Trip Report: Minnesota Wilderness

With temps forecast to hit 40 degrees today I decided to take a long walk in search of trout! I arrived on stream by 8am and reached the car at 5pm. With around a half inch of fresh snow last night I expected the stream to be a little cloudy but the water was crystal clear. In fact I was able to stand on the high bank and see many of the big fish I didn't catch swimming around some of the deeper pools.

The day started out chilly and cloudy but as the day marched on the sun made a few brief appearances. I rigged up a pink squirrel of prey with a pink scud dropper and trudged the depths of the first run I approached. Nothing. The next run proved more productive.

The first fish of the day was the biggest fish of the day! He took the squirrel of prey. My fly rod was propped up a little off the ground so the perspective is a little off in this photo but this fish probably measured around 16 inches. He put up a great fight before coming to hand.

Today I reached the point on this stream that I reached last spring while fishing with my brother and decided to continue into the unknown. I found some great pools and spotted some very nice trout swimming around. I rolled three fish larger than the one pictured above but failed to land them.

 This was the last fish of the day. He came at the 3.61 mile mark. I hiked a total of 7.22 miles today in the neoprene waders and was soaked in sweat by the time I collapsed into my car. Most of the larger trout chose the squirrel of prey while smaller trout preferred the scud. I did land three smaller trout on a size 20 Matt's Midge during a minor midge hatch! It was surprising how much snow still clung to the hills. Hopefully this will melt off fast enough to send a small push of water through area rivers to push some silt out.

If you're interested in fishing any of the awesome flies I used on today's outing check out my selection of flies for sale (and fly rods too!) at Whitewater Valley Flies