Brule part II

Yesterday we headed back to the Brule, this time with KWP. We left as early as possible and when we arrived at our first spot we were delighted to find the parking lot empty. We headed to the first good hole, and there was a guy fishing it. OK, off to the next hole. Three guys there. Where were they coming from? It turned out there were people all over the river, they were like wood ticks in the spring. Oh well, it’s a long river and there’s always some place you can sneak in and fish. The reports we were getting from everyone sounded discouraging. Nobody was catching any fish. In spite of a favorable weather forecast (clouds, drizzle) we had sun, sun, and more sun. If you think about it, the Steelhead have spent the last few years in hundreds of feet of water out in Lake Superior, and now they’re in a river that’s four feet deep and clear as air. Sunshine is not your friend even if it was a warm pleasant day. We found enough open river to fish hard most of the day with nothing to show for our efforts except few little trout. Then as time was running out in our final spot, KWP suddenly yelled “Fish!” and we were off to the races. I think we ended up about 50 yards down river from where Kendall hooked this beauty. I spent the day drifting nymphs and egg patterns under an indicator. KWP was using freezer burned, 12 year old spawn bags. Hey whatever works!

Thanks KWP for a fun day, can’t wait to get out there again.

SR

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Brule has been very slow all year. Been up once per week since the start of Oct, been 1-2 steelhead every time up, which has been better than alot of others apparently. The rivers over by Ashland arent doing much better, 1 big salmon the first trip and just northerns since. Could really use some rain to get the fish movin. Nice steelie!

Beautiful steelie!

Nice fish!

Awesome fish! They’re just beautiful, aren’t they? Glad you guys had a fun trip!

Nice reward for your efforts!

I stopped by for a half day last Thursday on my way north. Similar conditions: clear skies, leap frogging other fisherman. No one I talked with had any luck. Had to settle with a nice fall day and some good drifts.

I’m curious what the run was for 2014-2015. Have yet to see any data. The steelhead run has been down since 2011-2012.

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Thanks for the great trip Rootski…It was fun to fish with you and I had a blast. You were right about all the guys around – seemed like every place we wanted to fish had people growing roots in it.

I am also thankful for the two handed switch rod fly casting lesson you gave me. I can see I have a lot of practice to do before I even attempt fishing a two handed rod. I would like to become somewhat proficient at this before I go on my “bucket list” trip the Skeena River in British Columbia – home of the 20 lb. Steelhead.

I saw a guy using a two-handed setup as well and it looked effortless. Very cool to watch. I’ve made the step and now possess the setup. Went with a 7-wt, 11.5″. The learning phase will be next spring’s project.