Kids + Fishing = Good Times !!!!!!!

When I woke up this morning and the sun was shining, one thought crossed my mine.  "Its trout fishing time!"  I quickly checked the weather station and saw that it was going to reach a high of 41 degrees today.

Sweeettt!!!!  That may not sound very warm to some of you but this is the warmest it has been for a while now.  No more freezing eyelets!!  No more numb fingers!!!  I quickly packed a lunch for me and my two kids and had them get their fishin duds on.  Tied up a few flies really quick and even came up with a new one.

I used it as a trailer.

I call this fly a Punk Rock Nymph: (Because of it's peacock feather mohawk)

This is tied with olive green dubbing/peacock feather/brown wool/bead

I had pretty good luck with it until I tried yanking out a snag and ended up with both flies missing.

You know what they say "You tie some, you lose some."  or something like that.

At least I have a picture of it, so I can remember what it looked like.

I tied this fly up just for the Brook Trout creek we were heading to:

I tied this on about 5 1/2' down on leader trailed by Punk Rock Nymph about 1 1/2' down.

After tying up the flies and packing the rest of the gear,  I went out to the garage and backed out the Subaru.  Oh no, the orange light on gas gauge is bright and the needle is way past empty.  Not good.  It is about 15 miles to nearest gas station.  I throw a little gas can in back just in case and head for the hills.   I'm half way there, no sputtering so far that's good!  By now the light is so bright it looks red.  Maybe Subaru has a secret reserve tank built in.  Or maybe this is one of the few all wheel drive vehicles that actually gets decent gas mileage?  I continue to baby the gas pedal and finally make into town.  Fewwww, that was a close one.  Twenty bucks later and only 5.5 gallons in the tank . OUCH.  Onward to the trout stream where the only thing to worry about is what fly I should use.  Ten more minutes and were there.  

The kids role out and I grab the gear and poles out.  The backpack I packed full of food seems to weigh about 40 lbs.  My back is hurting right now as I type.  I tie on my setup and hand the kids their poles, and we head upstream for some Brookie catchin.  This stream is great for a nice hike.  It is really fun because it is tiny but is a sweet challenge on a breezy day.  It opens up in some spots to form some nice little holes.

It is about 2:00 by the time we stop to fish the first hole.  Maybe about 37 degrees and a slight breeze.

I help the kids with the lures and casting but this is not long lived.  Its too tricky for them to fly fish and the spoons/spinners just keep snagging on the shallow stone bottom.  So I decided to show them the old racing stick boats down the rapids.

I would fish a hole catch one or two and head to the next.  They would race their beaver chewed stick boats down the rapids of the hole I just fished.  It worked like a charm and they did this the entire time we were out there.  Ahhh  to be a kid again.  As I caught the fish, they took turns releasing each one.  It was hilarious because they were really excited about making sure each one got back in quickly and safely.  I told them to be careful when handling them because they need the "slime" on them to be healthy.  My daughter did a pretty good job considering she is only 4 years old.  Here are a few pics of some of the beautiful Brookies we caught.  These particular fish were all taken on the fly.  7' St. Croix Avid Series.  I love this rod.

Enjoy:(These are each a different fish, even though some look a lot alike.)Enjoy:

 

Now that I actually see all the pictures it looks like 

my daughter might have got to release a few more than my son. 

                   

THIS ONE HAD A LOT OF BEAUTIFUL RED ON IT

MY SON REALLY GOT A KICK OUT OF THIS LITTLE LADY

This was my sons idea of how to keep track of fish caught.  I thought it was great idea:

A DIFFERENT VARIATION OF THE FLY FROM ABOVE(FISHED WITHOUT TRAILER)

This is a picture of one of the springs that empties into the creek:

On our way upstream the kids built a trap and kept reminding me that they wanted me to check it out on the way back to the car.  Little did they know, I 'm no sucker!!  It was hidden pretty good.

 

We ended up staying out there for about 6 hours altogether.  It was a great time had by all.

By the end of the day we were all ready to be on our way and get the home fire burnin.  Its suppose to get down in the 20s tonight.  Burrrrrrhhhh.

Hope you enjoyed pics!

