TR Southeast MN

My original plan was to camp along the Au Sable and fish the
Holy Waters of Michigan using my little cedarstrip canoe and
a bicycle shuttle but when I read the fishing reports from the
fly shops along the Au Sable I changed my mind. The hex hatch
was still in full swing and it is an exercise in futility to
float flies over fish during the day that are keyed in to feasting
at night. And I don't fish at night.

So, off to Caledonia, "The Wild Turkey Capital of Minnesota",
in the driftless area of southeastern Minnesota. I camped at
Beaver Creek Valley State Park and got to fish three days,
Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday I fished West Beaver Creek and its trib, Larson
Creek just upstream of the County 12 bridge. The first fish to
hand was a nice little 8" brown that was soon followed by a
gorgeous 10" brookie. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in
the sky, so the fishing wasn't great but it was great day
nonetheless.

Saturday I had to go to Houston, MN because it had the only
WiFi hotspot I could find near Caledonia. The hotspot was free
and located in a funky little tourist trap catering to the
spandex-wearing bicycle touring crowd. All they serve at the
"Little Looney" is coffee crap and smoothies. I had a smoothie,
the Four Berry, (it seemed the obvious choice ;-), and took
care of business on the laptop. I'd never had a smoothie before
and the damn thing was so sweet I liked to have gagged, so I
ordered (to my eternal shame) an iced latte. That was pretty
gaggy too albeit in a different way but at least it got the
sweet out of mouth.

I took a look at Swede Bottom Creek and decided if I could get
upstream of the cows I might find some decent water. The cows
weren't a problem but the big bull who came storming out of the
shade of an old willow tree *was* a problem. Seeing as how I was
outweighed by a good thousand pounds or so I retreated back over
the cattle steps to the car to consult the maps and come up with
a Plan B. 'B' for Badger as it turns out, Badger Creek downstream
of the Hwy 76 bridge. Once again high skies and bright sunshine
hampered the catching but the fishing was fine. I saw a monster
brown tucked up under the shade of a cut bank and whispered to
myself in the most reverent terms, "booyah", but he wasn't having
anything to do with my parachute Adams.

On Sunday morning I took a drive over to Fillmore County to fish
the South Branch of the Root River. The Root River system drains
a goodly portion of southeastern Minnesota and the main river, a
warmwater fishery, is a big part of the tourist economy with canoe
liveries, bicycle rentals, restaurants etc. all along its length.
The South Branch is small, small and cold. My thermometer read 56F.
The cold water and the abundance of hardwood cover over the stream
made for some fine fishing even in the glare of the midday sun. I
caught the biggest brown trout I've ever caught in the state of
Minnesota this day, a strong, jumping 16 incher. I don't ever recall
a brown trout jumping as much as this one. I was using my old 7.5'
3wt Winston with a Hardy Featherweight and for the first time this
trip I got to hear that sweetest of sweet sounds, the click and pawl
of an old Hardy screaming under the weight of a big fish. A hoot.

I went back to the car to have a Budweiser break and to repair some
bleeding from my forearm inflicted by a rampaging and vicious sticker
bush. (I *hate* Coumadin.) While leaned up against the old Volvo
sipping a glass of the King of the Beers I heard country music bearing
down on my location and blaring at high volume. Soon enough a horse-
drawn buggy with six teenage Amish girls came trotting over the bridge
at high speed blasting country and western from somewhere inside the
buggy. They waved and smiled, I did the same. A hoot.

I finished the day right there in the State Park where I was camping
and fished East Beaver Creek. East Beaver Creek lies wholly within
the State Park so is well taken care of and quite pretty. A footbridge
crosses Beaver Creek just downstream of the confluence of East & West
Beaver so that you can see both from the bridge. Both run cold and
fish well for browns and brookies. I'll be back.

--
Ken Fortenberry

On Jul 3, 12:14 pm, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:
My original plan was to camp along the Au Sable and fish the
Holy Waters of Michigan using my little cedarstrip canoe and
a bicycle shuttle but when I read the fishing reports from the
fly shops along the Au Sable I changed my mind. The hex hatch
was still in full swing and it is an exercise in futility to
float flies over fish during the day that are keyed in to feasting
at night. And I don't fish at night.

