April 30th

So We'll start this blog with talks about a very heart breaking Sunday evening.. The 29th I decided to head on down to the Ol' Miss to see about getting into some crappie.. Unfortunately that would not be the case.. I get to my spot and as always.. There is another fisherman.. He asks me "What you gonna catch wit dat fly rod?"  "Hopefully some crappie"... 2 casts later and I'm on my first fish of the evening.. It's not a crappie.. It's much bigger than a crappie.. My rod is bent over...  But what could it be?  Within a second of that though rises from the water a massive pike.. Full body lunge from the water.. This pike may have been named Jordan because it got some serious air and I about shit myself.. I get him within about 20' of me and my rod looks like its within that range of snapping in half... Rod is definitely doubled over at this point.. So I let him run... And within seconds everything goes limp.. Clear cuts my 25# fluoro... Shortly after it starts to rain.. And I hold my ground... Even though I forgot my rain jacket.. And soon after it starts raining.. It starts pouring... And that ends my night.. 1 Fish Tale.. 0 Fish..

So today I headed back to the spot.. Holding on to a thread of hope.. I hoped to tie into another large pike.. Unfortunately that was not the case.. Fishing was slow but I took my first smallie of the year!

A little later my phone rings and it's my buddy Ted.. And he wants to head south and do some trout fishing.. Obviously I'm down.

So we head south.. It was supposed to be mid 60s and overcast.. Not 50* and looking like rain.. We decide to hit a gem of a stream.. Not an easy stream.. I'd say my batting average on this stream is somewhere around .200.. This year it was .000 as I have struck out both the times i've headed out there..

It had rained the night before but this stream was still gin clear and we knew it could go either way... First couple holes are a bust.. There's trout.. But they are not biting.. They aren't even spooking.. Running around our feet and being able to walk right over the holes without seeing a ton of trout scatter.. They know what's up.. And know there's nothing we can do about it as they sit there all smug.. Taunting us

The next hole.. Well well.. This is a dandy.. It's a great little hole.. Well.. It has been.. I've pulled a 14" brown out of this plunge.. Pretty big trout for a very small stream.. Was hoping we could tie into one here again.. First we have to over come the obstacles.. There's maybe a 2ft window to cast into.. Tree over hanging the hole with vines coming down on both sides.. And Tons of brush to the sides and behind us.. Nothing easy about it.. But hoping the reward would be worth it.. So I step up and make a cast or two and snag... Ted's turn.. couple casts and snag.. I go back in while he's retying.. Snag.. Ted steps back up.. Snag.. We probably spent at least an hour on this hole.. With trout rising 20' in front of us. We were very stubborn and not willing to give up defeat.. We probably lost about a dozen flies between us on this hole... Ted was able to pull two dinks.. And then we conceded and blew the hole to retrieve our lost flies...

Couple holes later I finally got my redemption.. Tied on a #18 Griffith's Gnat and It was game on.. 2nd cast.. Land my first trout... a couple casts later another.. And then another.. Ted too took one from this hole as well I believed.. And we headed further up stream

  

Ted took another small trout to hand further up stream but that was about it and we called it a day on the stream.. 

We decided maybe we should hit the Root for a little while.. But not much was going on.. Ted saw a couple fish rise... But that was about it.. As we were heading back to shore we saw a ton of shorthead redhorse cruising and rising.. So we gave them a shot.. unfortunately we could not tie into any of them.. But it sure was entertaining.. Two guys about 7' from each other trying to cast to the next riser before the other could.. "Battle Fly Fishing" I think is what Ted coined it...  

It was nice to see the redhorse schooled up and really gave me the itch.. Now I know what I'll be searching for the next couple weeks as it warms up!

April 20th...

Caught some fish.. Caught a buzz.. That's the 20th of April for ya!

Trout Opener 2012!

Yes.. Today April the 14th was Trout Opener in Southeastern Minnesota.. I originally had taken off the weekend to dig up and turn the dirt on our expanding garden plot.. But with heavy rains last night.. Turning up dirt was gonna be no easy task.. Knowing my day was now open I thought where I would fish as the day was looking promising.. As the morning progressed I realized it was Trout Opener.. I am not one to always make it out.. And the times I do plan on doing so.. The weather is never favorable.. Or I get sick.. Like last year...

