I fished a short section of an area stream tonight from about 7:00 until dark. Midges were the ticket, as a Red and Black Midge caught all but one fish on the outing, with the other coming on a flashback pheasant tail. I ended up catching about a dozen total, all between 8 to 12 inches. I did have one around 15″ on but he fell off as I was reaching for him with the net. The streams are definitely higher than normal, but plenty clear.
Great place to end the long weekend.
Aric also fished the Kinni on Sunday evening from about 4:30 to 9:00 and caught about 35 fish, all 12″ and under. He began the outing using a Pheasant Tail and Zebra Midge but noticed quite a few fish rising to sulphurs, so he ended up catching 10 or so on top using a size 16 Sulphur Parachute.
Friend and owner of Limit Creek Fishing Rod Company, Jim Wernimont, invited me down to Southeast Minnesota to fish with him on one of his favorite streams. There’s some great big fish potential on this river, so it was time to bring out the Limit Creek 8 wt with a sinking line and the 6 wt with a floating streamer line. Jim used his Limit Creek spinning rod with a gold, size 11 Original Floating Rap.
Jim started us off with a nice 18″ brown — not picture worthy for someone that catches 20-inchers on the regular. I also caught a 13″ smallmouth on a small black Cheech Leech out of the same run.
We kept working upstream through some great water, with Jim picking off multiple mid to high teens fish. I was able to catch my first brown on a yellow rabbit strip streamer (tying instructions in a future blog post!).
Within the next couple runs I was watching Jim retrieve his Rapala when a brown shot out from a rock and smoke his lure. I was able to run over and net this 21″ pig!
We kept picking off a couple good browns in every run. My strategy was casting about 45 degrees downstream to the opposite bank, throwing a big upstream mend in the line to allow the fly to sink, then let the fly swing across the current while giving the occasional strip or jig. I had more success using the 6 wt and floating line with this method, because it was easier to control the line and track the fly in the water. I recently got the Airflo Super-Dri Kelly Galloup Streamer Float Line for my 6 wt and this stuff is amazing!
Using this “fling and swing” method with a tan and yellow mini Cheech Leech, I casted along a cut bank and had a brown shoot out and smash the streamer. After a good fight in some heavy current, I was able to get him in the net.
We worked upstream through some beautiful country, continuing to catch good browns in every run, as well as a few smallmouth, until making our way to the car at the next bridge. We each had a couple chances at fish pushing 20″, but weren’t able to get them in the net. I can’t thank Jim enough for inviting me. It’s always fun to catch big browns with good friends! My second ever 20-incher will have to wait!
Dad and I fished after work this evening from about 6:30 to 9:00. The stream was in great condition after the last rains — still a little high with a slight stain. Dad ended up catching five browns on a Copper John and zebra midge, with all but one coming on the Copper John. I caught thirteen or fourteen on a Tungsten Torpedo jig nymph variation and a red and black midge. Dad had the big fish of the night though, with this nice 14 or 15″ right before dark.
Most of our fish were caught in shallow pocket water — the deeper runs weren’t very productive tonight. There wasn’t much rising, other than to the occasional BWO. It looks like we’ll have great conditions for fishing through the weekend!
I hit the Rush for a bit after Mother’s Day dinner from about 6:30 to 9:00. With the low, clear water the fishing was difficult when the sun was still high in the air, but as soon as it hit the horizon it was game on. Fish were readily eating black zebra midges, but were also surfacing a bit to the midges, BWOs, and caddis that were in the air. I caught around 15-20 fish on the outing, with about 80% taking the zebra midge over the Euro pheasant tail. We’ll see how much the rains this week muddy up the streams; we could definitely use some!
This brown was caught on a zebra midge, but a BWO wanted to join in on the fun.
I was invited to go turkey hunting with my good friend Lucas Mestad in Minnesota and this was the weekend to do it. We met to get a burger for lunch then hit the woods.
After climbing up the bluff to a ridge-top field, Lucas started calling as we walked along the field edge. After the first couple calling sequences, we struck up a gobble in the valley about 200 yards away. We started working into the woods down a logging road when he gobbled again less than 100 yards away, and we quickly hunkered down to get set up.
Lucas kept sweet talking the gobbler, and soon we could hear footsteps around the corner of the logging road. Lucas had a better angle seeing down the road since I failed to stomp down some grass in front of me, so I was surprised when he whispered “There he is” when I still thought the bird was 30-40 yards away. Eventually I could just see the red of his head peaking through the bushes, and then the bird in full strut.
However, I couldn’t find a clear shot through the grasses as I heard “Kill him!” in my ear. Lucas tried to get him a little closer and clear from the grass with a couple more yelps.
I was on Lucas’ left, so the weeds wouldn’t give me a clear shot.
The tom knew something was wrong when he heard the calls from so close but had no hens in sight. I knew it was now or never and pulled the trigger. Turkey down!
