The cold is back! March 26th, 2012

  The temp was about 38 degrees when I headed out to my favorite stream today.  I waited until about noon to head out, thinking maybe, just maybe,  it would be a little warmer.  Well, it didn't get any warmer!  The brisk wind was also a factor.  SE Minnesota had rain over the weekend, so I was looking forward to some nice cloudy water.  I was mistaken, the water was crystal clear.  At least the sky was cloudy, and I did have on camos.  I worked pretty hard on some stretches that are harder to fish with thick brush, but only caught a handful.  I saw some monsters, but they were especially spooky, so they will be there next time.  I only took a pic of one brown that I thought had some unusual coloring.  The gold underbelly was beautiful.  After a few hours of bone chilling wind, I headed back, once again thankful for the bounty God has provided!

 

Jigging for Trout

The wind was out of the south at 25? mph, and being my chosen stream of the day runs north to the south, fly fishing was pretty much out of the question for me.  I chose to use my spinning rig, a light weight fast action rod, matched to a pflueger reel.  I have had the best luck over the years with a wooly bugger jig, and because of the wind, I used a 1/16th jig in all back with painted eyes.  There was no spring runoff this year due to lack of snow making the water clear, but not too low, due to the springs flowing pretty good.                                                                                                                                            

Starting with the first hole, the trout were cooperative, in fact very cooperative.  I lost count around 20, and manage to get quite a few pictures with my Blackberry.  I did see a few "monsters" but only managed a 15 1/2 inch brown with beautiful dark colors, and a very nice 13 inch brook.  I figure the ratio ran 3-1 favoring  the brown trout.  Brook trout were first stocked late in the spring of 2008 and I'm guessing them to be measuring about 8 inches now.  I have caught a brook or two a year on this stream each year, even though the DNR says there haven't been brook trout stocked since the early 1980's.

The pictures show a few of the fish caught including the big brown and big brook of the day.  As usual, I thank God for giving me the bounty, and giving me the health to partake.

2012

I'm going to start with a belated post. I got out for a session on Jan 11th for an early start to the 2012 trout season. The temp was near 60 (yes, in January and in Minnesota). The stream was clear and had a medium flow as we had no snow to speak of at all this year. I didn't bring my fly rod, so I was using a small Panther Martin. My first cast brought me a 12" brown, but the hole was quickly spooked, so I kept moving. I caught several more fish in the next two hours, and was quickly fishing without my jacket. Anytime I can sneak a trout session this early in the year, I feel blessed!

And now for yesterday, Mar 5th......... I was anxious to get out, even if the conditions were far from perfect. The temp was more like Minnesota, low 30's with a brisk wind. I fished Crow Spring Creek, east of Rochester, Mn. I was using my new small stream rig, a custom St Croix 3wt 6' rod built by my son-in-law, Jeff Weatherly. I paired this with a new 2/3 Okuma SLV reel with Cabala's Prestige premier WF 3 F line. It was a perfect combination, much thanks to SIL Jeff.

I fought the wind and cold, and sorry to say, the trout were not cooperating, but any day on the trout stream is a beautiful day. Thank God for His Bounty!