Dormouse & Partridge and Trout Fly Tying

I miss tying trout patterns! Living on the ocean coast and fishing mostly for striped bass, my trout fishing trips are not so common today as they used to be in the past. I brought some dormouse (Glis glis) fur back from my trip. It is a great traditional material used by many Balkan fly tyers and perfect for soft hackle bodies, shaggy nymphs and spiky fly thoraxes. I just finished a batch of flies for a friend and have been enjoying the trout fly tying groove. I have to catch up with some rod orders this week, but will be tying and posting trout patterns on a more regular basis.

Driftless Diary

NE Iowa revisited...creeks are in great shape...hatches were sporadic BWO and tan caddis...large majority of fish caught on PT nymphs.

Sisevac Caddis (Clipped Emu Para-Caddis)

Before the Storm

We arrive on the stream with the ominous light falling into the softness of the evening mist. March Browns (Maccaffertium sp.) are hatching quietly...


My wet imitation is inspired by Irish mayflies, the ones ghillies still use on loughs Sheelin and Corrib... an old fly in the New World.


I throw a gentle cast and yellow glass rod moves the line in a slow style. Fly line and the fly tango together on the rippled water surface... Little trout rushes to join the dance...


A quick pose before the freedom... Heavy raindrops are falling, while the thunder from the East speeds up our run to the car.

The River of Many Moods II

Spring wind, grannoms, yellow craneflies, glass and cane, finicky trout...

The River of Many Moods

Anticipating some caddis action, I went to my favorite WI stream on Monday. Beyond my expectations, I was treated with the magnificent caddis hatch-sort of a repetition of my last week's outing... Caddisflies were abundant along the rocky stretch near the bridge, and I was sharing it with only one angler. I did explore further upstream and got some fish on nymphs, but returned to the first location. Fishing dries and emergers over rising trout is really hard to pass by. Fish were slurping caddis in rocky eddies, behind boulders, and often tight to the bank stones. The trick was to throw a slack line cast and hope that the fish would grab the fly before the current would drag it away. It was a dry fly fisherman's paradise-trout wouldn't even look at my soft hackles which worked so well the previous week in SE MN.

My friend Jeremy (casting on the picture) and I hit the same stream yesterday, hoping for the repeated action. The day was a carbon copy of the previous one-everything looked so right for the new explosion of caddis acitivity. We both fished 4weights (top photo.) Jeremy used his beautiful Norling hollow-built cane rod, while I fished the glass rod I completed last Fall on McFarland's Dry Fly taper blank. The familiar rocky stretch was teaming with anglers upon our arrival, and we decided to fish Jeremy's favorite location upstream instead.

The water had magical feel to it and pastel green banks were full of life...spring flowers, red-winged blackbirds, grey heron and the restless osprey-everything but the black caddis! While we got some fish, both browns and brookies, caddis were completely absent.

We found some BWO's and midge activity, threw everything from streamers to soft hackles, and had a wonderful time talking and making each cast count. On our way back, Jeremy explored the midge hatch with tiny flies and took the photo of emerging pale green midge (botom left). We walked toward out cars, while the moody trout were still rising along the silvery glide.

Spring Caddis

After the weekend snow flurries, today was the first nice day this week... and I was lucky to be able to spend several hours on the prime SE MN spring creek. Amy joined me for the trip, but decided not to fish, since the wind was blowing in 20-30mph gusts.

The stream was slightly high and little off-colored, but nothing too bad... We arrived around 11:30am, just in time for the caddis hatch. The first rises indicated fish taking emerging pupae, right under the surface. I love this type of fishing, since I can use soft hackles in combination with my glass rod, to swing them or fish them upstream, dead drifted or sometimes with subtle twitches. Very soon the fish were boiling everywhere... This particular stretch has nicely manicured banks, so I just grabbed my wellington boots and started casting. Fish would usually take the fly savagely. At moments there were so many naturals on the surface, that it would take several repeated drifts to get a trout. I switched to a bigger fly, one size larger (a soft hackle with bright green biot body, speckled brown hackle, and ostrich head), and noticed that bigger fish would often grab it.

Little later I put the waders on and explored some corners where I previously noticed swirls of larger fish-spots which weren't reachable from the shore. Towards the end, the emergence ceased and fish would still take fluttering adults on the surface. I ended the day with several fish caught on dries in a narrow fast flowing side channel, under the low-hanging branch. None of the fish caught today went over 13", but the numbers made up for the size... Two consecutive casts would often produce either a take or a miss.

I was trying to identify today's caddis and compared the photos at troutnut.com. SE MN hatch chart lists two common early dark caddis species: Cheumatopsyche sp. and Chimarra sp. As you can see from my photos, insects are definitely not completely black, but have dun/brown wings. My best guess would be the first of the two species-Cheumatopsyche sp. (Little Sister Sedge.)

Mayflies of Spring

I fished the western Wisconsin twice last week and spent the Saturday fishing NE Iowa, while visiting my in-laws. With three outings in a week, I finally feel like I am catching up with my fishing. The weather was gloomy for the most part of the week-I even got soaked on Rush river on Thursday. However, this type of weather is the greatest for fishing, and all three days were truly magnificent, with double digit catches on each outing.

Both Wisconsin trips started in similar fashion... I would drift buggers or weighted nymphs during the morning, occasionally switching to size 22 midges for bank sippers. Baetis hatch would start little after 11am, and fish would turn on. There were still some little stoneflies around, and I spotted very few Dark Hendricksons and a single black caddis. The river was slightly off color and little high.

On both days I found pools below riffles where stacked fish would gulp little olives. The feeding on rainy Thursday was so intense, that the churned surface full of swirls and boils reminded me of blitzing stripers on the NE coast...I don't think I ever saw that many trout feeding at the same time. While half emerged duns caught plenty of fish on Monday, PT nymphs and Starling & Pheasant wets took fish consistently on both days. It was greased line fishing in classic style: switch and single spey cast down and across, mend the line, follow the swing, and allow enough slack in the system to hook the fish successfully. Each cast would often bring a hungry trout. I didn't get any giants, but all trout were well conditioned and feisty fighters (notice the footprints of another "fisherman" next to the trout, photo above.)

Iowa creeks were not in the greatest shape, due to the heavy downpours during the week. Waterloo was murky and high, but I decided to fish it, since it can produce big browns when the water is slightly off-color. The visibility ranged from 6 to 12 inches-not great but still fishable.

I started the day with Waterloo Leeches, Siliclone Sculpins and the super-fast polyleader. Size 2 sculpin didn't prove too big for average Waterloo browns, fished off the bottom in slower pools.

Around noon, a heavy hatch of Baetis materialized, followed by Dark Hendricksons. The unfavorable water conditions were responsible for the lack of intense surface activity, but in quiet eddies there were enough surface feeders to satisfy a dry fly purist. I fished my new Sceptre glass for the most part of the week, and it proved again to be very versatile stick. I switched from polyleader to furled thread leader and Hendrickson CDC Cripple dry. Wild browns from Waterloo, just like their Rush river cousins, were in excellent shape and hungry. The fish keyed on Hendricksons (title photo) after the Baetis (left) hatch tapered off. The egg laying spinners hovered over the riffles, while the duns were still emerging, often intercepted by red-winged blackbirds in the mid-air. Hendrickson umbrella duns with moorhen front hackle worked like a charm on selective feeders.

I had to leave around 5pm so I wouldn't miss the family dinner... Fish were still rising along the rocky bank, enjoying the mayflies of spring.