adaptive and unchartered

Fighting through a cold and with brace tightly on my knee (scheduled for a meniscus tear repair next month) I ventured out this morning into the Minnesota Driftless area. "Unchartered" and "Adaptive" were the key ingredients in this successful outing. With a relatively fast snow melt the run off has most streams running high, a bit fast and stained but very fishable. After trying about everything but the kitchen sink I was rewarded with several respectable Browns taken on a Pink Squirrel. With this new found confidence that put a spring back in my step I went exploring. Working deep back into "unchartered" stretches of a very familiar stream. I came across a large, deep pool with two fast moving inlets. I changed to a large, BH crane fly nymph and proceeded to roll cast into the crater like pool as the surrounding trees dictated such an approach. By varying the speed and cadence of the retrieve strip I was able to coax repeated violent takes by aggressive Browns looking for a large spring time meal. The accompanying photo is a good representation of the average size of fish I was landing from this hole. I just know there are a few larger bruins in there .... there just has to be - and I'll be back in there, Oh yes, I'll be back in there! So, in conclusion, take away lessons from the day  1) never give up  2) be adaptive and try new flies and techniques. This combined with a little exploration to new waters or even new stretches of very familiar water has the potential to pay large (trout) dividends!


Brian Schumacher