The Hidden Gem

I have a trout stream where I live , almost in my back yard. Its small and in tough shape as far as streams go. Banks are eroded and much run off exists from farm fields which it suprises me it has trout at all. I fished it when I was younger and it never gave up many but I fished it recently and I killed em. It was full of wild flowers and trees with unusual bark which I had three . It had beautifully shaped rocks that danced in the sun and sounds of small songbirds which I had two of.So I had 5 in all,....ah.... my limit ... Of course I'm not talking about a limit of fish. When I was younger I never new that these sights and sounds were part of my daily bag. So along with my lone brookie I had a limit of........

I never knew leaving could look so good!

Opener

Opening Weekend

My son and I arrived in the Driftless with a snow storm baring down on Wisconsin and we thought we were in for a wasted trip but the western part of the state was spared from any real accumulation. We were greeted Saturday morning with temps in the low 20's and winds over 15 mph which made things a little challenging . We thought brook trout would be biting right off so we targeted them for a large portion of the day, After fishing what seemed like several miles on the stream and nearing a huge berm that climbs several hundred feet ,my son looks at me and says,” I'll race you dad” and up the hill he ran..Man,I wish I was 13 again.

Many people have the misconception that early season is brutally cold , standing in the water and waiting for hungry trout to bite but its really very cozy. For me there is something very peaceful about the stream no matter what the season. This year with little snow cover we moved down the riverbank fairly quick so that helped us stay warm. Catching fish helps and we found many hungry trout for the weekend. My son caught a fish on the very first cast of the year . He also caught the most and the biggest . I took him on his very first trout fishing trip when he was five and he has become a very good angler. I love sharing the stream with him and I think I have him hooked for life. Yahoo!