The Hunt for Trout October: The Seven Seals

I hadn't fished with my dad since our vacation to Wyoming in early August so I decided he needed to get out one more time before seasons end.  We met up in Saint Paul on Saturday October 11th at 7:00 am and traveled to a stream that Taylor had recommended to me.  I was a little worried that somebody else would be fishing there but was relieved to see no other parked vehicles when we arrived at the spot.  Being that I had never fished this stream before I was unsure what to expect but figured it must be awesome since both Taylor and Mark had encouraged me to check it out.  It definitely lived up to my expectations.  Our plan was to walk downstream to a certain point and then fish our way back upstream to the vehicle.

 While walking downstream through this bend I spooked a large trout.  I was hoping he would be settled down by the time we made it back up to fish this spot.

When we arrived at our turnaround point we had a coffee break and while I was drinking my coffee I noticed a peculiar triangular looking stone that stood out among the gravel.  I remembered finding a similar looking stone last March while fishing the Rush River in western Wisconsin.  When I found the stone last March I picked it up and had a spectacular vision of an ancient stone mason shaping the stone into the shape of a triangle with large hammer.  I never really understood why I had that vision but over the course of the summer I have wondered about it from time to time.

When I picked up this stone I again was transformed into a trance like state and was brought back many centuries to to a time when a race of giants ruled North America.  Again I witness the mason shaping stones into triangles but this time there was another person there and it appeared to be the son of the great giant.  The son asked his father, "Why are you shaping stones into triangles?".  The mason answered, "Many centuries from now will emerge a great fisher who will long to know the location of Mark's Grass Creek.  We will scatter seven stones around the Driftless Area and once he finds all seven they will transform into a map that will lead him to the location of Mark's Grass Creek."  Upon hearing the exchange I felt a spinning sensation and when I opened my eyes I was back on the creek in the present day.  It was all so clear now.  All I have to do is find the five remaining stones and Grass Creek will be mine for the plundering.

 We started fishing upstream taking turns fishing.  I was helping my dad with some of the finer points of fishing streamers on small water also referred to as the Short Game.  He is used to fishing larger water like the Kinni and the Rush.  After a brief fight I had a fish in the net.

A beautiful Brown Trout that upon measuring came to 14 inches.  Not the 20+ that I had pined for but still a nice specimen.

I was so happy.

We continued upstream until we made it back to the car.  On the drive home we got to listen to the Gopher Football team crush the Northwestern Wildcats.  It was a good day.