![]() I cranked it up and cheered at the right parts until I pulled into the parking lot at the bridge. On this day, Rock and Roll by Gary Glitter came on just as the old white Chevy began the descent into the valley. ![]() I’m always hoping for a good “inspirational” rock anthem to come on the radio to really get me fired up as I approach the stream. I was moving right along at about seventy, anticipating a great day. I’m not known to be a particularly fast driver, but my speed definitely will pick as I get closer to a stream. I don’t remember the date, but it was around late May/early June in the early “Oughts”. It was midweek, so I wasn’t worried about crowds or kayaks, and I expected to have some decent nymph fishing before some mayflies would start hatching in the afternoon. This time I was headed to the lower river, and as I crossed into Wisconsin I was anticipating my hike up the canyon from County Road F. Thinking about this day reminds me of another epic dry fly day on the Kinni. These bugs have what appears to be a glowing white egg sac on their butt when laying their eggs ![]() Hook: TMC 100 Butt: Pearl Litebrite Body: Clipped black deer hair Hackle: Grizzly Wing: Grizzly hackle tips And it works exactly as well as an elk hair caddis that I can tie in about 3 minutes. It takes about 20 minutes to tie, but it looks really good. I have hit this hatch pretty good a few times since, and I have designed a very devious stonefly pattern specifically for it. Since this memorable day, I always try to get over there on a warm, sunny day around March 20. I didn’t count them, but by mid-afternoon I had caught more than enough and headed home early. It hadn’t floated a foot before it was eaten, and I was soon admiring the first of many trout I would catch that day. A big elk hair caddis would have to do, and I greased one up with floatant after it was tied on, and after a couple of quick false casts it was drifting toward where I has seen the last fish feed. Remember, this was the first year we could fish there this early, and no one was aware that the black stoneflies were such a thing on the Kinni. As I’m cutting off my nymph rig I am taking a mental inventory of all my fly boxes, trying to picture what I have to be a suitable stonefly imitation. SPLOOSH-the bug gets chomped by a better than average trout, and I couldn’t get the nymph, shot, and cork off my leader fast enough. I looked up to the top of the run I was working, and here comes a stonefly buzzing down the center of the stream. I soon realized that they were black stoneflies-they were starting to buzz on the surface, and I spotted a few crawling on logs. I had seen a couple of bugs flying around, but hadn’t really paid much attention to them. I stopped casting to try and determine what was happening. The big splashes continued, and were becoming a distraction. Not one to switch to a dry at the first sign of surface activity, I kept dredging, and was catching a few. I’m working through some favorite water with the trusty UV scud tied on, when out of nowhere there is a very aggressive rise just above me-like someone threw a baseball in the water. I was on the Upper Kinni, it was March 20, and I think 1997. I really fished a lot in those days, and two extra months equated to a couple hundred more trout than before. The first year of the “Early Season” was a great year. Interesting to note that my very best, most memorable days were days I was fishing alone. I’ve had a lot of great days on the local creeks, but these are some days that really stand out. I know my favorite streams will come back, but in the meantime I’m going to share a few times when the fishing was truly outstanding. This is why the other creeks have been so dear to me, enough fish to keep me busy, and always plenty of water devoid of other anglers. More than three or four, I’m off to the next spot. Also an abundance of trout anglers, and I hate the fact that when I’m approaching a favorite access point I have to start deciding how many other vehicles I will tolerate. Not that these are bad-quite the contrary, these are fantastic streams with wild trout and fishy riffles and pools. So for catching, that leaves the Rush, or maybe the lower Kinni. For reasons I’m not going to get into here, my two favorite streams are seriously hurting in the trout population department, and it’s going to be a few years before it improves. ![]() I’m still looking forward to walking the creeks, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells, but I just know the trout catching is going to be off. It troubles me that I am going into this trout season with a genuine lack of enthusiasm.
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