20-inches on a #20
I first stepped foot in this creek in 2004. The creek has undergone significant natural change throughout the past nine seasons however the fact that this creek still bears runs of large Brown Trout is apparent. I started my morning with another 60-mile one and a half hour commute to the creek. I picked up [...]
The Opener – Jan 1, 2012.
A Minnesota Winter Rainbow. Jan 1 has turned into a tradition. I have spent the last four openers angling with my friend Justin. In 2009 we began with a death hike through the bluff side in eastern Fillmore County. Since then we have had a spot that we frequent that is out of the wind. [...]
2012
The 2012 Minnesota Trout angling season begins tomorrow. It will mark the 9th season in a row that I have fished for trout on Jan 1. Although tomorrow’s conditions will be expectedly challenging i suspect that I will be able to successfully locate and angle willing trout. A winter weather advisory has been issued for [...]
2011-03-27_Mississippi River Flyway Spring Migrations Video
I am a bit wet behind my ears from this experience. Migrating swans are common place living in the Mississippi River Valley. I can hear their massive flocks migrating over my house throughout the night. The din of their call is very pronounced. I have experienced an odd Sandhill Crane in the marsh here and [...]
Starker goes fishing
Starker is just 18 months old however his competence being outdoors is advanced. Today we decided to go fishing in temperatures that neared 50 degrees. Starker did get to get his hands on his first German Brown Trout in Winona County.
January’s Winter Hatches
Few people consider 21 degrees an ideal time to hunt for bugs deep within a valley in southeast Minnesota. See what you are missing here.
2011-01-23_PossuhmCreek
Winter trout angling successes come in numerous forms. Today I found those successes during a three mile hike with my good friend Justin Carroll, winonaflyfactory.com. I have spent countless days on the water with Justin and have watched his fly angling addiction grow into a wholesome goodness that is unique to him. The drive took [...]
2011-01-09_PossumCreekWinonaCounty
Today I set out to fish a section of creek that I never fished in the winter. With my list of winter creeks that I have fished being longer than my list of creeks I haven’t fished it was easy to deduce where I would end up today. The forecasted air temps lead me to [...]
2011 Stream Trout Winter Opener
My angling season officially began Jan 1, 2011, as has been my tradition for eight seasons. I have learned numerous new winter angling skills in the last eight seasons which compliment my 22 previous winter trout seasons. These skills have afforded me the pleasure of successfully and comfortably angling for stream trout in freezing temperatures. [...]
2010-07-11_BrownsandBows
To those of you who are avid trout anglers and thought that this was an all trout post: The names Browns and Bows don’t just refer to two of the three species of fish that are the predominate exotic biomass in southeast Minnesota’s Driftless Areacreeks. Shawn and I had fun catching sturgeon in the shade [...]
2010-07-10_RootRiver
We launched from Wildcat Landing because it is a nice landing with easy ins-and-outs, beyond that its free. We are beginning to think that this landing is called Wildcat because after the ride from the landing to the mouth of the Root River you typically feel like you would have been better off fighting a [...]
2010-06-13_MississippiRiver
Wes and I launched by canoe from McNally Landing on the Upper Mississippi River Refuge confident that we could find active fish in between squalls on weeds edges in the slough. I had two spinning rods rigged and Wes was set up with a casting rod. Rod one was rigged with a 1/2-ounce chartreuse spinner [...]
2010-05-29_MississippiRiver_tripplan
Gar, Pike, Catfishes, Mooneye, Redhorse, Dogfish, Bass, Sturgeon, Buffalo, Trout and Carp, amongst other species, can all be readily caught by hook and line angling methods on the Mississippi River today due to the high pressure weather pattern that has been holding for the majority of the past week. The trick of it is where [...]
2010-05-21_NewBeginnings
I have now been working in Wabasha for about six months. I started making the commute in November when the water had just began to start to turn over for the winter season. I drive 30 miles of Highway that runs along the Mississippi River twice a day. If you are a regular reader of [...]
2010-05-19_TheSlough
Today I went to a different piece of water for my lunch break. This was a place that was previously undiscovered to me. It is what the locals call the slough as it is connected to the Mississippi River by means of culverts under the dike roads. It has lots of veg in its murky [...]
Winter Creek Rainbows; how to video.
This is the first episode for the 2010 season of On The Water. Filmed entirely in southeast Minnesota. January brings ice and snow to Minnesota however the few of us that are smart enough to know where to go to fish trout in the dead of winter typically have a successful time. This video shows [...]
2009-10-03_StCroixRiver
After the past weekends fishing adventures I thought I would bring it to the attention that after at least 28 seasons on the water I have added three new species to my list this season. This last one being one of the most triumphant. Being a mystical fish the Lake Sturgeon has been a target [...]
Angling for our Native Lake Sturgeon
Lake Sturgeon are classified as rare species by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Lake Sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, are of special concern to the MDNR however not to the federal level. Nationally these fish are caught in the northern states. Traditionally this species was a food base for Native Americans living in the river woodlands. [...]
2009-08-30_TroutRunCreek
Today Justin and I set out to catch some fish. he had never fished Trout Run before so I took him to a spot where, more times than not, I traditionally caught large native Creek Chubs. This section of stream went under the knife a few years back. In the process of “habitat restoration” it [...]