Land of Plenty

One of the beautiful things about living in the Upper Midwest is the sheer variety of local angling opportunities available, particularly in the spring time. I've always considered myself a "seasonal angling specialist" and like to think I have a knack for seeking out the sweet bite close at hand, this week has been no exception. Tuesday on the trout stream and Wednesday catching shore walleyes below the ford dam.

Tuesday afternoon I found myself on the local trout stream with my good friend Fred Sparling. After the wet cold snow of Monday I honestly had low expectations, fearing the cold influx of snow would drop the stream temps enough to put the fish down, but as usually happens, they have to eat at some point and the key is being there when they do. This day was no different. We fished a couple hours with no action, plying some of the usual tricks we employ at this time of year but could not solve the puzzle...After some discussion on fly patterns and likely fish position we switched gears and we're rewarded with a nice bite over the course of a couple hours. Here's what we found....The increased volume and color of the river affords the trout an opportunity to roam a bit more from their usual woody haunts, today the hot ticket was flats and slower tail outs of larger pools. The first couple came from a 2' gravel flat, dead center of the river adjacent to a larger pool where we usually find them hunkered down. Fred got on board first with a nice 17" brown that snapped up a "whahoo muddler". Having seen his success I got energized, switched up flies and sure enough got tagged by a stout 15" in the same type of water. A pattern emerged and we focused our time on this type of water, rewarded well I might add. We finished the day off with a couple more @ 15" & 17" respectively and I had a losing battle with a tank that had my 7wt doubled over, felt like a brule steelhead to be honest and although I never got a definitive look, I'd easily say it was in the 20-24" class...

Yesterday afternoon the tele rings with my buddy Ingy on the other end proclaiming "they're here". They being pre spawn walleyes that stack up below the ford dam in st paul. I rallied some gear and the dog and got my ass down there. Nothing like catching 20"+ walleyes in the shadow of the city! This is a consistent and strong bite till the spawn ends and a great way to get out for a couple hours close to home....

here's a couple pics of the action. Think globally, fish locally!