Date: May 20, 2007
Location: P. Trizzy
Air Temp: 40s - 60s
Water temp: ?
Hatches:
Fish landed: 1 24"(or so)Northern Pike(Tim), Assorted Bass, Crappies, and Bluegills
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
QuickDraw
Tim
Well the day started out on the cold side, which is natural for outings with Tim and I to P. Trizzy. Today we were hunting the big boys of P. Trizzy, El Chupacabra and Pygmy SkunkApe be damned. We were out for a nautical adventure sipping on PBR and Bacardi Cokes in the morning while halfway around the world the Legendary Cutty Sark was engulfed in flames. By the time we were underway there was a mist coming off of the water, it was damym cold this morning, did I mention it was cold(and windy)?
well tim quickly picked up a decent Northern on a large black and redheaded streamer, it was sweet! Shortly after that I decided that it was time to bust out the heavy tackle, Tim then gave me a Quick lesson in Double Haul Casting which I think I actually understood, It's a must when casting my 8 weight in wind. Then We started to hit the top water flys, I was using a green "Joom Diver" and tim had a white and red, mouse like poper thingie, we were fishing basically in about 5' of water, casting up to shore. Suddenly Tim was like "OMG OMG OMG" when I looked over I saw a Large freshwater Croc folowing his poper, then the fish opened his mouth and took a grab at the tail. pretty insane, the fish quickly lost interest though and creeped out of sight into the deep. After that Tim needed to sit down a bit as he was shaking and nervous from the near miss. The PBR helped to calm his nerves.
We spent the next few hours trying to figure out what was going to work. We tried some of the usual good spots, drifting across the J-hole, the point, weed Island, then we tried the shallows in the cove behind the point. When we spotted a monster(est size around 35") in about 1' of water just chilling. I threw a clouser next to him and he was off like a prom dress.
well all in all not a bad day,
A)We were able to get the boat started
B)We actually caught fish
C)Tim Caught his first Pike on the fly
D)I learned to Double haul
E)PBR and Bacardi was consumed
F)Monsters were sighted and tempted
Date: May 12, 2007
Location: V
Air temp: mid 60s - 70s
Water temp: ?
Hatches:
Fish landed: skunk
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
Xan
Woke up with the sun around 5:45am, decided to go hog hunting. Probably the first of many skunks on the V. Headed far upstream this time and saw some decent pools and a run or two holding some fish, but I could not tempt the beasts.
Date: May 14, 2007
Location: Holland Lake
Air temp: high 70s
Water temp: ???
Hatches: not much
Fish landed: millions of bluegills one crappie and a really nice bass
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
QuickDraw
So I got to further break in the new 3wt. Me and mark Headed out to Holland lake in Eagan with hopes of 'bows dancing in our heads. we when we got the canoe in the water and everything situated we found ourselves catching unbelievably small panfish on every cast. mark hooked into a few nice bass. I ended up catching a nice bass too. he put up quite a fight on the 3 weight. caught him on a small yellow woolybugger.
we alos did some morel foraging, we only found 4. Also found a deer Tick on my leg when I got home.
Date: May 12, 2007
Location: P. Trizzy
Air temp: low to high 70s
Water temp: ???
Hatches: N/A
Fish landed: 5 or 6 Crappies, a gang o pan fish and a few bass
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
QuickDraw
This year Regular season opener for MN found me on p. trizzy lake, with my brand spanking new 3 weight and my 8 weight. It was a really nice day. we found ourselves fishing the shallows, sightfishing to crappie and panfish. I got to break in the new rod right. we spotted a monster northern in about 6" of water, he looked like a small croc, we estimated him to be somewhere around 35" long and wide. He had fresh scars all the way down his back. we both tried to entice him to bite, I was using a small green woolybugger and Naaz had a large red bomber. needless to say we got him to follow all the way back to the boat and we both got hung up on some lillypads. oh well it was a great day!!!
Date: May 9, 2007
Location: Canyon
Air temp: low to high 70s
Water temp: ??? (I really need to buy some new batteries)
Hatches: not much
Fish landed: around 6 browns
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
Xan
Day 2 of my midweek mini-vacation brought me to the Canyon. Summer seems to have arrived early, as it was already warm by the time I got to the stream. I got in around 9am and didn't see any cars at the head of the trail. I went down first to the beta hole, only to find two other fishermen.
