2011 Winter C&R Reports

[OnAFly]

Because the only people that fly fish are elitist yuppies, right?

[itchmesir]

Because the only people that fly fish are elitist yuppies, right?

well duh

*jumps in his 2011 Escalade with his Orvis everything and heads to the stream*

*gets out of Escalade and has his Indonesian slave help put his waders and boots on while his other migrant worker ties flies streamside*

*notices there are too many trees and calls his TU friends to come help him chop them down*

just another day in the life of an elitist fly angler

[OnAFly]

Wait a second...I'm supposed to get an Escalade out of this?

Why am I wasting my money on a truck!

Not to say there aren't any elitists in fly fishing, because there are. But, there are in every other sport too. How many bass guys have a $40000 boat? Do they need it? No. Do I call them elitist scum for having it? No.

BTW, I've been wearing the same TU hat for about 5 years now. Best hat I ever owned.

[ted4887]

well duh

*jumps in his 2011 Escalade with his Orvis everything and heads to the stream*

*gets out of Escalade and has his Indonesian slave help put his waders and boots on while his other migrant worker ties flies streamside*

*notices there are too many trees and calls his TU friends to come help him chop them down*

just another day in the life of an elitist fly angler

That made my afternoon! Thanks itch

[itchmesir]

So overall the streams are in good condition in SE minnesota.. some of the larger streams/rivers are a little high minus the Root which is really high.. but most of the tiny streams that turn into trickles come summer are in perfect condition for fishing right now..

so basically look to straighter streams with a higher gradient for the clearer water and headwaters

[itchmesir]

I forgot to mention BWO's have now been popping off the water too

[Scudly]

Yes i saw BWOs yesterday. Looked about size 18.

Rush River yesterday afternoon at HWY 10

[reinhard1]

nice pictures and browns. looked like a great day to be out. good luck.

[itchmesir]

Very nice Mark

[Scudly]

Buddy Eric, aka itchmesir. We have known each other on the trout boards - HSO and DTA for over a year now. Eric lives in Winona and that is the main reason we had yet to fish together. We are separated by about 1.5 hours of driving. Today we met up for the first time fishing on Pine Creek, Winona County. This was the habitat improvement (HI) section that is open for Minnesota winter fishing season (January 1 - March 31). A beautiful pasture stretch with lots of aqua-green water, big boulders, and lunker structures. We both really enjoyed this stretch. One bonus was catching a heritage brook trout, and a quality one at that. I asked Eric if he had ever caught a brookie out of the Pine and he said only browns. I believe this brookie must have migrated down from Hemmingway Creek, a tributary of Pine Creek. Looked to be around 10," a quality wild trout. Trout enjoyed worms, spinners, and flies. Eric was first using a wolly then switched over to a green scud with a copper John trailer. I fished Eric's 2wt. A tad too light for my taste as you really had to whip it good to make long casts. Easy to mend though, and the more I played with it, the more I got the hang of it.

Parting ways with Eric after 3.5 hours of fishing the Pine I make my way to Red Wing to fish with another new friend named Dylan for the first time. Dylan has a passion for trout fishing and roughfish - all species of southeast MN and he is proficient at doing so be it fly, crank, spin, or bait. Dylan took me to some prized spots. Skinny water, we raised some giants with spinners and raps. Dylan would float the raps downstream into the pools while I preferred to cast upstream with Panther Martin spinners. I ended up catching a beautiful 17" brown casing my spinner downstream. At times we saw wakes from fish attacking, quality trout and all caught were quite chunky. BTW, today is Dylan's 21st birthday and I am happy to have celebrated with him, if only for a couple of hours.

[ted4887]

Wow, looks like a fantastic day of fishing Mark & Eric! There are some really nice browns in there... and a quality brook to boot! Good job

[Scudly]

Quote:

and a quality brook to boot! Good job

It was exciting to catch the brook trout. I believe it to be heritage brook trout. Loren Miller who is speaking at Fly Fishing Expo had this to say:

Quote:

As I gathered more data on SEMN populations and others throughout the range of brook trout, several clusters of streams still appear likely to have remnant Driftless genetics, especially in the Pine/Rush system and parts of SF Root. Note that this does not mean all of the individual streams maintained their populations. Natural or human-assisted movements may have spread remnant genetics from some sources that persisted. I have not tried to publish my findings yet. The DNR continues to add samples and I am relying on other lab's data which they have not yet published.

Loren

Loren Miller

Senior Research Associate

Dept. Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Biology

200 Hodson Hall, University of Minnesota

1980 Folwell Ave.

St. Paul MN 55108

[email protected]

612.624.3019

[deets22]

awesome, its great to see those heritage brookies popping up. even with the introduction of the eastern strains. the heritage is the ones doing the breeding and popping up in streams and rivers. what a great catch!!!!!!!

[Scudly]

Loren Miller is giving a talk at the Fly Fish Expo on Saturday. That interests me. deets22 love your signature file.