Sunday Funday

After having a such a great day fishing with Shebs yesterday I wasn't even too heartbroken when Nick called me last night and told me that he wasn't going to be able to go fishing today.  While I was relaxing in bed this morning Nick called and said that he would be able to go fishing today after all.  I told him I was pretty sore and wasn't really in the mood to fish today.  He told me that he wasn't going to be leaving for a while and to let him know if I changed my mind.  After that I got out of bed, slammed some cold coffee that I made yesterday and hit the shower.  Sometime during my shower I decided I felt like fishing so I called Nick and let him know I'd be ready when he got here.

Look at this log.  What do you see?

 One of the nicest 16 inch trout I have ever caught.

 What do you call it when you take a selfy with a fish?

 It's called a Selfish!

 A nice scene.

 A few years back my dad helped me put a rod rule on my Sage DS2.  It has helped me get accurate measurements on many of my trophies.

 Here is a shot of the Streamer I was using today.  I wish I knew what it was called.

 I love it when I get to a pool that is deep and green.  I made a poem up about it.

Trout stream pool so deep and green.

I bet you hold a fish that's large and mean.

Please let me catch that fish.

That is my only wish.

 I remembered this big rock from when I was here at the end of the season last fall.  I have such a good memory.

 I finally saw Nick way upstream.  When I got to him he told me that he had just lost a nice one close to the net.

 This was a pretty place.

 One of my favorite things about driving back from southern Minnesota at night is when I go by the space city.

The End

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Indian Winter

Indian Winter is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that rarely occurs in winter in the Upper Midwest.

I already had plans to go fishing on Sunday with Nick but with Indian Winter in full swing and with the forecast predicting that extreme cold would be returning later next week I figured it was time to strike while the iron was warm.

While I usually don't mind going fishing by myself I saw that my buddy Shebs was planning on fishing today as well so I sent him a message to see if he wanted to join forces.

After I finished making plans with Shebs for this morning I told Foxy that I was going to go fishing without her.  She was totally bummed.

I picked Shebs up at his lair in Southeast Minneapolis around 9:20am.  From there we headed south to a creek that Shebs thought showed some promise based on past stocking reports and taking into account the streams that flowed into it.  I enjoy the challenge and uncertainty of checking out new places so I was stoked.

I watched from high up on the bank as Shebs tried at the first hole we came across.

We didn't catch any fish here.

 When we arrived at the next spot Shebs walked upstream from the bridge and I walked down to the next bridge and started working my way back up.  We agreed to meet back at the car in an hour.  I was very hopeful about this river.  It was very beautiful.  The sky was blue and the water was too.

 When you see clumps of grass in the trees like this they were left here in periods of flood.  I could tell that this creek had flooded recently.  By tasting a hand full of the grass I could tell that it flooded last June.  Yes I am that good.

 Everything was right with this place but there was no trout.  I spotted a school of chubs and some suckers but that was it.  I couldn't believe that Shebs had brought me to such a place.

When we arrived at the rendezvous point Shebs and I had some words.  We decided to head to another stream that we knew held promise.  We were down but we were not out.  Not yet anyways.

Arriving at our next location I noticed that this place was also full of beauty.  And we quickly noticed that it held trout because we kept spooking them whenever we walked close to the stream.

 We fished for almost two hours and hadn't caught a thing.  The worst part was that neither one of us had even had a bite.  My patience was being seriously tested.  At least it was unseasonably warm.

 

I was walking upstream in the direction of the car.  I was still casting here and there but my attention was waning.  Then I saw a rise in the middle of the stream.  This gave me hope.  I cast over to where I saw the rise and let my bugger swing in the current.  Just like flies on shit that fish was hooked.  It's so amazing how catching a fish can turn your day around.  I am the greatest fly fisherman there ever was!

I was so happy.  But I remembered that Shebs hadn't caught a fish yet so I was a little sad for him.  I didn't have too much time to be sad for Shebs though because as soon as I set my trout free I heard Shebs yelling for me to come to him.  He needed help landing a fish.  I ran as fast as could.

Shebs had hooked into a monster.  The trout measured a whopping 22 inches.  Shebs was so happy!

 Check out that kype!!

 After that we continued towards the car because Shebs had to get to a birthday party for his big brother.  I swapped in a Pink Squirrel of Prey for my Wooly Bugger and hooked another Brown but failed to land him.  It was a good day.

