Today marked the start of the Wisconsin early catch-and-release trout season. When I woke up this morning I didn't have plans to go trout fishing but I also hadn't made plans to do anything else. As the morning wore on I started to think more and more about the prospect of getting out fishing on the opener. It was about 16 degrees out when I checked and the sun was out in full force. While these aren't what I would consider to be perfect winter fly fishing conditions I've certainly had success fishing in less favorable conditions and I'm usually more prone to go outside of my comfort zone on the opener. I have a lot of good memories from past early season openers and just that alone made for a perfect excuse to go fishing.
The nice thing about trout fishing this time of year is that you don't have to be out on the stream at the ass crack of dawn to catch fish. I made it the my selected stretch around 12:30pm and was a little surprised to see how much ice there was. Ninety percent of the slow moving pool at the bridge was covered in a sheet of ice. I thought about checking out some other stretches but didn't want to risk running into other people. Part of the allure of fishing the opener is that you are pretty much guaranteed to be fishing water that hasn't been molested by anyone else since at least mid-October. This I feel is more than enough time for the trout to become stupid again. With all that in mind I set out on my quest.
Twelve percent of the joy of fishing this time of year is just looking at how ice forms on different object in the stream. I thought these sticks look kind of cool.
Little crystal structures of ice.
This time of year you have to walk quite a ways to get to some good trout holding water on this stretch. I think that helps keep some of the riffraff out.
All the other geese had flown away when they saw me walking upstream but this goose stayed put. It appeared to me that the goose was injured as it's front breast looked swollen. I pondered capturing it and taking it to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville but the last time I brought a goose there they killed it because it had a broken wing. I will let nature take it's course.
So many beautiful scenes.
An ice sheet covered half the river here.
When I got to this deep bend I knew I had a decent shot of catching a trout here. I felt a tick as I was stripping in my first cast and was pretty sure it was a fish. On my next cast I caught this guy. I had already been fishing for close to an hour at this point and was starting to worry a bit about getting skunked. I wonder if it would be a bad omen to get skunked on the opener but I don't have to worry about that now.
Cool designs in the ice.
Not a cloud in the sky. I had brought gloves with me but never needed to put them on. I ended up being pretty surprised with how pleasant the day was.
Another goose that didn't fly away. As a lover of all wildlife this was quite troubling to me. This one also appeared to have a swollen breast.
Pretty scene.
Ninety percent of the river in this photo was a sheet of ice. It was really tough to walk on because I kept on breaking through.
This is a video of me walking on the ice.
So sunny.
I love how the snow was on the trees.
At least a hundred yard sheet of ice in front of me. The ice on the south side of the river was slightly thicker than the north side. I was able to walk on it for quite a ways without breaking through.
I had broken through the ice and noticed this little guy in the thin layer of water on top of the ice. It looked to me like a baby Brown Trout. I gently coaxed it back into the deeper water.
Pretty scene. By now I had pretty much given up on catching any more fish but I wanted to make it to the next bridge so I could walk the road back. That seemed easier than backtracking on the stream.
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