It's been to long... September photo dump time!

Man, I have been busy, and it's just make posting tough.  But, today I had a chance, so... here we go!

 The month started with a fun paddle on a local river/lake called long pond.  It's gorgeous!  The kids love to catch lilly pads as we pass them in the canoe and then "cast" them in to catch "Sea Witches".  It's pretty darn funny... But it's especially cool because they are enjoying being outdoors!

I think it was the next day that I hit a local reservoir and caught some sunfish on the two weight.  These little guys are not given their due credit.  They are tough fighters, pretty and willing to take a fly!

Not sure what the scoop was with this little guy.  Either he escaped a turtle or heron when he was young, or he's got quite the little tumor growing.  Sure loved the Dark Cahill wet fly I was fishing!

This is the best buck I've got on my trail cameras.  I took this pic with my phone to share with some buddies the day I saw it.  He's a big 7 point (there are 4 points on the left and 3 on the right).  I'm really hopeful he makes a mistake... But they dont get that big by messing up.  Most likely, Ill see every other deer I have on the camera where he is living... and not see him!  It will be fun to try though!

On a warmish day we took the kids to a farm pond near my parents place. They caught some sun fish, but Emily really had fun reeling in this golden shiner.

The left bank of this fine stream is deeper than you would think, and heavily undercut.  BrkTrt from http://smallstreamreflections.blogspot.com/ would approve given the stream is covered in hemlocks.  It's hard to tell because in this spot, the light makes it through pretty well from the left... Very low this September for sure!

No trout came to hand in the pool on the day I was there, but this chub smashed the #16 stimulator pretty hard!

Amazing how the leaves are changing this year.  Excellent color for sure!

This past weekend we took a walk in my home town on some trails near a big swampy pond owned by a world renowned university located in Cambridge MA.  The university's forestry school is in town, and they own and thus protect thousands of acres, thankfully, most of that land is open to hiking, biking, hunting and fishing.

I loved how this one fern was almost bright yellow against the more tan/brown ferns it resided with.  Fall, is really building fast now.

This past Saturday I hit a local stream and managed a few brookies.  Amazing Halo's on this fellow.  He was oddly darker than most fish I catch on this stream, and he smashed the stimulator as I skated it through a pocket.

Hopefully I can post a bit more often in the next few weeks!

Thanks for stopping by!

Will

Fun weekend...

The misses and I both had work to do Saturday, but the day started so nicely, that we had to do something fun with the kids.  You only get so many "perfect" days a year :).  So, work would wait until the afternoon and evening... Off to Petersham we went for a fun walk, and some lunch from the country store.

After a brief walk through the woods, we come to the confluence of two streams.  The smaller of the two holds natives, and upstream from this point you can find natives.  They are not supper common on the main stream though, regrettably.  Over fishing is the culprit.  The main stream, which here looks horribly low, is stocked about 200yds below where I was standing, and occasionally the stocking truck rolls up a trail on the other side dropping fish along the way.  Thus, guys fish the tar out of it April through June.... Conversely the little stream rarely gets fishing pressure.  RARELY.  And though it's not loaded with wild trout, they are there and catchable.

This big hemlock met it's match years ago, but the forest it originated from still stands strong around it.

Soon, the beautiful green ferns will be golden, and then they will shrivel, almost overnight and evaporate for the winter.  For now, they are still very lush and green!

About to leave, I walked the kid's over to a bridge over the main river (spot that gets stocked I noted in the first paragraph).  The pool to the left here is always good for many trout until about the middle of June.  Even now they are there, but just the ones that dodged hundreds of flies, lures, bait's the first few ice free months of the year.

Someone had built a really nice karin here, and It felt like something worth a photo.  It should stand until a lot of water falls and the stream rises, or, winters ice shelf pushes it over.  Pretty cool.

Sunday I got a little time to zip out and fish the Swift.  What you see here, are my attempts to take pictures with my cell in a waterproof case I got through TU.  it's one sided, so I had to try and set the phone on "selfie" mode if you will, and then take a pic with the phone facing away from me... Not as easy as it may sound... and it does not sound that easy.

Right away I caught a few brookies.  They have always been on this stream, but recently, be it increased organic matter in the river improving habitat (fallen trees) or something else, these wild little guys are really exploding in numbers, and will eat any thing that comes by.  they are 3-6" of furry!

This one really cracked me up, because my shot was so bad all I got was my thumb :)

I ended up with 4-5 nice rainbows and many more little brookies on beetles (#14's), and rusty spinners (#20).  Picture taking ended with the attempts above.  I received some good advice on cam's and I think Ill try and get one together for 2015.

Thanks for reading - fun weekend.
Will

What Lies Below the Fern's... and N.E.D.

Took a walk Monday to put a trail camera up where I'd seen (and got 1 pic) of a decent 3.5 (I believe) year old buck last year (below).

I always wonder, when walking through Fern's that are waist high, if there are any creatures I'm walking past.  If venomous snakes were common here, vs only documented in like 3 areas of the state, I'd be nervous!