The End

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Kyle Schaefer Invitiational

When Kyle informed me that he was bringing four of the best fly tiers in the Twin Cities together for a night of fly tying I thought he was kidding.  Then he told me who all was invited.

We met up at Kyle's apartment shortly after 5:30pm last night.  Scott "Dullyouth"  and the one who wants to be known as Josey Wales joined us.  While I welcome fame and notoriety for myself I understand and respect that Josey does not want his real name and image plastered all over the internet.

Kyle and I have been friends for over a year and Kyle has known Josey for about 6 months.  This was the first time I had met Josey in person and it was the first time any of us had met Scott "Dullyouth"  face to face.  We have all come to know each other on the forum driftlesstroutanglers.com.  We were definitely a motley crew but we all had one thing in common.  We are some of the most talented fly tiers in the world.

 While I tied many flies over the course of three hours I only bothered taking a photograph of one.  Introducing the Maribou Sculpin.

 Kyle puts the finishing touches on a streamer.

 Scott likes to make flies for targeting Carp.

 Here is one of Scott's Carp flies.

Here is a Caddis that Josey Wales tied.

The night went even better than I expected.  Sometimes when people laugh at my jokes I can tell they are faking it.  Well I can tell you I didn't even hear one fake laugh.  The other guys had good jokes as well.  I can't wait for the next Kyle Schaefer Invitational.

The End

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Saturday Morning Special

I crept along the stream banks trying to keep a low profile while still making an effort to judge the depth and structure of each hole I walked past.  While on the way down here this morning I had mentioned to Taylor that I was actually going to try to catch a fish today.   I wasn't feeling overly enthusiastic about writing another blog post about going fishing and not catching any fish.  That coupled with the challenges of fly fishing for trout in the winter had inspired me to make a special effort in the days leading up to this adventure.

When I read Ryan Frick's post about starting the year 2015 off on a good note I was exhilarated.  Not only does this guy have a great numbers day on New Years Day he also hauls in a 20 inch Brown Trout.  I had to devise a way to outwit him into divulging his secret methods to me.  My first step was to interrogate him in the comments section of his blog post.  I couldn't believe it when he actually took the bait.

 "How could his secret be so simple?" I asked myself.  When Ryan posted a close up photo of his behemoth on his Facebook page I thought I noticed something peculiar about his size 8 black wooly bugger.  Just as I had suspected the dang thing was tied sparse.  The main reasoning I envisioned for the slender profile was to achieve a faster sink rate without having to add extra lead.  Armed with this new information I decided to tie some size 8 slender buggers of my own.

Armed with my size 8 slender buggers and extreme confidence I felt a newfound focus this morning.  I found a spot that looked slow and deep and started casting.  After casting for a few minutes and not catching anything I walked up through the hole looking for signs of fish.  Despite the crystal clear water I didn't spot any fish in the first five or six holes I fished.  Continuing upstream I wondered if Taylor was having any luck.

After rounding this bend in the river I came upon a pool that was about 4 feet deep.  I cast my bugger and dead drifted from the top of the pool to the bottom giving it an occasional twitch.  Staring into the depths I saw the unmistakable outline of a trout swim over to check out my bugger.  It was the first fish I had seen to this point and my level of optimism increased from around 70% to about 82%.  Right about that time Taylor came walking up and I asked him if he had been having any luck.  At first he told me that he had caught something like 5 Browns and 7 Brooks.  I believed him at first because it's not uncommon for him to totally outfish me in the numbers game.  He quickly came clean and confessed that he was kidding about his success and hadn't managed to catch one yet.  Right about that time I felt a jiggle in my rod and the time of success was upon me.  After a brief but exciting struggle he was in the net and I felt like I had the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders.  It was nice to have Taylor there to snap a couple photos so I didn't have to attempt a trout selfie.

I was so happy.  And good looking I might add.

I didn't take an exact measurement but I'd say that he was at least 13 inches and maybe even  a little bigger.

Here is a closeup of the bugger.  If you want to imitate it you must use a Tiemco TMC-300 hook.  Any substitution of this will result in diminished fish catching ability.  We also noticed some small leech like creatures below his gill.  I have never seen such a sight in my life.

Taylor took a moment to relax and reflect on what he had just seen.

 Wintertime scenery on spring creeks is always a spectacle.

 Do you see Mickey Mouse?

 If he didn't have the net hanging off his back I would swear that I was having a Bigfoot sighting.

 I just love being out on streams and rivers.  Catching fish is just a bonus.

The End

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