hiver

I walked on water.


Okay, so maybe I had a little help. The majority of the small and medium sized lakes in the region locked up with ice over the past week. Blanketed with recent snowfall, the frost line is as deep as six inches in some areas already. Coupled with low river flows, I can pretty much count the season as over. Even as a die hard angler, I am not reluctant to call it over, as fish were few and far between in early September, seeking the refuge of deeper water. Any efforts at this time spent searching for fish worthy of a drift seem futile, and more like a fool's quest.

Seems only reasonable that my days now be spent behind the vise, on icy treks across frozen lakes in search of fish through a freshly augered hole, celebrating the ups and downs of college hockey, traversing billowy drifts of fresh powder underneath my snowmobile, and warm comfortable evenings at home with the family, waiting, waiting, waiting, for that first sign of spring when I can once again drift a nymph.

Bonsoir.

Changeup

Continuing on with the odd weather as of late. One day, seventy degree plus temps, the next, barely breaking fifty. The ice is gone, the snow has been long gone for over a month. Water temperatures in the main river systems are still fairly cold, with barely a sign of walleye spawning activity. Soon after the walleyes spawn, do the suckers. Places where you'd think you'd see fish are devoid of any life. Went up to the carp flats at mid day and nothing. Then the sun came out and fish were jumping, spawning, everywhere. Weird.


I decided that it was time to give a few Critter Gitters their first taste of action. I wasn't gonna throw them into the shit right away, but give them a few exercises in less of a hot zone. First few casts into some rocky pocket water and picked off a few smallies. Not that I doubted their potential, smallmouth are simple greedy pigs, quite stupid really, fun to torment with rubber, fur, feather and steel. Time to move on to some real targets.



First drift through a promising run and I hook up. All I saw was a dorsal fin break the surface and I couldn't tell if it was a carp or a buffalo. After a couple large pulls upstream and then down, I scrambled to get my freshly stripped line back onto the spool. As I pulled the fish against the current I manage to bring it to the surface, a decent sized bigmouth buffalo. Had a brand new net with me and even remembered to use my digital scale. I put the netted fish on the hook, something I have rarely done in the past, scaling out at 10.5#.



Hopefully next time I'll get the carp to play. I only had an hour window between when the sun came out and when I had to leave. Foul hooked a few tailers in the mud, visibility worse than that of chocolate milk. Saw a couple of nice spawners, but mostly small little punks. Hopefully the weather will become more consistent. Until then I'll keep dreaming of chasing tails...

New Year Carp

It might not be pretty or a monster, but I'm on the board for 2012. Plus this carp has an interesting color pattern around it's eye. It looks like it kicked back a few longnecks, got into a bar fight and got shived by some punk ass bottom feeding walleyes and needed stitches, leaving a pretty bad ass scar. This may be the local Tony Montana of the carp population.


The first carp of the new year came surprisingly early, merely days into the year. Of course, while winter carping is entirely possible, it is an anomaly around these parts due to sub freezing temperatures, snowpack, and subsequent inundation of shore and anchor ice. Not to mention that water temps below 39 degrees put the fish into an incredible funk, measurably reducing feeding activity. Nonetheless, this non-winter we've been experiencing up here in the Great Brown North provided a few obscenely warm 50 degree plus days in the dead of January. I'll take what I can get. Any day you can bring a carp on the fly to hand is a good day.

Sunset

I think it's finally time to hang up the long rods for the season, get out the shorties, and fire up the ice auger. Winter's arrival has the lakes pinging from the formation of new ice, sounds reminiscent of the Hunt For Red October. Fishing villages are starting to sprout up as each ice house fights to get set up on their honey hole. It's about that time to hit the ice and do a little harvesting.