Today though, while wading through the ferns I was thinking to myself: I wonder if I have ever stepped on a snake?  I looked down, and a stick looked weird... so I stopped and spread the ferns a bit.  Low and behold... the funny stick was a little garter snake.  Cute little guy basking in a sunny spot between the ferns... Glad I didnt step on him!

 I'm not sure if these really are called "cardinal flowers" but that's what the old timers where I grew up called them... so I call them that as well.  Such pretty red flowers that grow up among the rocks at the edge, and even into streams here.

Best of all, the boy had his 18 months post treatment scan Wednesday and it went well.  He's very intently watching Tinkerbell in the pic :) here before going back for MRI.  There is a funny spot in his left temporal lobe that they are watching, it has no evidence of being tumor... and they suspect it's chemo or hydrocephalus related... but are not really sure - so it's just watch and see.  It did not change his status as No Evidence of Disease (NED) though which is super! They have no worries about it being a tumor, which is good news!  His blood was solid, a few funny things, but nothing that indicates secondary cancer (cancer caused by cancer treatment)... So, overall, he's doing well and is cleared for starting pre school next week.  Awesome!

Be well everyone!

Will

The Next Generation

Fun times.

Our in home child care has had a rough week this week.  A tough situation made it impossible for her to come over Thursday and Friday... Thursday I worked and my mom watched the kids... Friday mom couldn't do it, so the kids and I had an unexpected day of fun.

After breakfast, I suggested a hike in the woods - and they were both excited.  We headed out to my home town - which is a very small, rural, New England town about 40' from our current home... And we hit the woods.

I knew I wanted to walk a specific trail off a seasonal road.  The trail was in an area where I rarely see ticks, and where I often see wildlife.  It also runs parallel to a nice wild brookie stream.  I would not have a rod in hand today, but I could point out likely spots and share a beautiful brook with the kids - that's just as good!

The first couple hundred yards off the road through soft hemlock forest, the kids repeatedly stopped to collect Red Eft's - the terestrial juvenile stage of the red spotted newt.  They were everywhere after last nights rain and the epic monsoon we had Wednesday.

Once we reached the stream, the kids did, what any self respecting kid does when they come to water - throw sticks, pine cones, leaves etc into the stream!  It was pretty fun watching them say "bye bye" to sticks as they floated away.

In the pic below in the background, you see the confluence of the small stream, with a slightly larger stream... In reality, it's not that big either, rarely more than 10-15 yards across in this section... The larger stream, upstream from this point holds wild brookies as well... below this point, they are fewer between, though they are still there if you look hard enough.

We started up the stream, and after passing the first good run, I stopped to take a down stream pic, the space in the middle of that triangle between the three bigger rocks is a spot that has provided several beautiful trout over the years.

Now the pace of the stream quickens.  It's still not raging, but, when the water is high, it can be quite a sight through here.  Then again, about a mile upstream, the little brook rips through a series of granite shoots and falls - it's absolutely gorgeous, especially after heavy early June thunder storms - super green moss and leaves but very high flow... AWESOME!

All of this wood is great organic matter.  I don't get it when folks get mad about trees being in streams.  Yes, it makes the fishing tougher, but it's better for the fish - seems like a worthy trade to me!  Between the tree in the foreground, and the bigger tree in the distance is another pool / run that has yielded many brookies... From when I used nothing but worms as a kid, to today... it's been a good spot.

This is a great corner, it's pretty deep (2-3' is deep here), and it has some overhead cover from the log and nice undercut boulders for the trout to hide under.

There is a brief section, about 2/3 up to a neat little bridge over the stream, where hardwoods take over for about 50 yards.  in this spot, the stream tumbles and rolls through pockets... it's a nice spot to drift bushy dry's like bombers or elk hair caddis and mini muddlers.

In this area, the kids enjoyed walking at a brisker pace.  Emily asked to have her kitty put in her shirt - like a piggy back ride - and Will had his hiking stick he'd found... the trail is very narrow and clear here, often cutting through tall ferns.  It sort of encourages you to travel, and the little people decided to do just that through here!

Almost to the bridge, and the stream mostly is a series of pockets with a few "pocket pools".  That's my lingo, for a pocket that seems to big to be a pocket, but is not really a pool.  Just around the bend and up 60-70 yds is the bridge.

Seeing the bridge, the two explorers took off running to catch the view.  They loved it.  The funny part, was that there is a rock written to honor the man who donated this land, memorializing his name in a bronze plaque recessed into a granite boulder.  (this is a Trustees of Reservation property, a private land stewardship group based here in MA.  They occasionally buy land, but most of the time, it's donated to them for preservation.)  The plaque is not the part that was funny, but the fact that they knew those were words on that rock, and that they wanted me to read it about 15 times... that, was funny!

About 80 yards further up and the stream opens into a substantial beaver meadow before getting into a steeper gradient again.

We walked up from the bridge into an old pasture that now is growing up with goldenrod, raspberries and blackberries as well as other grasses and weeds.  Emily promptly started to eat some black berries.  Then she asked me if Bears (we had talked about bears that live in this area) ate blackberries too.  I told her yes... and we all kept eating berries.  Then she said something to the effect of: "berries are called berries because bears eat them."  I wont look at wild berries the same again!  Ha!

