7 Days in the Wilderness - A Tale of Two Wild Trout Areas
There is an intimacy with the water on foot that can never be felt from a boat
My hope with everything I do revolves around helping others. I hope I can help them with knowledge and experience. I hope to help folks with new ideas around common thoughts and actions. I hope to encourage people with their own exploration. I hope to inspire people to get out of their comfort zones some and expand their horizons by crossing over into other disciplines, targets or locations. The more you can see and learn provides you with more opportunity for growth and fulfillment. And that goes for any endeavor beyond our favorite one … fishing.
THE TRIP
In mid September, I took a vacation. I had not actually took a week for myself this year. So, I hopped in my truck and trekked about 27 hours round trip up to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. I stopped the first evening in Illinois on the way up to eat dinner and catch-up with my former cohort at Wired2fish, Terry Brown and his wife Sue. We got to spend a few hours together and it was great to see them again after a few years.
The next morning, I continued on my journey, eventually ending up in the middle of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There I met with longtime online friend and peer Cody, that many people know from Youtube and social media as HobieWanKenobi.
For those that follow the bait finesse system or BFS style of fishing, HobieWan was one of the original guys posting lots of great reviews and technique pieces about BFS going back 8 or 9 years. When I first got into BFS, I watched a ton of his videos before reaching out to him with some questions related to it. He was always gracious with his time and answers.
From there we sparked a friendship and eventually worked on a few things together at Wired2fish. He has been inviting me up to his unique fisheries to chase brook trout and brown trout in his small creeks that require pretty technical casting perfectly suited for BFS gear.
I wanted to get up there last year but could never make my travel schedule work around it. But this year I decided to make the trek and spend a few days with him in the UP chasing brookies before heading down to the Driftless Region to chase wild brown trout on a fly rod.
THE BROOK TROUT EXPERIENCE IN THE UP
We hopped in a creek the first evening for a couple hours just to give me a feel for this radically new environment. We punched through the woods and popped out in a creek that was pretty swift and high due to heavy rains the previous couple days.
It made wading a bit challenging and the fishing a bit slow. We rose more than a half dozen brook trout and managed to land 3 of them. I was immediately surprised how tight to cover these fish routinely hold to ambush. There might only be a few inches of clearance to get your bait into a spot to coax a brook trout out. They bury up on undercut grass banks, under log jams and branches obstructing good casting lanes. They are aggressive ambushers, but they have pretty small zones you have to hit.
Originally, I was hoping to do a mix of fly fishing and BFS casting for these fish but quickly realized the tightness of the streams and amount of cover above and on either side would limit my fishing with a fly rod. And carry two rods through thick woods is a chore. So I decided to focus my efforts on precision casting with a BFS rod and a small hard bait sinking minnow.
I am a pretty good caster. In a conventional setting, I catch a lot of fish simply because of my attention to precise casting. And while I’m proficient with BFS bass gear casting on small lures on small streams, using shorter, slower-action casting rods with lighter lures for trout had me at a disadvantage. It took me a bit to accept I needed a more limber rod that could quick load for roll casts, up-down casts and backhand roll casts.
Because of the way these creeks are and how clear the water is, you have to stay a good ways back, sometimes over to one side of the creek to get out of the overhanging brush and try to roll cast a little hard bait into a tiny opening between the bank and a limb, log, rock or grass. I missed quite a bit. But I connected quite a bit on some impressive casts.
It's target casting at it’s absolute finest. By the end of our time fishing, I was getting proficient with the more limber trout rods. Cody is old hat with this type of BFS fishing and an absolute expert caster with this smaller BFS gear. He can hit the tiniest of targets and always seemed in tune with his bait from the second it hit the water until he was loading his next backhand roll cast.
My best setup was a Major Craft Finetail Glass 462UL rod with a Shimano Conquest Calcutta BFS reel loaded with 5-pound Varivas Twitch Master Trout Nylon line. I used a variety of hard baits including the following:
The D-Compact was a great little bait and caught me several of my first brook trout. But it’s lack of weight made precision casting a bit more challenging on my BFS gear. Stepping up to the heavier GH Humpback, 43HW and Flat 45S made precision casting much more efficient for me at distance and I was able to maintain better retrieve cadence in the currents.
On one afternoon, we hiked more than 2 miles down into a ravine with a deeper pool and I was rewarded with my nicest fish of the trip, a beautiful 18-inch brown trout that took my GH Bat-A-Fry. It was the only fish I caught the whole week using a treble hook lure. I had just lost a big brown trout on a single hook hard bait and opted for one with a treble hook in that deep pool to catch a better brown trout.
Sticking with inline single hooks and removing the front hook on our hard baits, allowed us more margin for error getting into super tight places and over wood cover like logs, branches, and over hanging limbs in the water while still getting our baits in and out without snagging as much. The trade off of course is you might miss an odd strike or two. But most of the trout are aggressive ambushers, so they take the baits really well when attacking.