FISH REPORT:

CONDITIONS:  41 Degrees - Mostly Sunny - Slight Breeze

TIME FISHED:  1:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

POLE:  St. Croix 7' Avid Series

TACKLE/FLIES USED: Bugger Variation and Punk Rock Nymph

TACTICS:  Casted up into rapids for instant hits as soon as fly hit water.  Then slowly stripped line back to me, letting it sit in deep part of holes.  Caught quite a few deep just letting it sit.  Tight Lines.

FISH CAUGHT:

16 Brook Trout

1 Brown Trout

Another great day out in nature.  

Bringing the kids out on the stream is a sure fire way to make sure that you have a good time.  And apparently good luck.

GOOD LUCK to you out on your next fishing adventure, and until next time:

TIGHT LINES!!!!!!!!

Frozen Eyelets and Numb Fingers! Gotta Love It!

Another sunny, but deceivingly cold day.  The trout still remain quite slow going.  The stream is subsiding day by day.  Lets hope that there is no rain in near future forecast.  I headed out today about 10:30 am and went out in search of some trout.  I tried the first two holes with a spin pole and a gold and orange Little Cleo.  NOthing.  Not even a bite.  I  would see a brown follow the lure back to the shore and then it would turn around and head back out.  I decided to B-line it back to the Subaru and make the switch to the St. Croix fly rod.  The fly rod is a great choice for early spring because it allows you to slow down you presentation.  The second hole in:

Can YOu guess where the trout are sitting??

When you head out trout fishing which set of tracks would you rather see?

 

I usually like to fish the spots where I see more of the prints on the left.  Although sometimes you can't help but hit up those sweet easy access holes.  

The part of the stream I was on today was mostly in the shade for most of the early morning, but when I came into the bright warm sun I soaked it up.  The temp couldn't have been much over 30 degrees.  It seems pretty chilly for this time of the year.  Usually by now I wouldn't have to deal with this:

Frozen Eyelets-Nothing Worse!

I once broke a brand new fly rod tip right off.  Instead of using my thumb to push the ice out, I decided it would be a good idea to tug on the fly line.  Snizzap.  Luckily it was warrantied and Bass Pro Shop sent me a new rod next day air.  Sweet Deal.  I use St.Croix now and they are great because if you break anything on the top section of the rod they will send you a new one for $30-$40.  That sure beats buying a whole new setup.

Since nothing seemed to be biting on this part of the stream, I focused more on taking some pics.  A lot of the holes had trees down in them, and it is going to take some branch cutting to make some of these holes fishable again.  Thats the nature of the beast.  Flooding has made for some significant widening of the stream.  There are some nice new little holes that will hold some fish once temps heat up.

I will keep my fingers crossed for some warm weather soon.  Don't forget that your fishing license is expiring on March 30th.  Don't get caught without one.  Also earlier I stated that hooks should be barbless.
My brotherin reminded me that they actually changed the barbless hook rule.  You can now use hooks with barbs in early season.  Still only artificial though.  


GOOD LUCK. TIGHT LINES!!!!!!!

Still Colder than a Polar Bears Toe Nail!!!

Hello everybody.  Has anyone been out fishing this weekend?  Today I took a trip to Baraboo along Narrows Creek and into Rock Springs where Narrows Creek was anything but narrow.  It meets up with the Baraboo River in Rock Springs and then the Baraboo heads towards Baraboo.  The Baraboo River is extremely high.  Narrows Creek is a great Small Mouth creek.  It also has Brook Trout at the top of stream.

I also went on a little hike along the top of one of my local streams.  Everything up top of the stream was nice and clear.  It was a touch high, but not to bad.  This part of the stream does not hold that many fish, but I like to check it and see if the Beavers are slowing down the stream with their insane dams.  

For the most part I didn't see a whole lot of beaver, but came across a lot of spots where trees were down in the stream.  It seemed like every other hole.

It was a pretty day out today.  There was significant cloud coverage and the wind was whipping!  

The cold is sticking around and I cant wait to see it go.

I caught to small browns today, that was it.  I only stayed out for a short time, since I was quite under dressed for the frigid temps.  

I plan on heading out tomorrow on a part of stream where I should have some good luck.  

uNtil Next Time!!!! 

Come on 70 degree days early morning rising.

 Tight Lines to all!!!

What up Bone Dog?

When the waters go down, the Trout will rise!!

Hello again everybody.

