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TR: Closing the Season in MN
This year, the annual fall get-away happened to coincide with the last days of the season for trout streams in SE MN. Of course, with fall officially under way, a nice chain of cold fronts brought wind, clouds, spitting showers, and *cool* temps. Still looked quite summerlike in the Minneapolis area and points SE. Not a lot of fall colour in the leaves, much green grass, etc. Stepping outside though revealed that fall was indeed in full swing, with the mercury struggling to make mid-50's by late afternoon, if one was lucky. Had one day and an alternate penciled in for persuing trout on Hay Creek, south of Red Wing. Never been there before, but with the spawning season for browns coming up shortly, I figured they'd be a bit more aggressive and (hopefully) easier to catch. The planned day got more or less rained out, so the plans were laid for Saturday -- if it wasn't *pouring*, I'd be fishing. :-) Would bring my brother from Eagan along, figuring it'd be as good a time as any to break him in on fly fishing. We got a rather late start, and thanks to a combination of road construction, detours and not knowing the backroads, we didn't arrive until sometime after noon. Temp was about 48F, drizzling off and on, and the wind was about 20 mph. However, the area streamside was sheltered enough that we were out of the stiff breeze. Intelligence had the fish in deep runs, taking nymphs/scuds off the bottom. I rigged up the 8' 4 wt., and set brother up with a 9' 7 wt. Not exactly what one would want on a spring creek, and I still had my stillwater leader on it, but I figured since he was a *real* tyro at this, it might be better if he just flipped/dapped a bit of line and leader, and the length of the rod would allow him to put the short line about anywhere he might desire. Tied on a #12 tan scud, some extra shot for good measure, and a yarn indicator. Gave him some instruction on how to manipulate the rig and sent him on his way. He asked where a good place to start might be. I pointed out a likely looking spot, and turned back to work on my setup. Not more than 30 sec. elapsed when I hear him -- "Got a fish...". I figured he'd hung up or something, and rolled my eyes in anticipation of getting the mess sorted out as I turned back around. To my sheer astonishment, he was holding a 10" brown, nicely coloured up, in his hands! :-) Well, I'll be go to hell... :-) Not out of the car 10 minutes, and I had him on a fish. This could be auspicious... :-) We surveyed up and downstream from the parking area, and went our seperate ways. I started thinking maybe I should give up fishing and take up guiding, as I seemed to have the knack (at least at that moment) for putting a *real* sport onto fish. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be into a fish or two myself before too long, right? :-) The thought crosses my mind that that fish might have appropriated *all* the luck for the day, and that might be all the action we see... Nah, the fish are going to be hot, and the action will come shortly... Not a freakin' prayer. :-( Flogged the water to a froth, drifted every likely (and some *not* real likely) looking spots, and pretty much nada. Caught bottom, caught weed, caught streamside brush, everything but another fish. Brother came up after a while and I had to replace his fly and tippet. I changed flies several times, hoping to find the magic combination. Nothing was working. The showers let up, and although it was pretty cool and damp, it *was* nice. Streamside brush was pretty hairy in most areas -- well over 7-8' high. Didn't find too many places where a conventional cast could be employed. Some places one could roll cast, and others were more or less impossible. Hey, what do you want? This is midwest spring creek fishing in the fall! :-) Worked every wet/nymph presentation I could think of. Straight upstream, up and across, down and across, and straight downstream. Did dead drifts. Did wet fly swings. Did stripping retrieves. Added weight. Took off weight. Worked the banks. Worked deep holes. Worked submerged timber. Pounded riffles. Drifted back eddies and foam lines. Every place a fish was supposed to be. But, if the indicator twitched, bounced, or dipped, it was either ticking the bottom or hanging up in weeds. The water *was* a bit off-colour from the more intense rains the day before. Could not see more than a couple feet down. The early success *did* keep us in there slugging, though. :-) Wish there would have been some surface action, but that didn't happen. The sun broke through for about 10 minutes, and I saw one or two tiny BWO duns pop up, but they were unmolested. Watched one float downstream for a couple minutes, right past some *very* fishy looking spots, and the little sailboat kept right on floating down current until it was out of sight. Brother reported he heard some fish "jump" near where he was, but he couldn't see them, just hear the splashing. We kept at it for a good 3+ hours. By that time, it was rather obvious the fish were winning, and we packed up for the drive back to Eagan. Not long after that, the showers kicked in again, so we were glad to be dry in the vehicle and on the way home. Brother had fun, and is talking about getting his own fly rod, so I suspect I might have got him hooked... :-) This is good, as it'll give me a willing accomplice to head out and try again next time I'm in the area. :-) As for myself, yeah, I would have liked to pick up a fish or two so that I could break the spring creek curse, but it *was* a good day! :-) I got a *lot* of practice mending, stream reading, and dealing with spring creeks in general. For an old stillwater guy, I need *all* the help I can get! The experience is *so* different, I feel like a babe in the woods most of the time. Moving water is fascinating stuff, almost hypnotic. The current sucks the stress *right* out of you and carries it off somewhere else. :-) I still smile, thinking of the irony of my brother hooking up like an old pro with that big 7 wt., rigged as it was more for bass than spring creek trout, basically on the first cast, right out of the vehicle... I'm the one that has maybe half a clue, and I can't catch cold, but *he*, the *compleat* novice, who couldn't tell one bug from another without a scorecard, hits the walk-off home run... But hey, at least *one* of us pulled a nice fall brown from the water before the season closed! :-) Todd (remove hook to reply) |
#2
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TR: Closing the Season in MN
On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Todd Enders wrote:
at least *one* of us pulled a nice fall brown from the water before the season closed! :-) Certainly seems like it whet your appetite for next season. Mu |
#3
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TR: Closing the Season in MN
In . itd.umich.edu Mu
Young Lee wrote: On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Todd Enders wrote: at least *one* of us pulled a nice fall brown from the water before the season closed! :-) Certainly seems like it whet your appetite for next season. Hell, my appetite for fishing is *always* pretty keen. :-) I *almost* ate a free ticket to the Vikings game, but since the boss gave same to me, and was going to be at the game, I thought "better" of it and went, instead of sneaking back streamside for another go (and yes, I *am* a die-hard Vikings fan... :-). One must have priorities, though... :-) I think I've caught an incurable case of spring creek-itis, though. I've always been a sucker for "intimate" waters, be it a secluded pond, small back bay, or a creek one could jump across. There's a *lot* to like on those SE MN creeks... :-) Todd (remove hook to reply) |
#4
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TR: Closing the Season in MN
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