A Warm November and Afternoon Rainbows

This past Saturday, I took advantage of the warm weather that is sweeping across the Twin Cities area. I headed to one of my favorite local lakes to do some fly fishing. Most of the time it has just been for practice aiming for panfish like bluegill and pumpkinseed. But with the cooler temps that we have seen the last couple weeks many of the panfish have receded to greater depths and I can't reach them anymore. But, feeling quite optimistic, I visited the lake anyway hoping that I could catch one of the trout that rumor has it, inhabit the lake I was visiting. As I proceeded to make my way around the lake I found a large amount of wildlife also out, enjoying the warm weather. There were numerous geese and muskrats paddling around on the water surface. I had ventured to a part of the lake that was sheltered from the breeze and therefore quite calm. The surface was very undisturbed and I threw out my popper hoping for some action from a bluegill. I was greeted with a little sunny almost immediately and as I worked to get it from the hook a large splash caught my attention. Something had made a decent ripple farther out from shore. As I continued to watch several more ripples began to appear. I hastily searched for a different fly in my box not sure what to pick because I didn't really see any bugs to speak of. In the process of switching flies I saw several fish jump out of the water, including a trout that jumped three times from the water within a span of just seconds. It was truly magnificent. Finally I settled on a fly that I had made my self which you can see below. To my absolute amazement, it worked, and I caught two very nice Rainbow Trout. They were roughly 16" and quite fat. They fought hard and it was truly exhilarating to catch a fish on something that I had made. I'll leave you with my best picture.

Enjoy.

Bring on the Fall Colors!

Although I have been a little sick lately, I have been trying to enjoy some of the fall colors that are starting to appear around Eagan. I have sought a sort of refuge in Lebanon Hills Park, because frankly, it reminds me of home. It is a big park and there is not many people around. I have been enjoying some fly fishing, walking the shores casting out for bluegill and bass. It has been a real treat and hopefully it will get me on my way to becoming a better fly fisherman and hopefully catch some of those sneaky trout.

The fall colors and smells are quite something this time of year. The air is getting cooler and crisper. The smells of wild apple waft through the woods. Critters skitter upon the fallen leaves. I think this is my favorite season. Whats yours?


Enjoy!

Fish Lake Adventures

So here are some pictures of my adventure at Fish Lake today. I've been out the past couple days there, but I haven't had my camera. Today I finally brought it. Fly fishing has been good, but the wind was a bit of an inconvenience sometimes. I also met this cool kid name Carl who is a really good fisherman for how young he is. He caught quite a few bass, bull heads, and panfish.
Hopefully all this fly fishing I've been doing is helping to improve my skills.I also paid a visit to Holland lake to see what that looks like and I'm very excited to do some fishing there this week. They have a very nice dock to cast off of and a great park in general. Finally, I got a picture up of a brown trout I tried to draw last night along with some new zonker flies I tied. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy.

Recent Events,

Well as you may know, summer is coming to a close. The leaves are starting to fall and kids are heading back to school. I was recently back in the U.P. and I got out to do a bit of fishing, but with no luck. Everything was pretty dry, rivers were quite low and there hadn't been much rain. Since then however, there has been some rain, so hopefully the fishing has picked up a bit. Hopefully the big brookies will start to appear as well, since they should be starting to spawn soon.

I went out last night for a bit of bluegill fishing down the street from my apartment in MN. Fly fishing for bluegill is quite fun and I certainly lost track of time last night. It seemed that most of the time I just got small ones but there was one that I got that was quite magnificent. The coloring was incredible and it fought really well. Next, time I will get a picture for you because I didn't have a camera at the time.

Keep up the fishing everyone.

Enjoy

From Emily Lake to Pike Lake

Saturday morning presented a great time to go fishing, light winds, not terribly cold, and a bit of flurries. Not to mention, the scenery was absolutely perfect, especially at Emily Lake. The fishing was slow. There were no bites out a Emily lake. I was set up at Emily Lake in about 15 - 20 ft of water off the boat launch, looking for bluegill and trout. Then I trekked to the back side of the lake looking for a 40 ft hole but I ended up missing it. Had I found that hole, I think I could have managed a few good fish.

Afterwords, I made my way down the road to Pike Lake. After a decent walk (the road was blocked), I got out onto the ice and managed to find the 45-50 hole. I set tip-ups with medium sized minnows and bobber fished in a bit shallower water for panfish with wax worms. This is what I used at Emily Lake). 


If you have time to get out fishing and want to try somewhere new, try either of these lakes, which are located a bit south of Twin Lakes. They are not terribly large, so walking isn't too bad. The entryways were also all plowed out to each. However, the road to Pike Lake is being used by a logging company so be careful.

The ice is good. Try to get out before it starts getting to warm!