More Brookies. I'll Stick To What Works.

They were out thick tonight. The Winona Fly Factory combo of a orange stimulator/sparkle larvae (or a pink squirrel) with a little tungsten bead got em down to where they live. However, the largest fish--the eight to ten inch giants--came up for the stimulator.

My local brown trout waters are from time to time a bit warm during the day, so I may well stick with the TU brookie theme parks that have been constructed in my area--the warmest brookie creek here has been 52 degrees.

This is a weird, in-between year: too chilly for really good smallmouthing--though it hasn't completely sucked--, but too dry to keep many of the trout streams with stable temps.

The Hex has been marginal at best, in my experience. Sadly the Kinni above River Falls once had a fishable hatch, but I have not seen a single Hex on that river since the early 90s. Though I did see a few clinging to a light post as I was making my way into Liquor Lyle's in Uptown on Thursday night--less than a mile from the downtown stretch of the Miss.

They were there in time for two-fer-ones.

Browns for a Change?

Note that the browns are now eating hoppers.

This is a gem of a WI spring creek with a hefty population of wild trout minutes from Saint Paul and it NEVER gets fished.

Only Brookies...

I've been in search of the Hex. I've heard about happening here and there. The goddamn Strib even had an article on it in the Outdoors section today, and if you are curious the river pictured in the article is the White river in the Bibbon Marsh stretch--a vile, tic and skeeter infested hell hole populated by satanic-looking brown trout that only seem to come out after dark for the Hex and careless muskrats. But, I haven't really hit it. Then I hit it tonight and fished it till about 2:00am. I'm just get tin in from the long ride home--4:51am. The downside is no large fish to report. There were a couple in the 14 inch range. Though I did hear the sounds on one flushing the toilet. Raccoons could be seen in the trees and alders against the moonlight picking the big bugs from the branches.

No bears. That was a good thing. I have a story about one of those--it involves a large specimen, at least he sounded that way, belly-flopping into the run I was fishing. I'll save it for another day.

But, for the visually inclined, here are some photos of brookies that were caught on one of my favorite Wisconsin streams not too far from Saint Paul.

Smallmouth on the little rivers has been crap so far. It just isn't warm enough yet.