Root River

How many guys are ready to do the ol’ Brown
dance in the shadow of the bluffs? I am more than ready….just put the order in with Mister Twister for more of the good stuff!

A little chilly for me personally today, but I’ve been out already (as I’m sure a few have). I’ll be curious to see what the water levels are like once the thaw and frost get going. Keep bringing the snow for all I care. I believe that we are still behind in total precip. average anyway.

DA..

A quote from my friend in Alaska…”There is no bad weather…just bad gear!”

Little chilly for my rod guides too.

Dark30,

I am ALWAYS ready to fish the Root, no matter when or for what!

Can’t beat that river system!!!

Was down there doing a little main branch poking around a couple weekends ago!

Soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim

My brother-in-law is coming to town this weekend. He is an avid trout fisherman and wants to give the SE MN streams a try. I’ll take a look at the regs and try to figure out what is open, if anyone has any suggestions within an hour of La Cresent MN please feel free to let me me know, it would be greatly appreciatted.

I know it’s barbless hooks only. He will likely be throwing flys, I’m not sure what I’ll be attempting, can you throw a barbless treble on a little mepps and be legal? Do they even make barbless treble hooks, or is this a do it yourself project?

One more question, I do not have a 2004 trout stamp. Can I buy my 2005 MN fishing license and trout stamp now?

Thanks Fellas!!

Matt

The new 2005 easement guide will be out in early April. I’d say bend the barb yourself, vary your retrieve until you figure out the speed that gets the trout to take a smack at it. I can’t answer the stamp/license question, but I do know that you (and everyone else for that matter) will need a new license and stamp as of March 1.

I’m a big fan of the Root. I’m an even bigger fan that the non-des. has gone catch and release for trout.

DA brings up a good point and topic all need to be aware of “easements” and fisherman friendly access points.

Take the time to ask when fishing waters.

Especially with the new regs on the formally known as non-desginated Middle Branch of the Root River, more folk will be looking at accessing it.

Let it be known there is some very “kind” water with very un-kind or not fisherman friendly land owners in and around these waters.

THere is some history with one and ofcourse it was a case of one fisherman ruining for the rest of us.

So that being said, please TAKE TIME(usually takes a couple minutes) to ask landowners if you can access waters form their land….and THANK THEM as well!

Happy _pre-Spring everyone!

Jim

You might want to replace the treble with a single hook on those spinners (or buy some with single hooks) – Does a little less damage to the trout. Also, try some hair/feather/plastic jigs.

You can also hit the Whitewater area – that’s within the hour timeframe. You can look at the MNDNR site here for more info: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/trout_streams/winter.html

About the trout stamp: If you plan to fish before March 1, 2005; you’ll need to get a 2004 license and stamp. You can’t use a 2005 license for fishing before March 1.

Thanks guys, the trebles will be replaced with single barbless hooks. I contacted the DNR, I’ll need the 04 trout stamp if I plan to fish this weekend. My bro would have to buy non-resident license plus the stamp, I’ll leave it up to him. If we get out I’ll let you know how we did.

Matt

If your bro is only buying a single day license he does NOT need a trout stamp.

WW would probably be a good bet…..otherwise the root in and around the Lansboro area (not sure how far that would be from lacresent?).

Here’s a list of what’s open:

Winter Trout Streams

I’ll say this. The one thing that makes in-depth angling head and shoulders above the competitors IS the ability to post a link without petty ramifications as is the case on other unnamed Minnesota sites

Have a good weekend,
D.A.

Thanks Jake, I’m sure the bro will only get the day license, I thought he’d need a trout stamp? Good to hear that he won’t. I’ll take a look at the map D.A. provided the link for and let y’all know where we ended up and how we did.

It looks like we’ll be heading down to Lanesboro in the A.M.. It looks like Lanesboro and Whitewater are about the same distance from me. I figured Lanesboro may be a little less crowded??? But what do I know, if anyone thinks Whitewater is the place to be please let me know.

Matt

Lanesboro would be my first choice .

During the winter we’ve always done best on the strech right through town (not right below the dam, but down stream from the bridge).

