The Trout Carrot

I have been tying and using this pattern all winter long.. And it has served me well... I was looking for a name for it.. I would just call it an "Orange Hare's Ear" but it's not a hare's ear at all in the end.. same basic pattern style.. But with differences.. So it's been officially named the "Trout Carrot"

 

Hook: TMC 5262 #12-14

Weight: Bead head and 4-5 wraps of .015 Lead

Thread: Black

Tail: Pheasant Tail

Body/Thorax: Custom Angler's Orange Dubbing

Ribbing: Fine Gold/Copper Wire

Wing Casing: Pheasant Tail

Simple.. Yet extremely deadly

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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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!

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..

3/11...One More Outting Before Things Get Muddy

a personal first.. two trout.. one line

Got out again today... Decided to go to the South Fork of the Root River.. got to the stream around 9am.. Air temp was 32F and water temp was 39F.. Was sunny most of the day.. As the day would progress the air temp would get up to around 44F and water temps got into the low 40's...

Started out 3/4 up a section i fished the other day and then continued to work upstream.... first 1 1/2-2hrs didn't catch a single fish.. no midge hatching when i arrived and didn't really seem to take off at all.. big nymphs holding in the rocks... was throwing a #12 Hare's Ear trailed by a #20 nymph... I'm  thinking maybe its what i was throwing wasn't what they were looking for because mid day I switched to a #10 Prince and trailed it with a #14 PT and I was in trout the rest of the day... caught quite a few... couple brookies but for the most part brownies.. most were in the 7-8" range and a couple that were 10+".. big shoulders.. catching the bigger ones right in the heart of the riffles... smaller one towards the tail end of the riffles...

got in a total of about 6hrs of fishing today.. and that seems to be about it for me for awhile.. winds are supposed to get up to 40mph in the area tomorrow and then its going to warm up.. over night lows above 32F next week... the big muddy is comin.. should make the streams perfect for opener!

3/8...

Another day of Spring Break... Another day of fishing... Woke up and decided to go to my personal favorite stream in Fillmore County... go there around 9am.. Overcast.. 32F... Midge and Stonefly were sprinkled atop the snow when I arrived... No signs of any trout rising... get stream side and lined up my 2wt with a #16 BH Prince Nymph and #18 BH Black Hare's Ear.. First cast and as my rig starts to begin its swing and i see a trout jump... and there goes my indicator.. No better way to start the day.. first cast, first fish... I decided I would hike down stream further than I have been before to check things out.. But unfortunately I did not make it too far.. The snow pack became rather loose and next thing you know I'm sinking 12-24" with each step.. so I worked my way back up stream to the car... Caught a couple more browns here and there on the prince.. and 1 tiny brook took as well...about 6-8 to hand.. about twice that took.. light bite made it tough to see strikes

When I got back to my car it was about 1pm... I decided I still had a little time before I had to be back in town.. So I continued upstream.. This time tied on with a #16 Hare's Ear and a #20 nymph... Took about another half dozen or so trout.. 12 trout total.. 11 Browns.. 1 Brook.. Can't Complain

 

  

 

Been Some Time...

Well 2011 is here.. and Finally I got into some fish this year!  I've gotten out a couple other times this year.. but nothing worth talking about.. by that I mean I had been out a couple times but had nothing to report besides wetting a line... Today was different though.. Met up with a couple of buddies at around 9am this morning to go out and hit the streams in search of some winter c&r trout.  Got to our first part of stream around 9:30-10am.. it was ~34F and snow was light and patchy... Fishing was slow for myself.. Caught a couple smaller browns in the 6" range.. all put up a good fight for their size and all fish looked good and healthy... My co-fishermen also had luck and tied into a few... As the day progressed more and more midge we on the snow... as if someone had peppered the snow... few trout rising here and there.. never enough for me to go dry...

2nd spot on the stream had minimal success... 1 trout to hand.. Figured the combination of snow and thaw had dropped the temp of the stream and shut the trout down.  In the end though it was a good day.  Finally caught a fish or a few and overall it was a nice day to be out.  Spring Break for some people means going south of the border.. for me I just go south of 90 and I'm in paradise.  Til next time!

