This is the third year that my buddy Bryon and I have gone on a multi-day Trout Trip somewhere in the Upper Midwest. The plan for this year was to head to Whitewater State Park in southeast Minnesota. We would camp in the Park and then head to various spots on any and all of the branches of the Whitewater, along with any other smaller streams in the area. It would have been epic! But then the dumbest of all viruses hit, and all State Parks in Minnesota were closed to camping. So we made plans to camp at a privately owned campground in the Whitewater valley. Everything seemed to be OK, but then I got a call from the owner of said privately owned campground, informing me that the Sheriff had come by and told them they had to close as well. Strike two! After doing way more research than I ever put into any of my college papers, I stumbled upon a "campground" that isn't really a campground, in western Wisconsin. Since it isn't technically a campground, this "campground" hadn't yet been told that they had to close down to camping. So, Bryon and I settled on western Wisconsin instead of southeastern Minnesota, and Trout Trip 2020 was back on! Woot!
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| Bryon and our camper, in the "campground"... |
Since I have so many photos to show, I won't bore you with too many words, but I will say that we spent countless hours on 5 different streams, we caught a bunch of fish, we tied for the most different species caught (3 each), and I used all six of the rods I brought with. We saw deer and turkeys and muskrats, and great blue herons and eagles and vultures. A big ol' snapping turtle splashed into the river as I got close, scaring the bejeebers out of me in the process. We got too much sun and ate too much food, and we can't wait to do it again next year. Would you like to see some pics?
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| Gearing up at our first spot |
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| My first rod of the trip, a St. Croix 7090 XXL, paired with a Ross Gunnison G-1 |
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| A quaint little stream. |
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| Second stream, not quite as quaint or little. |
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| 2nd rod, Diamodglass 8' 5wt, and Cabelas HP1 reel. |
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| Lots of these guys emerging, and not a trout rising anywhere. It was very frustrating! |
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| No fish rising = time to sit down and pout! |
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| Bryon, in mid-loop |
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| I did finally catch something, a lovely little brookie, in a spot I was not expecting a brookie. Off the schneid! |
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| Brookie colors |
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| I bet you can't figure out where we were... |
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| Gearing up at our 3rd stream of the day, right before dusk, |
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| 3rd rod, a Vince Cummings River Rat. 7'6" 6wt. Smoooooth! |
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| I have never seen such joy whilst holding a sucker! Photo by Bryon Tang |
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| 4th rod: Winston 8' 5/6wt glass. Silky! |
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| A nice brown. |
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| A beautiful brookie |
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| Biggest fish of the trip for me. |
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| Chub. |
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| You can't tell me what to do! |
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| 5th stream of the trip. |
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| Carefully extricating a hook. |
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| 5th rod: Scientific Angler System 5 glass rod. Velvety! |
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| Nice place, but no fish... |
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| 6th rod: Scott F754/3, paired with a Ross San Miguel #2 |
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| Ditto |
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| A healthy brown. |
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| Last fish of Trout Trip 2020. |