Cody ran me ragged up and down multiple creeks that were up and down multiple ravines. My Garmin Quatix told me we hiked roughly 15 miles over 3 days of fishing. Which for someone 20 years my junior is no problem. But as someone who lives with RA, torn meniscus and other chronic pain issues, it was a heck of a workout.
In all seriousness, I learned a ton about these small waters, wild brook trout and brown trout. We barely scratched the surface of all the great fishing in the UP. We stuck to the smaller inland streams off the beaten path for this trip. Cody was a gracious host and is a great teacher on all aspects of BFS, small stream nuances, brook trout behavior and more. If you haven’t checked out his YouTube channel, you should.
We’ll have a couple videos soon from the trip and another in depth article on BFS fishing hard baits.
THE DRIFTLESS LEG
The next morning, I hopped back in the truck and took a 7-hour drive through the southwestern side of the UP down to the Driftless Region of Wisconsin to chase wild brown trout on the many spring creeks in the area. I got into town around 2 p.m. and once unpacked at the hotel, I headed to the fly shop in the region called the Driftless Angler.
I had booked a morning session with guide Jake Bethke. So I wanted to go get some local staple flies, get settled up on times and such for the next morning and get some pointers on a close-by creek I could get a few casts in before dark.
The shop was awesome. Both Jake and the owner Mat were a big help. We talked what techniques and flies were playing in this transition from summer to fall and what to expect for my first few days ever in the region.
If you are unfamiliar with the Driftless Area, it is essentially one small protected part of the midwest where the glacial movements basically happened all around it but didn’t quite reach this part of the midwest. When the glaciers receded, what was left was a sprawling mountainous valley of limestone floors that splintered and cracked producing tons of springs that feed cool water into the many streams formed from this very unique and untouched topography.
Where the glaciers formed flatter farmlands and the most rich soil anywhere in the country, this small area that they missed in Eastern Iowa, Southern Minnesota, Western Wisconsin and Northern Illinois produced the perfect ecosystem for some of the coolest wild trout fishing you will find anywhere.
That first evening, I drove out to three creeks just to look at the waters, before finally stopping and throwing on some waders and going fishing. I started seeing wild trout rise almost immediately. When I got out of my truck, I saw these small black crickets everywhere. As I was getting my gear together, pulling my waders on and lacing up my boots, something landed on the bed of my truck. I grabbed it in my hand. It was a flying ant. About the size of my thumbnail. So into the box I went and pulled out a bionic ant.
I didn’t make it 10 yards into the stream before I had my first dry fly eat on the ant. I set, fought him about 5 feet until he jumped and got off. All good. I meandered up about 50 more feet and had two more swipes but no takers. And then it got dark, so I loaded out to get some rest before the next morning.
FISHING WITH GUIDES
I have made a point to hire guides around fly fishing the last two years. I hired one in Yosemite last year. And then one on the Spring River, Little Red River and White River. And now in the Driftless area. I feel like going with good guides can shortcut your learning curve on new waters when it comes to patterns, techniques and reading waters. And I like to fish with anglers who might be more experienced than me in certain disciplines like fly fishing.
My time with Jake was well spent. We talked about his experience in the area. He grew up not far from where the fly shop is now. His father is well known in these parts for creating. a very popular fly called the pink squirrel. I would go on to catch a pile of nice brown trout on that fly the next two days.
Jake got me dialed in quickly and acclimated me to staying above the tight cover on both sides of the creek and behind me as I presented my fly to rising browns in tiny plunge pools just below a short runs. He helped me with my line speed, and softness in presenting flies to spooky trout.
We got several rises from the fish but no takers on our dry flies, so we went to an indicator rig with small nymph. On my second drift, I was into my first wild brown in the Driftless. The rest, as they say, was history. I went on to catch another dozen as we bounced back and forth between dry flies and nymphs depending on what the water conditions gave us and in between rain showers.
Jake was a wealth of knowledge on the waters, and clued me in to where the big trout often liked to use sneaky undercut spots to ambush. While it didn’t play out for us on this morning, I filed it away because it was going to pay big for me later.
After our outing, I grabbed a bite to eat, and went back to my room to charge batteries and dump video files. And to let the mid-day heat burn off for another afternoon/evening session. I did a bunch of map study and decided to try another creek in another part of the region.
My first two attempts to get on waters failed as there were already anglers there. So I opted for my third choice on this particular stream. The water was not ideal, slow pools, shallow runs covered in vegetation and no trout to speak of. I saw a couple of trout rise, but was unable to connect with anything. And I will admit, I was a bit bummed about my choice of creeks.
But that’s part of the game here. There are more than 3,000 miles of trout waters in the Driftless Region, but not every stretch is loaded with trout. Some of the stretches have weary, pressured, crafty trout in them, and some have no trout. So I had a mindset now not to last too long in any one area.
I really poured over the maps that night and found a creek I wanted to hit a good drive south from my location the next morning. I got there that morning just in time for a heavy rain shower to hit. So I sat in my truck and contemplated what laid ahead for me.
