It’s not much, but I’ve come a fair way with my fly box and it’s now getting close to a 50:50 mix of commercial and self-tied flies.
Current Arsenal
Month: June 2015
(Retro Trip Report) 2015 May 27 – Grannis Creek, Bear Creek, and Richmond Springs, Fayette and Delaware Counties, IA
[Note: I’m posting my fishing journal from 2015 as “retro trip reports” in chronological order and plan to write up future trips directly on the blog.]
Weather: sunny, warm but not hot
It had been raining with major thunderstorms so I was worried about the quality of the streams but I wanted to see how TheStreamThatShallNotBeNamed reacted and start to get some sense for how long it took to become fishable. It looked clearish on the way down but once I got all the way down it was higher than I’d ever seen it, most of the places we stand were underwater and the water was way off colour. I tried a few casts and might have seen one chub, then gave up. It would be interesting to see what a San Juan Worm would do under these conditions.
The Book
The definitive (well, I think the only, but it’s awesome) book on the trout streams of northeast Iowa. I can’t recommend it enough. You can purchase it here. It has synopses, maps, and directions for most of the streams. I believe the last revision was 2007, so at this point there are a few streams listed on the DNR site and map that aren’t in the book, and some of the stocked portions have changed slightly. It doesn’t matter – I’ve read this book cover to cover multiple times and combined with the paper trout map you can request for free from the DNR it’s absolutely indispensable if you’re interested in learning the streams. Jene Hughes is a gifted writer, and there are chapters on gear and fly selection, tactics, etiquette, and much else.
(Retro Trip Report) 2015 May 23 – StreamThatShallNotBeNamed, Fayette County, IA
[Note: I’m posting my fishing journal from 2015 as “retro trip reports” in chronological order and plan to write up future trips directly on the blog.]
Weather: mostly sunny, 73, cloudier as day went on
After having to replace my phone with a new iPhone 6 after last week’s adventure, the phone stayed in the car. I was thinking there was no point trying to fish on Memorial Day weekend. Then on Friday I suddenly realized we could just go and fish on Saturday, it’s a free country, nothing really to lose. So I made plans with James to go back to StreamThatShallNotBeNamed. The weather report was excellent. I didn’t know how many people might be there on a Saturday, but the more I thought about it, not many people were likely to rush to an unstocked stream just because it’s a holiday weekend. The father of James’s BFF called Friday afternoon wondering if there were any plans for Saturday, and so I invited said BFF, Memphis. From that point I knew it wasn’t really going to be a fishing trip, more looking after two little dudes and trying to ensure they had fun.
Continue reading (Retro Trip Report) 2015 May 23 – StreamThatShallNotBeNamed, Fayette County, IA
(Retro Trip Report) 2015 May 17 – Grannis Creek and StreamThatShallNotBeNamed, Fayette County, IA
[Note: I’m posting my fishing journal from 2015 as “retro trip reports” in chronological order and plan to write up future trips directly on the blog. I drowned my iPhone 4S on this trip, and so lost all of the photos.]
Weather: breezy (15-25 mph), muggy, mix of overcast, rain sprinkles, and sun, predicted thunderstorms didn’t materialize
This was James’s first for real fishing trip. I was only back two days from Dark Canyon and my left foot is still hurting and lame. I planned the trip on the way back, then thought we’d have to call it off because the forecast called for 60% showers and thunderstorms and wind. It improved late on Saturday to only 40% so we decided to take a run at it.
(Retro Trip Report) 2015 May 01 – Grannis Creek and StreamThatShallNotBeNamed, Fayette County, IA
[Note: I’m posting my fishing journal from 2015 as “retro trip reports” in chronological order and plan to write up future trips directly on the blog.]
Weather: quite warm and sunny in the morning, ~65, hazy cloud starting around midday, thin overcast all afternoon
I tried out my new camp toaster (worked pretty well) and had three rounds of toast with butter and strawberry/rhubarb jam plus two packets of peaches and cream oatmeal with some milk and one cup of coffee for breakfast. Once again I considered bailing after packing up my camp. Two nights on the ground and a fair amount of walking in waders left me feeling tired and old and creaky. Again, once I got into the car I perked up, so I decided to at least do recon on Grannis and Bear.
(Retro Trip Report) 2015 April 30 – Richmond Springs and Maquoketa River, Delaware and Clayton County, IA
[Note: I’m posting my fishing journal from 2015 as “retro trip reports” in chronological order and plan to write up future trips directly on the blog.]
Weather: cool in the morning, warming to ~70, sunny all day
I was planning to leave on Wednesday after dropping James at school, but indecision and the need to mow the lawn delayed it. I mowed the lawn Wednesday afternoon after deciding to call the fishing trip off and make lectures all the way until Sunday. Then I changed my mind and hurriedly packed the car starting around 5 pm and left for Backbone. I got to Backbone around 7.30 and stayed in the same campsite as on the earlier trip with James. There were a few cars and people, but they were walking on the trail and they all left before dark. So once again, I was the only person in the campground. It was far warmer than the earlier trip. I cooked a bacon cheeseburger on the Coleman and read by the campfire until 11 or so.