So I decided I'll head to one stretch and if it's filled with cars.. I would not play this game of "find a place to fish in peace on opener".. I pull up to the stream around 12:30-1pm.. There is a vehilce.. Someone is sleeping inside of it.. Good sign?   I look downstream from the bridge and I see one guy making his way back.. So I figured I best get geared up and moving before more cars arrive.. Without hesitation I get my waders and boots on.. Rod all lined up and tie on a Elk Hair Caddis as it was the fly of choice the other day.. And today was very similar.. So I was expecting similar results...

I hoof it downstream and start where I had begin the other day.. A couple casts in and I land my first trout of the day.. A dinky little 4-5" brown... Not too much going on for rises.. Here and there but nothing like the day before.. I'm catching one here and there.. Watching plenty come up and look but do not take.. I switch up here and there to find a color more favorable and finally figure out it was a size issue.. And from there on my catch rate increases...

Overall it was a good day.. Caught plenty of fish and easily took my limit... Finally I got to do what I had been waiting since last September to do.. Catch and Eat!  MmmmMmmm grilled trout.

Back To The Stream..

So it's been awhile since I've posted.. Not much going on.. Mediocre bass... Small perch.... Small pike.. Crappy weather and sore elbow keeping me sidelined for most of the days this past week... And the upcoming week is looking pretty grim.. Possibilities of snow???  Jesus.. This state's weather drives me nuts some times..

I decided I better get out and do some fishing.. Any fishing today.. Before the inevitable comes along.. Rain... And crappy weather.. The rain is definitely needed as the stream I was at was very very low.. But this highs in the low 40s and low 20s at night should be long gone.. At least with how untypical the weather has been so far this year..

It's been awhile since I've been stream side with all the great warm water action.. So I decided I would hit up one of my favorite streams.. One that I knew would have me on at least a couple trout... And with my elbow being sore.. I figured I best leave the 9wt along for a little bit and go with something lighter.. Got stream side.. It was sunny.. Slight breeze.. Absolutely perfect day for some fishing.. It was so nice.. I didn't need nothing more than a T-shirt for a top... Left the hoodie in the car.. Rigged up and walked down stream...

As I was walking I realized I was going to have to retie immediately as a caddis hatch was brewing up.. Get to my first hole and trout rising everywhere.. I tie on a tan CDC EHC.. And within my first 3 casts had my first fish.... A couple more casts and brown brown brown... I move up a little bit and see a bunch of trout rising around this downed tree.. I keep casting to them.. Pulling one at a time.. The bigger of them sitting right up underneath the backside of the branch.. Casting and casting to him.. Each attempt a miss at him and a hook up with another.. I was determined to get this fish.... About 20 casts and a dozen trout later.. I finally land him.. Persistence pays off!  After about an hour.. I decide it's time to leave my first hole..

I continue up stream pounding browns left and right as they rise to the swam of caddis along the streams edge and around downed trees... I keep catching browns on a regular basis.. most in the 10-12" range.. all very healthy and putting up a great fight with my 4wt St. Croix Imperial... I jump a bunch of water and head to my final stretch as I have to head back within 45min because of work.. The fish are going absolutely crazy through the stretch and landing more trout than I can count easily.. Elbow is getting sore and I'm wasting more time drying my fly after each trout than I am catching them it seems.. Alarm on my phone goes of... Snooze... 9min later.. Snooze.. I can catch a couple more.. Then.. Damn.. I gotta head to work...


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Feb 25th.. The Return

Saturday morning.. Arrived stream side a couple minutes after 9 a.m... Temps were in the mid teens.. I made sure to slap on an extra layer.. It hasn't been this cold too often when I've gotten out on the water this year.. I've been able to be picky this year and more often than not choose days where the temps were above freezing this year.. With a few sub-freezing days here and there.. I tell you what.. I don't miss it.. I don't miss the cold toes.. The iced up guides... The touch of the bitter cold surrounding you... But soon enough you forget about it.. Especially when you're catching trout...

I made it out with a buddy of mine Ted Nilius that I had met on the HSO Forum awhile back.. It started out slower than it normally starts for me.. First couple spots on the run were slow.. Iced guides led to early frustration.. But hopes were far from up.. A couple holes later and I get my first trout to hand.. Next hole Ted takes a couple... Next hole I take a couple more.. And so on and so forth.. All on nymphs.. 

