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January 15
Angus could not wait until spring to get out on the trout stream. That's what days like today were made for...temperatures creeping up into the low to mid 30's, an absence of fisherman on the stream and a guide who had an itch that needed scratching. This was a first outing for Angus on a trout stream. He did not let the cold weather or the lack of trout activity, slow his enthusiasm. We hit North Bear Creek late morning and worked on casting in a few pools. We thought we were going to get lucky with a few trout rising to dry flies in our second hole, but the trout gods said otherwise. We took a break for hot chocolate and coffee, then started up a different section of the stream. It was not long before Angus played two trout, but did not land either of them. On our way back downstream, I asked Angus if he was ready for hot chocolate (I sure was) or if we should fish the next hole. We fished and Angus landed a rainbow. The next cast, he hooked a brown that we did not land. All in all, a pretty good first outing and a beautiful day to boot.
 
December 26
I could not resist one last trout outing for the 2011 year. The temps in northern Iowa hit 40 plus today and I headed out for a hike with my fly rod. The wind was nasty from the south, I'm assuming that was the reason for our warm temps. I decided that the wind was going to be too much for nymphing with my light fly rod, so opted for the 9 ft 5 wt and some buggers. I promptly lost the two I tied before heading out (one on some brush and the second on a trout). I found a couple more buggers in my box and tempted out a couple of brook trout on the big black bugger and switched to a small oliver bugger to catch this nice brown trout.
 
December 11
The temps hit 34+ degrees today so Chris and I headed to the trout stream. We found a few fish and pumped a tummy of this fat rainbow.... pretty much the same stuff I would find in the summer.
   November 12
Another November day with the temps in the 50's.
 November 5
WY 2011 reunion was this weekend and celebrated in fine fashion. Monte, Tom and I enjoyed a couple of beers at the local brewery ( www.tgbrews.com )
fished some fine Northeast Iowa water and then visted Tom's home and retold some stories of the days on the WY streams.
   October 15
Monte took Mark from the Quad Cities out on the local streams today. Mark was familiar with parts of North Bear Creek, but wanted to get familiar with some of the other streams in the Decorah area. They fished all day and even had time for and end of the day beer at the Highlandville General Store. From the looks of the pictures, Mark did well on 'Unfamiliar Water'. ...unfortunately, only those on the WY trip (outlined below) will enjoy the reference to 'Unfamiliar Water'.
  September 30
 ....was the day Monte and I set out for our annual WY trip. Except this year, Andy and Tom came along. Andy is pretty much a 'fish magnet' and it is always a good idea to have a fish magnet along on a fishing trip. Tom came along in the event we needed some AARP discounts somewhere. I organize the trip and have the camper and Monte is along to drive the midnight to 4am part of the trip. Here are the three of them on our first full day in WY. We had planned on fishing three to four different streams in our seven day trip, but the fishing was so good at the first one that we left for only one short side trip to another stream. We caught mostly Western Slope Cutthrout trout, but also plenty of other including one five specie day.
September 18
Art came to town from Council Bluffs with his wife for Decorah's Second Annual Dig In Conference. www.digindecorah.com Art thought it appropriate to Throw In his rod and reel and maybe Wade In a Northeat Iowa Stream or two. Art and his guide did not let a little Rain On the trip discourage them. We put our rain Coats On and it was not long before his guide was saying, "Fish On!!"
  September 12
Monte took out Karen and Reed for a few hours in the afternoon. Reed had fished a few times before, but it was the first time for Karen with a fly rod. Reed is anxious to get back out on the stream again soon as it appears that Karen out fished him.
 September 11
I managed some time on one of my favorite streams today. I was planning on being the shuttle service for Monte and two other fisherman and so I had about two hours to mess around until they showed up at the agreed upon time. I went with a parachute adams and a beadhead pheasant tail and had five fish in the first thirty minutes and had my trifecta for the day covered... a brown, a rainbow and a brookie. Both the dry fly and the nymph caught fish. The fishing slowed down a little for the next 45 minutes, but picked up on both the dry and the nymph by the time I called it quits. A dozen fish in less than two hours...
