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.