Trip Report: Birthday Trout!

You know that kid at your birthday party who blows out your candles?

I give him a pass though since he's reppin' the Brewers! This buttery brown is pretty close to the spawn. Jesse pulled it in quick with his spinning rod and after admiring the fish for a brief moment released it into the pool from which it came. Jesse also landed a 19 inch brute yesterday! I didn't land the lunker of my desire but brought plenty of fish to hand.

 Jesse used a Rapala briefly but focused mostly on his spinner game. I started out with a streamer which fished really well until around 1030am when baetis mayflies (size 20ish light green) started coming off. I switched to a size 20 comparadun pattern with trimmed hackle used for the wing. It's a dainty fly that matches these more diminutive mayflies.

A few larger than average trout took the mayfly. Fish ate consistently in pools and long flats but proved a tough quarry with such clear stream conditions. After a long, somewhat brutal walk back to the cars we decided to head to another stream known to harbor some bigguns.

I fished the same streamer pattern that I've been using lately and it worked well. Fish were rising consistently on this stream as well so I rounded out the afternoon with a few on dries!

Trip Report: Raised on Pike and Bass

I was Raised on Pike and Bass from a young age. My brother and I fished a few really good rivers in southeastern Wisconsin that held Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass, and we fished them often. We mostly used conventional gear until we reached 14 or 15 when fly gear became our tools of choice. I've focused so much on trout over the last 6 or 7 years that I've ignored a couple of familiar species in somewhat familiar environments (medium sized warm water rivers). My friend wanted to chase Muskie today so we did. The Muskies out ran us but the Pike and Bass contributed to an awesome day enjoying what Southeastern Minnesota has to offer!

This fish took a large, flashy streamer and fought well above his weight on a 7 weight. Notice the heron scar on his back. It looks like I have a mini dip in my lip but I can assure you I don't, not that there's anything wrong with that (Seinfeld fans?).

This fish smashed the fly and put up a great battle. The fly was languishing near the surface toward the end of my retrieve when he hit. It was one of those splashy pike attacks that makes you second guess dipping your hands in the water when you wash off the pike slime.

Jon got on board with this solid pike! It hit the fly as it dropped from the surface. After a spectacular battle, during which the slime rocket took strong hard runs against Jon's 8 weight, the fish came to hand. Jon released him to the chilly waters on a cloudy, cold day.

 I remarked to John as I made a few strips on my first cast in this spot that we would certainly get a fish right away. As I turned back to look at my fly this fish smashed it! We parked on shore while I landed the strong shouldered beast. Wire leaders and strong hooks were a must and our 7 and 8 weight fly rods handled these fish with ease.

 John hit this beautiful smallie in a neat piece of water. It put a surprisingly deep bend into his 8 weight. The bite started to shut down as temps cooled and cloud cover thickened. We also flew through a lot of water without fishing after allocating too much time to the first 1.5 miles of the 8 mile float.

 I am again appreciative to John for inviting me on a trip down the river in the Merrimack canoe. This was an awesome experience and has me pumped to chase smallies next summer!

A Couple Days This Week

I got out couple times this week and found fish in some streams seemingly done with the spawn while in others still in pre-spawn mode. I've fished a combination of nymph patterns and my wolley bugger-ish and had success with both. The five weight accompanied me on all adventures.

This fish had a strong little kype. I'm finding most of my fish in deep, froggy water pools and in the tail outs of deeper runs.

 I'm running low on flies and will have to tie up a few of my fall faves to effectively round out the extended season. Most of Minnesota's Driftless trout streams close on October 15th but a few in State Parks and in towns where fisherman and hunters won't overlap. It very likely protects spawning trout from being targeted and keeps people off there nests, called reds.

 On Tuesday evening storms threatened but never materialized directly above me. The rest of the week it's been spitting light rain with overcast skies. Temps have ranged from the low 80's to the mid 40's. I don't think it's impacted the fishing much as fish know winter's coming.

This was the biggest fish of the week. Probably around 16-17 inches. This fish seemed like a post spawn fish but maybe not. One easy way to differentiate spawners from pre- and post-spawn fish by looking at the fins for signs of damage. I plan to fish a bunch until the 15th so stay tuned!