 Sept 4 & 5
Greg and his son McGuire made a weekend trip to Decorah from Illinois. Greg and McGuire have fished all over this country (and Canada). I'm pleased that they have discovered Northeast Iowa. Greg fished on his own while McGuire and I hung out. The first day started out better than most with a number of rainbows to the net in the first hole.
 McGuire was quite intent on catching more fish than his Dad...look at the concentration....
 ....and it pays off too....
 We caught up with Dad every once in a while to let him know how many fish behind he was.
 Aug 28
Monte was in Decorah today moving his son into Luther College. As any good father knows, at times there is a need to be there with your kids and a time to give them some space. Monte decided that an ample amount of space was about 2 miles and we hit the Upper Iowa for a little bit in the afternoon before heading to the Decorah Fish Hatchery for a fundraiser. I did a little casting intruction there for the kids.
 Aug 27
Local boy, Matt, and I headed to the stream for some late summer fishing instruction. Matt's borrowed rod from a friend was like casting an oak tree, but Matt quickly figured out where to put the fly...and managed to find a number of trout lips before a short outing was over.
 Aug 1
Austin from MN was my most recent victim... as it relates to butchered late evening photos. It is a good thing Austin did not fish like I took pictures. The fish were very active with whatever nypmh we used (hare's ear, copper john or pheasant tail). Besides my picture taking skills, the only thing we had trouble with was landing the fish Austin hooked. Austin likely had 12 to 15 hookups and landed 4. I told him that some days are just gonna be like that.
Austin with a fish on!!
 July 25 / 26
David from IL could not wait to get back to Decorah after hitting the Hendrickson Hatch earlier in the year. We fished both evenings and saw a few caddis on the water, but the fish were focused on the nymphs. David caught a number of browns in the riffles as darkness settled in on Monday night. We had a tangle that was too much for me to handle in the dark and we thought we could make it back to Decorah before the local brewery's tasting room closed for the night. We did!!! Tuesday night was better as David built on what he learned the night before. He called it quits with a dozen fish to the net. It was not quite as dark as the pictures would indicate. I need to work on the camera settings. The brown here was the prettiest brown trout I have seen since I caught a February Brown on North Bear on a Griffith's Gnat.
 July 10
Randall just bought his first fly rod and could not wait to try it out. He and his wife made the trip from Ottumwa and spent the night at the Cedar Dreams Inn in Decorah. http://www.cedardreamsinn.com/ I picked Randall up at 6:30 so we could get done with our fishing before the heat of the day. Little did we know that Mother Nature had a thunder storm planned for our morning. Instead of being soaked with sweat, we were soaked from a brief downpour. When the rain came through at 7:30, Randall already had two trout to the net. We waited out the storm with some coffee in the truck and a discussion about what Randall should buy for flies when he is fishing on his own. With the rain done, we headed to a couple more spots on the stream. Randall and I lost count when he got in the double digits of fish to the net. That's a great first outing!!!
 June 10, 11 & 12
Monte and I had the distinct pleasure of fishing for two days with Andy from www.streamfishinginiowa.com . Andy is a very good fly fisherman and an even better guy to have around given his access to water craft from which one can fish some very remote and rarely fished water in Northeast Iowa. We caught some hatches that allowed us to tie on some dry fly patterns, Monte and Andy did some soft hackle fishing, and there was plenty of nymphing when the other was not hot. I even managed a couple of fish on a streamer. After Andy headed home, Monte and I proceeded to explore some new water. Two new streams for me (one for Monte) and some great dry fly action before dark.
