The next trout mecca India?

A promising fishing industry lures anglers to the foot of the Himalayas but for how long?


                                        A guy fishing one of India's high glacier runoff lakes

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Kashmir-development-plan-pits-apf-730562511.html?x=0&.v=1

Wednesday Night Rainbows

With the terrible weather last night my dog didn't receive the necessary exercise that he needed yesterday. Got home from work and headed down the street to a local park that has a old rock quarry that now is basically a spring pond. Let the pup running around a swim for awhile. The DNR stocks this pond with rainbows and some browns every year so I brought the ultra-light. The fishing was pretty good I caught 15 Rainbows and 1 Brown in about 1.5 hours.
There was a father and son fishing down the bank about 100 feet who didn't have a bite for about an hour. I helped them out and rigged them up what I was using (small float with an ice jig and wax worm) they started catching some fish right away. It was great to see the 10 year old kid having a blast catching the stocked rainbows.
That made my day!


                                                 A few rainbows from early in the evening

Fish kill on popular WI trout stream

Fish kill is confirmed on the upper Rush River in Western WI. This is a very productive and beautiful stream found in St. Croix and Pierce Counties.

Check out Graygoatflyfishing.com for a report and pictures.
Graygoatflyfising.com is a great area blog!

http://www.graygoatflyfishing.com/2011/04/19/fish-kill-on-upper-rush-river-in-western-wisconsin/

Easter Fishing

Fished with my cousin Martin today from about 7 til 1:30ish. Fished a new stream in Northern Grant County today and two other small streams that we fish often. Caught a good amount of fish 30+ with a good amount of really nice browns and brookies.
I had a 20ish inch Brown on for a good two minutes got her all the way to the bank. I was fishing up on a high bank and instead of jumping into the water to land the fish I was lazy and try to lift it out of the water, but the hooks came out. Very Very skinny brown, but long and it didn't fight all that much. I am thinking it might have been freshly stocked.
There was a MASSIVE little black hatch going on all morning. We caught a bunch of fish on Rapala's today and some on spinners.


                                                          Martin fishing one of the streams

                                                  I love this stream! Loaded with big trout

                                                  Martin with a very nice colorful Brookie

                                                               A pretty nice Brown trout

                                                              Another super fat Brown

3rd Largest Black Bear ever lived in Monroe County.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/field-notes/2011/03/skull-found-wisconsin-possible-3rd-largest-black-bear-ever


Very interesting that this bear was roaming in Monroe County.

Weekend Report

Didn't make it out for a long fishing trip this weekend. Friday night I fished outside of Mt. Horeb for about an hour with the dog. Fish were hitting fast and furious on white wolly buggers fished downstream close to the undercut banks. We fished from about 6:30-7:30 p.m. and ended up with about 12 brown trout (Biggest was around 14)
Saturday I went and checked out some Bluegill and Crappie spots in the driving snow and wind. Caught a ton of little panfish on a spike and fire-tiger teardrop jig. With the wet/cool spring we have had the big ones still haven't moved in yet. And at this pace I am not 100% sure they will this spring. I only fished for about an hour and caught a good 30 small gills and crappies.
Today I got out at around 6:30-8:00 on Black Earth Creek. The first four casts of the night I landed four small brown trout, which was a great start and a sign of things to come. The fish were smashing x-rap 04 in Rainbow pattern. I didn't catch anything big but most of the fish I caught were in the 13-15 range. Very aggressive strikes and the fish were also very acrobatic. I haven't caught a 20+ inch trout from this stretch of water yet this year which is very surprising. I ended the night catching at least 15-20 trout.


                                                      Denali is ready for his afternoon walk.

                                            Very Colorful Brown that hit a jig Sunday evening.

                                                                 Average size Brown

When fishing Rapalas it is always a good sign when the trout are getting hooked on the first set of trebles. If they fish are constantly swiping the bait or getting barely hooked on the last set of trebles change your presentation. 

                                                                  Very healthy Brown

Pretty good weekend considering the limited amount of fishing time I got in. We are getting a second lab so this weekend we met with the breeder and selected the parents so that took away my fishing time. Can't wait until late June when we can pick up the little one!

