Minnesota Brown

Okay so of all the photos in my last BLOG, I forgot to include one of an actual fish. Here is a typical 11-inch wild Brown Trout from the Root River. Not only are they beautiful, but they love to jump when you look them.

 

Nice Brown from the Root River

 

Going Driftless

Our first trip to southeast Minnesota to fish the “driftless” area was a wonderful success. We caught several fish. All wild browns…none of them huge, but they were beautifully colored and loved to fight. We fished the south branch of the Root River, primarily around the Forestville State Park area in Fillmore County. 

Me with a small Minnesota Brown. Average fish was about 9-10 inches with the largest about 12 inches

The streams were absolutely beautiful. A major spring flood had just crested 10 days before we got there so the stream was still in a transition stage, but the fishing didn’t seem to be impacted too bad. 

Here is Mel "Sasquatch" Freeman fishing the south branch of the Root River

 

While the books say that the second week of June is the Brown Drake and Light Sulfur hatch, the heavy floods that just receded probably played a big part of this years light hatch. The hatch chart may not have been right, but just as predicted the Pink Squirrel turned out to be a fly to fish. Bouncing one of them off the bottom worked well. However, not mentioned in any the books were the fishes hunger for olive and brown Mike’s Mohair leeches. 

 

Here is the whole Crew. Boot Pierce, Mel "Sasquatch" Freeman, and Larry "Stink Bug" Pierce

This photo is tilted "Who farted"...guess who?

Nearby - White Water Creek

 One of the really awesome things about Minnesota is the relationship between the Department of Natural Resources and landowners. Much of the fishing is on private property, but the owners have leased to the DNR public access to the stream banks. It is an amazing concept that opens up so much more water for fishing.  This stream actually just went through some major stream rehabilitation efforts thanks to the local Trout Unlimited chapter. They did a wonderful job with lots of undercuts and rock work.

 

Me over looking another part of the Root River. Note: the rise rings in stream behind me. Some light sulfurs were hatching...mostly late in the evening.

 Don't go to Minnesota expecting huge trout. The streams in the upper portion of the basins are small and the fish are wild browns. Most of the fish ranged from between 9 to 10 inches. The largest I landed was a 12 incher

Pink Squirrels

Mel Tying up a batch of Pink Squirrels

 Forestville State Park is a great place to base your fishing trip from. It has a great campground, hot showers, and is within walking distance to several miles of fishable stream. I would recommend checking you the Minnesota DNR webpage. They have all kinds of information on where to fish, the rules and regulations, and maps of all the fishing areas.

Great place to start a fishing trip to Minnesota's "Driftless" Area

There is even the random Sasquatch siting as they travel back and forth across the river. Mostly to drift pink squirrel nymphs through the deeper holes.

Root River at Historic Forestville, MN.

 

PINK SQUIRREL

What the hell is a Pink Squirrel? What was one of the first things that came out of my mouth as I started planning my trip to southeast Minnesota’s “Driftless” area. Seems everywhere I looked and all the research I did, people kept talking about it. A guy I work with told ”They my be ugly, but make sure you have plenty of pink squirrels.”

They were right. Between the fly gobbling trees, root wads and fish, I must have gone through two-dozen of them in 5 days. Would have been more, but for my love a streamer fishing and the fact that the wild browns also liked Mike’s mohair leeches.

So what is a Pink Squirrel? It is a small bead-headed nymph crystal flash tail, red ribs around a natural abdomen, and a BRIGHT pink thorax. Not something you would expect to see bouncing down the river bed.

Favorite Bluegill flies

So I am sitting at lunch the other day and someone new to fly fishing ask me what are the best flies for bluegill fishing. I wasn't really sure how to answer that. There are so many that work, but only a few that are outstanding. Here is my list. Tell me if you agree of disagree.

1. Bully's Bluegill Spider by Terry and Roxanne Wilson
2. Foam Spider by Joe Amanetti
3. Classic #10 black woolly bugger
4. The Briminator tied by Lou Runnalls
5. Foam Grass Hopper
6. Foam Beetle
7. Classic Popper (foam or wood...who cares they all work great)
8. Damselfly nymph
9. Hare's ear
10. And finally when all else fails...San Juan Worm tied big enough to keep all the nibblers off

What would you add or replace?

Mill Creek Watershed Coalition's BIOBLITZ

The first ever Mill Creek BIOBLITZ, Stream cleanup, and Celebration is scheduled for Saturday June 15, 2013. Stream clean sign up start at 8:30-9:00 in Newburg at the parking lot across from the Children's museum. It is on the main drag in downtown Newburg...You cannot miss it.  Lunch and live entertainments will be provided from 1:00 to 4:00 pm at the registration area, following the cleanup.

If you want to make one of Missouri's most beautiful streams even better, take the day and come on down to Newburg. For more information contact Jim Morrison at 636.233.2513 or jim.morrison@millcreekMO.org