 June 5
Yesterday was the local TU Chapter's Fundraiser in Decorah. I think the weather was too good. Many folks found other things to do on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Those that attended had a good time. Compliments of the live action, I am the pround owner of a 8 foot Cimarron Pantoon Boat. Why I do not know. Make me an offer if you are interested. My kids hung out with me that day for about 5 hours without much complaining. In return, I took them camping and fishing afterwards. We had an awesome time. The weather and the fish cooperated. I was even able to get the girls in on some pan fish, 'fly rod style!' Josie also managed a nice bass...her secret... a big night crawler with a wax worm dropper.
 May 27, 28 & 29
Roger and Faron (from Kansas City) just completed a northeast Iowa three day fishing trip. This was Roger's first time to the area and a return trip for Faron after fishing these streams as a kid 30 years ago. They made the Old Hospital Lodge ( www.oldhospitallodge.com ) their base camp and I met them every morning at 8am with fresh coffee from Java Johns ( www.javajohnscoffeehouse.com ). Roger thought the coffee was great, but the fishing turned out to be even better. They caught Browns, Bows and Brookies on Dries, Nymphs and Streamers on multiple streams.
  May 1
Happy to be out on the stream another day, I was careful not to curse the 36 degree temperature and the 40 mph winds on Sunday morning. We had not anticipated fishing today as we had scheduled a burn of some CRP. I chickened out (appropriately so) when I had trouble keeping my hat on. We scratched the burn and headed to a stream that we could fish with streamers as that was the only thing that was likely to work in the wind. Monte started off the day strong and never looked back. I'm pretty sure that the last time Monte out-fished me so thoroughly, he was on steroids (literally...but that is a topic for my book). If we ever start competing for money, I'm going to demand drug tests. By the time we left the first area, I was so far behind on the fish count that I told Monte I was going for the Triple Trifecta (Browns, Brooks, and Bows on Streamers, Dries, and Nymphs on three different streams). I learned this lesson from my kids, it you are getting your tail kicked at one game, change the rules or change games until you find one that you can win. Monte kept adding to his fish count as I slowly completed my Trifecta.
(If the young gentleman who was releasing the brown trout when I met you on Sunday would email me, I'd like to get you to the TU meeting on Thursday night and set you and your fishing buddy up with free tickets to the TU fundraiser...also, we could likely hook up on the stream again and see how you are getting along...email me. bcanglers@gmail.com )
  I headed to the stream for a short two hours on Saturday afternoon, hoping for a late Dark Hendy hatch. The stream was swarming with anglers and not the early season mayfly that I was hoping for. From one spot, I could see eight other fisherman. I was in the minority with my fly rod as all that I could see were spin casters. There was a small hatch of BWO's on the water and I managed to tempt a half dozen to my dry fly before it started raining and I headed for home.
April 17
Sunday the 17th was my second daughters first fly fishing outing. She was thrilled to get two fish to the net. I'll let her update this post when she has time later this week. I'll see how kind she is to her dad's guiding abilities. ...... "On Sunday my dad and I headed out to the stream. We started out in one spot, but the fish weren't biting. So we got into the truck and went to a differant area. Once we got there we saw tons of bugs on the water. The trout nipped at my fly for a bit. Finally I caught a brown trout! I could not wait to catch another trout. So a little bit later I caught another, but that was all the trout I caught that outing. I can't wait to come back!"
   April 11
David made a special trip to Northeast Iowa on his way home to the Chicago area. I did my best to make the trip special. We headed out on Sunday night on the tail of a major storm system that had just moved through the area. We had no idea as to the amount of rain we had received, I just know that at one point (on my way in to pick up David), I had to pull off the road until the rain eased up a little. We arrived at the stream to find it a little off color, but very fishable. The storm appeared to have taken care of any dry flies that may have been hatching earlier, so I had David start off with a nymph. David, being and experience fly fisherman, had a number of fish to the net before we called it quits for the evening. Over supper and a few beers, I gave David instructions for a successful fishing day on Monday.
