Two Driftless Streams

[Justin H 0]

I got some much needed time out in the quiet valleys of the driftless today. I got an early start, and headed to my favorite stream for the morning. Caught about a dozen pretty little wild browns during the trico spinner fall that lasted most of the morning.

It's a tough place to fish, but it's beautiful and you get the whole place to yourself normally

The fish here like to test my patience. They sit on the bottom of the deepest pools and ignore everything I throw at them, and many of them are quite big. Oh well...

 

Then I went to another stream that I had never been to before, and spent the afternoon there. The road leading in was a good sign. Bad roads=good fishing...sometimes

This little stream certainly exceeded my expectations! It was quite small, but it was icy cold and held some nice big wild browns. Strong fighters too! I started off by swinging a soft hackle, and caught around 10 fish out of this first hole, three of which were in the 12-16 inch range. A new personal best for me!

Most of the stream appeared to be narrow (6-10 ft wide), fishless runs, but whenever the stream took a sharp bend it made deep, fish-holding holes. I was surprised at how viciously the fish attacked my little soft hackle. Many times they would spring up from the depths to crush it as it moved right under the surface, and some of them even jumped out of the water--it was nearly as visual and exciting as fishing a dry or a popper. I'm a committed believer in soft hackles now for sure!

I ended up catching around 30 fish at this stream over the course of the afternoon, many were good sized too. A great little stream, I will certainly be returning. Here is one of the nicest looking ones; the bright red fin really stands out.

The fly:

[niveker 0]

Excellent report and photos Justin. 

[DFoster 0]

Beautiful fish and water-  I love small stream fishing and will gladly take my 3 weight chasing dollar size trout any day!  Thanks for posting that. 🙂

[skeet3t 0]

Great story and photos! Thanks for sharing.

[mikechell 0]

Great story and photos, thank you.

As I've always said, trout aren't any harder to catch than bluegill, if you're casting to fish that've never been caught before.  It's so much fun to find those fish.

[skeet3t 0]

IMHO, bluegill are the easiest fish to catch.  My cousin and I were fishing the pool below a spillway. She caught one bluegill five times.

[Justin H 0]

Thanks all

 

1 hour ago, mikechell said:

trout aren't any harder to catch than bluegill, if you're casting to fish that've never been caught before.  It's so much fun to find those fish.

I agree completely Mike, in fact I frequently visit an abandoned quarry pond that few others go to (at least until the virus struck, seems it is a "popular" pond now), but it is crystal clear, and I have been skunked a few times by the bluegill there. It really is something watching a school of 8-12 inch gills examine your fly, turn their nose up at it, and swim off. Granted, there are days when you figure out what they want and you can't pull them out of the water fast enough too. Those days are fun!

[Jacks Grampa 0]

3 hours ago, Justin H said:

Thanks all

 

I agree completely Mike, in fact I frequently visit an abandoned quarry pond that few others go to (at least until the virus struck, seems it is a "popular" pond now), but it is crystal clear, and I have been skunked a few times by the bluegill there. It really is something watching a school of 8-12 inch gills examine your fly, turn their nose up at it, and swim off. Granted, there are days when you figure out what they want and you can't pull them out of the water fast enough too. Those days are fun!

That's when I tie on a dropper. Tackiest and gaudiest I have.

[Justin H 0]

46 minutes ago, Jacks Grampa said:

That's when I tie on a dropper. Tackiest and gaudiest I have.

I normally use a dropper, but a natural-looking one, or I sight fish with nymphs and soft hackles. I hadn't thought to try something bright and flashy, but I will next time I get a chance. I guess that is part of the fun, no matter the species, different conditions/environments can make the fish picky or easy, and we gotta figure it out.

[Poopdeck 0]

Nice scenery. Fish sit on the bottom and laugh at me a lot. At least you got the last laugh with a great day of fishing. 

[DFoster 0]

19 hours ago, mikechell said:

 

As I've always said, trout aren't any harder to catch than bluegill,

Mike that may change based on geography.  I suspect Bluegill in southern waters have more natural predators and may be a lot more careful than their northern cousins.  In our area from June through September Bluegill on most days will hit anything that you throw in the water.   I've caught 40+ of them over a couple hours on many occasions. They're extremely opportunistic and in these parts.  Locally Bluegill are the way a lot of us including me learn to fly fish.  They're so aggressive you can't lose interest.  That said they are a lot of fun on light tackle, fight really hard for their size and I certainly still target them on occasion.  