 

5-11.. more crappy weather

Woke up looked at the radar and saw that the rain was definitely coming.. Temperatures were in the mid 40s roughly.. This weather really needs to go away.. Thankfully next weeks outlook looks amazing.. 70s/80s.. That's What I'm talking about!  Was on the road by 10am.. Today was not only a day for trout fishing.. A co-worker and writer for Winona360 asked me a couple weeks ago if she could follow me on the stream for a day and write an article about trout fishing in southeastern Minnesota.   I decided the South Fork would be a good spot since it's pretty cleared out and I knew she wouldn't have to cross any waters.. She didn't strike me as the kind of girl that had waders haha..  On the way to our spot Wes called me and he decided he would meet up with us... Just more information for the article that was being written... We get to the spot at about 10:45.. Rain was eminent.. Actually I think it started misting when we were there.. It was windy.. 10-15mph winds here and there.. Definitely nothing as bad as the days previous to day.   Started out pretty slow.. not much happening.. Hooked into one brown.. Wes hooked into a couple chubs... water in the lower South Fork is starting to warm up as the chubs are starting to get thicker.. But the brookies are still holding in there...
     We moved up stream and it started raining harder.. Luckily for our little cub reporter we were near a bridge.. so she was able to stay dry and continue her interview.. We made sure to try and cover all basis.. What makes this area good trout water.. why.. the technique involved in trout fishing.. Why we love to do what we do.. Sometimes it's something tough to put into words.. why one loves to do what they do.. especially when it's something like trout fishing... As one of us fished.. She interviewed the other.. Wes tied into a couple dinky brooks on a PT so i switched up to a PT as well and hooked into a brookie... after about an hour of this spot.. Our reporters hands were too cold to write anymore and she was on her way.. Hopefully with more than enough info to write her article... I think she enjoyed it..  I know Wes and I enjoyed sharing our love for the sport with world on a local level and I cannot wait to read the article...
     We decided we would head upstream and hike through some thicker stuff to a section of the South Fork that is not only beautiful but also usually holds some good fishing.. It was beautiful as always.. but it was definitely not holding much today.. Or at least were not feeding... The rain my have cooled off the water and put the trout on the DL.. we caught a couple.. but nothing over 10" that's for sure..
     Personally cannot wait for next week.. This weather is beyond ridiculous.. Cold.. Windy.. Rainy.. Even some snow flurries and frost.. It's May.. Seriously this weather needs to go.. And by the outlook it will be amazing.. 70s and 80s by next week.. About time!

New Waters

After going to Trout Day at Forestville on Saturday and talking with Steve Klotz about a certain stream in the Winona area.. Me and my buddy decided to head out and explore a new stretch of stream... We arrived at our destination around noon... Cool.. Slightly windy.. Very cloudy day.. Looked like rain.. There was another angler... He wasn't having any luck.. We decided we would walk down stream and work our way back up to the cars... After a little bit of walking we cut through the brush and headed stream side where we found our first hole and riffle for the day..  Water was still murky from the rain over the weekend... Area was tight and proved frustrating with snags and hang-ups in brush... Hewas able to pull a few smaller trout out of the riffles.. Myself had no luck.. I changed up to a bugger at the head of the riffles with no luck.. Here my buddy was able to hook into a pair of browns.. ~14" and a fat ~16" Both taken on #12 Princes.. I switched back to a #12 red SJW and worked a downed tree and root wad that looked promising.. and landed myself a ~14" brown.. Those would be the only fish of the day.. A couple more hits.. But nothing landed.. Overall a successful outing for unknown water...

