Trip Report: Stalking Stockers

I fished for a few hours on Sunday afternoon, an hour on Monday night, and a few hours this evening on a stream less than ten minutes from home. When I arrived on stream Sunday night it was immediately apparent that the stocking truck must've just pulled away.

This stream is greatly effected by fishing pressure but the surroundings are beautiful. There are some wild browns swimming these waters but after the stocking truck pulls away they are pretty lightly pressured consider the rainbows that are stocked act as "decoys". (the 'bows are easier to catch which preserves the more picky browns)

This guy took the same fly in a similar fashion but fought entirely different. On Sunday evening I caught one brown and 50+ stocker rainbows! On Monday I couldn't resist the urge to educate more bows before the hordes descend on this spot. I fished for almost exactly one hour and caught exactly 24 stocker rainbows. 

 Hopefully many of these rainbows will survive through the fall so I can again chase them when the snow flies. Their fins and tails get warn away by the concrete raceways at the hatchery but after surviving in the wild for a while they grow back and the trout begin to feed more selectively. Unfortunately the rainbow trout stocked around here almost never successfully reproduce in the wild. All rainbows caught measured between 10-14 inches.

I did hook into two really strong and vibrant rainbow trout that looked to be holdovers from the last stocking. After catching quite a few rainbows I headed further upstream to an area where I would assume the stockers haven't quite reached yet.

I began landing fewer fish but picked up another half dozen browns. I continued upstream where I hooked into a pair of brookies! I've never heard of or caught brookies this far downstream before but I'm not complaining.

 

After achieving the MN trout triple play on the same stream I decided to call it a day. I caught well over a hundred trout over the last few days and although most were stockers I felt pretty damn accomplished. I'd guess most people don't land that many trout in a year!

Trip Report: New and Old Water

With the day off work I decided to go fishin'. I had great plans but after receiving 2+ inches of rain throughout the night I revised those plans in order to find clean water. With most area streams flowing like chocolate milk I headed to a small tributary to the root river. I'd heard rumors of big brookies! I parked around 9am under sunny skies and began searching for the stream.

The steam is somewhere in there! I found a few deeper runs that were not obscured by vegetation and immediately hooked up to a decent little trout. I thought to myself "if I don't catch another fish all day I'll be satisfied with this big brookie!" As I plunged the net beneath him my excitement turned to mild disappointment. 

This is probably the biggest fish in this little stream. After a few quick pics I returned him to the drink and continued upstream. I caught another half dozen fish before heading to another stream on the way home. As I neared my destination the clouds rolled in providing great cover.

 These little fellas took a pink san juan worm trailed behind a pink squirrel of prey. This section of stream is heavily pressured so I hiked upstream a ways after catching a dozen or so smaller browns.

This wiley beast wouldn't sit still for a pic and squirmed out of my had as this picture was taken. He was the nicest fish I was able to photograph. I landed one around 16-18 inches but as he flopped out of my hand my strike indicator caught my hand and he snapped the line. Oh well! I continued upstream.

This guy rounded out my day. He took the pink squirrel of prey and ran with it. He was a consolation prize after I lost a huge brown. The big boy was pretty well played out and as I guided him toward my net my hook popped out of his jaw and into the tree behind me. After a few choice words I decided to head home.

Trip Report: Shivering Trout

I didn't expect to get out fishing this week but after working a bunch of hours in a short time I found myself with three hours to do with what I pleased. Of course I went fishing!!! I arrived stream side by 1pm and took a short hike before wetting my line. I tied on a pink squirrel of prey, set the indicator deep, and dredged the bottom of a long, deep pool.

 These respectable browns subtly nibbled my fly. I set the hook unsure whether I was going to snag on the bottom, pull my fly rig into the trees behind me, or battle a trout. Eventually I lost the only pink squirrel of prey in my box. I switched over to a fatboy pheasant tail with a pink butt.

 Shortly after moving upstream I hooked into a really nice trout. I never got eyes on it but he ran hard upstream before snapping my 4x tippet. I'll be back for him.

This big guy fought hard but was not match for the 5 wt. It's amazing how my hand held fish look a lot smaller than when they are laid on the net! Judging by the size of my net this trout appears to be around 16 inches. When I arrived temperatures read just shy of 60. I decided to wet wade and at this point the only thing keeping my on the stream was the great fishing. After 3 o'clock the wind really picked up and I started to regret dressing light.