 Then we came up on the hole we came here for in the first place.. The last time out Ted had told me he had a trout take him to reel within seconds of hooking him and leading to instant break off and heart break.. The plan was to start pounding it with streamers and hope for the best.. Unfortunately nothing came of it.. No hits.. Nada..

We continued upstream pounding a couple larger holes with streamers.. Pulling out a fair share of 12"+ trout.. And Ted landing the biggest of the day.. a brown chunker in the 16" range.. It was a blast and definitely made his day for sure.. I too was able to become more confident in my streamer skills.. Landing 4 or so trout in the 12" range.. I mean that is why I bought the 4 wt.. Or so I was reminded that's the reason I gave to justify the rod *wink*

Overall the day was great.. It was kinda cold.. But the sun and the trout made it feel a lot warmer than it was.. Our rod guides though kept icing up as a reminder to let us know it was not anywhere near above freezing.. In the end we covered a lot of water.. I became ever more familiar with a stream I have now fished close to a dozen times this season now.. We took at least 20 trout to hand with at least half of them over 12" and a few healthy looking brookies.. I became more confident in my streamer chucking.. All was well today...


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Thursdays Outing... Visiting Dr. Feelgood

He's the one that makes you feel good.. And this is the stream that is almost always on and will have me landing at least a couple trout throughout the day(don't want to jinx myself &&&).. I met up with my buddy Ted and we did pretty well.. I took around a dozen trout with a lot of misses near the end.. While Ted landed his fair share as well.. Also having the occasional problem of not setting the hook in time.. Winter can be irritating like that.. You have a very small window to tell whether or not a trout hit your nymph and if you don't act fast.. You won't land'em..

I had left Ted behind as I had to head back home and get to work... When I got back to my car I had realized I had left my net streamside.. Obviously too happy to land 1 final trout after missing probably 8 trout before it.. My description of the end of the day did not want to be "Well I had a lot of hits at the end but no trout".. And then BAM!  Got him after him and his buddies had struck 6 times the previous.. Anyways.. Thank god Ted saw it!  I definitely wouldn't have minded having to head back out there the next day.. But good thing he found it.. I had no motivation to fish today!

I talked to Ted later that day and he said he had had a trout take him to reel and snap his line.. Saturday is hopefully redemption!  As we will be streamside in T-Minus 8 hrs.. Which means I should probably stop typing and try to get to bed...

Old Stream... New Water...

Hit up a new section of stream on one of my favorite streams... Not much else to say but another successful outing!  That now makes ~6mi of stream that I have successfully fished on this stream.. One day I'll be able to fish this stream blindfolded HA!

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The Good.. The Bad.. The Ugly...

Happy.. Upset.. Irate.. That Kinda sums up the 15th and 16th..

The Good....

Well Wednesday I woke early... Been working a lot and haven't had time to get out and play with my new toy.. My brand new St. Croix Imperial 7'6" 4wt.. Matched up with a Martin 61 reel and Airflo Ridge Line Supple Tactical WF4F.. I had been drooling over this rod for about a week or so as I waited patiently for my fly line for it to come in the mail... The one downfall of online ordering.. Sometimes companies drop the ball and you got to wait longer than expected..

So I take my new setup to one of my favorite stretches of stream in SE MN in hopes of having a productive day of fishing.. I get to my destination.. it's a great day.. already in the low 30s and supposed to get up to 40.. No wind.. No chance or snow or rain... Typical weather for February.. Just kidding.. Amazing weather for February!  First couple casts with this new rod and I'm feeling like a pro.. This rod loads amazing... The line shoots off the guides like its covered in greased lightening.. Just what I was expecting from St. Croix and Airflo.. This is a great rod setup.. and at under $200 for the rod and a Lifetime Warranty.. You really cannot go wrong... Anyways.. Enough acting like I'm some sort of St. Croix rep.. (feel free to send me free garb though if you any of you guys are reading ^.^)


The day started out great like I said.. Sunny.. No breeze.. And within a couple casts to start the day.. I hook into my first trout of the day.. A nice 7-8" brookie.. The rod handled the fish with no problem.. Besides the fact that I didn't know there was a tree hanging over me and high stick my rod into it.. Tangling up.. But still landing the brook... Next couple casts result in a few more trout.. Mainly browns.. I skip a couple holes.. Being selective of what I fish.. Time is precious as I have to be back in town and at work at 5pm.. I hit my next hole and pull out a few more.. Couple browns and another small brookie..