My Biggest Trout On The Fly

Caught my biggest trout on the fly today on Garvin Brook... only trout of the day... beautiful weather.. low 70s.. sunny.. nice breeze... the redhorse are now starting to move in and spawn

CaddiShack

Another day off of work means another day of fishing.. Headed out to Trout Run as I had not made it out there yet this year... Would today prove to be a successful day of fishing?  Success would be an understatement.. today was probably one of the craziest days of trout fishing I have ever witnessed... got to my first spot around noon... step out of my car and notice that the trout are already leaping out of the water.  It's sunny.. probably in the high 60s... fished the first couple holes with little success.. water is crystal.. i'm spooking more of the trout than anything.. the rest are sitting down low.. with no interest in whats happening above the water... turn the bend and come to my next hole.. literally spent an hour here.. caddis were coming off the water... and the fish were in a feeding frenzy.. cast my elk hair up and watch the trout come up and pick off my fly.... all was done by sight the streams were so clear.. i could cast my fly right on to their nose and they took it without a second though.. i don't even remember how many fish i caught in this hole as every 3-4 i would inch up on my knees another couple feet.. soon after hitting the holes with the elk hair i got bored with the ease of picking off these guys off on top of the water.. so i switched up to a tandem with a #14 Pheasant tail.. trailed by a #10 Danger Baby... haven't tried these Danger Babys out yet.. but it seems to have this cased caddis look to it.. so i figured it would produce.. and produce it did.. as soon as i went below the water the trout got bigger.. nothing huge.. but definitely bigger.. i noticed a lot of the bigger trout sitting at the bottom.. so that was one reason for switching to nymphing... as the day progressed the caddis got thicker.. and thicker.. and thicker.. at one point it was just a sheet of caddis.. almost enough to gross me out..  4 hours and too many trout to count later i decided to head back to the car.. a car covered in caddis

     Spot #2... decided to head up to some more familiar territory and stop at Bucksnort.  There were a couple cars.. nothing too bad.. and from talking to the other anglers it was worse upstream... started out rather frustrating.. fish are jumping everywhere but refuse to hit anything i throw at them.. nymphs.. more elk hairs.. just not happening.. same followed suit for the other angler i was talking to.. just weren't interested.. maybe the amount of caddis was just too much for the fish to key in on my particular fly.. 100s of caddis... 1 fly.. odds are not on my side.. so i decided i would hike downstream a ways and work my way back up to the bridge.. put the elk hair away and tied on a #12 pheasant tail and  #12 Hot Wire Copper John(red/copper)... this tandem seemed to work it.. kept trout on my line as i worked my way back upstream.. later due to snag.. I switched to a HWCJ and Brassie... which continued to pound the fish..

    I don't think I could have asked for better fishing conditions than what I got today.. Warm.. Sunny.. Breezy.. 7 hours of non-stop caddis hatching.. a couple trout for the kitchen and too many to count beyond that..  yeah.. it was a good day

Rush Creek 4-19

Got out to a section of Rush Creek this afternoon with a friend of mine... Fishing was good.. temps were in the mid 60s.. sun was shining.. and the Caddis were hatching... forgot the camera.. which always sucks.. caught about 12 trout.. all were in good healthy form.. caught one 14" rainbow on a #10 red SJW... then as the trout started rising...  I'd been a fool had I not switched to my last elk hair caddis.. which had me into a couple of trout right off the bat.. one as a nice 12" brown that put up a hefty little fight... kept the 12" and 14" for eating.. right now I am on a definite trout feast... C&R is awesome and all.. but sometimes its nice to savor the fruits of our labor..

Obviously this section was not touched on opener seeing as the only foot prints in the area were of my buddy's dad's boots... which is a great thing because there have been some nice chunkers pulled out of this stretch this year.. I'd say it's is as healthy as I've ever seen it..

Treading New Waters...

