Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Northeast Iowa - "Driftless Trout" 8/13 - 8/16

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Just a quick TR from what was definitely my best trip of the year so far. The scenery was beautiful, as were the streams, and they were all full of the prettiest wild brown trout you've ever seen.
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We saw fish up to 10# (no exxageration!) and caught fish up to probably 18", which seemed huge for the size of the streams we were fishing. We fished hard for 4 days and caught too many wild browns to count and had a great day catching some nice rainbows as well out of one stream.
The best part....4 days of fishing on four of Iowas best trout streams and we only saw one other fisherman!
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This was another destination that I always wanted to fish but just never made it happen. Only 8 hours from KC , hell I drive farther than that roundtrip for some of my one day excursions. Talked a buddy into taking some time off to make the trip with me and had plans to meet another friend up there that lives in Iowa City when he isn't going to school in Springfield ,Mo. Left home around 2:30 Friday morning and headed up I-35 towards our destination.
We pulled into Dorchester, Iowa around 11:00 am and got our first glimpse of the Driftless Region and one of it's many trout streams...the Waterloo.
Before Joe and I even got rigged up Jake was pulling into the parking area to meet us. He had fished these streams before and helped us in finding our way around as well as putting us on some fish.
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Day one we fished the Waterloo...Day two we started at the Waterloo, moved and fished French Creek, and ended our day back at the Waterloo.
Day three Joe and I hit North and South Bear Creeks until about 2:30 pm and then hit French Creek again in the late afternoon , and once again finished up by camp on the Waterloo. Day four we started on French Creek and then ended up our final day hitting our favorite spots on the Waterloo.
Fish were caught nymphing mostly , but on one evening numerous fish were caught on EHC patterns during a small black caddis hatch, and on the last evening I caught more fish than I could count on a small hopper pattern fished right up on the banks.
Love this place...wish I hadn't waited so long to make the trip, won't happen again for sure....the next trip is tentatively planned for some time in October. Can't wait......here's a few more pics that tell the story better than I can....

Ready for Release
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Waterloo Brown
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Joe fishing French Creek
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French Creek Brown
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Quick Release
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Fishing with the Locals
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North Bear Brown
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North Bear Creek
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South Bear Creek
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Beautiful Little Creek
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Private Land Access Points...Sweet!
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Jake fishing Upper French Creek
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Hiking out of Upper French
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Beautiful Wild Brown from French Creek
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Upper French Creek
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Fall Colors
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