When the rain subsided, I got my gear and “wadered up” for the trek up the creek. I came to a nice slow moving pool just below a small run. I immediately saw two nice trout rise, so I got into position towards the bottom of the pool and fired my bionic ant up towards the run. It didn’t drift 5 feet and was dogpiled by a chunky wild brown trout. I quickly landed the fish and was giddy to have one on the dry on my very first cast.
I don’t believe in fishing superstitions or omens, so I was already expecting great things on the day. I went another 5 minutes or so and had another nice brown on the ant. At this point I got pretty excited. My current creek, however, was losing good looking water quickly. So, I made the decision to bale on the section I was fishing and pull up stakes to drive down to another section.
A short drive later, I was back on the trail looking for trout. I made my way along a creek through some pretty thick brush and came to shallow pool where two runs merged and dumped into slightly deeper water. I tried the dry a time or two but with no takers, the water was calling to me to pull out my nymph rig. I tied it on with a Dorsey Yarn indicator, and the next 2 hours were nothing short of magical.
Trout after trout took my nymph rig. I probably caught a dozen trout from this one small pool, and I had plenty of great water still left between me and the truck. I eased my way up the stream and turned my focus back to those deeper little wash outs under the undercut grass banks that Jake mentioned the day before.
I adjusted my depth on the nymph rig for the faster water and slightly shallower run. Second pass down through there and my indicator paused slightly and wiggled. I set quick and the best brown of the trip flashed in the current. A few seconds later he was in my net, and and elation washed over me getting that fish after just seeing a couple feet of good looking ambush waters.
I continued up this creek dinking and dunking these little ambush points and snaring and turning trout after trout. I was absolutely in heaven, finding fish on my own in the middle of nowhere USA. Catching wild trout cast after cast and really fine tuning my details on my casting, drifts, indicator reads, reactions and selections. It was an absolutely magical experience for me.
Nothing beats “bluelining” like this for me. Reading maps, doing the research, making a plan and then executing and fine tuning it as you go to improve the success as you go. And to do it in waters I had never seen before that day made it that much more special for me. For me, exploring new places and finding exceptional bites like this will always be the greatest reward in fishing.
Elated with the morning I had, I decided to eat a late lunch and work on downloads and charing for one last evening session.
GOD PUTS YOU WHERE HE WANTS YOU
My last session was actually on the creek I started on the first night but got cut short. I decided to walk a ways down stream and go that direction this time. I walked down to the first nice looking pool and immediately saw a trout rise. So I got my dry fly out and made some casts up to the fish and connected. I was pretty excited and was looking forward to walking down a ways to the next few runs and plunges.
A couple showed up and actually went ahead of me and cut me off from where I was going to fish next. A bit faux pas, and there was a time where that would have riled me up. But I’m somewhat past that stage now, and I’m trying to listen more to the Lord when he gives me tests/signs.
I pulled up stakes, crossed a road and headed upstream the other direction. I walked a pretty good ways before I finally saw a trout rise. I started casting my dry fly as I crept along, inching my way closer to that fish. I never got that fish to rise on my fly. But I did bump a couple really nice browns out of undercut banks. That old adage, fish the water close to you before casting up to the farthest water, rattled in my head as I chastised myself for these mistakes. That rambunctious surfacing fish took me off my game a bit.
So now I started looking for those undercut sweet spots again. I was able to get a couple trout to take the dry, but was unable to land either one. The sun was behind the trees at this point and I decided to take a walk until I saw something that really got my attention before it got dark.
I got about another 100 yards up the stream and came to the deepest plunge pool I had found the whole trip. I saw a fish rise at the bottom of the run dumping into the pool. So I slowly and quietly worked into position and fired a cast up to where that fish seemed to be feeding. Instant hookup!
I was pretty excited and got that fish in quickly because I knew this was fixing to get good. Boy was I right. Four casts yielded four fish on the dry. I went several more casts and got another fish on the dry. Then after about 10 casts and nothing, I decided to nymph as I was losing my light quickly, and I wanted to make sure I got my money’s worth on one of the best looking pieces of water on the trip.
On my first drift with my indicator rig and the pink squirrel, I was hooked up with a leaping brown. A few casts later and another, then another and another.
If there is a heaven, I hope this special piece of water waits for me there, and my dry fly ant draws strikes on every loop uncoiling delicately to rest. I sat on those muddy banks for several minutes after releasing my final fish of the trip. Taking in all the sounds and sights and giving gratitude to God for changing my direction, so I could enjoy such a memorable and enjoyable evening.
This trip, filled with new experiences, new friendships and new memories renewed my coffers that had gotten pretty low lately. I came back recharged and energized and look forward to sharing more that I hope will help others experience similar things for themselves.
What an epic adventure Jason! You always have the most intriguing lure selection! Wow!
Lovely images. Ah, the Driftless. Serene.