« T and T! | Main | Tick, Tick, Tick..... »
Saturday
Apr112009

Trout, Turkeys and Take-Off...

DateSaturday, April 11, 2009 at 01:43PM

April 1 may be my favorite single day of the year. Yes, I love April Fool's Day. No joke. I haven't worked on that first day of April in years. See, April 1 marks the open of Minnesota's catch and release trout fishing season and long ago, a few fishing buddies and I vowed to always fish the opener. It's sorta become traditions for us.  We hike in and set up camp along my favorite winding ribbon of gin-clear trout water. Lots of fish and nobody around. A perfect way to kick off spring. Most anglers wait another two weeks until the regular season opens and they can keep fish.  We hit camp before all that mayhem and fish sun-up to sun-down.  It's truly hardcore trout fishing.  I get so darn excited for that first trip, I sit around planning for weeks. Seems like each year we find ourselves in the midst of some kind of adventure. Last year, I hauled gear into camp the night before opener in near white-out conditions. Eight inches of heavy, wet snow fell in just a few hours. Camp looked incredible. Next morning, 50 degree weather dissolved the white landscape in a matter of an hour or two. This year, we decided to skip opening day camp, only because we have something better in mind.  We'll be headed up Lake Superior's north shore in a few weeks to steelhead camp. Buddy Aaron and I still got out for the day on April 1, but instead of retiring to the woods that night, we headed home to get ready for a slightly bigger trout adventure...

 On Tuesday, I pulled into St. Paul's Holman Field right at 12:02 pm. Two minutes late, but excited as heck. I had been brainstorming this trout trip for some time. I pulled into a parking spot behind Wings Aviation, a small fbo,where photjournalist Cy Dodson was already waiting. His gear was out and he had his camera ready to go.  He'd be documenting this fishing adventure for a couple of our television shows.  We'd be traveling with pilots Jeff Dalton and Josiah Ellis and Mark Perkins of Wings Aviation. Out on the tarmac sat a Cirrus SR20 and Remos GX, both planes polished up and ready to head south to trout country. Our trip was simple enough. We'd fly down to the Houston County Airport and then hitch a ride five minutes down into the Winnebago Valley where we'd chase early season trout on one of the Midwest's prettiest spring-fed streams.

We tossed our fishing gear in the back of the planes and quickly taxied out to runway 31. After clearance from the St.Paul tower, the Cirrus zipped off in front of Jeff and I and we followed a few hundred yards behind. We buzzed out right over downtown St. Paul and the State Capitol.  Our flight plan would take us south and east along the Mississippi River to Winona, where we'd then head west into Houston Country. Jeff and I buzzed south in the Remos, an inexpensive and easy to fly airplane.  They're fairly new to the US flying scene. Classified as a Light Sport Aircraft, these planes take half the money and half the training to fly. They're not unltralights, but real machines. Fast little planes with all the bells and whistles. As we bounced south through rough air, we noticed a couple dozen fishing boats piled up on the river in Red Wing, a sign that the walleyes are finally making their way up river.  We next passed over a couple of barges and even dodged a few Bald Eagles and hawks over Lake Pepin. Once we cut to the west and found our way to the Houston County Airport, both planes flew in formation for a few minutes, bouncing around in clear skies as Cy grabbed a little video.  Pilots Jeff and Josiah laughed a bit as the planes buzzed alongside each other, wings seemingly ready to touch. That's the real fun of flying.   Seeing the guys right next door, waving and smiling as we zipped along at better than 100 mph.  I even managed to pop a few still pictures of the high-flyin' fun. A couple minutes later, we touched down at KCHU and rolled up to a couple of parking spots where members of the local flying club and the local newspaper reporter had gathered. It appears news travels quickly. The fliers kicked the tires on the new Remos and poked around the fancy Cirrus. We had a great time meeting new folks. Also in the group? Jeff and Cindy Burg. They own a small fishing camp down along Winnebago  Creek.  I've been down to see them many times and they volunteered to shuttle us from the airport to camp.  A ten minute drive and we pulled into the old farmstead along the banks of the creek. This is where the story gets a little magical.  See, the Burg's turned one of the old farms they own into a fishing oasis.  They renovated the old milking parlour on one of the old barns and turned it into a fish camp. They now rent it out to anyone who wants to catch wild brown trout. Really, it's one of my favorite spots in Minnesota.

We unpacked all our fishing gear and the guys quickly slid into their waders, eager to wet a line in the gin-clear creek. We wandered upstream with fly rods and conventional gear, picking up just a couple of fish before sunset. After a dinner of brats on the grill and a few smokey stories around the campfire, we retired to our beds exhausted, but excited to get to the real fishing first thing come a fresh sunrise. I drifted off to sleep as the coyotes howled in the moonlit valley...
 I  awoke about 7:00 am to the sound of a squeaking floor and the smell of dark roast coffee. A quick peek out the window. Frost coated my still wet waders, but bright blue skies covered the valley.  Forecasters promised a sunny high of 50 degrees. They got the sun part of the equation right, but forgot to mention the wind. The breeze chattered the old farm, gusts howling to 25 mph, darn tough on guys just learning to cast fly rods.   Josiah and Jeff got to work first  thing after bacon and eggs, learning the basics of the roll cast and false cast.  Essentials in the game of fly fishing. Soon enough, Jeff had his first fish in hand. A beauty of a brown trout smacked Jeff's tiny pheasant tail nymph. The rest of the day, we poked a few fish, even finding a spot where eager trout rose to bugs above the surface of the water. Mark and I snuck up behind the hole and Mark laid out a perfect cast, a size 14 Elk Hair Caddis I had just tied on the end of his line. The fly fell just above the rising fish. The caddis danced downstream until it disappeared in a dimple of fast water. Mark set the hook and brought to hand the perfect Winnebago Creek Brown Trout. After another few casts and a few quick takes, he handed off the dry fly rod to Josiah.  Josiah whipped the fly rod and drifted the tattered dry fly through the fishy water missing several fish as they quickly darted up to tap his fly. Finally, he set the hook and landed his first ever trout on a dry fly. I snapped a few pictures of Josiah's accomplishment and we called it a day.....

On morning number two, Mark and I snuck out at sunrise to listen to the valley wake up.  The rest of the guys still laid in bed asleep as we listened to the chorus of rooster pheasants cackling and red-winged blackbirds screeching. I scratched my slate turkey call as gobblers returned the morning hello from high atop the bluffs.

By the time we piled back into the airplanes to head back north, everyone had caught their fair share of trout and landed at least a couple on dry flies. Sad to leave, we were oddly excited to head back towards home. The thrill of flying will do that...  As I snapped a few last pictures before we pulled out of the Houston County Airport, I noticed one last shot on an old and worn hangar door.  I guess that picture sums up our adventure...

Stop and see the folks at Wings Aviation in St. Paul. They'll offer you your first discovery flight.  It is an absolutely amazing thrill.  Thing is, Light Sport Aviation now makes flying easily obtainable again, even for regular folks like myself.   Stop dreaming. Start flying...

 

AuthorBill Sherck | Comment7 Comments |

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.