o after going to work today and finding out I didn't have to work I decided to do what any avid fisherman would do on a day off... go fishing.. and I decided that fishing a new stream was in order.. so after some thankful pointers from Mark Dahlquist.. I decided to hit up a stream in the Caledonia area.. as I have had interest in this stream before yet have never fished it..
1pm I arrive at the destination suggested by Mark.. very windy.. warm.. temps in the mid 70s.. storms have been in the area for the past couple days.. looks like rain fall has been close to nil as the stream is running crystal clear.. I first start out my day rigging up a prince/hwcj.. first decided to walk down stream and see what was provided.. plenty of deep holes with minimal riffles seemed to be the name of the game on this stretch.. as i was going to make my first cast.. trout started rising...such a bi-polar day made well for a caddis hatch.. sunny... then cloudy.. rain tease.. more sun.. more clouds.. repeat..  caddis hatch.. in full swing..   so i immediately switch up my rig before even making a cast.. no nymphing today.. tie on an elk hair and start pulling in the fish.. nothing too big.. all were under 10".. all were browns..(on a side note.. the trout in this stream fend for their lives.. as probably half the trout i caught had some sort of scarring on their sides.. as seen in the picture above.. probably from close calls with eagles and hawks..) as the day went on and the flies got lost due to less than pleasurable wind conditions.. frustration ensued.. and finally i was spent.. day over... don't want to fish anymore.. sometimes frustration wins.. mother nature *shakes fist* you win this time!.. on a positive note i think i finally got the double haul cast down.. had to.. there was no choice when the winds were easily gusting over 15mph.. so in the end.. i guess it was at least a day to practice casting technique and catch a couple fish in the process... and i learned new water

4-7-10

Started the day late... Didn't get on the water til after 11am this morning.
Conditions:
Overcast/Breezy
Air temp: ~46F
Water temp: ~49F
Clarity: Clear

Not much was going on on the Pine today.. rocks examined showed very little for nymph action. Saw a few trout rising but could not tell what they were feeding on as there was no obvious hatch going on nor was there a sign of one. The day itself was not very productive either. 2 browns.. 1 fat 12"+ brown hiding under the cut that took on a #16 copper brassie. Both were taken on brassies. Sucks when you lose what they are hitting and cannot find any thing else suitable.

A fool... I am not

Got out on the south fork on 3-31 and 4-1. Stream conditions were good. Two amazing days that resulted in amazing fishing. 31st I fished by "The Million Dollar Bridge" caught an assortment of browns and brookies. Weather was amazing. Started my day at 8:30am. Was cool and sunny; around 50F as the day progressed though the day got warmer(mid-70s), brighter and the bite got better. Trout were taking on a Zug Bug that a wayfaring fisherman gave to me that morning that had good success until I lost it to the stream. Changed up a couple times and finally got them hitting on a variety of flies: #12 Orange Hare's Ears, #12-14 BH Pheasant Tails, #12 Brown Mini-bugger, #10 BH Prince Nymphs. No significant hatches were going on throughout the 8hrs i spent on the stream that day. Bite was definitely good and it was a great adventure. Before I had only fished this section of the south fork from the gate to the bridge with spinning gear. This time around was a whole other story. After getting some pointersfrom another angler earlier in the day I had decided to venture further upstream than I had been before. Resulting in some amazing scenery and great fishing. After I was done at the south fork i headed back towards Rushford and fished a favorite stream of mine for the remainder of the day. The day prior a tip from a friend had mentioned the spotting of and success of fishing a stonefly nymph. Using a #10 20 incher i was able to get hooked into a nice run of trout to top of an already excellent day of fishing.

April Fools, I got up a little later in the day. First day of Spring C&R. That means all streams are open in Southeaster Minnesota. This was a great day because it allowed me to finally fish a stretch of stream that i have wanted to fish ever since trout season closed. I wasn't the only one obviously thinking this as when i showed up there was one car already parked at the bridge in Choice. By the time i had entered the stream another car had arrived as well. Normally I seem to be the only fisherman on this stretch most of the year, which i am perfectly ok with =) Another day of venturing into unsung territory to me and it again turned out to be a great success. What i once didn't venture because of what seemed like boring water made way for an amazing treasure after walking into the spot about a 1/4mile. Again, browns and brooks hitting on #10 prince nymphs.. didn't even bother with putting anything else on. That is until i ran out of princes. This gave me a chance to use my new mini-buggers. Tied on #10 black mini-bugger and went for a walk. Got into some amazing scenery and even more amazing water. Riffles for a good 1/4mi and deep limestone boulder riffles. Trout willingly took the bugger and they were nothing far from short. All 12"+ and a couple around 16"