So, off to Caledonia, "The Wild Turkey Capital of Minnesota",
in the driftless area of southeastern Minnesota. I camped at
Beaver Creek Valley State Park and got to fish three days,
Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday I fished West Beaver Creek and its trib, Larson
Creek just upstream of the County 12 bridge. The first fish to
hand was a nice little 8" brown that was soon followed by a
gorgeous 10" brookie. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in
the sky, so the fishing wasn't great but it was great day
nonetheless.

Saturday I had to go to Houston, MN because it had the only
WiFi hotspot I could find near Caledonia. The hotspot was free
and located in a funky little tourist trap catering to the
spandex-wearing bicycle touring crowd. All they serve at the
"Little Looney" is coffee crap and smoothies. I had a smoothie,
the Four Berry, (it seemed the obvious choice ;-), and took
care of business on the laptop. I'd never had a smoothie before
and the damn thing was so sweet I liked to have gagged, so I
ordered (to my eternal shame) an iced latte. That was pretty
gaggy too albeit in a different way but at least it got the
sweet out of mouth.

I took a look at Swede Bottom Creek and decided if I could get
upstream of the cows I might find some decent water. The cows
weren't a problem but the big bull who came storming out of the
shade of an old willow tree *was* a problem. Seeing as how I was
outweighed by a good thousand pounds or so I retreated back over
the cattle steps to the car to consult the maps and come up with
a Plan B. 'B' for Badger as it turns out, Badger Creek downstream
of the Hwy 76 bridge. Once again high skies and bright sunshine
hampered the catching but the fishing was fine. I saw a monster
brown tucked up under the shade of a cut bank and whispered to
myself in the most reverent terms, "booyah", but he wasn't having
anything to do with my parachute Adams.

On Sunday morning I took a drive over to Fillmore County to fish
the South Branch of the Root River. The Root River system drains
a goodly portion of southeastern Minnesota and the main river, a
warmwater fishery, is a big part of the tourist economy with canoe
liveries, bicycle rentals, restaurants etc. all along its length.
The South Branch is small, small and cold. My thermometer read 56F.
The cold water and the abundance of hardwood cover over the stream
made for some fine fishing even in the glare of the midday sun. I
caught the biggest brown trout I've ever caught in the state of
Minnesota this day, a strong, jumping 16 incher. I don't ever recall
a brown trout jumping as much as this one. I was using my old 7.5'
3wt Winston with a Hardy Featherweight and for the first time this
trip I got to hear that sweetest of sweet sounds, the click and pawl
of an old Hardy screaming under the weight of a big fish. A hoot.

I went back to the car to have a Budweiser break and to repair some
bleeding from my forearm inflicted by a rampaging and vicious sticker
bush. (I *hate* Coumadin.) While leaned up against the old Volvo
sipping a glass of the King of the Beers I heard country music bearing
down on my location and blaring at high volume. Soon enough a horse-
drawn buggy with six teenage Amish girls came trotting over the bridge
at high speed blasting country and western from somewhere inside the
buggy. They waved and smiled, I did the same. A hoot.

I finished the day right there in the State Park where I was camping
and fished East Beaver Creek. East Beaver Creek lies wholly within
the State Park so is well taken care of and quite pretty. A footbridge
crosses Beaver Creek just downstream of the confluence of East & West
Beaver so that you can see both from the bridge. Both run cold and
fish well for browns and brookies. I'll be back.

--
Ken Fortenberry

"cattle steps" that would be a stile.
If your going to habitate that part of the world don't overlook NE
Iowa. Some of the creeks got blown out bad a few years back but
friends tell me there all recovered now. French Creek is a place I'de
like to go back to. Beautiful place with interesting waters. It's
well managed, ffo and catch and release. Access is good all the
fences have stiles.

Ken Fortenberry wrote:
My original plan was to camp along the Au Sable and fish the
Holy Waters of Michigan using my little cedarstrip canoe and
a bicycle shuttle but when I read the fishing reports from the
fly shops along the Au Sable I changed my mind. The hex hatch
was still in full swing and it is an exercise in futility to
float flies over fish during the day that are keyed in to feasting
at night. And I don't fish at night.