While the 2011 fly fishing season included some memorable moments and fantastic adventures, most notably my excursion to Beaver Island, it was also matched with much regret. This past season has probably marked my fewest number of days on the water, which is not something that I am proud to report. High flows early on in the season, as well as domestic issues, kept me off the river for much of the year. While I will never be one to shirk my responsibilities as parent and denigrate the role, my priorities have recognizably focused on duties and activities other than fishing. I am hoping for resolve over the winter, in hopes that the situation will improve. I will will also make a better effort to get my kids involved in fly fishing this next year. At ages 3 and 7, hopefully, under my guidance and with a little help from dad, my kids will be able to land their first fish on a fly next season. In addition, they might be lacking the dexterity and maturity to master the skills needed behind the vise, but I will also strive to expose my kids more to the world of fly tying this winter, in efforts that they begin to embrace fly fishing culture. I've already got two great little helpers who are more than enthusiastic about fish and dad's interest in fly fishing. It's been long overdue to have them take the next step forward.

The sun sets on yet another season. I can't wait to get my boots wet in 2012.

Salvageable?

There may be hope for 2011 yet. Despite the rain falling from the sky as I type this, a two week dry spell in the region (somewhat of a rare occurrence as of late) has allowed many of the tributaries of the Otter Tail and Red Rivers to finally begin to fall. While nowhere near as low as normal for this time of year, flows are starting to finally approach wadeable and fishable levels, nearly four months after the start of spring runoff. Insane. With rivers finally back within their banks, hopefully these lower flows will start to congregate fish and bring them off of the floodplains and onto their normal flats and other haunts. Lower flows will weaken the strong currents allowing a fly to drift more freely to fish holding in deep pools anr runs without the added burden of excess tungsten and lead. This should give the advantage back to the fly angler. Who knows how long this will last. Time to get back on the saddle.

Voodoo Chilly

Ice fog, "vapor snow", and truck doors that won't shut. The culprit?


I didn't even think it was that cold out. Something must be wrong.

frostilicus

fin?

Time is running out. The lakes are beginning to lock up and the river banks have started to form a crust of shore ice. Snow is on the ground with more on the way. Usually this would not bring the death knell to the roughfisher. To the contrary, this is the time when you bust out the cold weather gear and heat packs for the hands. You bust out the Chapstick, Pam, Armour All, whatever trick you have up your sleeve to minimize ice build up on your guides. This is when the big gals come out to play fo' real; during normal flows.


Maybe I'm getting soft, but the record flows blasting through the Otter Tail are nothing sort of frustrating. As it is no longer possible to wade most reaches, flows are six times the median for this time of year. I shudder to think what flow will be like this winter and next spring. If the long term forecast of a La Niña winter hold true, then below average temps and above average snowpack will surely lead to a spring and summer of high flows. Again. I don't mind freezing the nards off if the water is low and clear and the fish are schooled up and concentrated as is typical in low winter flows. But as tough as it was this summer and fall to conjure up the fish from the depths, it is not going to get any easier this winter. I will not torture myself in the bitter wind and cold for naught.


Unless there is an prolonged warm spell this winter with temps above freezing and lower flows (not bloody likely), I'm done for the season. That's always a bitter pill to swallow. Better to wash it down with some suds and cherish a satisfying 2010 season full of new adventures and experiences and many new friends. Here's to a fine season of fly fishing in 2011.

Santé!
Á votre santé!
Á la votre!

Autumnal Bliss

Fall is here.

Get the Ark Ready

Fancy flow charts don't lie. Flows on the Otter Tail downstream of Fergus Falls are currently running at 1760 cfs. That's higher than what we had for spring flows, even after an above average snow pack.


This is the third highest flow on the OT since I moved up here in 2004, and the fourth highest peak flow since flows were first recorded in 1931. Current flows are nearly nine times the median for flows this time of year.

Other historical peak flows:
May 29, 2001: 2,040 cfs;
June 03, 2007: 2,000 cfs;
April 23, 2009: 2,020 cfs.

Just when I thought I was gonna get my game back together and start the fall hunt for sea donkeys... FML.

Stormy Monday

Dedicated to the stormy weather of summer TwentyTen.

