Trip Report: Outmatched

This afternoon I rigged up the first fly rod I ever built, 7' 6" 3 weight, and headed to what I would consider my home water. This stream has some vary old habitat improvement work done and pretty decent undergrowth. This is the kind of stream where every lie holding a big fish is obvious and my choice of fly always seems to work. I was hoping to encounter some hoppers but found none. I briefly rigged up a small hopper just to try but no takers.

After fishing fast through the first section of stream with the hopper I tried the pink squirrel of prey and BINGO!

This guy put up a solid fight on the three weight. After admiring his spots I returned him to the depths of the river. As I worked my way up stream visibility improved as did the fishing.

I only tied up two pink squirrel of preys and after snapping of on two decent fish was forced to change tactics. One around 18 inches pulled me under and around a rock before retreating to the undercut snapping my line. I tied on a brown SJ worm and continued.

 As I approached this run I noticed a fish near the head of the run. I tossed the fly in and held on!

This guy fought hard but was no match for the three weight. A little further up stream the brute on the right shot out from an undercut to take my fly. He proved to be a handful on the light gear but came to hand after a short fight. As I approached my endpoint I reflected on my trip. I was frustrated that I couldn't land one of the two big guys that snapped my line. I approached the last good spot on my itinerary tentatively.

 This gnarly spot required some thought as to how I'd fish it. I settled on high sticking the fly down stream. After bouncing a few feet my strike indicator dipped below the surface.

This chunky bastard darted under the submerged log pictured above before heading toward the undercuts, rocks, and vegetation.After dancing a pretty complicated dance I scooped him up in my net. After a few quick pics I returned him to the depths. 

I spotted no fish surfacing all day. No hoppers yet either, but soon!

Trip Report: July 7-17th

I've gotten out fishing a hand full of times over the last few weeks. The majority of my time has been spent tying up an inventory of flies, practicing fly rod building, work, and a little bit of fishing! Hopefully by mid winter I'll have enough flies and rods built that I can open up a small online fly shop. So far I have tied around 400 zebra midges and I'll be working on loads of other midges, CDC emergers, parachute dries, nymphs, hoppers, and stompers during the coming months. This month conditions have been good. We've been getting rain at a consistent enough rate that I have only had to water the garden once this year! This has left the water with a good cloud to heavy stain. This is good news for the fish. Unfortunately along with a good garden of food growing in the garden, stream side vegetation is grown in.

On the 7th I got out for a few hours on a smaller stream that harbors a decent number of above average browns. This was one of the first days that wet wading felt really good. I encountered no significant hatches but caught around a dozen on a yellow RS2 emerger and a few more on the pink squirrel of prey.

 In the pic on the right you can see that the stream side vegetation was just starting to prohibit easy access to good lies and trouble on the back cast of a bad back cast. On the 12th of July I decided to bust out the kayak for a workout. I put the 'yak in on a pretty popular stretch of a local river and paddled upstream. It was hard work and I was soaked in sweat before long.

 For every cast I took I lost 5-10 feet of progress up river. I managed to roll a few decent browns but while line control seemed difficult hook sets proved impossible. Well, almost impossible!

 This decent brown came while I had the 'yak beached. I saw a few fish surfacing but every time I got within range they'd stay down. He and a hand full of small ones came on the various nymph patterns. Today I worked a short day before picking up the boat for another workout. I headed to another pretty popular access point and headed upstream.

Traveling was pretty tough but I managed to beat the current. In this spot I paddled to the tail of pools, beached the 'yak, and worked my way through each pool, run, and riffle ahead. Then I'd paddle to the next set of lies. 

I saw a few really small fish rising so I opted for the tungsten beaded nymph. This guy fought pretty hard but was no match for my homespun fly rod. After a quick pic he was released to fight another day. I manged to rouse a few decent fish but only landed around a doze with the one pictured above the biggest. 