I heard from David mid-afternoon and he had caught some fish on Monday, but thought that we should go out that evening. He did not need to ask me twice and I skipped out of work a little early to pick David up for another evening of fishing. David was wetting a line by 4:45 and by 5:30, I think he had close to 10 fish to the net, by 5:45 he had 15 fish and by the time we headed home, he had netted nearly 25 fish. All but one or two were brown trout and all but one was on a dry fly. I was amazed at how fat some of the trout were. I have seen some fat 16" to 20" fish, but never a 10" 'fattie' like David was catching. He also caught some bigger ones that were fat as well.
 April 9
Tyler and I made it out for a short couple of hours. Tyler said that he had been practicing with the fly rod and it showed. We nymphed for a little bit with no luck and then switched over to a dry when the hatch started to come off. Tyler had three to the net for his first outing with a fly rod.
 April 3
Monte did a solo trip today. He hit the stream late morning and stayed into the early afternoon. He had similar luck. Or so he says...his camera is broken, so I will need to take his word for it. Plenty of trout on both dries and nymphs today. Big hatches of mayflies both yesterday and again today. Another 20+ day for Monte and another trifecta (browns, bows and a lone brookie).
April 2
It does not always work out this way, in fact it has never worked out this way and likely will not ever again. Joe from Cedar Rapids came up Saturday morning for his first real experience with fly fishing. He had all of the equipment (a beautiful 7.5 foot 4 wt bamboo) and lots of book knowledge on the subject, he just needed some time on the stream. With Joe, it was a very limited amount of time. Within the first hour, we had our first fish and it did not stop until it was time to head home. Joe likely landed 15 or more fish in his half day outing. Check out the series of pictures below that was repeated numerous times today. (Advice, Cast, Hookup, Net)
    Book your trip: bcanglers@gmail.com or (563) 419-4433 March 27, 2011
We headed out early today, but not so that we could be fishing while it was still in the low 20's. We were in search of some put and grow waters that we had never fished before. We thought for sure that most of the small streams would be back to normal (depth and clarity) by Sunday. The last rain had been on Wednesday and there was not much snow left to melt. We were wrong, the particular Put & Grow stream that we had picked out was about two feet higher than it should have been and was off color. We chose to pick another stream that we had never fished before that was nearby and we were pleasantly surprised. Water levels were a little higher than normal, but not by much and the clarity was almost too good. I caught Browns, Bows and a Brookie and Monte caught the same.
  March 19, 2011
We headed to the stream early this morning. The temperature was 20 degrees when we climbed out of the truck. After about an hour of freezing, we returned to the truck for some hot coffee and a drive to find a spot where the sun would shine on us. We were also hoping to find a stream that had not been negatively impacted by the recent snow melt. We did and Monte had a few to the net, but I had a dickens of a time actually getting one to the net. I hooked 6 or 7 fish before I actually got one to the net and I had to foul hook the fish to actually get it. By this time, the crowds that I expected to see today had showed up. With at least three cars in every parking area, we wanted to find a stream that was running clear and would not be crowded. We found a stream with exactly that and it also had some nice fish that were receptive to our flies. Here are a couple of pics:
 Book your trip: bcanglers@gmail.com or (563) 419-4433 March 6, 2011
Had a chance to sneak out to the stream late today, too late for good fishing, but regardless, still managed to get a couple to the net on nymphs. Close to 5pm, I was shocked to see some Blue Wing Olives on the stream and it appeared that trout were taking them along the edges. I never did see the trout, but the splashes made me think that these were not 12 inchers. I tried to tempt the trout to my BWO, but did not have any luck. I only tried for a few minutes as I had a couple of my kids with me and they had gotten a little wet playing on the edge of the water and needed to be getting warmed up. I brought one of the BWO's home with me and will work on tying up a closer match for next weekend.
