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...


Made with Slideshow Embed Tool

Still Alive....

Been a long time since I posted any thing here but I am still alive.. and still fishing! Unfortunately my cameras have both been trashed.. need to invest in a waterproof camera as booth have been fried from unintentional swims... So I have been left with my cell phone.. and excuse me if I'm a little weary of using my phone over open water.. as 2 years ago I had dropped a month old phone in the ~40* water of the root river leaving me stranded with flipping and t9.. never again! Anyways..

Well for starters it's Winter C&R Season.. Which starts on Jan. 1st here in Minnesota... after 3 months of no trout fishing season from oct-dec.. So far the season has been nothing sort of pleasing to any trout fisherman in Minnesota.. barely have we seen single digits so far this year.. let a lone days that didn't at least reach 32*... Much better than years past of 5-15* days being the "prime" winter days to trout fish and above freezing temps are nothing short of luxurious on any given average Jan/Feb day.. But this year has been nothing even close to resembling an average winter.. Hell you couldn't have even seen more than a patch of snow here and there up until 2 weeks ago!

Either way.. With the weather the way it has been.. It's still Winter.. and the water is still gin clear.. and the water is still cold... they are either on.. or they are not.. Have had a couple skunked days.. But after 3 months of not fishing.. I'll take the "casting practice".. and the scenery is always nice.. only those who understand truly get that a day of no fish can still be a great day on the water... Anyways.. Enough rambling from me..

 

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!