Our local trout are a lot more difficult to fool.  They are pressured on most trout rivers which makes them wary and usually very picky about what they'll grab.   Presentation and fly choice are really important.   Brook Trout are probably the least picky of our Salmonids.  When it comes to Rainbows and Browns it's another story.   Some times you can identify what their taking off the surface and its not to difficult to match what their eating.  Some days they may be only eating one specific thing  and you will need to try a awful lot of flies before you find one they like.  And some days you never find the "right one" and wonder if they're eating at all.  On another day they seem to grab anything you tie on.  Trying to figure it out is all part of the fun.

[mikechell 0]

I think Sunfish are thought to be easier to catch than trout for several reasons.

1. Sunfish are schooling fish ... always.  They've lived their entire lives trying to beat other fish in the school to food items.  Trout, even in groups from what I've seen, are seldom going after the same item.  When they ARE actively feeding and competing with others, they're being caught like sunfish.
2. Sunfish rarely get caught and released.  Yes, we fly anglers catch and release but, most others catch and keep.  So, sunfish rarely live long enough to become wary of artificial offerings.  The largest sunfish do learn ... and are as hard to entice to hit as any trout.
3. Most people think the small sunfish they catch are adult fish.  You can catch dozens of 7 inch (keeper) fish ... only to find out there are 11 inch fish down there.  Big sunfish are as hard to catch and big trout.  They're as wary of artificial offerings as any other large predator.
4. When you hear stories like the one above, where un-pressured trout are found ... they're just as eager to hit as any Sunfish.  Maybe setting a hook is a little trickier, since Sunfish tend to hang on longer, but enticing a hit is just as easy.

I have only fish for trout once, in Wyoming, on the "Miracle Mile".  In a couple of hours of fishing, I caught more than a dozen Rainbows and half a dozen Browns, all on an all a white Shyster spinner.  Lost all respect for them as a "premier species" that day.  They were fun, but no better than ... never mind.

[Poopdeck 0]

All fish are both easy and hard to catch at various times of the year. I'm a lazy angler so I fish for the species that's going to produce the most and/or the biggest fish. I have no desire to pigeon hole myself as a trout whisperer or a bass legend. Typically that means trout and walleye in the colder weather, bass, pannies and catfish in the warmer weather, shad in the early spring, striper in early to mid spring and in the fall I'm pretty open to any species but prefer stripers from the surf. Throw in a spattering of salt water trips for flounder, striper, drum and sea bass and I'm living large and typically catching the fish I'm targeting. To say one fish is harder to catch than the next is flat wrong. Good or bad, It's all about the timing. 

[DFoster 0]

17 hours ago, mikechell said:

I think Sunfish are thought to be easier to catch than trout for several reasons.

1. Sunfish are schooling fish ... always.  They've lived their entire lives trying to beat other fish in the school to food items.  Trout, even in groups from what I've seen, are seldom going after the same item.  When they ARE actively feeding and competing with others, they're being caught like sunfish.
2. Sunfish rarely get caught and released.  Yes, we fly anglers catch and release but, most others catch and keep.  So, sunfish rarely live long enough to become wary of artificial offerings.  The largest sunfish do learn ... and are as hard to entice to hit as any trout.
3. Most people think the small sunfish they catch are adult fish.  You can catch dozens of 7 inch (keeper) fish ... only to find out there are 11 inch fish down there.  Big sunfish are as hard to catch and big trout.  They're as wary of artificial offerings as any other large predator.
4. When you hear stories like the one above, where un-pressured trout are found ... they're just as eager to hit as any Sunfish.  Maybe setting a hook is a little trickier, since Sunfish tend to hang on longer, but enticing a hit is just as easy.

I have only fish for trout once, in Wyoming, on the "Miracle Mile".  In a couple of hours of fishing, I caught more than a dozen Rainbows and half a dozen Browns, all on an all a white Shyster spinner.  Lost all respect for them as a "premier species" that day.  They were fun, but no better than ... never mind.

Mike I think you need to get up north and fish for trout more often-  😀