Brown Trout considered a invasive species in Virginia?

                                                        How would this fly in the Driftless?

"Any angler who catches a brown trout longer than 7 inches is obliged to keep it. Any angler who catches a brown trout shorter than 7 inches is forbidden from keeping it, but also forbidden from putting it back. Instead, the trout “must be disposed of away from the stream and away from park roads or trails.”

Apparently some people in Virginia can't see the damage they have done to the cold water fisheries there. Today most of the states trout fishing opportunities are found in the far Western portion of the state in the mountains. Just like many other Eastern States trout streams have been taking a hit with acid rains, warm water temps and logging practices. Making the water less conducive for the native brook trout.
Brown Trout were introduced to provide a "supplemental" sport fishery where the habitat is suitable for them and in some streams now have wild populations. I totally understand protecting the native species, but some of this sounds just nuts.

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/mar/31/trout-added-fought-virginia-waterways-ar-942173/

Keeping Trout (interesting article)

http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/04/man-nature-and-trout-our-vanishing-traditions/237139/

Pretty interesting article about the great debate. I don't care what you do..............Spin, Fly, Bait, Catch and Release or keep. I personally keep a couple trout a year for a dinner right after fishing with some potatoes and asparagus, but maybe only 6-9 per year.

He makes a very interesting point early in the article.

"But there's something you ought to know. I am not a trout angler. In fact, I've harbored an irrational dislike of trout for most of my life. It's really not the trout's fault: I avoid them because I don't like trout anglers. Or at least most I've yet met."

I have heard the same thing before when I tell people that I am a avid trout fisherman. They always look at you like you live in a gated community and drive a Bentley. Hopefully we as a group of fisherman can start to change this mold. I always talk to people I will see on the stream to keep the streams code of ethics going and a strong respect between fisherman. Offer people a beer or brat after a long days fishing and walking in the Driftless Area. I always make it a point to introduce myself to people with a out of state license plate and offer them something to eat or drink and see if they need any other area information. Bottom line is Wisconsin is famous for friendliness.................Remember that.

Spring run as begun

No........................
Not steelhead on the Great Lakes tributaries, that has been going on for awhile now. There is another spring run that I really enjoy fishing. That is the seasonal panfish runs in Southern Wisconsin. Right after ice out crappies will move into shallow inlets and back bays and stay around for awhile. Bluegills that were suspended in deep water in the main lakes come into the same areas right around the 15th of April every year. The smaller fish are currently in these areas already and within the next couple of days we should start to see the monster panfish come in. (8.5-10.5 inch Bluegills and 12-14 inch Crappies) Some guys are picking up a couple nice fish here and there already, but the big numbers still haven't moved in.
The tactics I use is a  5'6 St. Croix ultra-light spinning rod paired with a ultra-light Pflueger President fishing reel with #4 pound P-line.
I will use the same type of jigs and floats you would use ice fishing (tear drops, ratso's, flu-flu, etc..) throw on a wax worm or spike and you are set. For crappies same set up, but I will throw on a small crappie minnow.

Any day not the fishing should pick up. I checked out a couple of spots today for about an hour and caught a ton of little crappies.

Fished Richland County today

Today I fished Richland County with my cousin who is learning quickly how to trout fish. We picked out 4 new streams to try and all of them were pretty good. Access issues on one which allowed us to only fish under the bridge which was still productive, but I would love to find the land owner and see if I would be able fish on his property.
Got up early this morning and we were fishing by 7:00 a.m. trout were very active all day catching them on spinners, jigs and stick baits. Water temps were in the upper 40's and reached the 50's while we were fishing later in the afternoon. I would consider the streams we fished to be action streams we caught well over 50 fish and saw tons of them. Biggest Brown was around 15-16 inches and we caught a good number is this size. Biggest Brookie was around 11 inches and only caught two all day.
Richland County has well over 300 miles of Class 1 and 2 trout streams miles. Why I don't fish up here more I don't know, but I need to start making my way over here more.

