I have never fished this spot and although I'd heard it was a popular spot I was amazed to see the number of guys there. It was the middle of a sunny day and still plenty of guys were out! It wasn't the best conditions for catching fish but my hopes hinged on the fact that they must have known something I didn't. Well, as it turns out, I didn't see too many guys catching fish and neither did we. There was still close to two feet of ice beneath us but the groans and moans of late ice reminded us that the river will be open soon. There were guys and pickup trucks spread right across Lake Pepin all the way to Wisconsin but as one drove by us we could hear the ice complain.
Vincent by our shanty. It's hard to believe that's the Mississippi we're on
Yeh, I'm all smiles now but I didn't realize there'd be no fish
It was a pleasant time out there, despite the lack of fishing action and we didn't have too long to wait until our families joined us. Both wives went through the rite of passage of augering a hole in the ice, and Natalya helped out as well. The sun was shining, it wasn't too cold and the beer and company was refreshing. I can say from experience, it is far better to catch nothing with mates around then catching nothing by yourself. We shared lunch back at our house and relaxed away while the kids played. It turned out to be a great evening, although I felt pretty guilty about not catching any fish the two times Vincent and I fished together.
Yeh, I'm all smiles now but I didn't realize there'd be no fish
It was a pleasant time out there, despite the lack of fishing action and we didn't have too long to wait until our families joined us. Both wives went through the rite of passage of augering a hole in the ice, and Natalya helped out as well. The sun was shining, it wasn't too cold and the beer and company was refreshing. I can say from experience, it is far better to catch nothing with mates around then catching nothing by yourself. We shared lunch back at our house and relaxed away while the kids played. It turned out to be a great evening, although I felt pretty guilty about not catching any fish the two times Vincent and I fished together.
Sunday I felt the need to catch a fish, any fish, and armed myself with my 3 weight flyrod and, failing that, a spinning rod. I was on Beaver Creek by 2:30pm. I was expecting the snowmelt to have water temps way down but instead the creek looked great and there was a big midge hatch coming off - possibly the heaviest midge hatch I've encountered. The fish were feeding on the surface and just below it with vigor. I rigged up with a size 18 black midge and despite a few slaps it didn't seem to do the trick. I went for an 20 and there was instant success. I must say though, that it took me some time to get the hook set right. I'm not well versed in fishing 7X tippet and tiny flies so my usual quick snap of the wrist was too aggressive. I ended up finding a presentation downstream to the rising fish with a slight "S" in the line was the trick and then a gentle raising of the rod-tip (just to gently take the slack out of the line and take up the weight of the fish) was the way to ensure a hookup once the fish pounded the fly. It was very visual and fun.
Fish were feeding in virtually every hole beneath a set of riffles, although one hole in particular was exceptional in giving up fish. I could have probably fished it all afternoon and just kept pulling fish out. By about 4pm there was only the occasional midge to be seen in the air and although there were a few fish feeding in the tailouts I couldn't convince them to eat my midge patterns. After some trial and error I ended up finding decent success with a large attractor pattern (that I won't mention here) that generated some ferocious strikes in the riffles above the larger pools.
I must say I was a little frustrated that I was catching fish now (when I was alone) and not the day before when I was trying to catch somebody else some fish but I guess there was a lesson there somewhere. I do believe in Karma so I sat on the bank contemplating why I'd been blessed this day and not so much the day before and here's what I came up with. Instead of seeing the previous trips as an opportunity to show how good of a fisherman I am, I should have perhaps realized the opportunity I was being given was to fish with a friend and I should have therefore seen the success in the previous trips. Of course, I can only wonder if Vincent believes I actually do catch fish sometimes.
With another cool-off in the pipeline I imagine the fishing will drop off a little but it won't be long now until there'll be plenty of trout for everyone and I'll be out trying to get myself into the middle of those pesky spring BWO hatches. All in all I got 27 trout to hand (not to mention the heap I couldn't land) which is an excellent trip for me. If I can have even one more trip like that this upcoming spring I'll be happy.
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