Trip Report: Jesse and Hog Johnson

Today My buddy and I ventured to a valley far away from our usual haunts. Neither of us have fished this particular stretch of water but I'd heard good things. We were not disappointed! After that stream we hit two others very briefly. We arrived on stream around 830am and immediately tied into a few, mine on streamers and his on a Rapala.

 Fish were aggressive. I tied into a good number of trout but missed some memorable strikes. After a while I tied on a small unweighted San Juan worm. Many fish came to sniff it but only a few would commit.

 After a bunch of hiking a quite a few trout we came upon a long, slow pool which screamed "big trout water"! I was casing and Jesse let me know he hooked into a biggun. I grabbed the net out of his backpack and headed into the drink with the beast, tasked with netting.

Hog Johnson came to the surface and flailed around for a bit. He didn't take any long runs which suggests that he know what he was doing. After a brief and uneventful battle he came to hand and after a few quick pics he was returned to the drink strong. Shortly after landing this beast we headed to another spot.

At this spot BWO's came off as soon as we arrived on stream. I tied on a quill bodied mayfly emerger and immediately tied into trout. After a half dozen or so came to hand the hatch died off.

 I continued to land a few on dries including some that put a good bend in the Whitewater Valley Flies 7' 9" three weight. We wrapped up the afternoon checking out a few streams on the way home. We found cars at a bunch of access points so people are getting out and chasing trout. Check out Whitewater Valley Flies for your fly and fly rod needs!

Trip Report: Brookies and Chocolate Milk

After checking out a few medium sized streams this morning and finding nothing more than chocolate milk I spend the morning and early afternoon with the wifey while she's on the mend from a cold. On the way home from picking up groceries we checked out a small stream in the area and to my surprise it was running high and dirty, but fishable! I brought the groceries in and put 'em away before hopping in the Subi and heading to the stream. I arrived on stream around 1pm and tied on a size 16 San Juan worm.

I immediately tied into brookies. Even though I mostly land browns out of this stretch in clear, sunny conditions today I landed a ton of brookies. Some nice ones too!

 As the afternoon went on the stream become more and more cloudy. The fish didn't seem to mind and the brookies kept coming.

This guy came from a shallow run. You can tell by his pale appearance that he spends most of his time in clear, shallow water. I noticed plenty of midges coming off but saw no risers. I tied on a small gray zebra midge with a sunken size 20 matt's midge trailed behind.

This was the nicest brookie of the day! After around 230 the fishing slowed way down as more and more dirty water flooded into the stream from the surrounding fields. I managed to land a few more fish before calling it a day.

 By the time I headed home around 5pm the stream was completely unfishable. Around 30 trout came to hand. Multiple brookies came from each run and I managed around 7-8 browns too. I briefly hooked one on a streamer that must've been around 16 or 17 inches. I ran into two nice fellas on the stream today. It was nice to bs about fishing and now I've got a few new spots to check out!

Trip Report: Streamers and Dries

Today I got out fishing with a buddy. We had a vague plan for the day and started off at a nearby state park. 

 They stocked some bigger rainbow trout here last year and I wanted to see if they were still around. They are! They didn't want a streamer but happily took a gray size 16 zebra midge fished deep. When we arrived the stream had a brown stain that limited visibility to about a foot.

This was my big fish of the day! The stream muddied and after about 45 minutes of fishing we decided to head south where there was less snow on the ground. We decided to hit a north-south running stream with hope that there would be even less snow.

 

 The drive was beautiful! I decided to put effort into fishing streamers today and figured that unless there was a hatch I'd focus my efforts.

 I started with an olive bugger type fly and eventually switched between a mohair leech type fly and bugger. At this stream fish were triggered to strike when the fly was twitched slowly past good hiding spots (rocks, logs).

 The third stream we hit is a beautiful little river that flows through a tight little valley. In the pool on the left fish started to surface periodically. I watched from a distance as little bwo mayflies took flight and bounced around current seams while laying eggs. I tied on a size 20 bwo dry fly and took chase.

I landed all four fish that I targeted before the hatch died down. The stream was clear in this section but as they day progressed and temperatures rose the stream started to dirty. We bounced around between access points and found fish feeding in areas with snow-free banks.

