itchmesir
Well-known member
Sunday Sarah, my girlfriend, and I headed to Highlandville, IA to spend our 5 year anniversary at Bear Creek Cabins... We stayed in their Black Bear cabin... Sarah booked the cabin knowing it'd give me opportunities to fish every day we were there as the cabin was a couple hundred feet from south bear creek... A put and take stream that is stocked but does have a natural reproducing brown trout population... It was very nice cabin with a master bedroom and a loft with two twin beds and there was a fire place...
Day 1... Winter Solstice... Also our anniversary... Still allowed to go fishing... I chose a stretch that I normally enjoy fishing when I'm down in the area... Over the year it'd changed... Riffles were covered in sediment and moss and holes filled in with silt... Few runs had stayed the same... The streamside and trails weren't all that great either... Abnormally warm winter had left very muddy and slippery ground... Resulting in a few reminders of humility... Fishing was poor and only landed one small rainbow... Further upstream I'd heard a rather too close for comfort black powder rifle go off... Quickly reminding me of where I was and how well I was blending in rather than sticking out and made way back to the vehicle to head back to the cabin...
That night I took Sarah out for sushi at Koreana in Decorah, IA for our anniversary... First off... Sushi in Decorah Iowa? Yeah and it was great! Some crab rangoons to start followed by their house roll... A Viking roll and this awesome thing that was like a jalapeno popper and sushi had a baby and then deep fried it.
Day 2... Got up and Sarah made breakfast... I got ready to go out for another day of fishing... Hoping today would be a better day... On my way out the door Sarah made mention of me bringing home a meal... She would not go hungry this night... Weather wasn't the greatest but I got the gear for less than perfect days... I chose a different section this time on the same stream... Another I'd grown familiar with... And from the looks of it had not changed much... At least not enough to ruin any of the holes and runs I'd remembered... Fished for about 3 hours... Each hour filled with plenty of trout and no gun shots... Could've had a limit within minutes but I enjoy the sport and took my time with harvesting a meal for the evening... The fishing was good and the fish fry was amazing...
Day 3... Woke up to snow...
Roads were horrible... Sarah wanted to go back to Decorah to do some shopping... I had plans to get more fishing in... I dropped her off in downtown and I drove over to Trout Run... Which flows along the Decorah hatchery... Bigger trout stream for the driftless... Never had fished this stream before... I chose a section quickly to get in as much fishing as possible... The stream itself is very fertile... Lots of moss and weeds.... Runs that were shallow and lots of slower water... A few risers but they didn't want anything I offered... But at least I didn't get skunked... The day was made better by meeting up with Sarah at Armory Barbecue... This place makes some good ribs and their jalapeno cornbread is great too... Great way to top off a nice little gateway.
Day 1... Winter Solstice... Also our anniversary... Still allowed to go fishing... I chose a stretch that I normally enjoy fishing when I'm down in the area... Over the year it'd changed... Riffles were covered in sediment and moss and holes filled in with silt... Few runs had stayed the same... The streamside and trails weren't all that great either... Abnormally warm winter had left very muddy and slippery ground... Resulting in a few reminders of humility... Fishing was poor and only landed one small rainbow... Further upstream I'd heard a rather too close for comfort black powder rifle go off... Quickly reminding me of where I was and how well I was blending in rather than sticking out and made way back to the vehicle to head back to the cabin...
That night I took Sarah out for sushi at Koreana in Decorah, IA for our anniversary... First off... Sushi in Decorah Iowa? Yeah and it was great! Some crab rangoons to start followed by their house roll... A Viking roll and this awesome thing that was like a jalapeno popper and sushi had a baby and then deep fried it.
Day 2... Got up and Sarah made breakfast... I got ready to go out for another day of fishing... Hoping today would be a better day... On my way out the door Sarah made mention of me bringing home a meal... She would not go hungry this night... Weather wasn't the greatest but I got the gear for less than perfect days... I chose a different section this time on the same stream... Another I'd grown familiar with... And from the looks of it had not changed much... At least not enough to ruin any of the holes and runs I'd remembered... Fished for about 3 hours... Each hour filled with plenty of trout and no gun shots... Could've had a limit within minutes but I enjoy the sport and took my time with harvesting a meal for the evening... The fishing was good and the fish fry was amazing...
Day 3... Woke up to snow...
Roads were horrible... Sarah wanted to go back to Decorah to do some shopping... I had plans to get more fishing in... I dropped her off in downtown and I drove over to Trout Run... Which flows along the Decorah hatchery... Bigger trout stream for the driftless... Never had fished this stream before... I chose a section quickly to get in as much fishing as possible... The stream itself is very fertile... Lots of moss and weeds.... Runs that were shallow and lots of slower water... A few risers but they didn't want anything I offered... But at least I didn't get skunked... The day was made better by meeting up with Sarah at Armory Barbecue... This place makes some good ribs and their jalapeno cornbread is great too... Great way to top off a nice little gateway.