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!!!!!!!!