Today I went fishing on a small spring creek located in Southwest Minnesota. It was my first time to go and fish for trout in Minnesota and I was able to land two in despite of the foul weather we had. For the past few weeks we have been fortunate enough to get some thirty to mid forty degree days but this week things turned south and we have started to get into the teens and even single digits. Today we probably got up to twenty degrees but it quickly went back down and started to snow on us at a steady pace. Because of the colder water temperatures the majority of the fish were all gathered up into the deeper pools. My dad and our friend John Goplin some had luck using small streamer type patterns. The two fish I caught were in a little shallower water and I caught them using a small size 18 hare%u2019s ear nymph. There have been some major stream improvements where we fished so there were a lot of undercut banks that the fish could use as cover when we spooked them. That made it a little harder to reach them at times but we managed to get the job done. My dad was able to land a small brown and John had caught a few trout before we arrived along with a sucker that he caught while fishing a pool with my dad. Here are a few pictures from the day. Sorry that there are none with fish but with the cold weather none of us were really willing to unzip the jacket and grab the camera. Anyway, I hope you enjoy them!

The creek was very scenic through the woods area...

...but due to some stream improvements other ares were, well, I'll let you pick a word to describe it!

Since we arrived in Minnesota I have been able to go on multiple fishing trips. The best fishing that I have done so far is within five minutes from my house. I have been able to catch a couple different species of sunfish and I have hooked a couple of nice pike. I was able to land one of the pike at a lake called Blackhawk Lake. When I caught the little guy I was fishing 1/0 bunny fly. The pike followed the fly right up to the fishing pier and when I saw him I decided to speed up my stripping speed. That small change triggered a strike and I nailed him. It has been awesome to have fishing (and quality fishing) close to my house like back in Colorado.

Last weekend my dad and I went over to Wisconsin to try for musky. Sadly, a drive that was only should have been an hour turned into a two and a half hour drive since we were unable find the river. We did see a lot of the country side through our drive. Once we got to the river we were able to get down to a nice deep and slow moving pool and started to fish. The fishing was slower but my dad was able to catch a small pike. We both had multiple follows from walleye and I had a fish that followed and nipped at my fly for three consecutive casts. Since they tend to follow a fly over, and over, and over again I have a feeling that it was a musky.

We have been very fortunate here as we continue to dodge the bullet with the snow. Yesterday for the first time we got a snow storm and it started to stick after only an hour or so. I have a feeling that fly fishing season is coming to a close and soon it will be time to break out the ice fishing gear. Here are a few pictures of my recent fishing adventures. Tight lines.

Yesterday I went to the Mississippi River to fish for pike and smallmouth bass. Since it was my first trip for smallies the pressure was on to catch one. The first run that we fished was pretty slow. My dad was able to get a few test grabs but no%u201Cserious%u201D takes. We decided to make a move up stream to a little bit slower water. The new water was a lot deeper and a much better holding spot for the smallies. My dad and I waded out to our waist and started fishing. The fist smallmouth that I picked up was at the very end of my retrieve in the shallowest of the water that I was fishing. After some time I broke off on the trees behind me and had to re-rigging. As I observed the river I saw that a small hatch was coming off and a few fish were eating the small mayflies in the shallows. I started walking the shore in and casting in about four feet of water. On my fourth or fifth cast I had a vicious grab and landed my second smallmouth. I continued doing this for the remainder of the day and managed to catch one more smallmouth, a pike, and had many more grabs from fish. It was a blast and I can%u2019t wait to go back for more.

Here are a few pictures of our day on the Mississippi.

The Mississippi River. Very cool!!!

My first ever smallmouth bass.

A small pike...but a pike is a pike!

Different from the trout rivers I am use to in Colorado but this is awesome.

A couple smallmouth.

Now that we are settled into our temporary housing in Minnesota I was able to go and get a little fishing. There is a small pond only a few houses down that I fished earlier this week, For the amount of time I fished, I was only able to hook one fish but because of the thick foliage around me my rod was immediately tangled in branches and the fish got away. Today was the first day I was able to get out onto a lake that I was positive held fish. The lake has a strong population of bluegill, black crappie, largemouth bass, and bullhead. I was able to sight fish to the bluegill with a size 14 prince nymph and caught my first three fish in Minnesota. When I started to see all of the bluegill swimming around in the shallows and then once I actually started to catch them I was shocked. Today the weather was cloudy, 45 degrees, and windy. Back in Colorado if the weather got below fifty degrees the fishing for panfish turned south so today was filled with firsts for me.

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful fish that I caught today.

The biggest of the day. Using the Ross FlyStik, F1 reel and Scientific Anglers Magnum Taper Sharkskin line.

Loving Minnesota!

This past weekend my family and I did a big fish-a-thon. Since we are in the process of moving to Minnesota, we have been trying to visit all of our favorite spots in Colorado one more time and this weekend helped us to check two more off the list.

