Trout & Turkey 2021

For the past several years my friend Bryon and I have gone on at least one Trout Trip per year. These trips have always been around 3 days long, and have taken place somewhere within either Minnesota or Wisconsin. For this year's trip, Bryon proposed that we invite a 3rd person, his eldest son, Matt, and that we extend both the length of the trip, to seven days, and the distance from home to 11 hours away in western Nebraska. Oh, he also proposed that we turn it into a Trout & Turkey trip, as he and Matt would take the opportunity to try to shoot some Merriam's turkeys while we were there. After about 4 seconds of deliberation, I agreed to all these things. He had me at "Hey, wanna..."!

Some of the beauty of Fort Robinson State Park

I am going to make the assumption that most of you would never think of Nebraska as a destination for trout fishing. I feel safe in assuming this, because everyone I have talked to about this trip had never thought of Nebraska as a destination for trout fishing. Most of Nebraska is not a good trout fishing destination, but there are some sections of the state that do harbor trout streams, and some pretty high quality streams at that. You just need to know where to go.

Crossing the Missouri River on the way to Nebraska

We ended up in the far western corner of the state, not too far south of the South Dakota state line, in a section of Nebraska known as the Pine Ridge. The topography in this section reminds me a lot of the Black Hills of South Dakota, which are just a couple of hours to the north. There are rolling prairies, impressive rock formations, pine forests, and lush coldwater streams, some of which are home to brown, brook, rainbow, and even some cutthroat trout. There are also numerous ponds that hold all sorts of fish species.

White River

Sunset on our first night in Nebraska

Bryon's first fish of the trip

My first fish of the trip

We stayed in Fort Robinson State Park, which is just outside of the little town of Crawford. Fort Robinson is a big, sprawling expanse, and home to mule deer, antelope, turkeys, and they even have a resident bison herd. It also holds a section of the White River and Soldier Creek, both of which are home to trout. A bunch of little man-made ponds are in the Park, too, filled with a wide array of different fishes. Check out the following pics to get an idea of what we did:

Another sunset pic from the first night

Next morning we checked out some ponds. This was jam-packed with newly planted rainbows...

Plus a tiger trout or two (this was my second tiger ever)...

Plus a few big ol' sunfish

While we were fishing we realized we were being watched by some bison.

Another pond. This one had largemouth bass and panfish.

Then I hiked around in a little stream to see what I could find. Have you ever seen naturally occurring cement blocks in such a handy spot?!?!

First brown trout of the trip

Same.

Second brown of the trip

This pond was packed with miniature smallmouth bass.

One of those miniature smallmouth bass...

Then we stumbled upon a pond that was home to chunky brook trout.

The next day I dropped Bryon and Matt off at their turkey hunting lodge, and I spent the better part of the next four days hiking and fishing all by my lonesome. First I checked out the South Fork of Soldier Creek, in the Soldier Creek Wilderness Area. This creek had a new beaver pond around every corner. And fat brown and brook trout in each pond.

The first beaver pond I came across

This pool was stacked up with fish

A lovely, out-of-focus, brown

Scott F794/4 and Ross Evolution 1.5

The ever-present afternoon thunderclouds

Same.

The next day I hiked deeper into the Soldier Creek Wilderness Area in search of cutthroat trout. I heard that there were some hidden ponds a couple of miles in that held cutties, so I strapped on my backpack and headed out. It was a lovely hike, and all my gear worked great, but that is about the best I can say for this excursion. Trout were seen, but not caught. Let's never talk of this again, ok?

Your brave hero, heading out in search of cutties. The neon yellow shirt was on purpose, so as not to get shot by turkey hunters. It worked.

The weather changed every 4.5 minutes or so...

First of three secret ponds. I saw two trout swimming in this one. They both suck.

My pack and gear.

GFA Hoppers accounted for about 75% of the fish caught throughout the week.

These trees must have a death-grip on the hillside. Second secret pond sits below them. It had about 10 trout in it, that I could see. They all suck, too.

A rainstorm hit me without much warning, so I hung out under this tree, waiting for it to pass.

The sky cleared up on my hike back to civilization. What a pretty afternoon!

Same.

About 10 minutes after I got back to the truck, these clouds appeared, bringing rain, hail, and high winds.

As the storm was petering out, I drove around to see any wildlife that might be out and about. This was it. I call this one "Rainy Burros".

Sun came out about 3 minutes before sunset. 

Crazy clouds after the storm. I did not alter this shot at all.

