Trip Report: Friday and Today

I got out fishin' Friday and Today!

On Friday I explored a creek that I've never fished and one that I regularly daydream about. After a short day of work I pointed my car in that direction of a daydream.

 I pulled in a few decent little brownies before heading to the other creek. As I'd never been to this creek I drove around a little to check out the stream. The easement section that I fished was near the headwaters and home to both browns and brookies as I learned.

 Both streams ran crystal clear and full of skittish fishes. On this day fish were fooled by the Pink Squirrel of Prey and the deer hair caddis, both flies in size 14. This creek fished pretty well and I'll probably return in spring when it'll be a little easier to get around.

 Today I got out for an hour or so after the rain fell and found a few decent browns! All fish came on the Pink Squirrel of Prey. After fishing I came home and tied flies all afternoon.

Trip Report: The Long Road

This morning I headed south to explore some valleys that I haven't yet fished. After a longer than usual drive I arrived stream side before 9am. The stream looked beautiful.

Unfortunately the water was chocolate colored and I only found one dinky trout for my efforts. I planned to hit this stream and another a few miles away. I decided against fishing the nearby stream assuming it would also be running thick. I pointed my car west and drove on to another spot I've never fished.

This stream was also a little off colored but I managed to scrounge up a respectable number of little trouts!

This guy came to hand after a short fight. His lighter back color is a result of him living in a section of stream with a lighter colored substrate. 

 After catching around a dozen browns and one little brookie I decided to stop at another stream on my way home. I hoped this stream would have good clarity. I pulled up, parked, and headed downstream to my favorite section.

The stream was flowing pretty clear upstream but throughout this section there were cows everywhere! I decided to hoof it back towards the car for a drink of water before heading on a longer walk to a secluded stretch upstream.

 I hooked into a good number of smaller browns including the spotty fella pictured above. I also tied into some broad shouldered stocker rainbow trout! This guy looks like he was probably stocked a while ago. I continued upstream and found a few more decent browns.

After this guy I headed back to the car while I took stock of today's outing. I hoped to find some good new water but results were inconclusive. Temps hovered in the mid 70's to 80 degrees and skies were partly cloudy. I hoped to find some fish rising but I only spotted one little fish surface. All fish were caught on the Pink Squirrel of Prey at intermittent depths. Fish appeared to be spread out. I caught around 30 fish today with most measuring around 12 inches. I also managed to catch a brown, brook, and rainbow trout, and a chub, the MN Grand Slam!

Stay tuned: I fished yesterday and will post a brief review soon!

Trip Report: Hatches Galore

Today I got out for a few hours of fishing after work. When I arrived at the stream there was little surface activity so I tied on the Pink Squirrel of Prey and began prodding the depths for trouts. I pulled in a bunch of little browns and stocker bows before finally landing a decent fish.

This trout came from the very head of a fast run. I found a few decent fish holding tight to the bottom and close to cover. After hauling in a few more fish I tied on a CDC caddis and caught a few more. By around 700 caddis were coming off strong but only a few fish seemed to notice. I walked back toward the car to a spot that always has good surface activity. By the time I arrived at this spot March Browns and Baetis were coming off in full swing. I tied on a size 20 CDC emerger in a pale orange and immediately began landing (and missing) fish.

 After landing a number of 12-14 inch fish and missing many more I began targeting one fish that looked to be pretty decent. I missed him three times on the CDC emerger before trying one more fly. I tied on a blackish brown Comparadun pattern and tossed it just ahead of the fish. The fly drifted a few inches before disappearing into the mouth of this fella.

After catching this fish I decided to call it a day. In total I caught around 30 fish with most measuring around 8-12 inches. I missed two decent feeling fish and most of the trout caught nymphing were just barely hooked through the beak. I used the 8 foot 5 weight and after fishing it some more I think I'm gonna like it.