A Tough Day

I learned about Eagle Creek a few years ago. What I had learned was that it’s a trout stream that flows through the town of Savage, MN, which is a suburb of Minneapolis. I had also learned that Eagle Creek was the site of a big brouhaha between conservationists and developers back in the day, with the conservationists coming out on top. Now there is a wide corridor along the entire length of the stream in which nothing can be built. 

Our first look at Eagle Creek.

Bryon's fly choice to start out with.

My buddy, Bryon, and I went down to Savage to check it all out. What we found was a very small trout stream flowing through a tangle of trees, weeds, and brush that didn’t look like it had seen many fishermen recently. The stream looked like it had had some habitat improvement, as it was narrow and deep in some spots and had undercut banks that looked very fishy. The problem was that it was so small. I could step across it in many spots, and where it widened out it was too shallow to hold any fish. Despite the fishy-looking spots, it was almost impossible to get into position to make an accurate cast without snagging some weeds, getting caught on the backcast, or spooking whatever fish there were. At least the water was nice and cold, because the air temperature was hot! Overall it was a pretty miserable experience, and no trouts were caught. Perhaps we will go back to Eagle Creek again in the Spring, so there won’t be as many streamside plants to deal with.

No fish yet, but at least my new floppy hat was keeping me shaded.

Since our efforts at Eagle Creek went unrewarded, we decided to check out the nearby Credit River, which supposedly supports trout in some areas, and for sure is supposed to have a healthy carp population in others. Where we stopped the river was very low and clear, and there was no sign of any piscatorial life whatsoever. Strike 2.

So we worked our way over to the Vermillion River. The Vermillion is known to hold trout; rainbows are stocked near the town of Farmington; browns reproduce naturally throughout the rest of it, although not at real high numbers. We fished right in Farmington, and in a couple of hours the only fish we saw were some big ol’ carp finning slowly in one of the deeper pools. We would have happily fished for the carp, but they were hiding out in a jumble of downed tree limbs and overhanging branches. Strike 3.

The fishing was bad, but the casting was great with my T&T Heirloom glass rod.

A fishing report without any fish is pretty weak, so we did stop at a local lake on the way home to catch some bass and/or bluegills. Bryon caught both, but my terrible luck continued, at least for a while. Finally I caught one little bluegill on an orange wooly worm. After that I figured I might as well quit while I was ahead. It was a tough day!

Bryon with a sweet backcast.

Orange Wooly Worm