One night I drove past a pond that was almost empty of water, for some unknown reason. I figured there was maybe 2 feet of water in the bottom, yet I was sure I saw something dimple the surface as I drove by. Being the annoyingly curious person that I am, I stopped the car and climbed down into the pond bottom, which was both smelly and mucky. I cast my hopper out about halfway across the muddy water, and it was immediately inhaled by a small but healthy looking sunfish. not only that, but my landing that sunfish caused the other inhabitants of this seemingly lifeless pond to go crazy. There were signs of fish moving around everywhere! I couldn't believe it. I spent the next half hour catching fish after fish after fish out of this mudhole, and they got bigger or more unbelievable as the night went on!

The muddy "pond", from the floor 

First sunfish from the "pond"

A chunky bluegill from the "pond"

I couldn't believe there was such a big ol' bass living in such little water! That is just mud on his belly...

Even a little crappie was living in there. What?!?!

My last day of fishing was filled with more adventure. First I bushwhacked into another secret pond, which was supposed to hold brook trout. I figured a secret pond that nobody knew about would be sure to have big, dumb brookies that would be fighting over my fly. Instead I caught one little perch in a couple of hours of flailing away. Ugh.

A lovely, secret pond

These two mule deer showed up to see what was going on.

Bison? Longhorn? Sasquatch? Who knows...

I left the first pond that sucked, and went back to the brook trout pond I had had luck at. And these two mule deer showed up again. I am pretty sure they were the same ones I saw at the first pond. I would go on to see them three more times that day......

This longhorn steer wanted to see what I was up to. He seemed quite impressed with my angling skills...

Brook trout on a Mushroom & Swiss Bugger

Painted Turtles were everywhere 

Another fat sunfish

The brook trout seemed too colorful for this time of year...

Last trout of the trip

Sunset on our last night

The moon.

Thanks for checking out my trip report. If you ever have a chance to head to the trouty part of Nebraska, I say go for it! I think you will have a good time!

The Threes - 2021 Edition

I don't fish with 3-weights very often. But every once in a while they are fun. This is a fairly big change from 20-some years ago, when I did 99% of my trout and panfish fishing with a 3-weight. Of course at that time my Orvis Silver Label 7'6" 3-weight was the only high-quality rod I owned, so it was either that or stay home. Plus, I didn't know any better...

Now I would say 95% of my trout and panfish fishing is done with either a 4- or 5-weight, and the other 5% is shared between my 3-weights and my 6-weights. At this exact moment in time I own three 3-weight rods, but as we all know, that could change at any moment...

The Threes

Over the years I have owned several 3-weights that were 7' in length or shorter. They have all been fun to cast in the yard, but didn't seem to be all that useful on the water. They were too short for the waters I fish. And I had some good ones: a black Scott F703/3; an Orvis Superfine Glass 703-3; a John Irgens 6'6" bamboo; plus others. All of them have been moved on to other fisherpeople. Hopefully those people are enjoying them.

The Threes, again...

So, you would think that none of my current 3-weights would be under 7', right? Well, yes, that would be a fair assumption, but you would be wrong. A few weeks ago I acquired a sweet little 6'6" 3-weight Lamiglas Spring Creek series glass rod, and it is still in my possession. First of all, it has been way too cold around here for me to take it out in the yard and see how it feels. Maybe I will love it... And secondly, it is a lovely rod! I will keep it around, at least through the Spring, and see how it goes. 

Lamiglas Spring Creek 6'6" 3wt

The second 3-weight in my quiver is an amazing 7'6" Steffen glass rod. This rod is marked as a 2/3-weight. It might do well as a 2-weight, but I wouldn't know, since I don't have a 2-weight line to try on it. What I know is that it handles a 3-weight line flawlessly. I have cast some rather large poppers with this rod, and it has handled them with ease. Steffen Bros. sure make some awesome fly rods!

Steffen 7'6" 3wt and bluegill

My last 3-weight is another special rod. It is my maroon colored 8' 3-weight Scott glass rod that was made for the Japanese market, the F803/3. You don't see too many 8' Scott 3-weights around. This one is sweet! Just like all Scott glass rods, it is as smooth as they come. An excellent fishing tool!

Scott F803/3

Since I only have a few 3-weight rods I don't need too many 3-weight reels. So I have just two: a Lamson LP-1 Light, which is a click & pawl version of the venerable LP series reels; and a Ross Evolution #1. Both these reels work flawlessly, and do everything I need them to do. 