On Monday we went up to the East River and fished for kokanee salmon. For the past, well, many years we have all gone to fish this salmon run and the timing worked out so we could go one more time. For my sisters it is a lot of fun to catch these fish since they are big, strong and of course they have monster teeth. The flies that we fish are very simple which makes the tying job a little easier for my dad and I and you can tie up lots of them at a time. This year some of our hot flies were a size 12 orange San Juan worm, a size 12 pink San Juan Worm (my sisters' favorite) and a size 12 red tag. My sister Vivian is really starting to get into this whole fly fishing thing and so this year she tried for a Junior IGFA World Record fish. After a couple of fish weighed, she finally caught the one that made the mark.

Vivian with her pending Junior IGFA kokanee.

My sister Ava and I with our first kokanee double.

Ava with a nice and heavy kokanee.

Here is a cool picture of a kokanee's scales.

I started fishing a small side channel and here is the result.

The next day my dad was able to take a day off from work and we all hiked into the La Garita Wilderness with one of our good friends from our church. As we were driving in, clouds had already started to build over head which made the question of whether we would be able to hike in or not clear. We decided to try and so started our twenty five minute hike into the canyon. The weather held off on us for a few hours then we started to get a little bit of rain. It continued to give us light sprinkles through the day until about three in the afternoon when the real storm came. This ended up driving us out since all my sisters were cold and tired. It was about a forty five minute hike out which was a real workout for us all. I am sure that what I have told you so far makes the day seem like a real downer but in truth we all caught fish and had a great adventure which is all that matters. Since we were fishing a small stream all of our rigs were dry-dropper set ups. For the dry fly we used either a size 14 Stimulator or a size 14 Humpy. In the way of nymphs, every thing from Pheasant Tails to Prince Nymphs worked well as long as it was in the size 14-16 range.

Here are some of the pictures from our spectacular adventure.

My mom's first fish of the day.

One of the many beautiful browns that I caught that day.

The Gear.

A hiking we shall go....

A healthy brown that fell for my dry.

My sister Ava with a wild brown.

The remainder of the rainstorm that pounded us when we hiked out of the canyon.

For the past few weeks I have been experimenting with some different patterns and one that has continued to produce is the Hewitt's Neversink Skater. The Neversink Skater is an older pattern that was originated by Edward Ringwood Hewitt (1866 -1956) who lived in the on the Neversink River. Hewitt was an avid angle who ran a small camp on the shores of the Neversink River in a beautiful area that is now sadly covered by the waters of the Neversink Reservoir. One question that developed inside of me while I was fishing this pattern is, what exactly could a fly that is two inches in diameter possibly imitate and why would a fish be so intrigued by it? As I did some research on the fly I found out that it was tied to imitate a butterfly which Hewitt often times saw flying over the water.

When I fish the Neversink Skater I like to use a very long leader, often times up to fifteen feet in length that way I can keep as much line off of the water as possible. The reason for this is that in a larger river you have to often times cast over many different current seams to reach the best water and it is very difficult to get a good drift if you have all of your fly line on the water. The Hewitt's Neversink Skater is a very effective fly pattern so I will generally make only a few casts to each spot then move onto new water. I make very few casts when fishing this fly because fish will be able to decide very quickly whether they want it or not and it is inevitable that they will see this fly floating overhead within those casts. Often times the fish will chase the fly down if they want to eat it so you don't have to worry about making the most accurate cast every time.

I am sure that once you try out this fly you will be hooked on it and have them in your vest on every trip. Here are a few pictures of fish that I have been catching on this fly and a picture of the fly itself.

A few Neversink Skaters in my fly box.

One of the fish that could not resist the skater.

This fly catches all kinds of trout...

From brookies (my favorite) to brown trout!

Hey everyone. Here is a quick update of my fishing adventures of the past two weekends. Two weekends ago I attended a USA Youth Fly Fishing Team clinic in Hartsel, CO. This clinic qualified me for Nationals which will be held in PA in a couple of weeks. Some of my friends who I compete with were there so we all swapped flies and fished a bunch together which, of course, was great fun. Our instructor, Dave Pehle, was a pleasure to be around and had lots of great information to give to us students. We covered everything from Spanish Nymphing to the Czech Nymphing style and had many mini competitions so we could get a better taste for completion fishing. I have been fishing with these European methods now for quite some time and they have really helped to improve my catch rate so it is defiantly something fun and worth while to learn. Now this past weekend I was able to get out and fish the Pa-Co-Chu-Puk section of the Uncompahgre River for some rainbow and cut throat trout. I was able to get ten fish in a three hour time frame which was a great deal of fun. Seven of those fish came on small midge adults (size 24)! When I was nymphing I caught three cutthroats and all of them were very brightly colored. It was a lot of fun to be able to sight fish to all of the little guys that I caught. I am definitely looking forward to my next trip back.

Here are some pictures of all my recent adventures. Enjoy!

