Drifting a nymph, a parachute adams, and stripping a hopper
in the Driftless this past Sunday turned out to be one of the best trout
producing trips I have ever taken.
About a week ago I received an email from another angler who
frequently reports from south west Wisconsin. He let me know the wifey was out
of town and he was going to be spending some time slinging flies. All summer I
have been reading his reports while drooling all over my keyboard at his good
fortune with the trout, so I gladly accepted his invitation. I didn’t even stop
to check with the lady before accepting! That’s serious!
Saturday came and I ran all my required errands and tried to
get home to bed so I could be up early. You know how it goes, it’s impossible
to get a good night rest before a big fishing trip. I think I got about two hours of shut eye
before leaving my house at 12:45am Sunday morning. I met up with Jon and we
parked the car streamside by 5:40am, just a bit before sunrise. The area was beautiful! There was a light fog over the land and every stretch was gorgeous.
Let me engage in a sidebar:
Hopefully I’m not the only one who thinks like this but I
think I can probably relate to everyone when I say this. Whenever you’re
fishing with another angler you’ve never met before there’s always
uncertainties. ‘Is this guy going to be crazy and yell at me that I’m fishing
wrong all day?’ ‘Is he going to be confrontational, awkward, nuts…etc?’ Ya
know? Well I was glad Jon was a cool dude! It can change your entire day of
fishing…and it was a great day!
Where was I…
Oh yeah…streamside with just enough time to set up the fly
rods, and get geared up. Jon gave me a few pointers about the land and showed
me a few examples of what he looks for. As this is all relatively new for me so
I paid close attention to this advice. He put me on the first riffle and I
casted a size 12 stonefly I had left over from my trips to Tennessee. Nymphs in
general are my comfort zone and I noticed a lot of brown bugs all over the
place so I kept my colors close.
Second cast, I saw the swirl, set the hook, but it was too
late. Missed him. I stayed on the riffle for another 10 minutes partly to try
for any other browns not spooked by the first commotion also I didn’t want to
creep up too fast on Jon which was about 30 yards in front of me.
Jon and I both moved spots inching our way downstream. I
started finding I was missing strikes like crazy. I was missing 7 strikes
before getting a solid hook set. Now let me say this…. I’ve been fishing for
trash fish and bass all summer so my hook set was anything but delicate. (Needs
some work) I was hook-setting like It was a 5lb bass taking a senko.
I could tell you
about every hole, but I won’t. There was 28 brown trout, 2 rainbows, and an
ungodly amount of chubs landed. The chubs most of the time went sailing over my
shoulder on the hook set…poor little guys.
One really cool event was my first good size brown on a dry
fly (parachute adams). I tried non-stop in the Smokey Mountains but I couldn’t
get anything on the dry fly. I’m hooked now…the catch on a dry is so much more
fun than the typical nymph.
Blacks and browns in color selection were my best producers.
Jons dad, who apparently is an amazing fly tyer, had tied my biggest producer
similar to a prince nymph but with a brown body and a black bead head instead
of the traditional gold.
All in all I can’t believe the amount of trout that were visible
in such a small stretch of water. My personal best was a rainbow tucked in the
corner of a pool in the slack water next to the riffle. He was about 14 inches. Unfortunately I didn’t have a tape measure but I used my rod to size
him up.
If you get the opportunity head to the Driftless you won’t be disappointed.
Enjoy guys!
-Teddy-
© 2012, BrookFieldAngler
Thanks, for sharing this! I've been wanting to head up there, and have done a lot of research on the rivers/streams/creeks, but I am still hesitant. I am still contemplating going up there the weekend of the 21st....if my work schedule allows me to.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures by the way! Beautiful trout! How long did you stay out fishing?
Man make sure you go! You won't be disappointed. We hit it for 12 hours. 6-6.
DeleteNice!! That's a long day of fishing, but your pictures and report say that it was well worth it. I haven't decided which flow of water to hit yet. Decisions - Decisions - Decisions haha
DeleteNice post, Woz!! Congrats on the fish. I don't know if I'll be able to make the WI driftless season but I'm amped for the Iowa driftless in the winter
ReplyDeleteThanks man! I can't wait for the next excuse to get out there. Such a different element
DeleteSounds like a good time! Those are some nice fish. Good company always makes a fishing trip that much more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Thanks yea It's always nice to have a new acquaintance work out so well! I have a great story of one that didn't but I'll save that story for another day haha
DeleteGreat pictures and sounds like a lovely trip. The Driftless if my favorite place to fish. I have always been on the Iowa side but here spectacular stories from the Wisconsin side.
ReplyDeleteI think Iowa is going to be next on the list. Nick sounds amp'd up too so i just gotta trip his trigger so we can get out there.
DeleteBrook
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post you kept my attention throughout this read. I am glad you got to experience some takes on dries; they are always my start-off flies no matter where I am. True you cant beat the dry for awesome action, few have the kind of trip you just went on. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Bill! Since then I've been tying more dry flys. I'm already itching to get back out there. Hopefully Iowa will produce just as well.
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