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)

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

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)

Todd Enders wrote:
Moving water is
fascinating stuff, almost hypnotic. The current sucks the stress
*right* out of you and carries it off somewhere else. :-)



It does sing a sweet song. Good report.

Willi