                                                                      The Brookies

                                                                    Martin with a Brown

                                                                      Me with a Brown

                                                       Double header!  We had a bunch of these

                                                                           Brownie

                                                               Couple underwater practice shots

The art of the jig

The jig this year has been a great early season presentation for me. I have received a bunch of emails from people asking questions about how to fish the jig for trout. The jig can be a very productive presentation or a extremely frustrating experience. This early season has been a bit cooler than the past couple of years and we received 70+ inches of snow over the winter. With the cooler water temperatures the fish haven't been too active, thus avoiding chasing down faster moving presentations such as spinners, spoons or hard baits. The trout will still hit those baits, but when the fish aren't biting and the water temperatures are still cool you should try a jig.
 There are many factors in selecting a jig to fish. The biggest factor I was say would be the current strength. The faster the current the heavier the jig should be. When fishing for Wisconsin inland trout you shouldn't have to go any heavier than 1/4 oz. Unless you are fishing larger freestone rivers up north. Another huge factor is what is the bottom like? Rocky bottoms you might have to downsize again to avoid having the jig drop too fast into the rocks and becoming snagged. With a sand or soft bottom you can pretty much get away with any type of weight. When selecting a weight you should also consider what would look natural. If it sinks like a rock with no action you are using the wrong presentation. I like a jig that I can "walk" or "drag" a crossed the bottom or tick a crossed rocks to resemble a Crayfish, Leech or Minnow. Having a good feel is very important also, it can take awhile to tell the difference between hitting the top of a boulder or a fish taking the jig. If you have ever walleye fished or bass fished with a jig it is pretty similar, but you are using lighter line and rod so you should have better sensitivity.
Check your line often and make sure the line doesn't have small cuts or abrasions. You are fishing down in the cover which can chew away line pretty easy. I use my mouth to feel for the abrasions rather than just your fingers.
White, Brown, Black and Pumpkin Seed are the colors that I prefer. I use 2-3 inch grub tails, curly tails or double tailed jigs.

When a fish takes the jig I try not to set the hook right away, but I will drop my rod tip down reel up once than set the hook. Trout will often times grab the jig and carry it for awhile since it feels and smells like a real meal. This will make sure the trout has the hook in it's mouth and not just grabbing the tail.

                                            Give this a try next time the fish don't want to chase.

Driftless Report this past weekend and today (Video and pictures)

Well sorry I haven't posted in awhile work has been crazy, I hate starting a new job so much to learn and not enough time to process the information.
Anyways......... That will not stop my from fishing a few times. Last weekend 3/27/2011 I wanted to catch some Native brookies. So I went to a small stream near my house to get that fix in. The weather was cold started off in the upper 20's and only reached about 31 degrees. Started using a Rapala X04 X-rap with only a couple of takers. I switched to a panther martin, but that produced the same results. Tied on a white jig and the brookies went nuts. Caught over 40 brookies many of them small, but a couple nice ones with a 13 incher to end the day.

                                                           Small Brook Trout stream

                                                                 First cast = first fish

                                                 Underwater shot (you can see the rapala)

                                                           Downstream stream shot

                                            Biggest Brook Trout of the day and the last fish.

                                                        They sure are fat little bastards

The trout were smashing jigs

I also did some brown trout fishing on the old trusty BEC nothing huge to speak of, but I had steady action all day long. Water was very clear and the trout were bitting on stick baits, spinners and jigs. I fished BEC today on 4/3/2011 and 3/27/2011beside the browns I caught I also got a really nice 22 inch rainbow caught on a jig I posted that video below. So far this spring jigs have treated me very well!

Brownie on a rainbow pattern RX04

                               This 16 inch brown took a #6 panther martin gold with a red tail.

                                This fat brown hit a panther martin #6 regular sliver and yellow

                                                          Very colorful Brown Trout

                                                                              BEC

Big 22 inch Rainbow Video

Fished on Black Earth Creek today caught about 20 browns biggest was about 16 inches and a FAT 22 inch rainbow. I had plenty of time fighting this fish so I busted out the camera to flim the last minute or so. Haven't caught a rainbow this far down in Black Earth for many years.

Brook trout underwater Video

This video was from last weekend. I wanted to catch some native brookies and had a great day catching over 40 of them. Biggest one was about 13 inches, cold and sunny day but the fish would really only hit jigs. Only got a couple of the rapala x-rap RX04