So, off to Caledonia, "The Wild Turkey Capital of Minnesota",
in the driftless area of southeastern Minnesota. I camped at
Beaver Creek Valley State Park and got to fish three days,
Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday I fished West Beaver Creek and its trib, Larson
Creek just upstream of the County 12 bridge. The first fish to
hand was a nice little 8" brown that was soon followed by a
gorgeous 10" brookie. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in
the sky, so the fishing wasn't great but it was great day
nonetheless.

Saturday I had to go to Houston, MN because it had the only
WiFi hotspot I could find near Caledonia. The hotspot was free
and located in a funky little tourist trap catering to the
spandex-wearing bicycle touring crowd. All they serve at the
"Little Looney" is coffee crap and smoothies. I had a smoothie,
the Four Berry, (it seemed the obvious choice ;-), and took
care of business on the laptop. I'd never had a smoothie before
and the damn thing was so sweet I liked to have gagged, so I
ordered (to my eternal shame) an iced latte. That was pretty
gaggy too albeit in a different way but at least it got the
sweet out of mouth.

I took a look at Swede Bottom Creek and decided if I could get
upstream of the cows I might find some decent water. The cows
weren't a problem but the big bull who came storming out of the
shade of an old willow tree *was* a problem. Seeing as how I was
outweighed by a good thousand pounds or so I retreated back over
the cattle steps to the car to consult the maps and come up with
a Plan B. 'B' for Badger as it turns out, Badger Creek downstream
of the Hwy 76 bridge. Once again high skies and bright sunshine
hampered the catching but the fishing was fine. I saw a monster
brown tucked up under the shade of a cut bank and whispered to
myself in the most reverent terms, "booyah", but he wasn't having
anything to do with my parachute Adams.

On Sunday morning I took a drive over to Fillmore County to fish
the South Branch of the Root River. The Root River system drains
a goodly portion of southeastern Minnesota and the main river, a
warmwater fishery, is a big part of the tourist economy with canoe
liveries, bicycle rentals, restaurants etc. all along its length.
The South Branch is small, small and cold. My thermometer read 56F.
The cold water and the abundance of hardwood cover over the stream
made for some fine fishing even in the glare of the midday sun. I
caught the biggest brown trout I've ever caught in the state of
Minnesota this day, a strong, jumping 16 incher. I don't ever recall
a brown trout jumping as much as this one. I was using my old 7.5'
3wt Winston with a Hardy Featherweight and for the first time this
trip I got to hear that sweetest of sweet sounds, the click and pawl
of an old Hardy screaming under the weight of a big fish. A hoot.

I went back to the car to have a Budweiser break and to repair some
bleeding from my forearm inflicted by a rampaging and vicious sticker
bush. (I *hate* Coumadin.) While leaned up against the old Volvo
sipping a glass of the King of the Beers I heard country music bearing
down on my location and blaring at high volume. Soon enough a horse-
drawn buggy with six teenage Amish girls came trotting over the bridge
at high speed blasting country and western from somewhere inside the
buggy. They waved and smiled, I did the same. A hoot.

I finished the day right there in the State Park where I was camping
and fished East Beaver Creek. East Beaver Creek lies wholly within
the State Park so is well taken care of and quite pretty. A footbridge
crosses Beaver Creek just downstream of the confluence of East & West
Beaver so that you can see both from the bridge. Both run cold and
fish well for browns and brookies. I'll be back.


No snippage.

Thanks for the tag-a-long, Ken. Nice read.

Russell

Hoping to get some stick waving in soon.

On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:14:28 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

My original plan was to camp along the Au Sable and fish the
Holy Waters of Michigan using my little cedarstrip canoe and
a bicycle shuttle but when I read the fishing reports from the
fly shops along the Au Sable I changed my mind. The hex hatch
was still in full swing and it is an exercise in futility to
float flies over fish during the day that are keyed in to feasting
at night. And I don't fish at night.

