Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Anyone been out lately?


Quickstrike

Recommended Posts

I've been on the shelf with pnemonnia for the last week, so has anybody been out? Any good hatches going on for you guys, I usually put the small sticks away until the hex hatch starts and concentrate on bass, but....... i am sort of getting a trout bug and can hopefully get out to the brule or some upper stretches on the north shore this week. I just figured that with this forum being quiet over the last week or so that everyone is out fishing! grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

sorry to hear you were laid up. At least it wasn't drug resistant TB, right?

I hit a couple of the Veggies last week but nothing was going on. Surface temps were in the mid 70s. That's not good. Greenwood was much cooler but I didn't fish.

The upper Brule was good early last week. Lots of brookie action and one nice bow actually broke my buddy off (he was fishing 6x for some reason). Not much for hatches but standard attractor dries were moving fish.

Any reports from the Cloquet?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope you're feeling better Kent.

I fished this past weekend in SE MN and the fishing was decent. Water temps were good, but it was warm and steamy so a bit uncomfortable. Cold beverages did come in very handy though on both Friday night, Saturday, and again on Sunday. smile.gif

I'll try to post some sort of report after I get some pictures uploaded...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did really well on smallies the last time I was out on the upper St. Croix. Top water deer hair flies.

I have a "free pass" this weekend, so I'll be flyfishing all weekend. FYI- Quickstrike, I'll be in your old stomping grounds on Friday trying out those two trout steams that I discussed in my email. Maybe we can "trade" stream reports again. grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quickstrike, heal up! Soon! I'm transitioning from trout to smallmouth right now. In the last couple of weeks I've had some real nice fishing using sulphur patterns, despite the fact that I never really hit a heavy hatch. My daughter (who just graduated from college in May. Yahoo!) and I went fishing for smallmouth in a little river on Father's Day. We've both been a little under the weather, too, and while we're pretty much recovered, the heat, wind and humidity kind of beat us up. We both caught some fish (Clousers for my daughter, a sort of crayfish-looking modified woolly bugger for me) and we had a fine time cruising around northwest Wisconsin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was out last weekend on a warm water stream for a short outing. Used polar fiber clousers, and white cactus chenile woolies. Didn't fish very long, but ended up with a few mooneye, couple white bass, and bunch of smallies. Largest smallie didn't go all that big, probably 10-12", but still fun on the fly nonetheless.

Reel decided to malfunction. Ended up casting without the reel on most of the time, and carried about 45ft of line in my hands. Was a pain, but the fishing still got done.

Mooneye.jpg

WhiteBass.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

nice! Some species diversity.

What are those fish like once you get 'em on the reel?

We've been catching some smallmouth here around Duluth and once in a while a decent sized rock bass will suck down the popper - you know right away because they don't launch themselves two feet into the air. Compared to smallies it's like reeling in a boot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote:

I did really well on smallies the last time I was out on the upper St. Croix. Top water deer hair flies.


we'll be paddling Thayer's to Soderbeck next weekend - any tips on locating the smallies? I realize it's probably not rocket science but this part of the Croix is new to me.

I'll be bringing foam poppers, dahlbergs, clousers, woolys...anything obvious I'm overlooking?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I usually fish the "Upper St. Croix" in the area from Taylors Falls down to Log House Landing. I usually do the best by fishing the shorelines, working the current breaks or structure just like "big water" trout fishing. You'll get the occasional northern that way, too. I'll also caught carp in the shallows if it's an area void of too much current. As for colors and flies, I have always been a natural color guy. I tie a green deer-hair frog variation that's produced really well for me. I also like anything with white or silver in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote:

What are those fish like once you get 'em on the reel?


I typically don't try to get the fish on the reel, usually just pull them in by hand. If it's a bigger fish, then I'll try to put it on the reel. These didn't constitute "bigger" fish. First time out flying in a while, so it was still a good time.

Caught these guys in a slow eddie, then they'd bolt to the main current. They would have taken some line if I would have reeled them.

Warm water river flying is fun, never know what you'll end up with...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hit a few west-central Wisconsin streams over the weekend with hit-and-miss results. The streams that I hit were not the common ones, so I won't post creek names here. There was a light-colored hatch coming off a particular stream that looked like about a size 10-12 white wulff. (which of course I didn't have) It was really big, and looked to be a mayfly but couldn't catch one. I couldn't figure it out. Anyone have an idea?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote:

The streams that I hit were not the common ones, so I won't post creek names here.


Thanks so much. That's always an excellent policy.

The mayflies may have been American March Browns (Stenonema sp.), but I've seen Hex get confused and come off in the daytime as well. The Hex would likely be larger, however. The most important part of the March Brown hatch is the spinner fall. If you're ever confused by heavy feeding activity at last light, look up. You may see large spinners dancing in the air.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally managed to get out, but it was on a warmwater lake. I was dredging wooly buggers, clousers, and the mini-pike fly I tied for the fly swap, with a type V sinking line. I was fishing a break along cabbage beds for crappies, in hopes that a top level predator (i.e. pike or walleye) would occaisionally take my fly. I managed to catch a few crappies, several decent sized large mouth bass, some rock bass, and plenty of the ubiquitous hybrid sunfish and bluegill.

