New to Fly Fishing

[bucknduck]

I just recently got a rod and a bunch of other gear to get me started, but I was wondering if anybody could let me know a good spot to fish (trout) in MN. I really will be fishing panfish and bass the most but would like to go trout fishing and was wondering where I could go in MN?

Any other tips you may have for a first timer would also be good!!!

[Muddog]

Go to the Rochester-Winona-SE Minnesota forum on the main index. They are having a get together in May. It would be a good place to start.

[Duncan7709]

Look at the Whitewater River most of it is public access becuase of the WMA some of the Whitewater open for the winter season on Jan 1st.

[sodajerk]

Any place that sells fishing licensed should have copies of "Trout Angling Opportunities in Southern Minnesota". That's the map book showing all the designated trout water including that which is open for the winter season. It's a great resource and is vastly improved over the trout fishing maps of old.

Another good resource is the book "Trout Fishing in Southeast Minnesota" by John Van Vliet. It's only 128 pages long and gives info on stream geology, fly fishing gear, insect info with hatch charts (April thru September charts only though) and fly recipes, and brief descriptions of a lot of the area streams.

Depending on how much of a reader you are, you may want to look at "The Orvis Fly Fishing Guide" by Tom Rosenbauer, "The L.L. Bean Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing" by Lord, Talleur and Whitlock, and/or "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fly Fishing" by Michael D. Shook. All of them are full of info and knowledge, with the "Complete Idiot's" book being more of an informal format. All are good stuff though.