To say we were pumped would be an understatement as it took us a few minutes to settle down and get some cutaways. I couldn’t be more happy to get my first turkey on the ground! You can watch a short of my hunt on this week’s episode of Cabela’s Spring Thunder as well!
I can’t thank Lucas enough for guiding and filming me, as well as taking trophy photos after the hunt. It’s definitely a memory I’ll never forget!
The hunt happened so quickly that we had some time to go fishing after taking photos, and Lucas’ lease has a trout stream flowing through it. I tied on a size 14 Copper John and size 16 Euro pheasant tail and made a few casts into the riffles. It was a little bigger water than I’m used to so it was fun to try to break down this stream. In an hour or so of fishing I ended up catching five browns with all but one coming on the Copper John, the biggest being around 14″.
Got him!
Another HUGE thanks to my dude Lucas for guiding and filming me, while doing it all to give me enough time to go fly fishing before dark. It’s always fun to spend good time in the woods with great friends!
Beautiful weather and opening weekend of the catch and keep season brought the crowds out to the popular streams, so I hit a smaller area stream to find some solitude from about 3:30 to 6:00 pm. I began the outing with a black leech streamer I had success with at this spot before, but was unsuccessful this time around. After a couple runs, I turned to nymphing with a size 16 olive Euro pheasant tail and a size 18 standard Euro PT below. I seemed to be a tree magnet — this section has a lot of overhanging limbs — today, but when I did manage to get my flies in the water the fish seemed to be willing to eat. I ended up with seven or eight fish in the two or three runs before I hit my takeout point, including this one around 12″
Fish were also rising a bit to midges, but I didn’t bother tying one on. The stream was also low and crystal clear, making stealth very important as I approached good holding spots. A little rain would be a welcome sight!
I fished this afternoon from about 3:30 to 6:30. With poor weather forcasted, I had the stream to myself. I began the outing swinging streamers, but eventually got to a run of rising fish. I tied on a size 20 parachute BWO, and caught 6-8 small browns (and missed plenty more) before calling it a day to watch the end of the Clippers-Jazz game.
I also went out yesterday for a short outing on a smaller area stream to swing some streamers and caught this nice 15-incher! Not bad for just an hour or so on the water!
Aric and I fished the Rush from about noon to 4:00. The stream was still slightly stained from Thursday’s rains making for perfect fishing conditions. Aric started the outing off by quickly catching 6-8 fish within the first couple minutes. As I was tying on my nymph rig, I heard him yell that he had a big one on. I hustled downstream and netted his biggest fish to date!
I quickly plucked around ten fish from my first run of the day, with a few around 12-13 inches. I moved upstream to the next run and after only catching two or three fish in about ten minutes, I put another split shot on my leader. Within my first half-dozen casts, my indicator plunged underwater and I felt a strong tug. After a short fight, I had my biggest fish of the year in my net!
We worked our way upstream for a couple more runs, picking off a few fish in each, but nothing nearly as big as those two. We ended the day with about 35-40 fish between us. Aric was using a size 14 pink squirrel with a size 16 pheasant tail below, while I used a size 16 olive Euro pheasant tail with a size 18 standard Euro PT below. We both caught about equal fish on both flies.
I also went out on the Rush Friday night for a couple hours after work. The water visibility was only about a foot, so I fished a black leech streamer for the entire outing. I only caught two fish, but one was around 16-17 inches. I missed a handful more. I’ve tried to focus more on streamers this year and I’m definitely gaining more confidence every time. Catching some bigger fish is always fun too!
The stained water definitely made for some great fishing over the weekend!
Thinking the Kinni and Rush would be pretty busy, I chose a to fish smaller area stream from about 10:00am to 4:00pm. I began the day nymphing with my tried-and-true Euro pheasant tail and zebra midge, and caught around 25 browns with them.
There were quite a few fish rising to BWOs, but I failed to bring floatant, so I thought I’d try my luck with a foam hippy stomper. The fish didn’t seem to mind that I didn’t quite match the hatch!
I eventually got to a deeper pool and decided to tie on a streamer. On my first cast with the black rabbit strip leech, the biggest fish of the day slammed it!
I spent the last half-mile or so of the outing stripping the streamer through pools with a couple follows and a few misses, but none to hand. It was definitely nice to catch fish with nymphs, dries, and a streamer all in one day!
I fished a new-to-me section of an area stream today from about 3:00 to 5:30pm. The whole outing I used a Euro pheasant tail with a black zebra midge, and caught about a dozen browns with about half on each fly. There was also pretty consistent rising to BWOs throughout the afternoon, but I never switched it up and stuck with the nymph rig. It’s always fun to explore some new water, and I’ll probably be doing the same tomorrow as I’m sure all the regular spots will be packed!
This butterbelly was the biggest of the day, probably around 13″.
