Just got out of the Upper Iowa and it’s fishing well.  Caught a nice number of rainbows and small mouth bass.  The water was clear with nice flow.  Tons and tons of bugs were hatching as night fell.  If you’re ever in town fly fishing the streams around Decorah, take some time to experience the Upper Iowa River.

Today, the Driftless Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) based in Decorah, hosted a Boy Scout trout fishing day at the Decorah Fish Hatchery.  TU had a several volunteers show up to help the Scouts learn to cast fly rods and spinning rods.

It appeared the event was successful – a good time was had by all!  In the photo to the right TU members, Tom and Bill, are showing Scouts the Rainbow Trout that are raised at the Hatchery.

The forecast called for rain all day so Paul and I headed out early this morning to get a little fishing in.  We stayed dry until 10:30 and then the rain came down hard.  The fish were not as active as we had hoped but Paul got this nice Brown Trout on a size 18 Hare’s Ear.  We also had luck fishing Streamers just before the rain started to fall.

Fishing has been good the past week but the temperature has not.  It has been very hot and humid so Paul and I where happy to have a cloudy sky this morning.

I was able to attend the Friends of the Decorah Fish Hatchery celebration last week.  They are raising money for a new restroom facility and visitor information center.  We have a link on our website if you would like to donate money or read about the project and their goals.  It would be a great addition to our fish hatchery and local bike trail.

The photo to the right is me helping 4 yr old Amelia learn the basics of casting a fly rod.  She picked it up quick and had a fun time trying to hit the target.  She is a natural at the two handed casting, and a Spey Rod and some Great Lakes Steelhead could be in her future.

I was able to spend two days guiding Jim from Minnesota and it was a treat.  It’s not often I get to guide someone who has fly fished in so many places, seen some beautiful things and has some great stories.

Our first day was spent at Cold Water Creek.  We had luck fishing Pheasant Tails and Black Copper John’s size 18.  We focused on the faster water working our way up and down the water column by adding weight.  We caught both Brown and Rainbow trout.  It was overcast with a few rain drops and the temperature was perfect.

Our second day was on the North Bear and Jim used his 2wt fly rod.  Using a 2wt makes every fish more fun to catch and also makes casting nymphs slightly more difficult.  We had success on the same flies as the day before. We also used Red Copper Johns and Lightning Bugs size 18 with success.  The morning was humid and overcast but we could feel the temperature rising.  We traveled farther up the North Bear for the afternoon and fished only Grass Hoppers.  We had success in the hot sun casting along the grass banks and in the shallower runs.  Fly fishing with Hoppers using a 2wt is a great way to end a fly fishing trip to Northeast Iowa.

Thanks for fishing with us, Jim.

Happy August!!  Can you think of a better way to bring in August than with good flows on our Northeast Iowa trout streams?  I was able to join Fly Fishing / Chicken guru, Steve Matter on the upper reaches of the North Bear tonight.  The two pictures are of the first Brook trout Steve has caught on this stretch of the North Bear.

We were both fishing size 16/18 nymphs.  I was using Red Copper Johns, Pheasant Tails, Black Zebra Midges.  Steve was using some of his own creations, one called the Miracle Midge and the other was a Red Emerger.  Stop by the Chick Hatchery, on Water Street in downtown Decorah, and Steve will show you what flies to use.  He will also let you know where the fishing has been good.

We fished the shallow runs and some deep slow moving holes and had success doing both.  Steve fished mostly with no weight while I was back and forth all night.  It seemed that no weight worked well tonight – although once you get into that faster water, adding some weight might increase your success.