We hiked across the meadow, then stopped to see some friends, they were not home, so we drove to my folks (all in the same town) and had a surprise lunch with Mia and Grampy - who were pretty happy for the surprise visitors!

Very fun to see them enjoy the outdoors... Awesome actually!

Will

Randomness

I've been really busy of late.  Applying (and getting into) to grad school, work, life etc. have been keeping me off the water.  But I have put out the trail cam locally and have seen this doe and fawn in pictures many times.  Looking forward to seeing them in the fall bow in hand.  The little guy would get the pass... I'd have to think about the doe.  Some healthy and delicious dinners for the family there.

Will

Blue Lining on the Mississippi

Yep, that's the Mighty Mississippi, me and my 2 weight hoping to catch a sunfish or chub or baby small mouth bass over a few drifts.  Only had time for about 5' of fishing... but... I can say I swung a wet fly on the Mississippi where it's not bigger than a little blue line I'd wander along looking for blue halo's back home...

Cool!

Central Minnesota Trout

My wife's family is from Minnesota.  In the early 30's, her dad's dad built a little cabin on the shore's of Gull Lake.  Gull is a large lake.  it's clear, and very mesotrophic in structure.  It does have rock piles and deep holes, but overall, it's typical of many upper midwestern bodies of water - big flat's, points, drop offs... Lots of walleye, bass, pike and sunfish.

Those are all fun to catch... but a few years ago a neighbor told me about a little stream near by that had a bunch of work done on it by the state DNR.  I did some research, and learned that the DNR had found wild trout lived in this stream - in a part of the state with very very few fisheries that are anything but warm water.  And they got to work.  They secured fishing access from private land owners.  They placed large rock's and boulders in the stream to create plunge pools and they used stone to sure up some outside corners, and to help create deep trough's for the trout.  The state claimed to have electro shocked a brown trout to 5lbs after a few years of working on the stream.  They also made the stream a catch and release fishery with the goal of increasing native brook trout size to 10+ inches on average.

The lower portion of the stream, which flow's into Upper Gull Lake is home to a little park, called Fritz Loven Park.  It's a neat little spot for a picnic, and there are other trails through the park to walk.  The state augmented those trails with a great walkway along the stream, even bridges on small swampy areas or stairs on steep hills... Yet this stream is rarely fished... When everyone has walleye on the brain... the number of folks interested in catch and release trout fishing on a small stream apparently is not that great!

Finally today I got to fish this little stream for about 60'.  When you have 3 year old twins at the cabin, you don't have much time to hit the river!  But, after a few years of bringing gear and not using it... I finally wet some flies... and found the streams residents to be very willing to eat.

I took a few photo's of neat areas along the stream and a few of the fish that willingly took a stimulator.

This pic (above) is what you see from the bridge in the main parking area.  Those rocks on the right, some are natural... most are additions from the Minnesota DNR to add structure and keep the stream scouring and with different current patterns.

This log debris was placed in the stream.  It's hard to tell, but the log is all the way across 2/3 of the stream. It creates two distinct currents, one that would be below the pic dead center and rolls under the banking I'm standing on to take the picture... and the other where the current plunges over the log, scouring a 3' deep hole in the sandy stream. 

This is the first brookie that came to hand.  He was living about 5' down stream from the log in the pic above.  He drilled the stimulator I floated over him with abandon... and until I lifted him from the water, I thought he was much larger than he actually was.  

 This shallow riffle did not seem to hold much, but far to the right the current worked through a tangle of branches and under the bank.  A brookie was caught there.

Here, I'm realizing the pic does not do justice.  the current was channeled via a steep bank on the far side, coupled with some DNR added rock along that outside of the turn.  Alone, that would have made for a deep far side of the stream... but the blow downs in the corner added lots of wood and more scouring.  that corner dead center was probably 5 feet deep.  I had a few browns (I think) come up for a look at the fly and turn away at the last moment here... then I snagged the fly and made a ruckus trying to get it out.  I was successful, but, killed the hole for the day - at least for me.

This was a really cool spot.  that yellow sign on the elevated foot bridge in the center, along the edge of the stream, says that this is a Wild Trout stream and it is catch and release for brook trout.  The stream drops down a short riffle, in a narrow section below the foot bridge...  This gathers the current, and creates a very strong scouring pattern when complimented by the DNR's rock addition to the outside.  It makes a run that is deep, with super outside cover (rock and over hang).  I caught a few browns and brookies here on the stimulator...

This brown thought he was 18" long, and ran hard in the run above trying to push himself under the rocks on the left of the stream.  Thankfully he came to hand and posed for a moment before returning to the stream.

Hopefully Ill have a few more fun pic's from some fishing up here in the next week or so... I have not fished as much as I would like... but we have had some fun family adventures and I did drift a fly in a totally amazing spot that I doubt many have... But more on that, next time.

If you are in the Brainerd Lakes Region on Minnesota, consider hitting up Stoney Brook.  It was a neat little spot, and clearly has a lot of potential!