Fishing the Dream Stream

In the arid plains between the mountains is a stream that connects two reservoirs. A dream stream, The Dream Stream. We hired a guide from the Tumbling Trout in Lake George to take us there and show us the ropes. It was my first time fishing in the mountain west and I learned a ton from Tad. In September, the hopper-dropper was the hot rig. Or so we were told. The Dream Stream is by no means a secret.

A hot-air balloon drifts across the landscape.

I love visiting new biomes so removed from my Upper Midwest experience. We saw prong horned sheep and mule deer everywhere. It was amazing how flat and open is could be in the middle of a mountain range. 

These bison got out of their pasture and were being chased by a cowboy in a Jeep. They're a lot closer to us than they look. He did get them rounded up and back with the herd in short order.

The Dream Stream is really just an engineered stretch of river that starts at the Spinney Mountain Reservoir.

Every bend of the stream is filled with cold, nutrient rich water that grows huge trout. 

The ripples in this picture are the backs of trout.

The spillway.

Tad, our guide made us a delicious lunch and we spent the afternoon fishing the reservoir. We never did catch fish. They were either keyed in on some super specific bug or busy spawning. It's not unusual to run into fish that just won't eat and on this highly pressured water I bet it happens more often than not.

The whole environment was just so foreign to me that I loved every second of it, 

even if the fish weren't biting.

Water in an otherwise arid land.

The folks at Tumbling Trout were great and worked hard to get us on fish. Tad was a fantastic guide, very knowledgeable and a fun guy to hang out with for the day.

 

- Ride North

September 10th 2021

Eleven Mile Canyon, Colorado

Last September my father-in-law and I packed out bags full of camping gear and flew out to Colorado for a few days of fishing in the eleven-mile canyon area. I haven't spent much time in the Denver area before our Red Rocks trip earlier in the year. I was keen to explore the area just south west of the metro.

Driving through the mountains on our way to Woodland Park.

We turned west towards the hills at Sedalia. 

Once we gained a little elevation, the road quickly narrowed and turned to gravel.

The South Platte was waiting for us on the other side of the pass.

What a beautiful river.

Standing in the South Platte for the first time.

67 north of Woodland Park

From there we turned west to Lake George where we would be camping in Eleven Mile Canyon. I booked us a spot at the first campground from the entrance. There's not a ton of flat ground but the spot is beautiful. (trailer camping is also available)

The river at our campground was amazing.

Eleven Mile is, by far, the most beautiful place I've ever fished.

Because we were camping there, we could head out after dinner and fish until dark.

Deer visited the campground every morning.

Home sweet home, almost enough room for two.

We did catch fish in Eleven Mile but it full of anglers. I hooked into a really big one (by Minnesota standards) on the first night. I was able to watch it move out of its cover and gobble up my fly but after a few good tugs, it was off. In the Canyon, we found good fishing in the pools behind boulders. They weren't the prime spots but I bet they saw fewer fishermen.

Fish came out of here.

This.

The fly-and-camp trip was a huge success. My new backpacking air mattress made sleeping on the ground pleasant and a small stove meant we could cook our dinners without starting a fire. (important in the dry and windy west) Flights from MSP to Denver are cheap, our biggest expense was the rental car. We did have to stay in Denver one night so we could catch a 6AM flight the next day but the shower was appreciated by all.

-Ride North

September 9th - 12th | 60's | sunny

Minnesota trout fishing

Spring was not is the air this week but it was here none the less. Minnesota's torut fishing season opend up the day before Easter signaling the official start of the saeson. Every year my father-in-law and his buddies spend the week after opener in southe east Minnesota. I try to join them when I can.

I had dreams of taking the motorcycle down there this year but high winds, rain, and cold tempratures ment it would stay safley tucked in at home. We had high tempreatures in the 30s but the sun came out to visit us on Tuesday. Despite recent rain, streams were low and mostly clear. 

Easter Sunday (evening) saw some fish to hand.

Monday was cold and rainy, not a lot of green polking up on the river banks but the birds were in full swing. I probably spent half my time looking at the king birds instead of fishing. I caught more than one fish while distracted by birds. 

Not much bug avtivity which ment the fish were hungry.

 

Lots of cattle on the landscape.

On most farms, new-born calfs we bounding by their mothers.

Big fish on Monday, almost all were put right back into the stream.

I did have fresh grilled trout for dinner last night.

The Shack in Pilot Mound.

When you fish with the guys, you eat well.

A goose (Canadian) pastrimi ruben for lunch, ribeye for dinner.

Tuesday the sun came out and warmmed us up, the only sunshine all week.

I had to head home that afternoon, lucky me.

The spots were really good.

Big fish of the trip, quickly returned to the water. 

The Driftelss landscape is still amazing and the roads are in good shape too. I sould be out on the Guzzi really soon! It may not seem like it but, spring is here.

- Ride North

April 117th - 18th |  30f-40f |cold and windy (with some well needed sun on Tuesday)

Bucksnort and Forestville

Our annual trout opener fishing weekend is in the book, or the blog anyway. It was cold and windy, and we were missing a few people. My father-in-law has been taking this trip with his buddies for 30 years but for various health reasons, it was just him and I this year. These guys have been taking 3 or 4 annual fishing trips every year for three decades, their absence was felt. The June trip to Lake of the Woods should be better attended and less physically demanding than climbing up and down these hills in search or trout.

The evening view from our shack, 

we could see trout rising in the riffle.

Spring is just starting poke up through the detritus.

We fished private land outside of Preston. The farmer is 88 years old, he's happy to chat with us and the turkey hunters who visit him. We got a bit of the family history and some stories from when he was in the marines in the 50s. Around lunch time he came down to the stream to visit us. He and his son-in-law, who was very busy, birthed two calves that morning, one needed some work to get on its feat. Super nice guy, it was good to visit with him again.

In the above picture, the river runs into a bluff.

This is the view from the valley floor.

The trout were sporadically rising to bugs that I couldn't see.

The cold weather put an end to what was a glorious caddis hatch. 

All my fish came on a partridge and green wet fly swung to feeding trout.

These were tough conditions: windy, no real hatch, low rivers, and clear water.

That and the fish had just spent the week gorging on bugs.

This fish was destined to become dinner. 

I talked to one of the DNR fisheries managers, they stocked the stream on Wednesday. I caught this rainbow trout on the following Monday. Its stomach was stuffed full of nothing but caddis fles. It's likely that this fish was one they recently put in. 

Many of the streams in south east Minnesota are put-and-take fisheries, there is no documented case of rainbow trout reproducing in south east Minnesota. All the female "bows" the DNR sampled have had no viable eggs. The DNR also stocks brown trout, native to Europe, and brook trout, our native trout. Both brooks and browns reproduce at sustainable levels in Minnesota.

We fished some habitat "improvement" work done by Trout Unlimited. When done wrong it's like fishing an amusement park. This stuff was done right, but even then, I prefer the natural streams. We caught a nice rainbow trout here. After checking in with our DNR friend, we leaned that rainbows were never stocked in this stream, it must have migrated out into the bigger, warmer rivers and found its way into Trout Run.

Not a bad hunting shack/ rental property.

It was like living inside a puzzle.

The camper followed us down, 

it's now parked at a friend's house waiting for us to disturb the peace.

- Ride North

April 18th - 20th | 45f and windy | 2 dozen trout or so