Salter Season

I'm back in MA this week for the holidays, and this morning I was able to spend a few hours on a salter stream.  It was a little chilly when I got there, but the sun was on the water and tide was high but receding.

This is the time of year when some of the trout head downstream to the salt, so I focused on the estuary. I ended up catching all of my fish under the road bridge. I've found that this is one of the most productive spots in the estuary. I think it provides the perfect combo of cover, current, and depth, so the fish stack up there. 

I caught three brookies, all decently sized, in the span of about 15 minutes. After that, nothing, so I called it a day. 

Tomorrow is forecast to be rainy and in the low 50s - great conditions for winter trout. I'll be out with Geoff all day, so hopefully we can replicate some of today's success. 

Highlights of 2016

My friend Geoff made the Orvis Friday Fly Fishing Film Festival with his video highlights of 2016. While I couldn't be there for every moment in the video, you might see some familiar hands at some point....

Check it out here or on Orvis News

The Off Season

The WI trout season closed on October 15. I unfortunately had to travel for work for the first 10 days of October, but I did get a couple trips in before the end of the season.

The season opens back up January 2, so fortunately I don't have to wait too long. In the meantime I can still fish lakes and ponds.

A Beautiful Weekend in Wisconsin

The weather this weekend was gorgeous here - sunny with a high in the low 70s both days. I took advantage and did some fishing out in the Driftless. The fishing seems to have slowed down bit. It's been colder at night, so it might have been wiser to fish in the afternoons rather than the morning.

I found a couple of fish though, so I was happy with the fishing, and I found a lot of cool scenery, including some rock outcroppings that wouldn't look out of place in the Whites.

The leaves are just starting to change. I'm excited to see what this area looks like in a few weeks when the colors are at their peak

September

I just realized how badly I've neglected this blog - no posts in the month of August. The last two months have flown by. It's hard to believe it's already mid-September. I've appreciated the shift to cooler weather. I'm not sure how thrilled I'll be come winter, but there's good winter fishing out here at least. I haven't had as much time to fish as I would have liked, but I guess that's just something I'll have to get used to.

I have gotten some fishing in though.

On Monday I drove about half an hour to a trout stream after work. I only caught one fish, but it was a big one. This stream has wild browns, and I couldn't find any evidence of rainbow stocking nearby. It looks like a stocker, so I guess it must have come a long way away. It absolutely smashed my chernobyl ant - luckily I was using 3X so I didn't have to worry about breaking off.

I also made a few trips to some Driftless streams farther west. It seems that the stream gradients are higher there, which mean rockier bottoms and slightly easier conditions that some of the glassy low-gradient streams near Madison.