March 1, 2011
Today I had the distinct pleasure of hitting the number one trout fishing stream in Iowa with Andrew and Steve from IPTV's Iowa Outdoors. http://www.iptv.org/series.cfm/15752/iowa_outdoors They left John filming at the Eagles Nest for the day and headed North with me to North Bear Creek. We hit the water about 1pm, which as it turns out, was probably two hours too late. The air temperature was already 36 degrees by then and on its way to 40. We had good luck in the first two holes, but by 2pm, I think the fish were done. Regardless, I enjoyed having someone recording my mumbles and bumbles along the way and hope that they can make a couple of minutes of video out of it to air in the fall of this year...in time for winter fishing 2011/12. I think that I landed four fish in that first hour of fishing, two on nymphs and two on dry flies...and of course a couple of near misses (at least as far as the audio recording went!!).
    Book your trip: bcanglers@gmail.com or (563) 419-4433
February 27, 2011
Iowa Public Television is coming to town this week to film the Decorah Bald Eagles. Check out the video cam mounted near the nest. http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/index.html If they have time, they are going to film some other Northeast Iowa winter activities for their Iowa Outdoors Show. Hopefully, they have time for a little fishing in the schedule. I headed out to the stream today to find some trout that I can have qued up for them. A couple of fish were feeding on top, but I had trouble getting them to take my fly. It took about 40 casts and two different pools to attract one to my fly. When he hit the dry, I was so surprised, I forgot to set the hook. Luckily, he hit again after a couple more casts. Today was the day for Brown Trout, every fish I caught was a Brown, including this 15 incher that had great color:
 February 19, 2011
We had a week of warm weather and the Upper Iowa and most of the streams that have a large watershed were high and muddy. I headed to North and South Bear Creek with expectations of the same. I was pleasently surprised to see that both streams looked great and even more surprised to see a tent set up in one of the parking lots on North Bear. The two hardy fellows camping and fishing were from Chicago/Des Moines. I headed out for a short hour of fishing and started with the Griffith's Gnat. After about 20 minutes of no action and not seeing any fish take natural bugs off the surface, I switched to the Pheasant Tail and landed a brown and a rainbow before heading home.
February 12, 2011
 Our February Outing started with a little fly tying at the shop of Chris Wasta near Decorah. Chris is a partner in Wild Rose Timberworks www.wildrosetimberworks.com in Decorah and graciously offers up his shop for fly tying on a Saturday morning each month during the winter months. Here is Monte showing Dana and Tom what he tied. I'm not for sure what everybody was tying, but I know that Sam was tying a fly with the abdomen made up of little beads. I may need to raid my daughters bracelet/necklace making supplies before I go back next month. I was working on a Dark Hendrickson, getting ready for the first mayfly hatch that will happen on North Bear Creek this spring. My friend Steve suggested that the wings, abdomen, hackle and tail could use some work, but other than that, it looked pretty good.
  January 15, 2011
The first trip of the season is always cold, but if your first trip of the season is mid-January, cold takes on a whole new meaning. The truck said 15 degrees as we parked above the Upper Iowa River in Decorah and after bundling up, we trudged through the knee deep snow to the river. Lucky for us, there was no one else there (Ha!) so we had our pick of the holes. I hooked up first and landed a colorful 12 inch rainbow. Monte tied on a black wooly bugger and matched my catch, only his was 15+. No time for measurement, or even a picture as you can see. If you are wondering what the third picture is, it is a fly rod and fly line after an hour on the stream.
   October 2-8, 2010
Monte and Kent had the distinct pleasure to head west to Wyoming to learn some new water and be humbled by some WY TROUT. Our trip began with stops in Cody, WY at the Humble Fly Shop ( www.thehumblefly.com ) and North Fork Anglers ( www.northforkanglers.com ) for licenses, bear spray, maps and flies. Monte said, "This is easy." when 20 minutes in to our week- long outing, he hooked this rainbow on the North Fork of the Shoshone.
 Needless to say, the fishing slowed down a little. We fished up into the National Park on the North Fork and were intimidated by the size and flow of the Lower Shoshone River coming out of the Reservoir. We were without digital evidence gathering for our day of fishing on the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone due to dead camera batteries and a little mishap that happened the day before that involved an unexpected float down the North Fork (I am not a boat) and the soaking of everything on or attached to me...including my camera.
