trout fishing in janaury feels like march

i got out today cause it was really nice and the dane county trout ponds and lakes season opened January 1,
and i had a pond in mind that i thought wouldn't be iced over yet do to the spring creek tributary that feeds it.
i was pleasantly surprised when i got there to see there was absolutely no ice on the pond!
i started off swinging a leach pattern where the trib stream flows into the pond and had one very short subtle take. then i decided to use my brain a little and take the water temperature, it was 48 degrees! i was expecting it to be way colder like 38 or 40! so i switched to an indicator nymph rig, i used a small egg fly as the head fly and i size 18 pheasant tail for the dropper, didnt pick up anything on that.
and about twenty minutes after i switched to the nymph rig midges started hatching, about size 24, so i stopped fishing and started exploring the stream so i know where to look when the stream season opens in march, and i saw about twelve fish in three good looking holes, and a couple more good looking holes where i didnt see any fish, so i cant wait to fish that! it looks pretty good. then i decided to head out, and on the walk back to the car i saw some size 14-16 tan caddis resting along the bank! probably hatched that morning! those shouldnt be hatching for at least another 2 months right?! crazy, anyway, if id known that i probably would have been fishing soft hackles, but i still had a good time in the nice weather, it felt like late march!

selecting a fly

All in all it was a fun little trip.


   

my 6 best trout flys last season

#1 peacock dragonfly nymph

hook: #4-8 nymph bent up
tail: olive or brown maribou
body: peacock herl
rib: gold tinsel
wingcase: pheasant tail
eyes: beadchain eyes
legs: pheasant tail

#2 token creek hopper (my original)

hook: #6-10 terrestrial/hopper
tail/abdomen: deer hair or peacock herl
thorax: fine dry fly dubbing 
legs: rubber legs
underwing: molted turkey feather
overwing/head: deer hair tied bullet style
float: foam

#3 hackle body streamer (variation)

hook: #4-8 3xlong streamer
tail: gray white or brown maribou
under body: silver or gold tinsel
body hackles: any combination of furnace, brown, gray, white and grizzly hen hackles
collar: dyed brown grizzly hen hackle
head: gold cone

#4 flash sided hares ear

hook: #8-14 nymph
tail: hen hackle fibers
body: hares ear dubbing
flash: gold, silver, or pearl crystal flash
rib: gold or copper wire
hackle: hen hackle dyed brown grizzly
wingcase/head: pheasant tail

#5 flash sided caddis

hook: #10-14 curved pupa/scud hook
body: hares ear
flash: gold, silver, or pearl tinsel
rib: gold or copper wire
hackle: soft hen hackle
thorax: florescent green dubbing 
bead: gold

#6 tip tied hendrickson emerger  

hook: #10-14 dry fly
body: hares ear dubbing
wing: tip tied elk hair
head: hares ear dubbing

So these were my 6 best patterns last season for inland trout in steams and ponds, have fun with them and be creative, there's alot of variations you can make for different situations.

oct. 15 fishing report

went fishing at devils lake baraboo WI yesterday camped there over night on Friday and fished Saturday,
did not have any luck, was hoping to catch the fish in the shallows but the water was still to warm to trigger the fall feeding frenzy, probably in about two weeks they'll move into the shallows, hoping to do some steelhead fishing in the lake Michigan tribs next month, we'll see.    

a lucky day

got out today since it was nice and its supposed to rain for most of next week.
went exploring a new section on a nearby stream and it looks pretty good nice open meadows wooded sections lots of undercut banks and some nice riffles, looked under a couple rocks and found some case worm caddis in about size 14/16, hopefully ill be there when they hatch. anyway fished streamers and nymphs and got nothing on that stretch, then went out to eat and went to a pond connected to a lower section of that creek, fished with nymphs and soft hackles, then some fish started rising and after a while i started seeing some hendricksons! pretty rare in wisconsin except on certain water. anyway after watching a couple minuets i determined they were taking emergers and nymphs swimming to the surface, so i tied on a size 12 parachute hares ear dry as an indicator fly and off the bend i tied on a size 12 tip tied emerger, threw some casts and then got a nice 10-12 inch brown on the emerger. let him go and threw some more casts and changed tactics i started to let them sink and i would pull them up to the surface like a nymph swimming to the surface and got one strike that way but pulled the trigger to late.     
so it was a good day, got some action and had fun outdoors.

got out today from about 10am-2pm and got skunked. was hoping for some caddis action but nothing was hatching so i fished the pond i talked about in an earlier post with caddis pupa and scuds, had one hit on a flash-sided soft hackle caddis and lost it, then walked around the pond casting and slowly retrieving a dragon fly nymph, got nothing there.
then i went exploring on a nearby stream and found a nice little trib to look around at and spooked a legitimate 20inch brown! also saw about a 12incher in there so next time i'l have to fish it.    

was planing on going fishing today, but the weather sometimes dictates that, and with 35mph winds and poring rain fishing is impossible, so i sat down at the tying bench instead.

my hex fishing arsenal; from left to right, hex wiggle nymph, extended body hex, spent hex, and extended body parachute hex.

got out for a couple hours yesterday, the weather was warm and a little bit overcast.
i fished an unnamed pond connected to token creek for the first time ever, i went there last week and the water clarity wasn't good do to run off after some rain so i moved on, but this week it was a lot better so i decided to stay there. i actually started fishing a little feeder creek that is not in the DNR trout water listings but had trout in it on my last visit, but didn't have any luck so i moved on to the pond, and fished the inlet where the creek joined the pond and caught one nice little brown of eight or nine inches on the first cast, a few casts later hooked one that felt a little better but lost it, the first fish was on a #14 hairs ear nymph, the second i don't know cause i was using a two fly rig, hopefully on my next visit I'll do a little better but, all in all wasn't to bad.

                                              the pond

                                           the unnamed trib