2017 Driftless Trout Pics and Reports

[itchmesir]

Here we are... 2017. At least there's plenty of fishing to look forward to! Don't want to start a thread? Just want to post pictures? Feel free to do it all here.

Started off the new year meeting up with Steve aka unknownflyman on New Years Day and fishing a little gem of a creek. Recently had HI done to it, so we started there. I'm sure in the long run it'll be nice but it looked stripped and golf course-y. I enjoyed the stream when it looked a little rugged and required a good cast. We caught a few trout but really wanted to fish the stuff we both enjoyed about it this stream prior to the improvements. Overall the day was good. Midge hatching lightly with a few risers. Took trout on a variety of steamers and nymphs. Nothing too much on the size but the numbers were there. Come 3:30-4 the action came to a halt.

First fish of 2017!

Steve landing a trout in his new sexy fishpond brookie net

Today I got out again. Snow and rain in the forecast but with warmer than average temps in the forecast, that's all that mattered. Trout were eager to take an orange hare's ear variant I've dubbed the "trout carrot" which was trailed by a variety of midge nymphs throughout the day. Also took a few on the simi seal leech. Snowed a little bit but once it turned to pouring rain it was time to call it a day.

 

[luj333]

Beautiful brookies, nice start to the year!

 

[ia_trouter]

Very nice day. Your photography just keeps getting better. The 2017 thread is a great idea Eric.

 

[diamond rush]

Great pics. I wish they'd put a moratorium on habitat improvement. There's enough 'improved' water out there already.

 

[ontheflymn]

Talk about not seeing the forest through the trees. Instead of all this woody debris and hard armor approach (which does lend itself the golf course design....but it does hold), why is there not more of a soft armor, bank sloping and stabilization approach? Erosion and ag. chemicals are the largest threat to southeast Mn streams. Unfortunately, I don't see big ag. or the future government of this country holding back on that front, but the erosion control is an area that can be addressed.

 

[itchmesir]

Talk about not seeing the forest through the trees. Instead of all this woody debris and hard armor approach (which does lend itself the golf course design....but it does hold), why is there not more of a soft armor, bank sloping and stabilization approach? Erosion and ag. chemicals are the largest threat to southeast Mn streams. Unfortunately, I don't see big ag. or the future government of this country holding back on that front, but the erosion control is an area that can be addressed.

I'm actually concerned about the work done on this particular stream. I talked with one of the guys that owns the land/did the HI. Same folks that did CSB. I heard CSB's recent HI was pretty much wiped after the first flood event. It's a lot of sloping and soft armor. Logs used to stabilize the eroded banks. With some hard armor as well. Some holes looked like they didn't know what to do with all the logs they brought and just filled runs with them. I think sometimes they refer to this as making the stream "more technical" aka can't drift anything through it without snagging, wait till they're rising, dry fly water. One good flood and a lot of this work will be down stream.

 

[ia_trouter]

Lasting erosion control is no small task. Considerable money was spent on hard bank improvements during the last FED stimulus program. I can't say it doesn't hold at all, but it is far from a once and done proposition. Without expensive maintenance, a new problem appears a few hundred feet away the next time it rains 5-7. On some Iowa streams they have stopping planting crops nearly so close to the creek, and limit cattle access. It clearly helps. They were probably compensated but I am just guessing.

And we probably need a different thread for this conversation, or this one will lose it's purpose fast.

 

[goat trail]

Good to see others out enjoying the great weather! I fished Sunday and Monday. Sunday was ok. A buddy and I hiked and fished a long stretch of a stream near my house. We landed around a dozen between the two of us with only one decent fish (14 inches).

On Monday I got out solo and fished a smaller stream that has great numbers of brookies with some decent browns mixed in.

On both days midges fluttered about but fish didn't take notice. All but two trout came on a Pink Scud trailed behind a heavy tungsten beaded pink squirrel of prey. Only two brookies came to hand which concerns me but maybe the water temps impacted them more than the browns which fed voraciously. I landed around 30 fish in just over two hours. By the end my hands were frozen as they never got a chance to dry off between fish!

 

[weiliwen]

I wimped out and have decided not to brave the single-digit temps forecast for this weekend in Wisconsin, the trout season opener. We'll see what next week brings.

 

[Unknownflyman]

I want to hit the Wisconsin opener this weekend but it might be just a tad bit too cold well windy below zero windchill. That's winter, back to my vice.

 

[diamond rush]

Those pics are making me super jealous. I might just keep my eyes on plane tickets to see if I can score a cheap flight back home to visit my parents.

 

[ontheflymn]

DR - wait until we get in the 20's for sure. The weather right now is the type that freezes the snot inside your nose .

 

[diamond rush]

DR - wait until we get in the 20's for sure. The weather right now is the type that freezes the snot inside your nose .

I grew up there, I'll be fine. Remember the 2012 opener? I had the place to myself and even caught a trout. I have to book 5 weeks out to get cheap fares, so it's tough timing the weather.

Now, if you could tell me more than a month in advance which weekend the gray caddis are going to hatch in Fillmore county.....

 

[ontheflymn]

Now, if you could tell me more than a month in advance which weekend the gray caddis are going to hatch in Fillmore county.....

April 15-25.

 

[lake flyer]

I'm actually concerned about the work done on this particular stream. I talked with one of the guys that owns the land/did the HI. Same folks that did CSB. I heard CSB's recent HI was pretty much wiped after the first flood event. It's a lot of sloping and soft armor. Logs used to stabilize the eroded banks. With some hard armor as well. Some holes looked like they didn't know what to do with all the logs they brought and just filled runs with them. I think sometimes they refer to this as making the stream "more technical" aka can't drift anything through it without snagging, wait till they're rising, dry fly water. One good flood and a lot of this work will be down stream.

Someone once told me that man can put the trees where he wants them in the river, but nature will move them to where they should go.

 

[ontheflymn]

Our HI people in the river on occasion. That's essentially what woody debris is. They also will use them to create plunge pools, which I have no issue with.

The best HI I've seen done in teh Midwest is actually in Iowa. It's soft armor, it's sloped, and it's been reinforced with native prairie grass. Not one rock was placed on the project, and all wood, trees, debris, etc. have been cleared from the stream, up to several hundred yards from the stream.

The reason for this is the debris (trees) clog up the stream and limit movement and actually create more opportunity for erosion, etc. by keeping the stream free-flowing, there is no issue with debris pile ups, plus when it floods (note the when, not if), the stream rises up and flows freely over the bankside prairie grass. Once the waters recede, the grass holds the banks in place and pops back up.

It's a simple sounding process that took quite a few years of trial and error to master. The landowner actually started with sloping and woody debris and found it had a negative effect on the banks, so it was all removed in favor of prairie grass.

 

[k_e_v]

Just sharing a pic, I think I met Ger once but he landed a beastie last weekend on the Minnesota opener.

Ger Moua- 29" brown trout

It is just amazing how big the fish can be in that area

 

[itchmesir]

Wisconsin Winter C&R is here! Cold temps... but living 20 min from more water than I can count on my two hands... I figured I could at least scout a few streams and if anything looked promising. I'd fish it.

Once you've got a few good layers on though... 10F doesn't feel so bad

First Wisco trout of 2017...

That was pretty much it. Caught one other in the hour I fished. Figured the catch rate was above average and should stop while I'm ahead! Plus that wind to the face was reminding me why others prefer to stay inside on days like these...

 

[ia_trouter]

What is the third PIC from the last? I am used to the mystery wild mushroom photos but this one stumped me completely.

 

[boisker]

I had to google 10f into 'proper money'
-12C..... that's properly cold... I should tie some flies up mate