Finally, Tuesday was the day for my first Wisconsin trout of 2017.
Roads were in poor shape on Tuesday morning but the sky was clear the weather was a pleasant break from the ice rain the night before. By 10 PM Monday night when I made the final slide south out of River Falls, roads were nothing short of Zamboni perfect. Driftless terrain and glare ice is about as scary as it gets for road conditions around here. One miscalculation on breaking pressure and you can count on something bad happening. By 11:30 I purposefully wedged my truck into a snow bank and walked the rest the way home. I had had enough. I digress.
From 11 am to 2 pm fishing was consistent. There were fish on the surface but tight brushy conditions made nymphing a better choice. Midges and little black stones were everywhere. The bugs were on the banks, in the air, on the water, up your nose. This was probably the most prolific winter hatch I had seen in a while. Along with the midges and stones, a billion little unidentified bugs were also there in force. Someone said they were called springtails which would fit since they did jump around when you invaded their space. Below is a bad picture of my #20 flashback Kinni nymph sitting next to a pile of these little springers. Individuals were not much bigger than the point of a pin, not the head, the point.
7 users commented in " Tuesday 1/17 Report "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackAndy, good to see you got out! Any idea how the area streams are doing this weekend with the melt? I see the Kinni gauge must be stuck in ice.
Thanks,
Greg
As of 5 pm today the Rush was clear. We fished noon to 5 and caught trout on zebra midges and small (#20) P. tails. Midges in the air and small fish feeding on top. Water is puddling in lowland areas. We won’t be able to sustain much more above freezing weather and not have some effect on water clarity. Hard to say at this point when it will go off. Safe for now but no prediction of timing of runoff. I did not see the Kinni today.
A
Thanks for the report Andy. I’m going to try the Kinni today and I’ll report back.
Greg
Andy,
My son and I fished the upper Kinni from 12-3 today. Water was high and off colored, but fishable. Lots of midges about with some rising fish. Water temp was 38. Because of the dirty water, the “hot” fly was a pink squirrel. We got 8 fish total and it felt good to get out.
Take care,
Greg
Andy,
I have fished several winters in WI and MN and it’s always good hiking. Have never so much as seen a fish, much less caught one.
Until last Thursday, Jan. 19, on the Rush. I caught two 10-12 inchers within my first five casts, using a soft hackle. My friend caught 20 in a long riffle just upstream from me in about 45 minutes, on an olive. Saw many more decent-sized fish leaping and rolling about in fast water. Seemed like May.
Struck me as a rare occasion. But enough to get me out there again this winter.
Greg
Thanks for the report. Sounds like you had a nice outing. Various reports have come in in the last few days ranging from skunks to one angler who caught 24 trout in 2 hours, in the same spot. Winter fishing can be quite variable but it is nice just to get out see something besides the inside 4 walls.
Bill
A great report to learn from.
In my humble opinion, rare happens every time we are out fishing if we look in the details. The more outings we put in, the more often these rarities repeat themselves and become less rare. We don’t completely understand, but it drives us to fish again to derive some kind of clarity.
It is when nothing rare occurs that we have probably missed something and mistakenly believe we have this trout fishing thing all dialed in.
At that point you either think you have become an expert, you are in heaven or you are dreaming.
I am betting your on your way to stream to fish again.
Thanks Bill
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