, and behavior including spawning and feeding. We also discussed habitat, conservation and my desire to start volunteering for the MPCA which I plan to begin spring/summer. 

I tied two flies for the students explaining how each would be fished under different situations. The PT nymph because of its wide range of application. I explained how it is fished is related to the behavior of the trout and the habitat in which they live, understanding both will enhance your fly fishing. I also tied a size 20 Midge Larva to explain how trout will take such a small meal when that meal comes in large quantities and requires few calories to acquire, but that at the same time (as I learned with the Marabou Leech) when the fish are holding and there is no single food item they are keyed into, that fishing something larger providing more incentive to a holding trout may be better, maximize calorie intake while minimizing output. 

I hope I left a few with something they will want to look back on, if anything perhaps they will think about the area they live in a slightly different way, I know when I began to fly fish I began looking at this place in a different, better way. 

Liz and I decided to drive south to a trout stream that I wanted to see again. Knowing I couldn’t fish the stream I brought only a camera and the dog. We left at 8am with an air temp of probably 20 degrees, we didn’t park until close to 10am and the air temp was no more than 26. The sun was shining though and despite the wind it was a beautiful day and I was glad to be up and outside early. We hiked a route I had taken in the summer and I guess I was curious to see if I could find one, just one fish. The reason being: this summer none were to be found and in water that looked perfect for trout. 

We started and immediately I noticed that the water was clearer than I remembered it, an advantage of the winter season. I was hoping this would help me find where the trout were that I was missing this summer. We walked and I thought I saw a few move in a large 6-10ft deep pool. This was a very slow moving section of the stream requiring the wind to cooperate if I was to see what was on the bottom. After my initial thought we pressed on due to lack of wind cooperation. Moving on the next section for sure produced trout, I got excited and then confused. I was seeing in a section that I had witnessed no trout in during the summer almost teeming with them, I had to have seen 20 trout hold up in this hole.

Now, I know that they stack up in the deeper holes during the winter but do they migrate up/downstream and then hold up? Was it possible I was blind this summer and either the water was too murky for me to see them or I was so poor a fly-fisherman that I couldn’t catch even one? I’m not sure, the area they were hold up in was more of a long, slow, flat 4-8ft deep section, not a 10+ft deep hole. 

We hiked further than I had in the summer, after using Google Earth to map my route I was much more confident in my assesment of the easement boarder. Interestingly enough I thought I would see more fish further downstream but as we hiked I saw nothing. I’m not saying they wern’t there, I just couldn’t find them. After a few hours we hiked back to the car and as we did I stopped to look in the initial section of water that the wind had kept me from seeing more clearly in. At first I thought I saw one or two, and then I moved and saw more fish in this one section of water than I had in any other. I was awestruck. The only time I’ve seen more fish in one spot is in the hatcheries. 

I watched, they were deep. Holding, still. I sat and wished there were winter regs here. After ten minutes or so Liz and the dog got me moving back to the truck. I’m glad I came back, I might have unfairly judged this section of water writing it off as a barren wasteland when in fact it might hold some sweeeeet trout. I will be making another trip here in a few months.