 The fishing and the digital evidence improved as the week went on. We were able to steal a little rechaging power from an outdoor outlet at a ranger station and cameras do dry out with a little patience. We ended up cleaning house on the big cutthroats on the Lower Shoshone with a little fly pattern. This cutthroat and others like it hooked up on a size 20 Copper John.
The week ended with us hitting a couple of streams in the Bighorn National Forest. Shell Creek ended up being our favorite in the Bighorns and the learning curve lasted about ten minutes.
September 17, 2010
Bart and his son Greg, were up from Des Moines visiting Luther College ( www.luthercollege.edu )and spent the afternoon on the trout stream with me.
  Bart had good luck with the pheasant tail nymphs and Greg caught all of his on dry flies (Gnat and Adams).
Aug 26, 2010
Curt from Des Moines was turning 50 today and I had the honor of showing him around a Decorah trout stream for a couple of hours this morning. Curt had a great day for the first time handling a fly rod. Seven fish to the net, including this nice brown trout.
  Aug 18, 2010
The owners of Decorah's historic Hotel Winneshiek (www.hotelwinn.com) visited the fish hatchery for a little fun on the stream. Lynn was first to land a rainbow...
  ...and Jennifer found a little brookie
July 17, 2010
The day started out as good as any day could have started. A colorful brook trout pounded a caddis fly in a little riffle in my first ten minutes on the stream.
Here is the best way to deal with your freshly caught trout. A couple of quick pictures and then a release back into the stream.
   The afternoon continued to be productive with about 20 fish to the net and at least that many LDR's. Here is Monte with a hookup with a brown trount on a pheasant tail.
 May 16, 2010 was a Trifecta Day
Three streams (fish on each) - three kinds of trout (brown, brookie and rainbow) and three different ways (streamers, nymphs and dries) We started the day on big muddy water and stayed long enough for Monte to catch this nice brown. Then we went for a hike to look for brookies. Not nearly as big, but alot more fun in the crystal clear waters of a Northeast Iowa stream.
 April 24, 2010
Tom from Chaska visited Northeast Iowa on Friday for a first-time turkey hunt and for his first fly fishing experience. We started out the day in the turkey blind at 5:15. Two Toms (not to be confused with the Tom already in the blind) came within 40 yards of the blind, but they refused to give us a clear shot. At 7:45 we called it quits with the turkeys and headed for the Highlandville Store for more coffee and a fishing license. We fished some big water for a couple of hours in the morning so that Tom could get used to casting without the potential of snags on the trees and brush. Late morning we headed to a smaller creek with more catchable fish. A quick lunch and a change of hats (to change our luck) later, Tom was back on the stream...with success. Tom caught three trout (two browns and a rainbow) and earned a "Trout Slayer" beer for his efforts.
APRIL 19, 2010
I was in my favorite spot on a secluded, seldom visited NE IA stream by 10am today. No hatch this morning and no luck with my old standby, the pheasant tail. I switched to a 16 beadhead hare's ear and immediately started catching fish. Six brown trout later, I decided to call it quits on this stream. I headed to the Satre Store for some freshly made egg-salad sandwiches and directed my old Ford to a new section of North Bear that I had never fished. Plenty of small browns were interested in my dry caddis, and the newly stocked rainbows liked the pheasant tail. I liked this part of the stream and will be back with my guided trip on Friday.
APRIL 11, 2010
Lydia (10) with her first trout ever. There was a massive caddis hatch and she had been fishing for about 15 minutes until her guide found the right match. After a few misses, she played one for a bit but lost it with a slack line. She landed this one with the help of her guide.
  APRIL 9, 2010 - The caddis started hatching about 2pm and did not quit until 3pm.
Brown Trout on a caddis fly
 Book your trip: k.kleckner@mchsi.com
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