Trout Trip Twenty-Eighteen

My buddy, Bryon, and I just got back from our first annual trout trip, which I have titled Trout Trip Twenty-Eighteen. That name is rather boring, I know, but some of the other names we came up with were downright silly. Like "Scott & Bryon's Excellent Adventure" and "Two Guys Trouting". My personal favorite might be "Guys Waggling Rods", but if you, my faithful readers, type that in Google to try to find this post, I don't want to think about what else might pop up on your screen...

Going through our fishing stuff before we wet a line.

We left the Twin Cities on Friday morning and headed south to the Driftless region of Minnesota. We set up camp in Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park, which has three quality trout streams running through it. The biggest of the three is the South Branch of the Root River, which gathers two tributaries, Canfield Creek and Forestville Creek, inside the Park. If we weren't so gung-ho about fishing we could have hiked over to see where Canfield gets its start as it bubbles out of a small cave, or visited the "town" of historic Forestville to witness a reenactment of life back in the 1800s, or taken a tour of Mystery Cave. But we didn't do any of those things. We fished, we ate, we napped, and then we fished some more. That was our entire weekend, and it was awesome!

Bryon was happy we got the camper set up.

Our first glimpse of the South Branch of the Root.

My first rod of the trip, my Sage 476 SFL glass rod.

Both Bryon and I caught fish throughout the weekend, but I wouldn't say the fishing was terrific by any means. We were expecting, and hoping for, some good insect hatches, but there weren't many insects at all. I was thinking there would be caddisflies hatching in the afternoons and maybe some sulphur mayflies in the evenings, but that didn't happen. Sure there were a few bugs flying around, and tons of swallows and other birds eating them, but trout rising to them were few and far between. So we nymphed and swung Wooly Buggers most of the time. Nymphing worked some of the time, the Wooly Buggers worked some of the time, and nothing worked some of the time. I guess it was a lot like fishing is supposed to be!

My first fish of the weekend.

The terrain reminded me of the Black Hills. I was expecting to see a Rocky Mountain Sheep around every corner!

Second rod of the trip, my Scott F754/3. What a sweet rod!

A beautiful brownie.

Bryon with a nice brown.

Some more beautiful scenery.

Bryon's first ever brook trout!

Third rod: Orvis Fullflex A 7' 5wt

I won the prize for smallest fish of the trip. Yay?

This would have been perfect dry fly water, if there were any insects hatching...

Even on fishing trips, sometimes you just need to sit around and look at the woods...

Hardy Fibalite 7'6" 5wt.

Bryon showed me some small trees that had been rubbed by deer. Later I saw this big tree which I assumed had been rubbed by an elephant...

Sage 586 LL, with my Mushroom & Swiss Bugger which had gotten completely chewed up.

 Bryon caught me catching a fish on video. I didn't realize what he was doing until I turned to look at him at the end. I think I played it pretty cool...

After two and a half days of fishing and trudging around Forestville State Park, Bryon and I were pretty worn out. We both must have been pretty out of it on the way home because we missed several turns...Finally we made it home and rejoined our normal lives. We are already starting to talk about Trout Trip Twenty-Nineteen. If it happens, read all about it right here!