Kinnickinnic River

Aric and I fished the Lower Kinni tonight from about 8:00 to 9:30. As soon as we got to the stream, we noticed many sulphurs coming off, and the fish were going nuts for them — easily the most surface action I’ve seen this year. Aric tied on a size 20 BWO pattern (we were unprepared and didn’t have any sulphurs in our boxes) and I stayed with my Euro pheasant tail and zebra midge rig.

Aric ended up catching six on the surface, with all under 9″. I caught around a dozen with a 12 and 13-incher — my biggest Kinni fish of the year. Unfortunately those two bigs were after dark so I wasn’t able to get good photos of them.

The Kinni definitely benefited from the rain this week. A little more this weekend should make for even better fishing!

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I hit the Kinni tonight looking for revenge on the big one that got away on Monday, starting the outing off with a Frick’s Fix. Normally tied on a hook size 6 or bigger, I tied this one in a size 10 since I’ve never gotten Kinni fish to commit to the bigger streamers in the past. On the first cast I caught a small brookie, a rarity on the Lower Kinni (he slipped out of the net before I could get a picture). I worked my way up the pool and hooked into another fish, this time a nice brown around 11-12 inches.

After getting to the head of the pool, I opted to switch back to nymphs. I stopped and talked to a nice gentleman on my way down to the stream that gave me a couple flies that he’s had good luck on lately. A couple were in this shell pink color and one was light olive. I think they’re some kind of scud imitation. Anyone know what these are called?

I caught probably ten more fish between this fly and the zebra midge below it. This 11.5-incher was the biggest.

There were quite a few midges, caddis, and BWOs out but not enough rising for me to switch to a dry. I talked to another fisherman that had luck using a Purple Haze.

I went down to the Kinni today for a short outing from about 4:15 to 6:15. Upon getting to the water, I was greeted by swarms of caddis, but little rising, so I went with an Ice Dub Pheasant Tail and Zebra Midge rig. On probably my fifth drift of the day, my indicator plunged underwater and I saw the flash of a big brown. After about five seconds, he shot downstream and broke off. It would have for sure been my biggest Kinni fish to date, and was the second fish in three outings to break me off. I’ll be back to hunt him down for sure!

The fishing was pretty slow for the next 45 minutes or so, but then the action really picked up. I was able to catch around 12-15 fish over the last hour, with a couple around 12 inches. I caught about 15-18 total over the whole two hour outing — a pretty good day. About 2/3 of the fish took the midge.

Even with the caddis out in full force, I still didn’t see much rising. I must have been streamside just a little to early or late to have the great dry fly action we’ve all been waiting for.

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I hit the Kinni for a short outing this evening from about 7:45 to 9:15. Using an Ice Dub Pheasant Tail and Zebra Midge, I was able to bring 8-10 fish to hand, and lose many more. Nothing very big tonight, with the best being a 10-incher, while I lost another that was around 11-12″. Most of the fish were caught on the midge.

The midges were out in full force and the fish were definitely rising to them, but I didn’t feel like re-rigging to a tiny fly and opted to stay with the nymph rig. I only saw a couple caddis flying around throughout the evening, but did talk to another fisherman that had some success fishing an X-Caddis. With the warmer weather coming over the next few days, the caddis should really start popping off, giving us some great dry fly action!

I fished the Kinni tonight with friend Don Leurquin from about 4:00 to 8:30. I caught around 10-12 total on the night, while Don caught around 4-6. All of the fish were between 6-10 inches, although one broke me off that was probably over 15″.  We nymphed for most of the night, and I switched between a Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail, a Euro Pheasant Tail, and an Ice Dub Pheasant Tail with a black Zebra Midge dropper. Don used a Hare’s Ear with a midge imitation below it. There were midges everywhere and we had sporadic rises throughout the evening, with it slowly picking up as the night went on. At the end of the night, Don tied on an elk hair caddis with a midge emerger below it. He wanted to try out my Limit Creek 9′ 5 wt so I used his rod to see if I could tease anything to the surface. After missing the first couple (or they missed the fly), I was able to bring three to hand.

Although there weren’t many cars parked below the house, there were fishermen everywhere, seemingly on every run. It was tough not being able to hit every spot we wanted, but it was a great night on the water nonetheless. Always nice to enjoy an evening on the stream with friends!

I fished the Lower Kinni this afternoon from about 2:00 to 4:00. Once again I began the outing fishing streamers, but noticed a few fish rising to caddis and couldn’t pass up the chance to catch a couple on the surface. I switched to a Bread and Butter Caddis, but was unsuccessful the first couple casts just dead drifting the fly. I got distracted by a few buzzards flying overhead and got a quick bite as the fly swung downstream. After that I began casting across and downstream, and let the fly swing and skitter around. I was quickly rewarded with four small browns to hand.

The trout were going after egg-laying caddis flies bouncing around and not newly emerged flies, so fishing the B&B caddis that sits lower on the surface probably wasn’t my best option. I’ll have to tie up a few different patterns before my next outing.

Eventually the surfacing slowed down and I switched back to my streamer. I got a few bumps and follows but am yet again fishless on streamers.

I talked to a few other guys that seemed to have similar luck — a few on caddis dries before it shut down and then a couple on nymphs. Surface activity was best from about 1:00 to 3:00. Everyone was catching little guys as well, although I saw a couple good fish while stripping streamers.

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I fished the Kinni below the house this evening from about 4:00 to 7:00. I was on a mission to get into some fish using streamers, and began the day using a brown and yellow Frick’s Fix. I got to a nice hole where we’ve had success in the past and probably had 25+ follows and swipes (including a couple 16+ inchers) but never got one to commit. I switched streamers seven times and made a bunch of different retrieves to no avail. Talk about frustrating. I’m going to have to bring friend and Streamer Dream Teamer Eddie Rivard to that spot sometime soon to show me how to seal the deal. What do you do when the fish won’t commit to your streamer?

Eventually I relented and and tied on an ice dub pheasant tail and black zebra midge, and caught six browns before calling it a day. All fish were caught in shallow (less than 2 ft.) riffles.

I ran into a nice guy named Mike who was having success swinging wet flies, something I’d never done before. It’s definitely something I’ll have to try. He was even nice enough to give me a fly, a Hendrickson pattern. Thanks Mike!

The water was still clear after last nights rain, and Hendricksons and BWOs were coming off throughout the outing. Fish were rising pretty frequently when I arrived on the stream, but slowed down as it got later.

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Also, we are now accepting custom fly orders. Please feel free to contact us with any inquiries and watch for photos on the page as we build inventory.

Aric and I fished the Kinni today from about 10:30 to 1:30. The fishing was pretty slow, with Aric catching two browns and losing another on a pheasant tail and zebra midge combo, while I just missed one. All strikes were in slower, deeper water. There were quite a few midges in the air, and we did spot one rise. I talked to a couple other fishermen and it seemed to be slow for them as well.

Aric and I got in some fishing tonight after the World Cup Final from about 8:00 to 9:20. Aric fished with a pheasant tail nymph and caddis larva combo, catching one fish on each. I caught one on a pheasant tail, and after seeing a couple caddis in the air, switched it up to a bread and butter caddis. There wasn’t much rising, but I was just really itching to catch one on a dry. After losing one nice brown, I landed a nice 12.5″ right after dark. Between a Carli Lloyd hat trick and catching a couple fish, it was a good night indeed!

It looks like we’re going to get a good soaking tomorrow, which will probably murk up the rivers for a couple days.