Today was a rainy day, and the streams are high.  Ummm let me rephrase that, the streams are super high and muddy.   Usually this will put a damper on the catching scenario.  So instead of grabbing for my rod and fly box, I decided to grab my Nikon instead,and catch some pics of nature in action.  Check out the pics and hang out stream side on a rainy day.

A couple of holes down and I came across this downed tree in the stream.  There is usually atleast one to two floods in the spring, so the erosion can become a problem in some areas.  Well atleast there will be a nice spot for the trout to hide.  I can't wait to lose about 50 flies in that tree.

The temperature today was about 45 degrees so the snow was melting and the rain was steady until about noon.  They are calling for more showers tonight. YIKES!! 

When I was out today I noticed a lot of the trees had moss growing on them and a lot of different mushrooms.
In some spots there's snow, in some spots green grass, and in some spots puddles of water.  It is spring time in full affect.

Does anyone know which kind of mushrooms these are???
Here's a hint:  They are growing on a birch tree.

 

HOW about these?

 

This mushroom kind of looks semi alien ish!

As I continue heading downstream I discover another downed tree in the middle of the stream.  The color of the tree against the muddy stream caught my eye.  I slowed the shutter speed down to about 1/4 of a second and used my tripod and remote shutter release for these pictures of some rapids.  The water was moving super fast and made for some nice subject matter.  This stream is usually a stream you could jump across at a lot of spots.  This is the upper head waters of one of my favorite streams.

Here the stream usually just goes around the other side of the tree.  Looks like things could change from the high water levels.  This part of the stream has quite a few smaller Rainbow Trout in it.  I hope they hunker down and hang on.  

 Here is a neat colored plant.

Any guesses?

They are calling for temps down in the low 30's for the end of the week.  Looks like by the time the water has dropped so will have the temp.

 I hope that next time I go out that the waters have gone down and the trout are on the rise!!!!

GOOD LUCK and Tight Lines to all.


Oh I have one more sweet pic of some of the wonderful things left behind by people who really care about preserving nature.

PLease If you see trash while out fishing or hunting, grab a bag and pick it up.  It only takes a few seconds and makes the scenery a lot more enjoyable.  


Until Next Time!!!!

Tips for Early Spring Trout Fishing - Small Streams

So you have been sitting there all winter tying flies.  You have gone out ice-fishing and it just isn't cutting it.

When oh when is it going to be time for you to get out there and say hi to the trout.  Not soon enough.

Finally it's here, the first Saturday of March.  Opening Day of the early trout season. 

Now it is time to put those flies to the test.   Before you go out though make sure to do a few things.

Make sure you have a thermometer to test the temperature of the water.  This is important to know because once you figure out when the water temp is the warmest for the day, you will know when trout will be most active.

Remember that the fishes metabolism is slow down due to the colder temps.  Keep this in mind when making your retrieval of your flies.  The fish will be moving slower, therefore so should you.  I like to go out at about 8:30 a.m. and see if I can get any fish moving.  The most active part of the day in the spring time is about 

10:00 a.m.  

Always beware of spooking the trout.  Sometimes in the Spring the water is ultra clear and the trout can be spotted almost anywhere in the hole.  They tend to stick together and school in the winter months.  Always keep a low profile.  This will help reduce the chance of a trout spotting you.  Also remember things are still pretty drab outside.  Wear clothing that blends in with the grayer backgrounds and sometimes things are white from snow.  

It is a good idea to check the stream for what the trout might be eating.  I like to use a scud, or tiny trailer.  Things that look like new hatching insects, pupa etc. work well.  I usually throw out a decent size nymph with a small gray/pink trailer about 1.5ft down.   This will usually cover some of things in the streams you are fishing.

This is one of my favorite all around flies spring, summer or fall. 

Make sure that when you are out these streams during the early season that you remember to fish barbless and artificial lures only during this period.

GOOD LUCK OUT THERE!!!!!!!!!!
And don't forget to bring the kids along!!

Baby Trout... Oooh Tough Guy!

I am posting a picture of my smallest trout I caught last year.  It is a baby brown.  I always practice catch n release.  I almost made an exception for this monster!!

Even though these guys are "fingerlings" they are still quite aggresive.  It is fun to drift a nymph downstream with a small fly rod and just watch these little browns breech the surface and attack.  Today's fingerling is tomorrows MONStEr TrOUt!!!

Feel free to post pics of your smallest trout.