 

I move up stream to finish the day off on one of my favorite holes on this stream.. Usually stacked up with trout year round.. Sure enough.. As I'm walking up on it I see risers just below the riffles taking midge that have been popping off the water all morning.. First cast.. Brown.. Next cast.. Brown.. Next cast.. Brook.. Next cast.. Hit and Miss... Cast back to the same spot.. Brown... If I didn't get them on the initial hit.. They took the 2nd time around.. Productive little hole that lands me about a dozen trout to hand in a matter of minutes.. Mainly browns with a brookie or two thrown in the mix...

 

So after that little onslaught of trout I figured there was no better way to end a good day of fishing so I retired back to my car to head home and get ready for work....

The Bad...
I get back to my car.. Break down my rod and put all my gear in the trunk of my car... Get in my car.. Key in the ignition.. Nothing.. Again.. Nothing... Again.. Nothing.. Again.. Stereo.. Hmm... Stereo.. Stereo.. My ignition gets stuck in what seems auxiliary as the only thing working is the stereo.. No clicks.. No dash lighting up.. FFFFFFUUUUUU!!!!.. What am I to do?.. 45-60min from town.. Depending on how ya drive.. 35+ miles... Walking is obviously out of the question.. and I got to be to work in roughly 2 hours....

So I call my step-dad who knows a bit about cars and helps me out when I need it.. He's nice enough to call into work and come pick me up.. Looks at the car... Can't figure out whats going on.. Other than knowing the ignition is shot.. So we make plans to take the pickup out tomorrow and pick up my car with a car tow...

The Ugly....
So Thursday morning I wake up.. Go to my morning eye doctor appointment.. And then off to get the car.. The thing that stung the most at first was knowing I was going to my favorite fishing hole.. And I was NOT going to fish... So we go and pick up the tow.. Everything seems to be going as planned.. We get to the car.. Everything still going as planned.. We first try pushing my car up onto the trailer and it's just at too steep of an angle for 2 of us to push.. So my stepdad says he'll get behind the car with the truck and push it up onto the trailer.. Everything seems to be going fine.. And then he over shoots me.. And my frame is now sitting on the trailer.. tires up in the air on both ends.. FFFFFFFUUUUU!!!!!!!!  My step-dad now goes "OK. I'll try pushing from the front".. Little info that's key.. My car is roughly 2ft from a good 100+ft drop into the valley below... So I get into the car so that the wheels are held straight and to break if we get off this trailer.. He pushes and the trailer skids.. Bringing me closer to the edge.. OK I'm Done!  Jump out of the car through the back door and walk off.. No way I'm bout ready to die at my favorite fishing hole... He goes "put it in neutral".. So I reach through the window and put it in neutral.. No way I'm getting back in that death trap.. He pushes again and the car kicks to the side.. Smashing up the passenger side door...

Irate.. I storm off.. Fuck it.. I'm walking home.. Without another word I start walking down the road(actually UP a very steep road).. Not giving a rat's ass anymore.. Yeah I'm 35 miles from town.. But rage fills and that's the last thought in my mind.. After walking for a couple miles I finally get around to calling my gf and having her come drive and pick me up along the highway.. As I'm walking though along the highway.. Two farm dogs run up to me and I give them a pet and keep hoofing it.. They follow.. I turn around and walk them back to the farm.. And continue.. They continue to follow me.. Fine.. You guys can tag along... So I got these two dogs following me.. They must've known something was up and needed some uplifting.. So they keep following me.. And following me.. Finally my gf picks me up.. And I throw the dogs in the car.. We got some dogs we gotta return.. So she heads up the road and we drop them off.. And I head home..

Shortly after I get home.. My step-dad returns.. He was able to find some farmers with a front end loader to help pop the car off the trailer and get everything situated.. I feel bad leaving him behind in the end.. But at the time.. There was no forgiving.. Rarely my tempter gets the best of me.. Especially that bad... But it was frustrating.. He tries to help.. and Sometimes its more steps backwards than forwards.. But in the end means well...

Ugh.. I'm just glad my car is back home...

The Most Beautiful Things In This World...

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!

May 23rd

Got out for a couple hours Monday morning with a buddy of mine.  Managed between the two of us to take about 10 trout to hand in just under 2 hours...