So, off to Caledonia, "The Wild Turkey Capital of Minnesota",
in the driftless area of southeastern Minnesota. I camped at
Beaver Creek Valley State Park and got to fish three days,
Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On Friday I fished West Beaver Creek and its trib, Larson
Creek just upstream of the County 12 bridge. The first fish to
hand was a nice little 8" brown that was soon followed by a
gorgeous 10" brookie. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in
the sky, so the fishing wasn't great but it was great day
nonetheless.

Saturday I had to go to Houston, MN because it had the only
WiFi hotspot I could find near Caledonia. The hotspot was free
and located in a funky little tourist trap catering to the
spandex-wearing bicycle touring crowd. All they serve at the
"Little Looney" is coffee crap and smoothies. I had a smoothie,
the Four Berry, (it seemed the obvious choice ;-), and took
care of business on the laptop. I'd never had a smoothie before
and the damn thing was so sweet I liked to have gagged, so I
ordered (to my eternal shame) an iced latte. That was pretty
gaggy too albeit in a different way but at least it got the
sweet out of mouth.

I took a look at Swede Bottom Creek and decided if I could get
upstream of the cows I might find some decent water. The cows
weren't a problem but the big bull who came storming out of the
shade of an old willow tree *was* a problem. Seeing as how I was
outweighed by a good thousand pounds or so I retreated back over
the cattle steps to the car to consult the maps and come up with
a Plan B. 'B' for Badger as it turns out, Badger Creek downstream
of the Hwy 76 bridge. Once again high skies and bright sunshine
hampered the catching but the fishing was fine. I saw a monster
brown tucked up under the shade of a cut bank and whispered to
myself in the most reverent terms, "booyah", but he wasn't having
anything to do with my parachute Adams.

On Sunday morning I took a drive over to Fillmore County to fish
the South Branch of the Root River. The Root River system drains
a goodly portion of southeastern Minnesota and the main river, a
warmwater fishery, is a big part of the tourist economy with canoe
liveries, bicycle rentals, restaurants etc. all along its length.
The South Branch is small, small and cold. My thermometer read 56F.
The cold water and the abundance of hardwood cover over the stream
made for some fine fishing even in the glare of the midday sun. I
caught the biggest brown trout I've ever caught in the state of
Minnesota this day, a strong, jumping 16 incher. I don't ever recall
a brown trout jumping as much as this one. I was using my old 7.5'
3wt Winston with a Hardy Featherweight and for the first time this
trip I got to hear that sweetest of sweet sounds, the click and pawl
of an old Hardy screaming under the weight of a big fish. A hoot.

I went back to the car to have a Budweiser break and to repair some
bleeding from my forearm inflicted by a rampaging and vicious sticker
bush. (I *hate* Coumadin.) While leaned up against the old Volvo
sipping a glass of the King of the Beers I heard country music bearing
down on my location and blaring at high volume. Soon enough a horse-
drawn buggy with six teenage Amish girls came trotting over the bridge
at high speed blasting country and western from somewhere inside the
buggy. They waved and smiled, I did the same. A hoot.

I finished the day right there in the State Park where I was camping
and fished East Beaver Creek. East Beaver Creek lies wholly within
the State Park so is well taken care of and quite pretty. A footbridge
crosses Beaver Creek just downstream of the confluence of East & West
Beaver so that you can see both from the bridge. Both run cold and
fish well for browns and brookies. I'll be back.

Good read. That brown on your li'l 3 weight must've been a riot!

Cheers

/daytripper

On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:14:28 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

My original plan was to camp along the Au Sable and fish the
Holy Waters of Michigan using my little cedarstrip canoe and
a bicycle shuttle but when I read the fishing reports from the
fly shops along the Au Sable I changed my mind. The hex hatch
was still in full swing and it is an exercise in futility to
float flies over fish during the day that are keyed in to feasting
at night. And I don't fish at night.

*snipped*

I finished the day right there in the State Park where I was camping
and fished East Beaver Creek. East Beaver Creek lies wholly within
the State Park so is well taken care of and quite pretty. A footbridge
crosses Beaver Creek just downstream of the confluence of East & West
Beaver so that you can see both from the bridge. Both run cold and
fish well for browns and brookies. I'll be back.

Friends have been trying to get me over there for years. Your TR might
be the push I needed. Thanks.

g.c.