I decided to hike down, and passed a few others along the way. Seeing more people than I expected, I made my way down to the alpha hole to waste some time throwing a bugger. After wasting a sufficient amount of time, I tied on some nymphs and started to fish my way back.
The water was very low today. Recent stream changes have also altered the good spots. There is a broken tree limb hanging over the Yeti's honey hole, though it is still fishable. Booter's glory hole has lost one of its logs, slowing down the current and the fish are now piled up along the bank.
While the water had some tint, the low levels and bright sun made it a slow day. I was also not so quick on my sets, and lost a lot of fish.
After nabbing a few browns, false-hooking others, and losing even more, I called it a day and got some Chinese food in town.
Date: May 8, 2007
Location: V
Air temp: low 70s
Water temp: ??? (I really need to buy some new batteries)
Hatches: not much
Fish landed: 1 brown
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
Xan
I decided to take a few days off of work to go fishing. With these couple days, I also scheduled a doc appointment for a routine physical, as I had neglected to do so last year. Since my new HMO is located in Richfield, I decided to go a bit further south after my check up and give the V the old college try.
Quick D and I had scouted the V a few weeks ago. We didn't see a single friggin' fish, let alone trout, after visiting many spots on the stream. It looked good, but not a single rise or silhouette darting by was seen.
There were signs put up by the guvment declaring catch and release, so I figured there had to be something there.
When I got to the river, I went downstream and scoped things out. After fishing here and there, I false-hooked my first MN trout. I had pierced the side of a little brown. Well, I thought, at least I can say I saw a fish in this crap.
What seems to be the major problem with the V, is that while it has the size of a good trout stream, large portions of the bed are sand. Only once in a while will one come across a gravel bed or rocks. And while it is wide enough, it rarely gets deep.
I made my way downstream to the end of the state property, then made my way back along the opposite bank. Through this I had spooked a decent looking fish, and seen a few smaller guys swimming around. Then I passed a bank with a few larger fish. A little further up, I saw roughly three even bigger trout fleeing my shadow.
Taking mental notes of where I saw the fish, I moved further up and fished a bit to wait for them to reset.
After catching roughly zero fucking fish and getting frustrated by snags and tangles, I headed back downstream to try the two spots with fish of girth. While there are few rocks to get snagged on, there are plenty of trees, logs and twigs in the river, most of which I hooked. There is also plenty of vegetation along the banks to get caught up in.
I went to the first spot and started casting. Nothing. Getting even more pissed as the snags mounted, I waded up to the second spot which was about 90 feet away. This area was along the far bank, where the floor dipped down noticeably.
On what I think was my first cast, shit went down. None of this indicator slightly bobbing nonsense. It was apparent roughly half a second after my flies hit the water that I had dug into something huge.
Two violent splashes immediately erupted as I set, and the biggest fish I have ever seen shot out of the bank. I have no idea how long the fight lasted, but was probably a good 3-5 minutes. I had brought my 3wt, and I was basically pulling a rock around the stream.
I struggled up and down the stream, trying to get it to shallower water. I thought my arm was going to fall off, which I haven't felt since Montana last year. I started to wonder if I would ever net him, if I would just be telling a fish story about the one that got away.
Fortunately, he had hit my lead fly, and the fluro 5x held well (my dropper was on 6x mono). After a long battle, the trout gave up, and I was able to get my net around him.
I had found my first Walter.
Date: May 5, 2007
Location: Canyon
Air temp: low 50s to mid 60s
Water temp: ??? (I really need to buy some new batteries)
Hatches: BWO?
Fish landed: 4 or 5 browns
Present members of the Fly Anglers Guild :|: Upper Midwest Chapter, for this outing were:
Fruit BooterXan
For the regular season opener, we took FB's canoe down the canyon in a heartfelt effort to piss off as many fisherpeople as we could. There were a ton of mouth-breathers, as is the norm for opener, but our float path did not discriminate. We would paddle through casting lanes or pools, smile, and ask, "Any luck today?"
The weather was mostly cloudy, with wind and the occasional sprinkle. The fishing was decent, more so in the morning. Just above the "beach," FB found the home of a hog, though he was unable to land it after a few strikes. But, we will return, and we will claim the fish for Dear Leader.
