End of the Season - Browns, Brookies, and Waterfalls

One of two hydropower plants in River Falls. Fortunately neither has a large impact on trout fishing in the Kinni.

Wednesday unfortunately marked the end of the Wisconsin inland trout season. The MN season is still open for a couple weeks, but the closest streams are a bit too far to make a trip worthwhile. So, I'll likely be troutless until Thanksgiving.

Luckily I did have success on my last two trips of the season. Last Sunday, bored of my usual spots, I decided to explore a new section of stream. I had caught fish on other sections of this stream, but for some reason I never explored the lower, high gradient section. I've missed the higher gradient streams of New England, so I decided to give it a shot.

What I found was even better than I could have expected. The stream was moving fast, and although it was small, there was plenty of casting room. It sits in a narrow ravine, so I think the lack of sunlight prevents the formation of dense undergrowth. To top it off, there were two large waterfalls in the ravine where the stream flowed over shelves of limestone bedrock. Oh, and there were fish too.

The first pool I fished was formed where two current tongues met and then flowed around two large rocks. I had three hookups and landed 2 fish in this pool - 1 brown and 1 brookie landed, and another brown that got away. The fish were small, as is to be expected on streams like this, but they were brilliantly colored. I think both the brookies and browns are beginning to prepare for the spawn.

I had less success farther upstream, but I managed to land a few more brookies in some of the deep pools, including one just below one of the waterfalls.

On Wednesday, the last day of the season, I took a friend to fish in the fading hours of the day. We both managed two small trout on dries before dark, so it was another successful day!