Today was a beautiful day... Sunny with a bit of overcast... And it must've gotten into the mid 70s at least today... It was a little windy and my first choice of water for the day turned out to still be blown out and mudded up.. Kinda getting ridiculous that I cannot fish my favorite trout stream in southeastern Minnesota.. But what can I do but just keep on keeping on..
Well this meant finding another stream that I knew off the top of my head that would block me from the 10-20mph winds that were churning up today from the east.. So I headed down 16 to another stream I knew and had only fished once previously.. Turned out to be a good choice.. Got to my destination.. Lined up the 7'6" 2wt.. Anything longer would have made for difficult.. If not impossible fishing.. Very overgrown area with tight casting lanes... Tied on a #14 Guide's Choice Hare's Ear and a #18 Pheasant Tail.. Turns out that's all I needed.. March Browns flying around but no trout rising.. Ended up taking about 4-5 browns to hand mostly in the 6" range.. And a chunky 16"+ that decided he did not want his picture taken when the time came and jumped out of my grip(typical story, right?)
As I was getting near my exit point.. I was walking through some very thick brush... Step.. Step.. Step.. Step.. BRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAKS.. Whoa.. Almost stepped directly on a fawn laying in the brush.. I could not believe my eyes.. I had never came across such a thing.. And the beauty and cuteness of it all had me star struck for sometime...
As I headed back home I decided I would stop by another section of stream that I love fishing.. Turned out to be a very good decision... Got stream side.. Started out with a tandem nymph setup which landed me one dink.. Few risers.. Then a few more.. And a few more... They were not interested in any nymphs.. Reached for my dries case and switched it up.. Took me a couple different flies but soon I found the key and the trout loved it.. Was rather windy.. And didn't have floatant on me..
Note to self "buy floatant as I have lost mine" So with no floatant I found it best that I make a couple cast up stream until the fly got water logged and then I would cast down and across and skitter the fly along the top.. Which turned out to work perfectly! Another 8-10 trout to hand.. Mostly browns with a couple bows in the mix.. Very VERY aggressive fish on this stretch and even smaller fish gave me a run.. Most were in the 12" range... Overall turned out to be an amazing day!
Great Post Eric. Glad to see you got some time to get on the water. Those are some beautiful pictures you have.
ReplyDeleteThe last two weeks have been very, very good to me as far as time spent on the water goes. I got out last week, when we talked, and than again this weekend. I spent this weekend at Beaver Creek SP. Most of the water I fished was slightly stained to getting clear. The further towards Lanesboro you get though, it seems the water just gets worse. I ended up fishing Trout Run on my way back home today, and that was running gin clear, and at normal levels. Hope you are able to find some more time to get on the water!
Just gotta fish the smaller creeks as they either open up opportunities when the water is higher or they drain faster... There are a few of the bigger creeks that are flowing fine.. Beaver is one of my go to's for me when I know it just rained and other creeks may be shot.. Beaver seems to drain out pretty quickly especially in the Sheldon area..
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you've been getting out.. and familiarizing with the area.. I've got a lot of extra time on my hands now that I'm not taking summer classes.. So there will be plenty of time for fishing!
Tight Lines & Tight Women!