a week from yesterday!!

trout season opens a week from yesterday! cant wait to get out there!
if you haven't been tying yet, now might be the time to start!
dust off the old waders and head out, i hope i will!

midwestrnflyfishr's photostream

midwestrnflyfishr's photostream on Flickr.

These are the rest of the photo's i took this afternoon, hope you enjoy them.

This is a picture I took on a stream today while I was poking around getting alittle more familiar with it so I can have some success when the season starts next month.
I found quite a few small and medium sized caddis above this little waterfall, now I'll come back in a couple weeks when the season opens and fish the pool below the small tumble of water with a caddis pupa.

The season opens on March 3rd!! That's less then a week away, better get ready!!!

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.