Kinnickinnic River

I fished the Lower Kinni last night from about 7:30 to 9:00. As soon as I got down to the river I noticed caddis in the air and rising fish, so after catching a couple on a caddis larva and zebra midge, I changed it up to an elk hair caddis. After fishing multiple runs, casting to many fish, and switching my fly to a parachute sulphur and then BWO, I could not get an eat on the surface. I ended up switching back to a nymph rig, this time an unweighted size 16 pheasant tail with a size 18 zebra midge. I quickly caught a smaller brown on this setup, and as I was working my way upstream into the main riffle, I made a couple casts into a spot I know gets deceptively deeper that most people wouldn’t think to fish. After two casts, my indicator plunged underwater and I felt the weight on a bigger fish below. After a short battle, I was able to get downstream of him and scooped him up. My biggest Kinni fish of the year!

Unfortunately I only had my GoPro along so I wasn’t able to get any really good photos. He measured right at 15 inches.

I ended up catching four or five more in that riffle before heading home to watch the second half of the Warriors-Rockets game. Not bad for just a short outing, but I was expecting to catch a couple on top. I talked to a friend that fishes the Kinni frequently and he said they’ve been really finicky for him as well recently. I imagine the increased pressure since the opener has gotten the fish a little more picky on top. Now would be a good time to try downsizing your flies, or just say screw it and nymph them out. It also helps to try spots outside of the main riffles that the average fisherman won’t hit, like where this bigger fish was holding.

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!

I was able to get home for the weekend and fish for a couple hours on Friday from 2:30 to 4:30 pm, using a Frenchie and zebra midge. I got two small browns in the net and lost two more. It was definitely nice to get out and catch some fish in January! From what I’ve heard, the streamer fishing has been very good as well, especially during the warm fronts we’ve been having.

After being in Louisiana for work since mid-August, I was able to make it home for a long weekend. Because of the high, stained water during most of my time back, I was only able to get out for a couple hours on Monday from about 10:15 am to 12:30. I tied on a Euro pheasant tail (this one with an orange hot spot instead of my normal pink) and zebra midge, and headed down the valley. The Kinni was about 10-15% higher than normal with a slight stain — great fishing conditions. The first few runs produced no fish, with only a couple hook ups and long distance releases. I finally got to a small, shaded riffle where an island separates the stream. This quickly produced five browns between 8 and 10 inches.

After catching those five, I was content with the outing and headed home to pack up for my flight later in the afternoon. I sure missed the Kinni.

The Kinni is almost back to normal levels after Wednesday’s storms. A slight stain on the water made for good fishing conditions. A friend and I fished for about an hour tonight before dark and caught a handful of browns on Euro pheasant tails, zebra midges, and hippie stompers. A few trout were rising to midges and small BWOs just before dark.

I fished the Kinni for about an hour before dark. I caught six or seven browns, including one around 12″, using a size 16 Euro pheasant tail and size 20 zebra midge. All but one took the midge. There was very little rising until right at dark when there was a pretty good midge hatch. I ran into another fisherman that had luck on scuds as well.

The stream was in great shape after Saturday’s rains. The fishing should continue to be good as we have some cooler weather coming through this week.

I fished the Kinni for a short outing from about 8:15 to 9:15. Like the Rush last night, there was very little rising, so I nymphed with a size 16 Frenchie and size 20 black zebra midge. I ended up catching 8 or 9 fish, and they were all around 6-8 inches. The best fishing was in fast, shallow riffles.

There were a few caddis, sulphurs, and midges out, and surface activity picked up a bit after the sun set. If you’re really jonesing for dry fly action, I’d recommend bringing some elk hair caddis, sulfur and BWO parachutes, and griffiths gnats.

Looking to learn how to fly fish or just learn more about the local streams? Let me host you on a guided outing! I’m offering 20% off rates if you schedule your trip before the end of June!

I took my friend Roxie on the Kinni this evening on a mission to get her first fish on a fly. After a short casting practice session, we hit the water at about 7:00. The first run yielded one fish for me as I was demonstrating, and Roxie lost one other. We eventually moved downstream to another run that I’ve had success with.

After missing a couple more fish, she finally got one in the net with this nice little Kinni brown.

As it was getting dark I said we needed to get one more fish before calling it a night. Soon, this nice 12″ brown took the Frenchie. Not a bad second fish on a fly!

We hoped to get into some dry fly fishing tonight, but there wasn’t nearly as much surface activity as there was earlier this week, so we stuck to nymphs. There were quite a few caddis out, however. The three fish that came to hand were caught on a Frenchie and zebra midge. We also missed a couple on an olive scud and a small pheasant tail (I believe size 18, but I tied it on a short emerger hook so the length is actually closer to a 20 or 22).

I fished the Lower Kinni this evening from about 7:30 to 9:15. I started off the night nymphing with a pheasant tail and zebra midge, but at about 8:30 the sulphurs came off with a fury. There wasn’t much rising, but I tied on a sulphur parachute and was able to catch a couple and miss a few more. The recent rains really helped the Kinni out!