(Retro Trip Report) 2015 April 16 – Little Paint Creek, Allamakee County, IA
[Note: I’m posting my fishing journal from 2015 as “retro trip reports” in chronological order and plan to write up future trips directly on the blog. This is the second fishing trip I did in Iowa, this time solo.]
Weather: warm and sunny with very little breeze, probably around 75
Drove solo to Yellow River State Forest after faculty meeting on Wednesday which concluded ~4.40. The route was the same as to Backbone, but continued north past the road to the western Backbone entrance. It was still Iowa until just past Strawberry Point, when the topography changed dramatically to hilly and more woodsy. The road leading to Mississippi was the River Bluffs Scenic Byway. It was a pleasant drive, though I was worried about getting there and selecting a campsite before dark. Got to the Mississippi at Marquette, driving across Bloody Run on the way, then turned north for a bit right along the banks of the Mississippi, then went inland to the forest. Forest was lovely, steep and hilly with lots of evergreens. Tried Big Paint campground first. It was a bit of an open field by the creek, would probably have stayed there but there was a large multi-vehicle group installed and there was little privacy. Pressed on to Little Paint campground which is much larger and on paper I was guessing wasn’t as nice. Wrong. Utterly lovely, strung along the sharp Little Paint valley, with some campsites set right on the creek. There were only three other campers in the entire campground. Selected a campsite in the small middle portion, 106, literally right on the creek and under a big evergreen. Smelled of evergreens and stream, very pleasant. Had a hamburger on the Coleman seasoned with new salt and pepper built-in grinders and new Lawry’s standard seasoning salt. Couldn’t find Montreal steak seasoning. Forgot cheese slices, otherwise nice. Had a canned Heineken by the fire as it got dark, lovely.
Continue reading (Retro Trip Report) 2015 April 16 – Little Paint Creek, Allamakee County, IA
(Retro Trip Report) 2015 April 11 – Richmond Springs, Backbone State Park, Delaware County, IA
[I’m posting some of my previous fishing journal entries as trip reports – my plan is to write future trip reports directly as they happen on the blog, but I’ve got three months of gaining experience from a standing start in tenkara, so might as well document it. This is a report on the first time we fished in Iowa, and the first time I’d fly fished since I think I was 21 years old. Which is a long time ago.]
Weather: cold first thing in morning, warming to 68 and sunny
Camped with James at Six Pines Campground, Backbone State Park on Friday night. Got there lateish, nearly dark. Set up camp, cooked veggie beef chili on the Coleman, made a fire in the fire pit, James roasted some marshmallows. The chili with half a ciabatta loaf was lovely, but a bit spicy for James. Very cold first night ever of camping, slightly below zero (in the system used in most of the civilized world – I understand cold weather in Celsius and warm weather in Farenheit, literally have to convert back and forth depending), but fine. A raccoon stole the garbage bag at 4.45 am, had to run through brambles in my underwear and bare legs to get it back and put it in the car trunk. Silly to have left it out. The morning was very cold, frost on the Coleman, chairs, tent, car. I made bacon, mushrooms, fried eggs over easy for breakfast on the Coleman along with four cups of Starbucks Colombian coffee.
(Retro Trip Report) 2015 June 24 – Grannis and Bear Creeks, Fayette County, IA
Weather: sunny with slight breeze in morning; clouding over by 2 pm; rain shower in afternoon but no thunder. Temperature in high 70s.
I’m slowly starting to get the hang of fly tying, at least basic stuff like yarn, wire, marabou, chenille, and the whip finish. Hackles remain a major challenge. By the time of this trip I’d rounded up the necessary materials and tied 10 killer bugs, 10 Utah killer bugs, and three killer buggers. All seem tied pretty much to standard and I’ve proven that my home-tied versions of the killer bugs catch fish like crazy, so I’m fairly confident I’ve gotten competent at these. I also tied six San Juan worms with fine red chenille. The day before the trip, squirmy wormy material arrived from J. Stockard, so I tied two of these, basically just subbing squirmy wormy for the chenille in the SJW pattern. They were difficult to tie as putting three wraps over tended to pull the very malleable squirmy wormy off the shank in strange directions. It turns out from YouTube that it’s best to include wire and secure the squirmy wormy with just one wrap of wire in three places, not thread. The wire also provides some weight, which when fishing it was clear was really necessary. I also tried to tie my own conehead woolly bugger, but the result was not pretty. The cone wouldn’t fit on the Daiichi 1720 so I had to use the new 2220 streamer hooks I bought for Mickey Finn attempts. I ended up with too much tail, a reversed hackle, and a fat, gimpy fly. Sigh. I have to learn, as woolly buggers turned out to be key on Bear. The first fly I tied myself that I ever caught a fish on was a woolly bugger and I can tie plain ones reasonably well.
Continue reading (Retro Trip Report) 2015 June 24 – Grannis and Bear Creeks, Fayette County, IA