We cheated

[jh45gun]

A friend and I went out trout fishing this morning hit all the cricks I know and nothing  The only thing we could think of is the cricks froze solid last year due to the low water conditions and that any fish that were left were down in the main rivers instead of the feeder cricks. So we cheated and went to a trout lake we know and caught a limit each of brook trout well 9 brookies and one rainbow. I was supprised as they had some color to them the flesh was light salmon colored  so they must have been put in there last fall.

[Skunk]

jh45gun, that's not cheating. That's just using your resources. And for those of us lucky enough to live in Northern Wisconsin, God knows we have plenty of natural resources.

We ended up doing the Peshtigo River today and had success. The wife caught her limit of Brookies, as did her Dad and sister. All were around 14" - 17".

I on the other hand, being the gun nut of the bunch, headed up the trail a bit further, set up an impromptu target, and unloaded 75 rounds of 357s through my GP100.

All in all, a great day in the North woods.

Skunk

[jh45gun]

Now them are HUGE brookies for WI congrats to them. The streams that I fish a 12 inch fish is a nice fish. Best I have done is a 13.5 inch fish. Yea we have some bigger ones I know we do but they are pretty rare. I suppose it also depends on the size of the water you fish most of the water I fish is streams you can jump accross or almost. Not me anymore I am not that athletic  I would suppose in the Brule and the White ect there are nicer sized brookies but I never fish them rivers. I have fished the famed Brule  several times in the spring and caught skipjacks ( Small Rainbows) but never fished it for brookies. I do not wade anymore and just hit the high spots I can get to. I usually manage a limit with out a problem even when it was a 10 fish limit. Wth the price of gas and the state putting the limit at 5 fish it almost is not worth it but I go anyway. This is the worst opener I have ever seen for stream fishing in my area. Glad we had a small trout lake close by. I just looked it up and it is only 6 acres in size but 23 feet deep at the deepest point which is pretty good for a small lake. No wonder it makes a good trout lake.

[Skunk]

"I suppose it also depends on the size of the water you fish most of the water I fish is streams you can jump across or almost." - jh45gun

Actually, all the fish came out of a small pond (about 1 acre) in the river that had been partially dammed up by beavers. My wife's dad (a.k.a. the Master Fisherman, hehe) says its the beaver dams. He claims that where the water is backed up there is more nutrients, thus more insects, leaches, crayfish, small frogs, etc.., giving those Brookies an excellent place to feed. He also says that if it is sunny, fish the brushy banks, but when the Sun goes behind the pines and there are shadows on the water, fish the middle. Seems to work for them. By the way, night crawlers are about all they use for bait.

I agree with you jh45gun about the poor start for stream fishing this year. Today, the group could barely catch 5 between all of them. Hopefully, it will pick up a bit. I was able to get a few more rounds of 357s off though.

It's just too bad we don't have an early duck season in Wisconsin. I don't think I've ever seen more ducks in Northern Wisconsin than this year. Same goes for partridge.

Good luck on all your hunting and fishing this year.

Skunk

[jh45gun]

Thanks Skunk Same to you! Just gonna set down and reload some cast loads for my 30/30 and my 7.5 Swiss. Got the brass already. I just have to add powder and seat the bullets and crimp.