Swagger

I've been getting schooled this summer. I could blame the early spring, the recent heat wave, or the persistent storm cycle that has been wreaking havoc with our weather, but that would be weak sauce, baby. I typically don't even fish much in the months of June and July; due to my hectic work schedule, and the fact that carp and roughfish are typically still spawning through early July. But enough with the excuses, I just don't have any game.


I flailed around trying to flaunt my ghetto nasty Carp Crack to some lot lizards. The best I could do was lip a sumbitch clam in the beard.


Finally got me a dirty whore to come home with and spend the night. She sure had some purdy gums. Now I need to go get me a shot of penicillin.


Excuses are like assholes. Everybody has one, and they all stink.

The Fantastic Voyage

Quick Summary:

It is a massive bitch to cast into 35 mph winds.
Spotting fish in 3 to 4 foot frothy rollers is no easy task.
Sun is required for most sight fishing.
John Montana can outfish anyone on the flats 4 to 1.

Full report to come.

silver city

Word to your mother.



The silvers were poppin today. I also caught a delicious bass. That was all. P.S. the water was the color of pea soup. Left the scene and went on a scouting circuit. Found some clear water but spring flows are still quite high. I crept up on a few pods of white suckers but they all had a case of the lockjaw. Stingy bastards.


Not a productive outing, and definitely not a confidence boosting trip. High dirty water is shit and damn near no fish can see through that soup without the aid of scent. To show how fucked up the weather has been this spring, I saw leaping carp and rising silver redhorse. The water temps in shallow bays have already warmed up for moderate sucker spawning. This is a good month ahead of normal. On the plus side, many of the vulnerable sucker species should be done with the bulk of the spawn by the time May 1 rolls around, Black Saturday. May 1 is the spearing and bowfishing opener. I'll be pouring one for my homies.

High water rising

With all the hype on the flooding in the Red River valley, the Mighty Miss is up and out of it's banks and on the prowl. Access roads along the banks were closed due to the fact that they were 3 feet under water. Obviously fishing was out of the question.



Time for a little billy goating. No much on the way of fossils and the agate pickings were slim, however, I did manage to pick up a half-dollar sized nugget. I discovered a few spring creeks flowing out of the bluffs, including a couple of mini waterfalls, always cool.



The Mississippi is an awesome display of raw power. At over 95,000 cfs, the river is a force to be reckoned with. That's some serious Q. I watched 6 foot diameter cottonwoods float on by like a bunch of toothpicks.



The bright side: these high waters will bring some much needed life to the numerous backwater lakes. There's bound to be a few big feesh hunkering down in those refuges until the water backs down.

Signs of spring?

Spring is creeping about, haunting my thoughts. The National Weather Service is busy forecasting for another major flood on the Red this spring as FEMA and the local media are busy hawking, pushing flood insurance down homeowner's throats. As people are starting to prep sandbags for a flood a month away, all this talk of melting snow and spring runoff has got me thinking sucker, white sucker.


Last year I made it out on February 25. Even though we are near the same amount of snow pack as this time last year (20+ inches), temps have remained fairly cool making it hard to think outside winter mode. Regardless, river flows are well above last period. The Otter Tail has been above the 80th percentile all winter long, and is now at record flows downstream of Fergus Falls as the Corps of Engineers plans maximum drawdown before spring run off. Flows will be high again this spring and will likely prove a challenge locating concentrated fish, and even harder getting a fly to them.


I've still got a few more winter missions planned before ice out. Late ice is always a hot time for filling the freezer and smoked fish. I need to get my share of tullibees this year. Meanwhile, I've been casual at the vise and my flies haven't really amounted to much other than a few Czech style nymphs ready for the first sign of the spring sucker run. Maybe it's the gray-skied daze or the stockpile of unused flies piled in my boxes from last year, but I'm just not motivated. Yet.


Maybe the first robin sighting or a day above freezing will break me from this funk. Just Maybe.

Sundawg

Hawaii is starting to look pretty damn good right now. T minus 11 days...