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.