 By the end of the day around 2 dz fish came to hand, mostly on streamers! I hoped to move a few brutes but only landed fish between 10-14 inches. We fished from 830am-5pm with plenty of driving and breaks in between. I'd like to get out a little tomorrow but unless temps get well below freezing tonight I'd guess all streams in the area will be toast tomorrow.

Trip Report: After Work Streamer Fishin'

The stream I chose after work ran clear and cold. With sunny skies and a little wind it may not have been an ideal streamer day but a few still managed to swim into my paws.

 After landing a few little guys like the ones above I focused on deeper water. Fish could see me from a mile away despite crawling along the stream. A few fish rose sporadically throughout my time on the stream (415pm-615pm) but not enough for me to re-rig.

 I'm glad I didn't re-rig! This guy came out from under a rock to smash the streamer. He fought hard but was no match for the WVF 9 foot 6 weight.

This guy sat in a deep trough and tugged the streamer as it skipped by along the bottom. Fish weren't overly aggressive today but were willing to take the big fly despite cold temps, sunny skies, and crystal clear water.

Trip Report: Walkin' and Fishin'

Today my buddy Tim and I chased brookies. Unfortunately they all got away! We hiked up a beautiful valley that was rumored to hold brookies but we only found some browns.

Despite cloudy skies trout would spook any time we got within 20 feet of trout. We didn't tie on longer leaders or use lighter tippets but I managed around a dozen brownies out of this stream.

We spotted a bunch of brownies as they'd scatter including two that must've been between 16-18 inches. After quite a bit of hiking and no brookies we headed to a stream closer to home to try our luck. We both landed a few little ones on streamers before heading to a more upstream easement.

 This section of stream is really technical. Fish were spooky but long, precise casts yielded more than a few fish including the one pictured below. Most of the fish I landed came on an orange scud or gray zebra midge.

We didn't land any on dries but fish rose on and off with enough consistency that had we rigged up light enough we could have landed a few on dries and emergers.

Trip Report: Big Flies and Little Flies

I got out this morning with the intention of fishing three creeks. After a few wrong turns I decided to fish a stretch of stream that I'd never fished. I arrived on stream around 930am with temps in the low 30's, partly cloudy skies, and a very light breeze. The stream was crystal clear and fish spooked upon my approach. 

 These well manicured spots are not my favorite to fish. This spot is far enough down the valley that the bottom is mostly sandy. I didn't expect much so I tied on a articulated double bugger lookin' streamer and pounded the deeper seams.

This was the big fish of the day! He smashed the streamer and put up a nice little fight on the WVF 9' 6wt. After a few bumps from other fish I got another.

After landing five trout over a few hours midges started to pop off and I tied on various midge patterns. I landed another half dozen in short order including the once pictured above. Fish ate the quill zebra midge emerger, matt's midge, quill mayfly emerger, and griffiths gnat. Around 130pm I headed to another stream where I hiked to a small tributary that I've never fished. On the hike I landed a few little browns on the matts midge (sz20). I hoped to find brookies in this tributary and sure enough...

These brookies all ate an orange scud. This little tributary was loaded with little brookies which hit with abandon. Many swung at the indicator. I'm thinking this will be a great spot to hit with a three weight and a mini hopper in late summer.

 

 By around 330pm I headed back to the car. A dozen or so brookies came to hand with none over 8 inches. Fish rose consistently throughout the day frequently enough to fish with dry flies. Tomorrow I'll be fishing with my buddy Tim. We don't have a specific plan yet but I'm thinking maybe a brookie voyage. Stay tuned!

Eagles!

 

We're not the only ones out there fishin'!

There were plenty of eagles about. It wasn't like last year though. My brother in law learned from the eagle expert at the Nat'l Eagle Center in Wabasha that last year was such a great eagle year because the river thawed really fast causing the eagles to congregate over a shorter period of time. After shooting eagles I took a few pics of the bridge to Wisconsin.

 I don't usually take pictures of architecture stuff but this was a fun experience. I hope to expand my efforts and may even try to get up to the cities on a photographic excursion. Anyway, more eagles!

This eagle kept flying by so I snapped a few good shots and loads of blurry ones. I used a 250mm zoom lens for these shots but quickly realized that a larger lens would be helpful. These shots are all heavily cropped and edited.

 Perfect form!

 We saw around 20 eagles around Red Wing before headed south again.

 We spotted this big 'ol eagle on the way home right along the road. He took off as we approached but I managed to snap a few parting shots.