It was my first time in a boat this season. Time on the water has been very scarce for me this year. To make matters worse, the rivers here in NW MN are still blown out above flood stage, and nearly unfishable. I've only gotten to fish the Otter Tail about 7 times so far this year.

I still have yet to step foot in a cold water stream this season... frown.gif from the looks of it, it may not happen at all this year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I got out for the first time yesterday since getting sick. It was a blast, we floated the cloquet river for smallies and caught a bunch. I started out with a wooly bugger variation that has squirril dubbing and rubber legs added to it and pulled a few fish and also got a few on crayfish patterns. Then i switched to topwater, both gurglers and waterdogs (variation of a dahlberg with a long bunny tail) and the action was hot. Biggest fish wasn't much more than 16 inches, but it was a great day to be on the water and it sure felt good to get out of the house. grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone! First post from a short-term lurker here.

I'm getting back into fishing again after a several-year break, having done a lot of shore fishing and ice fishing on the Mississippi River and it's backwaters and some dabbling in SE Minn trout streams with spinning gear some years back. I seem to have forgotten most of what little I knew about fishing during my decade-long break, so I've been doing tons of reading and a lot of fishing (no boat) the last couple months with mixed results, but I'm having a blast and wondering why I ever gave up fishing.

The reason for my post today is that I caught my first fish ever on a fly rod this past Sunday evening. It was a pretty lil' 9" brook trout. I caught and released four brookies (8-10") in all out of a pod I found hanging out in a 4-foot hole created by a silver maple that had been standing mid-stream and then fell over, pulling up the root ball with it.

It was a great experience and I'm still feeling great about it! The only problem with the whole deal is that there was a mighty big brookie (I kept thinking 16" when I was looking at him) in that pod and he wouldn't bite. The water was gin-clear and I could see him, off by himself a few feet from the other fish in the pod, holding about a foot under the surface in the slow current about 20 feet from me on the other side of the hole.

Of the 20 or so fish in the pod, the big one was the only one feeding on the surface. Every couple minutes there would be a mighty sploosh as he nabbed a snack from the top of the water. I couldn't see what he was eating, and the only bugs around the surface of the stream were tiny little black flies about an eighth of an inch long and very narrow. I had nothing in my fly box anywhere near as small as these bugs were.

The four I caught were all taken on a #18 olive scud nymph, but when I tossed the nymph at the big one and let it drift his way, he would slowly shy away from it by lazily drifting sideways to cover about a foot away, and lazily drift back out 30 seconds later and hang in the open again, mocking me. I can still hear him laughing. smile.gif

When I tied on the smallest dark dry fly I had (size 18 black gnat) and drifted it over him, he stayed where he was and appeared to pay no attention to the fly, though a couple of the smaller trout swam toward it, checked it out and turned away a few times.

Any tips or advice on things I may have tried to entice a bite out of this likely mount-worthy trout? I've ordered some size 24 midges and gnats, but am stumped beyond that. Thought about gettin me a harpoon gun too, but decided that wouldn't be sporting. smile.gif

This is a long first post, and if you've read this far, thanks! I'm here almost every day and I've learned a lot from the people on this site. Thanks for your time!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it was John Gierach who said, "There will always be casts you can't make and fish you can't catch." I guess that's just one of the charms of the sport. All you can do is go through the fly box and see what happens. Even if you didn't catch that big boy it sounds like you learned a little about how he was feeding and what he was taking. Little bits of info like that add up and eventually become 'sage fly fishing wisdom' grin.gif You can rest assured that in 20-30 years you just might have most of it figured out smirk.gif Welcome to the addiction!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah yes, the addiction claims another victim. Like Porter said, you should try to take away some knowledge from your experience. Next time you're out there, the big gal might just outsmart you again. And again. And of course, again. But maybe, just maybe- if the prevailing winds are just right and the stars are properly aligned, perhaps then the big ol' gal may just decide to challenge you to that cherished one-on-one duel.

Don't feel bad. I pursued a huge Wisconsin brown located in a "secret hole" for three years without putting her to net. I had her hooked, but she's much better than I. But I'm ok with that, cause I'll try, try, try another day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely be frequenting that hole to see if I can have another go at that trout.

And yes, I'd say I'm addicted to fly fishing already. I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it or not, but the reading I've done on it intrigued me, so I bought a starter outfit from Cabela's (9 ft/5 wt Cabela's Genesis) and gave it a shot. Now I'm catching myself daydreaming often about flies, casting, and places I can go and try to catch some.

Jumping in with both feet as I'm known to do, I've also ordered two (count them, 2) more fly rods, both TFOs; a 7'6" 3wt for the close quarters of the streams I like to fish and to use on panfish, and a 9'6" 8wt, which I plan to use to go after smallies in the Zumbro and after northerns/walleyes/sandpike on the Mississippi. I'm patiently waiting for both to arrive, along with the wire tippets, sink-tip line and pike flies I ordered.

I have a 5-day weekend coming next week after the 4th, and it's safe to say that my spinning gear will stay dry the whole weekend!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool! Sounds like you already have a good start in the equipment category!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have a great weekend and holiday, everyone. Tight loops.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.