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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
2009-07-03_RootRiver
I shook the stick earlier this week by finally catching a Longnose Gar. I have had the stick before and am aware that once its gone good things can happen. With that I have never caught a Sturgeon. It has been something of my imagination for nearly 20 seasons. Today I set out to conquer [...]
2009-07-02_CrookedCreek
On the hunt for mayflies today I found none at the usual spot at the Brownsville lookout. Since I was in the neighborhood I decided to hit the lower section of Crooked Creek for trout. I was stopped by the landowner, who was on top of his tractor, and asked if I was gonna float [...]
2009-04-28_HoustonCounty
Conditions: Sunny, 65 degrees, light breeze. I accessed the creek at a bridge on a gravel road that shoots east off the highway. My intensions were to scout the creek downstream to the confluence with the river. This hike is about three quarters of a mile. I know the upper section of this creek intimately. [...]
2009-04-18_WinnebagoCreek
Today I planned on going fishing with Shell. She had tied her own fly rod and her own box of flies now she just needed to get a Brown on a fly. She has caught many fish on a fly rod before however just not a Brown.
2009-04-04_CrookedCreek
I found this creek while scouting with my father opening weekend in 2003. Mayflies were coming off. I had never experienced a mayfly hatch like this in a spring creek in 20 seasons of Trout angling. This was my second season of owning an actual trout fly rod. I had several seasons swinging flies in [...]
2009-04-03_CrookedCreek
Our 400th image gallery!! Wes, Eric and I got out for some spring mayflies. We took fish on top all over as the hatch was great today. There were fish feeding to hatching mayflies in every run, riffle and pool. We encountered no other anglers out today.
2009-04-02_CrookedCreek
Today I headed south to get my annual Dark Hendrickson fix. The hatch was rather brief today however I managed several fish on top with #16 parachute adams. I switched over to a #2 Ugly Tom and caught several fish in the 14-18-inch range.
The mayflies are off.
here is a bit of video from Friday. 50 degrees and windy afforded me a creek to myself catching 64 trout in the afternoon.
2009-3-22_SpringCreekWeekend
The heat was on for air temps, we found 52 degree water, hatching mayflies, and willing trout. Where were you?!
2009-02-28_PossumCreek
You’ll have to excuse me for this as I do not care to name this creek anything other than Possum Creek. It is named for the Possum that my friend at Winona Fly Factory treed one day while scouting it. Its not that its the best creek in the region or even the worst however [...]
2009-02-22_PossumCreek
Today I scouted some new water with my girlfriend, her dog, and my buddy Justin, his girlfriend, and his dog. Since we were scouting we did not care to catch fish merely to see them. We saw them. Picking rocks I found that I should, prior to my return, tie up some size 16 scuds [...]