Toward the end of my paddle I faced a good log jam and pool with a young mother and two kids paddling an inflatable raft down toward me. They took a right when they needed a left and got stuck in strong current leading to a sticky spot in the jam. The current running around and through the jam had been scoured out to around 6 or 7 feet deep and the current lead directly into a point of no return. I asked if they needed help as I paddled by and the mom said, "I think so." I beached the 'yak and waded in pretty deep she was still pretty far back in the jam. She looked like she was paddling hard but making little progress. I had no rope but reached into the jam to grab the longest branch I could find. The current was pretty strong but I managed to maintain my balance while pulling the branch from the jam. She was still pretty far away so I cheered her on saying things like you can do it, come on, you're getting close, etc. She got close enough that she could reach the stick, grabbed on, and I pulled them upstream as they pushed off all the sharp sticks that threatened the inflatable boat. I got them up and around the jam and back into the main current. They were able to turn downstream and hit the safe current seam. After a few nice words they disappeared around the next bend.

Oh yeah, then I busted my fly rod when I was unloading my gear:( Now I get to build a new one:)

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. 

Trip Report: Testing Out New Fly Rod Build

On Saturday I built a 8 foot 5 weight fly rod in order to replace the Okuma 5 weight that I used while in Montana. After tilling and finishing off planting the garden I decided to head to a rain swollen river to chase trout with the new stick. 

I bought the components and rod blank on Ebay for 75.00 using some of the money I made on a recent fly sale! The blank is a dark green which shines great in the sun. The green thread that I've been using on rods blends great with the blank color. This is the fourth fly rod that I've built and it easily came out the best of any thus far. My area got over an inch of rain Thursday which left the creeks slightly overflowing their banks. I decided to hit a stretch close to my house where a spring fed tributary pumps clean water into a mucky main stem. I tied on the Pink Squirrel of Prey and dredged the bottoms of deeper runs on the murky stream while making my way towards cleaner water.

 The fish were hungry but care had to be taken to avoid hang ups. As I approached the clear water tributary I spotted some rising fish. I decided to continue subsurface and was rewarded with a nice trout.

I hooked into a few nice fish, one of which pulled me into an undercut bank and snapped my line. Most of the fish I caught today were pretty small but what they lacked in size they made up for with color.

This funky lookin' trout bit on a black CDC caddis pattern that I just started tying. I believe I'll tie some more! In total I caught around two dozen fish with most measuring around 10 inches with the largest topping out around 14. After getting the new rod on the water I decided I like the 8 foot rod but would maybe prefer it in a 4 weight. This rod casts beautifully but has a little too much backbone for some of the quick runs these driftless brownies take!

Trip Report: Fishin' With Mike

Today I had the pleasure of fishin' with Mike. Mike is a big time fisherman and my soon to be brother in law. I built him a fly rod to commemorate the occasion of his wedding but I couldn't wait for him to see it! 

 The "Pannie Snatcher" is a 7'6" three weight built to snatch panfish from the depths of L.G. Lake. This build turned out much better than my previous two. My goal is to always show some improvement through each fly rod built. Anyway, Mike and I got this morning and eagerly checked the weather with hopes that storms would not be in the forecast today. They were after studying three or four weather websites but we decided we'd brave the elements whatever came at us. We headed a few miles from home and hit the stream around 11am. This was Mike's second time out and he's getting good at casting. We casually fished a few long slow pools before approaching a nice little scour hole with some good current. Mike took a few casts and had some trouble getting a drag free drift. He handed me his rod and I demonstrated how to flip the line into the current a little in order to get the longest possible drag free drift. Near the middle of the drift my indicator bobbed under the surface and I set the hook.

This nice trout fought hard but was no match for Mike's great work on the net and a few crafty moves on my part to keep the fishing from disappearing under a nearby undercut. After a few quick pics he returned to the water and swam to the depths.

Next, we entered an overgrown pasture where Mike tied into this beast. Hey, a trout is a trout! The fish on the left flopped out of Mike's hand and landed perfectly. This section of the stream sees good pressure and as windy as it was Mike was laying down casts like a pro. We continued up stream catching a few fish here and there.

This powerful trout came on a long cast with the sun shining. I had a good feelings as the fly landed perfectly beyond a big submerged rock. Again some crafty net work and a little dancing to keep him from escape. We continued upstream with the sun shining and wind blowing.

This chunker fought valiantly but came to hand pretty simply. 

Most of the fish I caught were bigger than usual and it was great to get out fishing with Mike! All fish were caught using nymphs drifted deep. Total we pulled in around 12-15 fish combined, all released to fight another day.