After a bit I tied on a soft hackle pheasant tail dropper. This guy barely moved the indicator but put up a great fight. He was pretty close to the same size as the trout pictured above. When I moved to unhook him I found that he was barely hooked. After catching a few more on the pt dropper I switched to a san juan worm dropper.

 This buttery brown is developing a nice kype (curved jaw). He put up a great fight, darting into weeds and around a submerged log, but came to net after being skated over a patch of weeds standing between shore and good holding water.

I caught a flurry of smaller trout and this decent fella on the san juan worm before action shut down. By this time I had to get going. After all was said and done I caught at least 30 trout with most measuring between 13-15 inches! Fish were hungry for whatever drifted their way and colored up really well for the spawn. I won't be able to fish at all this weekend but I'll have a few days later next week to chase 'em.

Trip Report: Second Day Fishin' With Pa

Dad got his 24 hour license around 5pm yesterday which means (according to Mom) that if he didn't fish until 5pm today he would turn into a pumpkin. Pa and I weren't so sure about that but he didn't want to turn into a pumpkin and I'm always up for some fishing so we headed out early this morning with the intention of fishing until late in the afternoon. We headed to a stream that I'd seen some big fish in recently. I hoped we'd find good numbers but wished even more to see Pa pull in a few decent sized trout.

 After a decent little hike I started out the fun with a decent little brownie. Pa immediately hooked into this decent rainbow. He put up a good fight but was no match for the old man! It stayed cloudy most of the morning and early afternoon with temperatures in the low to mid 80's.

I continued the fun by pulling in this decent little brown. Not to be outmatched Pa pulled in a number of decent trout in a row.

Dad caught this nice brown after pulling in another rainbow and a half dozen smaller browns. He was on fire today! 

 At one point he couldn't keep the trout off his line. The trout could not resist tasting the pink squirrel of prey but rarely committed wholeheartedly to eating the fly. Because they were only "tasting" the fly most times the hook was barely embedded in the tip of the fishes beak. We missed way more fish than we landed. When setting the hook many of the fish would turn and flash before swimming free. Pa fought one nice trout of around 15-16 inches close to hand but he spit the hook before he met the net. After catching around three dozen between the two of us we decided to head toward home to hit another stream.

I landed this nice brownie shortly after we arrived on stream. He ate a size 18 prince nymph that I tied last night. Pa took a few shots at this pool before relinquishing it again to me.

 Never mind the goofy look on my face or my wild hair, these fish came to hand with little fuss. The fish pictured on the left had a Fatboy Copper John with a soft hackle Pheasant Tail dropper hanging out of his mouth when I unhooked my fly. Those flies were mine! He must have snapped me off a while ago and still had the flies in his mouth.

Overall it was a great day of fishing. I finished the day with around a dozen and a half trout and Pa finished with an outstanding two dozen plus! We spotted one 20+ inch trout and 5 or 6 better than 16 inches. This was easily the most fun I've had on the stream in quite a while.

Trip Report: First Day Fishin' With Pa

Last night I went fishing with the 'Ol Man at a local trout factory. He came over from Wisconsin for the weekend with my Ma and purchased a 24 hr fishing license. We hit the water by 5:30 and after a difficult hike began wetting lines around quarter after 6.

Dad is the little black dot just right of the center of the photo. We both rigged up with the pink squirrel of prey and began tossing our flies in deeper pools. Our goal was to dredge the bottom for hungry pre-spawn brown trout. After missing a few strikes including one of around 15 inches I tied into something hefty.

This beast came to hand after a challenging battle. He ran around the hole and along the rock wall pictured behind me. Then he ran directly into the weeds a few times. Finally, after he was sufficiently played out I skated him over the weeds to Pa waiting with the net. He scooped the trout and it was done. Today I fished with a 5 weight fly rod and 4x tippet which allowed for me to bring this fish to hand pretty fast. We continued upstream to find a few more smaller fish before calling it a night.

We decided to get up early on Saturday for "Second Day Fishin' with Pa!"

 

What a BEAST!!!