4/22... Hammock Creek

Woke up around 10am.. Looked out the window and saw it was sprinkling... Wasn't planning on doing any fishing today as I saw yesterday that it was supposed to be raining all day long.. Went to Weather Underground and looked at the weather maps which showed a huge gap between systems and decided I would go out and do a little fishing....

Got on the road some time around 11am.... Made sure to pack up the rain jacket.. Just in case... and packed my 2wt.. 5wt.. and spinning rod.. just to cover all bases... Decided I would head south of I-90... First 4 spots I went to all had at least 4 cars at them.. Oh yeah.. No one is working today... Totally forgot that part... After flipping through my maps I decided I would keep driving south and check out a section of stream that I had never fished before... When I arrived things were looking good.. no rain.. not too chilly.. the section of stream I arrived at looked amazing..

Through on my waders and my rain jacket.. wasn't sure how long I would be out... and it had been sprinkling on and off during the whole drive.. packed my jacket with all the gear I needed... decided I would take the spinning rod with me.. Had been sometime since I was stream side with a spinning rod.. and this was a brand new 6'6" St. Croix Triumph that I had yet to use.. bought it earlier in the year to replace the one I broke during my trip up north...

I walked downstream for probably a good 1.5-2mi... Finally I decided I should turn around and start walking back up stream and start fishing.. I could have continued walking down stream.. but forgetting my watch and not knowing how long it took me to walk to where I was I played it safe... but there was plenty more potentially amazing water down stream of me...

As soon as I started to turn around and start fishing back to my car... it slowly started raining.. nothing severe... actually the whole afternoon it rained.. with a few times here and there it would stop.. never once saw the sun.. cloudy.. gloomy.. rainy day.. thankfully that makes for a very productive day on the water!

Rain makes for easy presentation.. For one it breaks up the top of the water.. making it tough for the trout to see you.. and even tougher for them to differentiate a spinner from a rain drop.. a couple times throughout the day I had trout take my spinner before it had even started spinning.. a couple were even as it was hitting the water.. this combination of elements for the day made for some very aggressive fish...

First cast.. nothing but a mess of line.. cleaned it up.. retied my spinner.. next cast same thing..

First lesson of the day... Fireline Crystal SUCKS!  I will be removing the remainder from my spool and going back to PowerPro..

I basically cast to anything that looked deep and/or covered up.. lots of over hang and downed trees made for some great structure that when cast to.. Casting up stream through runs produced some nice trout.. but my best trout were had  by casting across stream and letting the current sweep my spinner into downed trees and low overhanging trees... This was my proven method when I almost skipped a hole because it seemed like a snagging catastrophe waiting to happen.. But I gave it a shot.. walked up above it.. cast across and let my spinner sweep back to my side of the stream and bam!  I pull out 15-16" Brown.. followed by 3 more ~12".. most of the trout that I caught were in the 10-12" range.. with a handful below that.. and maybe 5-6 that were bigger than that... ended the day with somewhere around 30 trout to hand.. and at least double that that chased or hit my spinner..

When i got back to my car... I had realized I wasn't too sure about where I exactly was.. DNR maps aren't the greatest marked maps in the world.. and I knew where I was.. but none of the roads in the area where labeled on the map... So I just drove until I got service and used Google Earth to save my ass... That's what I get for forgetting my Garmin...

All in all a good day.. When it rains.. it may pour... But one thing is for certain.. When it rains.. I reign supreme! =)

Something bigger got a hold of this guy... Unfortunately I didn't find him..

Close up of the previous trout's tail

On The Search...

So I just couldn't wait any longer.. Decided I was in search of a stream that was relatively fishable.. I knew this would more than likely require smaller water.. which means water I probably haven't fished yet.. Which in turn is what it meant..

Decided upon fishing unfamiliar water.. by unfamiliar I mean unfished.. I have seen it.. and knew it was relatively small overall... but small creeks usually clear relatively fast.. and when they don't.. it at least makes fishing a smaller stream easier.. as it means more water and more holes... I was very happy with my stream selection when I got there.. tons of riffles and pools.. with a tiny bit of slack water here and there.. Unfortunately what looked like amazing water only landed me 1 tiny trout to hand on a nymph..

While heading back towards the car I came upon trout rising..At first I couldn't tell what they were feeding on.. So I tied on a #18 Griffin's Gnat.. had a couple takers.. but I just could not get the hook set in time... Time and time again stike and miss.. I probably had 10 chances and struck out on every single one of them.. What a shame..