outdoors

All afternoon I sat and stared at The Weather Channel on the idiot box, and the NOAA radar on the other idiot box. Just a bunch of green on the radar, no yellow, no red, no cells. The plan was to hit the road by 4pm, and be at Paradise by 5pm. Just as I was throwing a couple barley sodas into the cooler, along with some pulled pork, I noticed the dreaded yellow and red within the green on the radar. Thunderstorm cells were forming north of the cities all the way down to La Crosse. I do not mind fishing in the rain, I actually enjoy it, but waving a long piece of graphite in the air when the possibility of lightening exists is just asking to go a few rounds with Darwin.

I decided to go anyways( no one ever compared me to a brainiac), figuring the cells would deteriorate by the time they met the thermal flux of the metro. Heading down 61 I realized, again, that I might be an idiot. The rain was torrential. It soon mellowed though, and the rationalizing could resume.

As I got to my spot there were three other cars there. Damn! But as I rigged up, two left, and the other guy was already talking himself out of it. An hours worth of driving had me convinced fishing was now an obligation. I mean standing in a river, getting wet, what's a little rain added to the mix?

The trout weree rising to emerging bugs, a mix of march browns, midges, and baetis. In order to get it out of the way I tied on a yellow and partridge soft hackle with a pheasant tail trailer. Nothing. Good, I wanted to fish dries anyways. It was difficult at times to distinguish the rises from the rain drops, but after a bit you got used to it. The rain came in cycles, heavy, the nothing, then steadily building again. By 7pm the fish were becoming very active. I had a heckuva time figuring out exactly what they were hitting, but an adult midge with a black body and a little white cdc wingcase seemed to be the ticket. Sulpher klinks with a shuck also worked. I won't say I caught a lot of fish, but I did catch some nice wild brownies.

The rain will be great for the rivers. Both the Kinni and Rush have been very low, lower than I have seen in awhile. It's going to be that time of the year where the terrestrials will start being more productive, and the hatches a bit more reliable. Summer is going too fast already.

On a side note, the many chapters of Trout Unlimited in Minnesota and western Wisconsin have a ton of projects that can use volunteers.

http://www.twincitiestu.org/
http://www.hiawathatu.org/
http://www.lambcom.net/kiaptuwish/

Thursday morning I sent the kids to school, packed up the truck with the 8wt, and headed north. The plan was to meet some friends at Temperance River State Park and basecamp from there. After a stop at Great Lakes Fly Co. in Duluth, I had camp set up by 3pm and the rest of the day to fish.

Rivers from Two Harbors up were blown out due to the rain that the area had received the past prior days. I started fishing the mouths of the tribs hoping to lure cruising fish along the shore that were waiting for the right conditions to make their push up the rivers. Smelt reports were sparse up that far, and it seems along with water temps, smelt are an indicator.

Friday was a beautiful day, mix of sun and clouds and comfortable temps. My brother and I fished Split Rock pretty hard all day. Other anglers reported taking a few steelhead here and there, but we did not see a fish. It did not matter though, it was a beautiful day to be out. We hit a few other North Shore tribs that day, driving up towards Tofte, and back down towards Beaver Bay. Members of the crew took fish that day, so it was not a total loss. Conditions were just tough, with turbid, cold waters.

Having told the family I would be home for dinner saturday night, we broke camp early saturday. I made plans to meet up with two of the guys at a river just north of Two Harbors where conditions were perfect. It was crowded, but not the combat-elbow-to-elbow fishing that can sometimes occur. After hiking up to the Judgement Pool, and finding no one there, we began to drift egg patterns, with plenty of splitshot to get them down deep. Thowing an 8 weight flly rod when I am accustomed to a 3 or 5 weight was interesting, but I think I got the hang of it. After a few drifts I became unattentive and started chatting with my friends. What I thought was a snag ended up being a fish. At first I though it was just a small fish, but soon realized it was a nice fish. Of course we forgot our nets, so I was mindful of steering this magnificant bright chromer to the rocky shore. He was a beautiful fish, maybe 24"+, but as soon as I got him beached, a shake of the head snapped the 2x tippet and he was off. Close enough for me as it was a catch and release quest anyways. Put me on the board!

Conditions should be great for the middle shore this week, and if the weather holds the upper should be good to go next week. Get out there.

Thursday morning I sent the kids to school, packed up the truck with the 8wt, and headed north. The plan was to meet some friends at Temperance River State Park and basecamp from there. After a stop at Great Lakes Fly Co. in Duluth, I had camp set up by 3pm and the rest of the day to fish.

Rivers from Two Harbors up were blown out due to the rain that the area had received the past prior days. I started fishing the mouths of the tribs hoping to lure cruising fish along the shore that were waiting for the right conditions to make their push up the rivers. Smelt reports were sparse up that far, and it seems along with water temps, smelt are an indicator.

Friday was a beautiful day, mix of sun and clouds and comfortable temps. My brother and I fished Split Rock pretty hard all day. Other anglers reported taking a few steelhead here and there, but we did not see a fish. It did not matter though, it was a beautiful day to be out. We hit a few other North Shore tribs that day, driving up towards Tofte, and back down towards Beaver Bay. Members of the crew took fish that day, so it was not a total loss. Conditions were just tough, with turbid, cold waters.

Having told the family I would be home for dinner saturday night, we broke camp early saturday. I made plans to meet up with two of the guys at a river just north of Two Harbors where conditions were perfect. It was crowded, but not the combat-elbow-to-elbow fishing that can sometimes occur. After hiking up to the Judgement Pool, and finding no one there, we began to drift egg patterns, with plenty of splitshot to get them down deep. Thowing an 8 weight flly rod when I am accustomed to a 3 or 5 weight was interesting, but I think I got the hang of it. After a few drifts I became unattentive and started chatting with my friends. What I thought was a snag ended up being a fish. At first I though it was just a small fish, but soon realized it was a nice fish. Of course we forgot our nets, so I was mindful of steering this magnificant bright chromer to the rocky shore. He was a beautiful fish, maybe 24"+, but as soon as I got him beached, a shake of the head snapped the 2x tippet and he was off. Close enough for me as it was a catch and release quest anyways. Put me on the board!

Conditions should be great for the middle shore this week, and if the weather holds the upper should be good to go next week. Get out there.