Over the past quarter of a century I have accomplished milestones that are achievable only when the landscape is locked within the icy tendrils of Jack Frost's north. Angling on this day afforded me an achievement to likely be unparalleled for many years to come. Today's accomplishment; 100 trout in less than four hours all on flies and between only two small plunge pools on a ribbon of a creek. 2013 marks 25 years of winter trout fishing for me.
Today was no different. I had used up my entire preferred lead fly on my last outing. I had to tie more flies. I sat down with my three year old son, Starker, and tied a dozen of these effective flies. A quick glimpse at the hourly weather forecast lead me to believe that, as is normal this time of the year, the warmest part of the day would be midday to the afternoon. Further, with temps hovering below 40 degrees, I understood that run-off would likely not be an issue.
My preferred destination is nearly one hour from Winona. My experience leads me to believe that the bulk of winter anglers would not drive an hour to fish in the winter whilst passing up scores of miles of seasonably open and fishable water. I do not baulk at this distraction determined to have catch related aspects of fishing.
It is well known that late February can produce hatches of Blue Winged Olive mayflies and Black Midge. My target macroinvertebrate hatch today was the one that currently comprises the bulk of macro-invert biomass in the creek in southeast Minnesota, the Black Midge. I know a few spots where they can regularly speckle the snow en masse, where the white snow turns to the writhing mass of crawling Black Midge. The lack of wind in today's forecast was in my favor to hike a mile from my car deep into the valley to a spot that is typically inhibits angling efforts even with a five mile per hour wind.
Anglers experienced in winter fishing enjoy a significant advantage over less experienced anglers. Knowing how to dress, what to look for in the snow, how to read the water, where the fish will hold, how to match the hatch, and how to present to the fish (once found) are all aspects of this advantage. Not surprisingly, I parked next to another angler's vehicle at the access and noted that this angler was walking was with an open toe. I passed this angler within a quarter mile of the vehicles.
On my hike I passed up typically productive holes searching for footprints in the snow that would indicate which holes had yet to be fished. One half mile from my car I found the end of the footprints headed upstream. I plowed upstream to the next pool that was subject to direct sunlight, exposed in the treeless section of pasture where I knew that hordes of Black Midges would be crawling on the edges of the creek and where lethargic trout would willingly eat my #20 Miracle Nymph. To what degree I would be successful had yet to be determined however assuredly I would have a spot in the sun, away from the highway, and no cell phone access.
My flies were still rigged to my tippet from last week. My seven foot five weight fly rod was adorned with a hand tied eight foot leader tipped with 4x, a the #16 purple sparkle dubbing gold bead head pheasant tail nymph and a #20 miracle nymph trailer. Additionally I pinched on a dulled BB size split shot eight inches in front of my lead fly. My presentation was simple, fish deep, slow, and on seams.
I have caught so many fish over the years that I no longer get excited when I catch a fish on my first cast. However today was one of those days. When I catch a fish on my second cast immediately after quickly releasing the first fish I think it's interesting. However when I catch a fish every cast counting the first 20 fish in less than a half hour I think I should stop. I didn't. I fished on. I didn't stop until I had to change my camera battery and to get a snack and a drink. I then realized that I had caught nearly 50 fish in the first bathtub sized five-foot deep plunge pool that I sank my flies into.