On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:14:28 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:


I finished the day right there in the State Park where I was camping
and fished East Beaver Creek. East Beaver Creek lies wholly within
the State Park so is well taken care of and quite pretty. A footbridge
crosses Beaver Creek just downstream of the confluence of East & West
Beaver so that you can see both from the bridge. Both run cold and
fish well for browns and brookies. I'll be back.

Nice TR, Ken. Thanks for it. And for bringing back some memories.

I sat one afternoon just downstream of that little bridge you
mentioned, being ignored by some nice brown trout as I dragged
spinners past them. I had not yet graduated to fly fishing and being
taunted at that time. I spotted for some guy coming upstream who
plucked three nice browns right up. Probably about 8 to 10 inches,
Might have been larger. Nope. Just measured it against the memory of
my hand and arm next to them as I leaned over to take a good look. 8
or 9 inches. However, they were very pretty fish. Gorgeous colour.

The directions within the park for what to do in case of flooding can
be a little unnerving, such as: Do not attempt to drive out or walk
on the road. Go up on the hills and follow a high trail or just stay
up there until the waters recede. Made me happy I had one of the
higher campsites at the narrower end of the valley.

The low water bridges have marked poles where you shouldn't try to
drive out if you can't see the big horizontal line. I don't know what
they think people are driving, but I'd not have done it in my old Ford
truck, much less a little sedan, unless the water was at least a foot
or two below that line. Low water bridges can get just a bit too darn
exciting, especially in the dark.

The water is very clear in spite of the swimming hole being the same
as the spring start. Though that's probably just one of the sources,
as it doesn't seem to have enough flow.

It's a lovely State Park. Gets lots of people up from Iowa, who, at
that time, were very happy to pay so little for a camp site compared
to their own state rates. But I think they'd be there anyway because
of its loveliness.
--

r.bc: vixen
Minnow goddess, Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher.
Almost entirely harmless. Really.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

BJ Conner wrote:

"cattle steps" that would be a stile.
If your going to habitate that part of the world don't overlook NE
Iowa. Some of the creeks got blown out bad a few years back but
friends tell me there all recovered now. French Creek is a place I'de
like to go back to. Beautiful place with interesting waters. It's
well managed, ffo and catch and release. Access is good all the
fences have stiles.

That's right, a stile. Minnesota DNR is real good at mapping
and marking the streams where they've negotiated an angler's
easement with the landowner. I picked up my 2007 version of
_Trout Angling Opportunities in Southern Minnesota_ at the
Fly Fish Expo in Minneapolis in March. Armed with the maps
therein and a Minnesota DeLorme you'll have no problem at all
finding legal spots to fish.

As for Iowa, I don't know, I've just barely scratched the surface,
so to speak, of southeastern Minnesota. I could spend a couple
of lifetimes exploring the Minnesota side and still not fish
all the trout streams.

--
Ken Fortenberry

daytripper wrote:

Good read. That brown on your li'l 3 weight must've been a riot!

Thanks. Yeah, what a blast !! I only used two different rods
all weekend, that little 3wt you borrowed in North Cackalackey
and my 3/4wt 6'3" Zimboo. Both of them make little fish a lot
of fun and bigger fish an adventure.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Russell D. wrote:
...
Thanks for the tag-a-long, Ken. Nice read.

Russell

Hoping to get some stick waving in soon.

You're quite welcome. I hope you get to wet a line soon.

--
Ken Fortenberry

George Cleveland wrote:

Friends have been trying to get me over there for years. Your TR might
be the push I needed. Thanks.

It's a beautiful part of the world, very much like the driftless
area on the Wisconsin side as you'd expect, but a few more trees
and a few less cows. East Beaver Creek in particular, running in
its entirety in a State Park is just gorgeous. You can fish
upstream from the confluence where it merges with West Beaver to
form Beaver Creek two and a half miles right up to the Big Spring
where it starts. And there's a hiking path right alongside all
the way so you can bail at any time and hike out. East Beaver is
also one of the southeast streams that opens for winter fishing
on January 1. I might just have to fish it in the winter sometime.

--
Ken Fortenberry