Duchee creek is right there also……this stream has been good to me in the winter time too……it’s a lot smaller water and tougher to fish, but it sure has a lot of fish in it

good luck

Its nice to see the stretch from the dam in Lanesboro down to the main branch has been deemed winter C&R! I’ll be fishing that area in just a few short weeks…If not sooner

I see a few other areas have been put into the new C&R for the whole season too. Very cool!

I’ll be down around the Lanesboro & Whalan area Saturday….I’ve got some itches that need to be scratched!!!!!!!! (just fishing you pervs)

There’s less snow on the ground than the WW area and hopefully a little warmer.

Good luck everyone!!!

Dark…shoot me a pm when your going…I can split the gas with you…Kinda busy with work lately, but there maybe a chance I can go….

You’ll be ok, as long as you keep your distance..when using a fly rod I have a tendancy to forget and think it’s a catten rod

I forgot to give a follow up to my weekend outing. I ended up fishing Crooked creek near Caledonia. I did manage to catch my first trout ever, a 6 inch Brown caught on a small Panther martin. My bro did manage to catch several around this same size with various flies. We didn’t see much for size, anyone know if this is common for this stream?

Matt

I can give you a perspective on this stream from someone who has fished it a great deal in the last ten years and has seen the rise and fall of the quality.

Bear with me as this may get long winded. I first started fishing it in the mid-90’s using spinners (black panther martins with yellow or red spots and a gold or silver blade). I wasn’t always an “elitist” as I sometimes get labeled . The fishing back then for browns was fantastic. Good numbers and good size. I know back then, as is still the case today, that it got pounded pretty hard on and following the opener, and many good fish were harvested out of it. I think the response that I have seen from Fisheries’ perspective is to place more rainbows in there, which I have seen more of than good browns in the past few years. Crooked struggles with water temperature, as well as bovine. It’s not so much that they trample the banks, create silt, dirty water, and a warming effect (which they do), but it also has to do with the S. Branch. It’s basically a pond on the upper reaches, a pond that gets pretty warm in the summer months and that warm water spills into the middle section of the Crooked. I took my thermometer out there one day at the confluence and measured water temps in the S. Branch as 72 degrees while upstream in the Main Branch, water temperatures were in the mid to lower 60’s (it was also a pretty hot day when I took the readings).

The long and short of it is that there are trout in Crooked, but I’d say that has declined significantly since the 90’s. It is a stream begging for some habitat improvement, fencing off of cattle, and what not. I doubt that in lieu of the new regulations that were recently passed that Crooked is very high on the Fisheries list of places to go and do renovation. That’s why it’s good that coldwater groups like TU have taken some of that initiative to raise funds and do H.I. on area streams like the Middle Branch of the WW, and now Trout Run this year as the fly fishing Rendezvous that has been planned will not just be a fly fishing elbow rubbing weekend, but it is also a fund raising event as well. TU is also working with various groups to work on Mill Creek in Chatfield on April 9 as well – to build structures for habitat restoration.

Like many streams in the area, it could benefit from not only more H.I. but some preotective regs as well. I know there are lots of people with lots of differing opinions on the recent regs and regs in general. My point is I have no problem with keeping trout (in fact I should do it more often), but we should try to actually manage each stream for what it is since they are clearly not the same in habitat, quality, and fishing pressure.

Just my two cents,
D.A.

I agree with D.A.’s assesment. I used to fish the lower end of Crooked Creek a lot. Mostly in the 80’s with my Dad and friends. Back then I wasn’t into throwing spinners and other artificial baits. CC then, was a very productive stream. My Dad has older pics of trout caught that were well over the 20″ mark. But, as D.A. stated over harvesting and relentless pressure has caused the stream dwindle from what it once was. It’s going to take a lot to get CC back to what it once was.

Matth, don’t overlook Pine Creek. There are very good stretches in that system. I used to know just about every hole on Pine Creek. We used to get very nice sized Rainbows and Brook Trout out of there too.

Brian, I’ll be settin up camp at the fairgrounds in Preston April 2. Will be there until the first part of May at least(on weekends). Your welcome to hang out…Hope you enjoy a good Smartfire!!

Dark,
I realize there are various branches, and you probably have your favorite, but the Root is already open from the Lanesboro dam to the mouth. Just in case you’re interested in fishing earlier.