4/23.. Getting Lost North of 90

OH NOOOOO!

Woke up.. got ready.. fed the dog.. and I was out.. On the road at 10:30am.. Stopped at FleetFarm to grab a few essentials and then sat and stared at my maps for awhile.. During winter season I told myself I was gonna start hitting up some more streams that I have either never fished or were more unfamiliar with.. Get out of my comfort zone per se.. So I decided I would fish something north of I-90 today.. Which honestly.. I have done only one other time.. Why bother I figure when I know so much good water south of 90.. Well indeed that is why I did bother.. because I know almost NOTHING about north of I-90 other than the Whitewater system.. and by know the Whitewater system.. I mean I know it exists.. I have fished it.. and So does every other trout fisherman in Minnesota on any given day.. and aside from that I don't know of any other great creeks north of 90 that are worth my time to drive..

So off I headed north on 61.. Took some turns here and there.. missed the creek I was originally looking for and kept driving until I recognized the next town I would run into.. Blind driving.. Its the greatest >.<  Stopped at one potential creek.. but didn't look nothing worth my time.. Could've been wrong.. but while I was checking it out.. another angler came along and pulled up.. So I let him have it.. seeing as I had little interest in it.. Got back in my car.. and turned around.. If there is one thing about not knowing where you are.. at least if you turn around eventual you'll get back to where you were?

Looking at my maps I decided to get off the road I was on check out another stream near by... Got there.. It was quite the mess of a stream.. downed trees everywhere.. highwalling around every bend.. silt silt and more silt.. but a couple deep cuts near root wads caught my attention of this "wild" stream... Walked maybe a 1/4 mile of the stream total.. not much to cast to.. mostly was just shallow wide silted up stream... the few casts that I made resulted in a couple hits and chases but no takers.. back to the car for my next unknown destination!

Got to my next destination.. walking streamside had a few chase and hit at my spinner but no takers yet again.. Quite frustrating but you gotta keep movin on... As I'm walking along the stream.. I come to realize.. I probably should have left my spinning gear in the car.. and grabbed my fly rod.. there was a small hatch of Dark Hendricksons and the trout were keying in on them.. never did see anything too big take to the surface.. all looked to be in the 4-6" range.. gave up a little early on this stream knowing I had brought the wrong rod to the stream.....

Jumped back in my car.. eyed over the map to see what was next on my adventure.. locked in on my choice and was off!  This was quite the adventure.. really really do love the DNR and their sub par labeling of roads on their trout stream maps.. My next destination would have me kinda lost.. not completely like omfg i don't know where I am or what to do.. lost.. but more like "I don't know where I am.. but I don't care"... drove for about 45min until a town sign finally appeared and was able to match it up on my map.. !!! Some how I went through 3 towns.. none of which had signs outside of the limits saying "hey welcome to the middle of f'in nowhere".. turned around.. headed back to the 1st of the 3 towns I went through and figured out the map.. for awhile.. more driving.. more driving.. know how much Google Maps sucks when you are use to looking at Garmin Topo maps?  it royally sucks!.. google maps is cool and all.. but its no Garmin map set... next thing I know I'm about 20 miles southeast of the stream I was trying to find so I said effit.. NEEEEEEXT!

Finally I make some headway.. Get to my destination.. Less having to search for this one.. though it did take awhile.. drove past the road to get there twice.. sometimes it can be tough to tell if the road just goes to a resident or if it is where I should go.. and again.. DNR maps don't help.. why did I forget my Garmin again!?!?.. Today would have been a lot less driving had I had it.. but anyways.. I'm rambling.. back on track.. Get to my destination.. walked i'd say a mile or so upstream.. was a thickly covered stream.. all wild trout.. I'm starting to wonder why it seems wild population streams get no HI.. seems like it would be cheaper to help preserve and improve a stream that has a naturally growing population instead of fixing up a section of another stream that you have to dump pellet fed moron fish into to keep the population stable.. crawling through the thick of it all.. back at the car I wondered if I should grab my long rod or the spinning gear again... glad I didn't chose the long rod.. It would have been a nightmare casting in such a tight area.. The fish were very active... coming up to holes I would see them coming up to the surface to take bugs.. but they were not selective.. cast my PM up to the head of the hole and would get a hit.. have the fish on.. lose him within a foot of me.. This continued happening consistently.. they would either barely hit the spinner and I would not hook them.. they'd chase and not take.. or the most frustrating of the afternoon.. they'd take and I'd lose'em.. I only took 2 brookies to hand.. but the fantastic and vibrant colors of those two wild brookies was enough for me in the end..