albatross
Well-known member
I'm out in Minnesota on vacation this week and yesterday was the day I devoted to flyfishing for trout. I had collected some intelligence on trout fishing opportunities in the "drifteless" region which overlaps SE MN, SW WI, and NE IA. I got some good leads from PaFlyFish (thanks) and some confirming information from a nice gentleman who works at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN (thanks). I decided to fish the Root River, although there are many other fine spring creeks here in SE MN.
I got an early start around 7:30 because I heard there may be tricos. I didn't take a wate temp, but I'd guess mid 60s. I started fishing up a long shallow pool with a parachute ant trialed bya trico. There were sporadic rises but I couldn't identify what the fish were risning to. I had no luck on my brace of dries, so I switched over to nymphs at the riffle entering the head of the pool. I tied on a BH Green Weenie followed by a BH Pheasant Tail nymph. I started catching the browns on the PT nymph and eventually traded the Green Weenie for a natural Hare's Ear nymph. I caught a few on the Hare's Ear but most fish came on the PT size 12/14. This section of water is open to harvest and I the fish I was catching ranged from 8 to 11 inches.
I believe the Root gets stocked with fingerling browns (much like the Little Juniata in PA) due to poor reproductive success. The fish do grow up in the stream, so they are more like wild than stocked in my opinion. The size and character of the stream as well as the surrounding geology remind me of Spring Creek in Center County PA.
A little before noon I moved downstream to a section below some cold water tribs for the afternoon. This section has slot regulations protecting fish from 12 to 16 inches. I continued to have success with the BHPT nymph and I caught some larger fish here in the 12 to 14 inch range.
I found some rising fish about 3PM at the bottom of a riffle. I couldn't tell what they were taking, so I tried a searching pattern. My fly was like a lime green humpy, but the hair wings were white and the hair for the tail and hump were black. I capped the day here by catching a half dozen beautiful browns on dries in the middle of the afternoon. It had been a long day and I was getting dehydrated, so I decided to end on a positive note.
I got an early start around 7:30 because I heard there may be tricos. I didn't take a wate temp, but I'd guess mid 60s. I started fishing up a long shallow pool with a parachute ant trialed bya trico. There were sporadic rises but I couldn't identify what the fish were risning to. I had no luck on my brace of dries, so I switched over to nymphs at the riffle entering the head of the pool. I tied on a BH Green Weenie followed by a BH Pheasant Tail nymph. I started catching the browns on the PT nymph and eventually traded the Green Weenie for a natural Hare's Ear nymph. I caught a few on the Hare's Ear but most fish came on the PT size 12/14. This section of water is open to harvest and I the fish I was catching ranged from 8 to 11 inches.
I believe the Root gets stocked with fingerling browns (much like the Little Juniata in PA) due to poor reproductive success. The fish do grow up in the stream, so they are more like wild than stocked in my opinion. The size and character of the stream as well as the surrounding geology remind me of Spring Creek in Center County PA.
A little before noon I moved downstream to a section below some cold water tribs for the afternoon. This section has slot regulations protecting fish from 12 to 16 inches. I continued to have success with the BHPT nymph and I caught some larger fish here in the 12 to 14 inch range.
I found some rising fish about 3PM at the bottom of a riffle. I couldn't tell what they were taking, so I tried a searching pattern. My fly was like a lime green humpy, but the hair wings were white and the hair for the tail and hump were black. I capped the day here by catching a half dozen beautiful browns on dries in the middle of the afternoon. It had been a long day and I was getting dehydrated, so I decided to end on a positive note.