The group from the USYFF clinic held at Hartsel Springs Ranch in South Park, Colorado

Listening to the coach!

Time to practice what we learned.

Success!!!

Connor, Cam and Charlie having a tying-fest.

Nymph fishing the Uncompahgre River below Ridgeway Reservoir.

An awesome cutthroat.

Last weekend I had a fly tying demo and book signing at Laughing Grizzly Fly Shop in Longmont, CO. My dad and I perform some crazy one day trips over to the Denver area and although you get a little tired with driving all day it is usually a good time. This trip was certainly worth it. The turnout at the shop was huge, more than thirty people, and it was great to see so many kids there. I cranked out some different streamer patterns and some of my favorite competition patterns. I canâ??t wait to get to go back and do another tying demo for them next year. Itâ??s going to be great!

Monday night I went down to the Uncompahgre River through Montrose to fish with some of those competition style flies. I managed to land two and hook a total of four which, for all the bad weather we had been having, and not much practice, was pretty good. I am certainly looking forward to things warming up so that we can have some monster big days on the water.

Last night I fished the Gunnison River at the East Portal. Hooked seven and landed four. The best fish was a rainbow about 16-17 inches. A size 16 beadhead Pheasant Tail nymph did the trick pretty well.

Here are some pictures from the past two fly fishing excursions. Enjoy.

Tying at Laughing Grizzly Fly Shop.

The shop has a cool video set up for everyone to watch the tiers.

Fishing on the Uncompahgre River near my house.

Success!!!

Gunnison River Rainbows are incredible looking fish.

One more big Gunnison River Rainbow.

Going back...

Hey everyone. I am very sorry for taking such a long break from blogging but school and travel combined gave me very little extra time. So, I thought that I would give you all, through a couple posts, an idea what I have been up to for the past couple months.

My first big trip of 2011 was down to Texas to speak at the Guadalupe Trout Unlimited Troutfest. This is an annual fly fishing show that they put on to help raise money f so that they can continue to sustain a good trout fishery, the Guadalupe River. I was very fortunate to be able to talk to youth about the adventure of fly fishing and a little bit about some basic tying and casting skills. While I was there I was able to meet one of the greats of fly fishing, Dave Whitlock. He signed a couple books for me and I purchased two pieces of his art work. It was great for me to be able to see what he does with colored pencils and learn some techniques since all my drawing is done with colored pencils.

As usual, I was there to do presentations for the youth, but I still found opportunities to go fish. The hotel that my dad and I stayed at was right on the Guadalupe, so every morning before we went to the show I got to throw some streamers for the trout. On my first day fishing I was able to land a nice rainbow on a small crayfish pattern.

Here are a few pictures to show you what our trip was like.

One of the casting demos I did at the Troutfest. This was such a fun event.

Me with Dave and Emily Whitlock at the GRTU Troutfest.

My friend Ed Engle and I spent time talking about fishing and fly tying. Ed signed a copy of his latest book "Fishing Small Flies".

Of course I had to fish the Gaudalupe River each morning before the show. I did not bring waders or much gear but caught a couple of nice chunky rainbows on streamers!

Today was an amazing fishing day on the Gunnison River; a perfect day to kick off the fishing season of 2011. In the past couple weeks my dad and I have made two trips to do some fishing for the superb trout that swim in its waters. My dad and I went there about 10 days ago to close out the season for 2010 and we succeeded in catching over forty fish that day on Zebra Midges and surprisingly some egg patterns. All of our fish were very healthy and gave us a great fight throughout the day. It was an overcast day with some snow which made for a very cold day. It was very refreshing to have a hot lunch on the river. My dad brought his single burner stove and we cooked soup. After lunch we fished until three thirty in the afternoon and called it quits since we had had such a memorable day of fishing.

Once the calendar turned over and we were in 2011 it was time to go again and start a new year. The weather was much better this time but still a little nippy especially when I had just caught and released a fish and my hands were still damp. We only fished for six and a half hours but that was enough time to catch over thirty fish. The most memorable of them all is a 22 inch slab rainbow that my dad caught on a small Zebra Midge. It was a beautiful rainbow that got all the credit it deserved for that amazing fight and challenge. My dad was of course very happy and spent another half hour or so in the same run and caught over fifteen fish. I had a little bit of a challenging day but in the end landed about seven total and hooked another five. It was a great joy to be out fishing with my dad in such an amazing setting like the Gunnison.

Some of my favorite fishing trips are on local waters and it is a blast to have days like these that I will remember forever. Here are a few pictures to help recap our last two fishing trips up on the Gunnison River.

Geared up and ready to hit the water.

One of the last browns that I caught in 2010.

Czech nymphing a deep seam.

Success!

Thanks to Simms Fishing Products for such great cold weather gear to make winter fishing fun.

My dad with a brown.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

One of my first fish of 2011.

My dad with a fat rainbow.

Hooked up!

A double my dad and I caught.

Getting ready to let them go home.

The release.