Fishing the Brule River

Last weekend I went with the St. Paul Fly Tiers and Fisherman's Club up to the Brule River to catch some Steelhead.  I think it had been a couple years since I had bite, but I was hoping this weekend would be different.  We were staying at a cabin right on the river which allowed for easy access which was good since i did need to study for my Business Ethics class.  So I did have high aspirations but low expectations.

On Friday after cooking breakfast I went with out with another Fly Tier Joe Lucey near the cabin.  I managed to hook and land a 25 incher in the morning.  My first steelhead in years and first over 20 inches.  This allowed me to study in the afternoon and enjoy Bob Feiker's rib dinner in the evening.

Saturday morning after breakfast Joe and I headed out again and i caught another 25 incher from a different hole. What luck, two fish in one weekend.  Again in the afternoon I studied and enjoyed Tony Stifter's grilled steaks in the evening.  We had 18 people show up for dinner.

On Sunday I made the breakfast again for everyone and went out by myself right away.  I found a spot i wanted too try and i caught a 23 incher. Using a little tripod I was able to take some pictures.  I was three for three with a fish each day.   All fish were on a glo-bug.  I will probably never have another weekend like it on the Brule.

Winter

It has been a long time since I posted anything so I thought it was time to do so.  Winter may be starting to be in the rear view mirror.  It still is only 8 F this morning but it is supposed to be in the 30's by Thursday.  On Thursday February 20th when we got the 10 inches of snow I actually saw my first robin.  There was about 15 robins actually in on of the hackberry trees on our yard.  This was right about the time it was switching from rain to snow.  After a couple minutes they were gone. We will probably see them once it gets back to the 30's.

Sue and I have gotten out a couple times cross country skiing.  The snow has been fantastic, only the temps have been too cold at times.  I am hoping to get out a couple more times before all the snow melts.

Scarlet Tanager

Yesterday evening I was walking along the river in downtown Minneapolis, by St. Anthony falls when a bird caught my eye.  It was a bright red and black bird.  I am not an ornithologist, but I am aware of some birds.  I know scarlet tanagers are in our area, but I have never seen one.  I wanted to get a picture, Unfortunately every time I got close to it's location it flew to the next tree.  I did have time to compare to pictures on my phone I know it was a scarlet tanager.  The bright red color is  amazing to see.

Winter fly fishing on April

Today I meet up with several other members of the St. Paul Fly Tiers for breakfast in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. This was for our April outing. This year is different than others as it was snowing and 30 degrees F. On the way the the restaurant road conditions got really bad for a few miles in River Falls. There was a couple mile stretch that had several cars in the ditch and top speed you could safely travel was 30 mph. After getting through River Falls the roads improved.
There was 3 other crazy guys like me who still wanted to fish in the poor weather. After breakfast we went to the Rush River. It was crystal clear an 41 degrees F. We started at Stonehammer and went upstream. I found that a Tup's Indispensable was the best fly today. It snowed, rained and sleeted during the day and there was no visible hatch, but there were a few fish that were surfacing. I only caught brown trout today as the Brookies were shy. Even with the bad weather it was nice to catch a handful of trout.

Enjoying the snow

Now that winter is winding down I have finally found some time to get out and do some cross country skiing. Last Sunday I got up got all of the stuff put some wax on the skis and headed out to Como Park. It was early, around 8:15 and there was only 3 other cars in the parking lot. I was a little surprised by the temperature as it was only 14 F, which was colder than I expected.

The snow was freshly groomed and in perfect condition. Definitely worth going out. It sounds like we are going to get another snow storm on Monday and Tuesday of this week and then warm up. So if I want to get out the best snow will be right after the storm.

Ice fishing on the St. Croix

Last weekend Saturday I went fishing with Andy, Al, Caleb and Sam Craig on the St. Croix river in Bayport. It was a beautiful day and many people were out. This was my first opportunity to use my new Eskimo fish house. The ice was great at about 30" and about 5" of snow on the ice.

I was very impressed with the fish house. It setup and came down very easy. Also the quilted insulated cover was quite warm. Most of the day I did't even turn the Buddy heater on and the sun was enough to warm it up nicely. After I did turn the heater on the house was quite cozy.

Fishing was slow. Caleb started the day with a crappie. We all continued to see fish on the finders and an occasional bite but we weren't getting any hook ups. About an hour before sunset the bites started being more consistent. We all fished until about 5:45pm and I ended up with 2 crappies. It was a great day on the river.

Southern California

It has been along time since I posted anything so it is time again. Sue and I went out to Southern California for sue's aunt Evelyn's '90 birthday. It was a lot of fun. Evelyn was feeling really good and everyone had a good time visiting.
The weather was cold while we out there but I did play golf 2 days in row with Sue's cousins Dave and Roy. I didn't I shoot very well and the excuses are too many to list.
We will see many of the same relatives this summer at Kelsey's wedding.