I am not sure if I will be writing about my 7-weight rods, since I only have two of them... Maybe I will switch things up and write about some flies I have been working on... I guess we will all have to check back in to find out :)

The Fives - 2021 Edition

Recently I have written about my current lineup of 4- & 6-weight rods and reels. I am equally smitten with my 5-weight rods, which have also changed quite a bit in the last year. 4- and 5-weight rods are the perfect fishing tools for my fishing, which is almost entirely made up of stream fishing for trout and lake fishing for panfish. Sure, I occasionally break out a 3-weight for those trout and panfish, and sometimes haul out a 6- or 7-weight for bass, but 99% of the time I use a 4- or 5-weight. Here are my fives:

The Fives, from shortest to longest...

I got this 6'6" Cortland FR-2000 glass 5-weight a few years ago, thinking that it would be perfect for stalking some of the small, overgrown local creeks, searching for carp and things like that. In the rare times I have done that, it has been perfect. It is also perfect for small brook trout creeks, too.

Cortland 6'6" FR-2000 glass rod

This 7' Phillipson Registered Epoxite 5-weight is as sweet as they come. It is one of the rare Phillipson rods made with a spigot ferrule. Did I mention that it is sweet?

Phillipson Registered Epoxite

I've got another Cortland FR-2000 glass 5-weight. This one is 7'6" in length. If you haven't tried any of these older Cortland rods, you really should. Much like Fenwicks, I have never cast one I didn't like. Their baby poop colored Pro-Crests were awfully nice, too, other than the color scheme...

7'6" Cortland FR-2000 glass 5-weight

If you read my previous post you would have seen my Scientific Angler System 4 rod, a 7'2" 4-weight. I also own their System 5 rod, which is a 7'7" 5-weight. Both of them are equally smooth and powerful.

System 5 glass rod & bluegill

My 8' 5-weight Sage SFL580 rod is also quite powerful. I can cast weighted Wooly Buggers with it all day long, which sounds like the makings of a great day, if you ask me!

Sage 580SFL glass rod

Another 8-footer is my old yellow Scott Pow-R Ply glass rod. I think I have written before that I wasn't sure about this rod when I first picked it up. It felt awkward and tip-heavy. Oh, and weird, too. But once I put a reel and line on it, it morphed from weird to luxurious! I don't know what happens exactly, but some kind of metamorphosis takes place. Then I take the reel off and it feels weird again. It's the weirdest thing, if you haven't already figured that out...

Scott Pow-R Ply glass, surrounded by its friends.

I got this 8' Winston 5/6-weight last year. It likes a 5-weight line the best, so it belongs in this post. Just like all my brown glass Winstons, it is silky smooth.

Winston 8' 5/6wt glass

I really wasn't looking for a graphite rod of any brand, but this Winston Pre-IM6 8-footer kind of fell into my lap. At first I had no plans to keep it, but it's too sweet to let go of. Besides, I am a Winston Man now. And Winston Men can't sell off their Winstons, can they?

Winston Pre-IM6 Graphite

Larry Kenney was one of the brain wizards in the Scott Rod Company back in the day. After his time at Scott, he started his own company, and builds high-end glass rods to his own specs. This 8'3" 5-weight is just as sweet as any of my Scott rods. 

Larry Kenney 8'3" 5-weight on a favorite stretch of water...

I just got this beautiful 8'6" 5-weight from Bozeman Rod Company. As I wrote in my 4-weight post, Bozeman rods were made by Dusty Smith, who now sells his rods and blanks through his own company, the Livingston Rod Company. I wonder if there is also a Helena Rod Company and a Kalispell Rod Company...

Bozeman 8'6" 5-weight

Last but not least is my beloved Sage 586LL that I have owned for 20+ years. As smooth as graphite can be. It doesn't get as much use these days, but it has caught fish all over the USA. What a rod!

Sage 586LL and a battered Mushroom & Swiss Bugger

I don't have as many reels as I do rods, and I never will, because rods are just plain cooler than reels. But I do have a few, and here are my 5-weight reels:

First up is a Martin LM56. I had no idea about this reel, until I realized it has a cult following amongst fiberglass fans. Before that, the only Martin reels I had owned were a couple of the old tuna can models, the 61 and 63. This is just my opinion, but those old Martins might be the worst fly reels ever made. I love my LM56, though, which is known as a poor-man's Abel.

Next is my Ross Evolution #2, which purrs ever-so-smoothly. And last but not least is my Ross Cimarron #2. I am toying with the idea of adding another 5-weight reel to my reel bag. We will have to wait and see what happens I guess...

This is kind of fun, so I will probably write another post about my 3-weights in the near future. That will be short and sweet!