Driftless Streamers - Friday the 13th - New Brook Trout Stream

The forecast was calling for rain the next 4 days, so I thought it would be a good idea and get out before it rained to much and muddied things up.  The sky's were gray and it looked like the rain could fall at any moment.  Ah the perfect time to head out I thought as the raindrops started to spatter my deck.  I had a stream in mind that I was hoping to get permission on so I headed over the hill and proceeded to start asking.  I ended up stopping at 3 different farms and was granted permission to fish the entire stretch I was hoping to.  It may have been Friday the 13th but things were looking good to me :) 

Trouts Paradise

I recently did a fly swap with John of the blog : --- Currents --- He sent some beauty streamers my way and I sent some nice fluffy dry flies his way.  When I received the package in the mail I was super pumped to get out there and send some of these flies deep.  This stream had nice dark green deep holes at every bend, what better of a place to test them out.   I tied one on and trailed it with a small bead head then proceeded to gear up.  Here are the streamers from John of Iowa's Driftless Area.  Superb!

Which One is Your Favorite ?

The Clouds Role in and SO DOES THE WIND !!

No sooner had I stepped foot onto the stream when the rain stopped and a new form of clouds rolled in and brought some hellacious winds with them.  Let's just say tossing a streamer with a trailer soon had me  wondering if my luck was about to change and I could maybe end up in the emergency room removing a fly from the back of my head :)  Well as usual  I stuck with my plan and proceeded to straight bomb the water with streamer number 1.  The first cast that hit its mark was rewarded with a nice 10 inch Brookie on the deep retrieve.  I was so excited and so was the Brookie, the next thing I know it slipped from my hand back into the stream just as quick as it came.  Oh well I was just stoked to see that Brookies inhabited the stream.  The next hole I ran the fly deep but retrieved it upstream and had a bite, then the fly was gone.  Huge trout or snapping turtle, not quite sure.  Bummer!  I quickly tied on a new streamer and it soon proved to be a good choice.

This Fly was the Bee's Knee's for sure.  Love the Olive !

Hungry Fella !! There ya Go!

Another one bites the Bugger :)

Why is the sound of water so peaceful ? :)

Even the little ones couldn't resist a meal almost half their size.

Fish of the day was a nice 17.5 inch Brown female that took me for a ride.

I moved downstream to the next stretch and it was windier than ever.  The farmer told me that back in the 80's there were more than 600 horses being pastured above his land on a state owned property.  He said the water was as brown as chocolate milk and that every last fish was killed.  It amazes me how quickly some of these streams recover with a little help from the land owners, Trout Unlimited and the states DNR projects.  The first cast in and a nice Brown came to hand on the same streamer as above.  Due to all the wind knots and the heavy fly I would end up losing that sweet bugger after all.  I ended up tying on a wild streamer that I had tied up the night before and was excited to see it produce some fish itself.  

Nicest colors of the day award.

Wild Cat Streamer did the trick.  The fish hit as soon as the fly hit the water.

The wind ended up besting me after fishing a few hours and the rain never did fall.  As I type this post the forecast for today was 70's with thunderstorms-clouds and it is 70's and sunnier than ever.  The best way to check the weather is to just get out there and do some fishing :)  The day proved to be worth the effort and I am just glad that Friday the 13th ended up luckier than unlucky :) 

Until Next Time..........Tight Lines to All !!!!!

Crystal - Clear Your Mind

The sun has been shining and things are greening up quickly here in the Driftless.  Bird's are chirping and the geese are louder than ever.  The spring peepers can be heard as soon as the sun starts to set.  Sometimes I go past patches of them that seem to be almost deafening.  I have taken a few trips in the last week or so and have discovered some new stretches of stream that yet again took my breath away.  Ocean made a trip with me.  He was sure to bring his camera and caught a lot of nice images himself.  Each time I find myself in a new location I can't help but just stand in awe at the new sites, sounds and even the trout that have their own characteristics depending on which stream you are on or what part of the stream you are fishing.  The trout I came across on one of the streams were extra aggressive and equally spooky.  When hooked they were quick to try and shake the fly.  We caught fish,photographed fish,missed fish, dropped slippery fish and spooked just as many :)  It was just what we needed :)

Until Next Time.....Tight Lines to All !!!!!

Fly Fishing Where The Eagles Soar !!

I could barely wait for my new Nikon lens to arrive at my doorstep.  As soon as the UPS truck pulled up our drive way I couldn't help but shriek like a little kid on Christmas morning.  The new lens is a 55mm - 200mm zoom lens.  I have been using my 18mm - 55mm lens for all pictures before this point and sometimes I found myself out there wishing I could zoom in on a bird, deer or something off in the distance.  Finally that moment had arrived and I was off to test it out and make sure it was in prime condition.  I decided to head to a creek I had been eying up for some time now, about a ten minute drive from my house.  I drove around looking at the stream and finally stopped at a farm to see if I could get permission to fish what looked to be a beautiful stretch of stream.  The land owner said to go ahead and fish and seemed to be quite happy that I was kind enough to stop and ask first.  It is always worth it once you do it and you get to fish a private stretch of stream.  I tossed on a Bomber trailed with a small bead head and the fish were hungry and aggressive.  I missed a lot of takes due to the fact I was fishing a new stretch and the sun was making it difficult to read the holes depth.  It was full of some nice looking Brownies.  I fished for a few hours and it almost seemed like I was in heaven :)  I will be back, for sure!!!   God I love fly fishing.  I hope you like the pics. 

Until Next Time.....Tight Lines to All !!!!