Troutsmith by Kevin Searock

Author:Kevin Searock [Kevin Searock]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press

So there’s one way to have a bad day on trout water. Even in the middle of winter back in 1992 we were seeing occasional days of angler saturation on the larger spring creeks, especially on weekends. This tends to happen because of the way fishing works on small Driftless Area trout streams compared to large western rivers like the Yellowstone or the Missouri. Large rivers have lots of fishy territory and can accommodate many wading anglers per mile of stream. If trout are feeding I can fish for hours on a large river and move only a few hundred yards during that time. But on a small spring creek that has comparatively little internal volume and area, I may cover two or more linear miles in five or six hours of fly fishing. When you have several anglers who don’t know each other fishing this way, there can be conflicts on a small spring creek. I admit I’m looking forward to retirement so that I can take my fishing days during the week and do my bit to reduce the army of weekend anglers marching across the Wisconsin countryside. In recent years I’ve noticed that angler density is increasing on local lakes too. This season (2010), Teresa and I haven’t been able to fish parts of nearby Devils Lake because some of the better places are dotted with boats every day of the week. Southern Wisconsin’s lakes work hard, even during the winter. I think some species of fish, northern pike for instance, get more fishing pressure during the winter ice-fishing season than they do during the rest of the year.

I may lobby Teresa to retire to a place where there are fewer people per square mile; at any rate, I’m considering it now for the first time in my life. It’s hard to say how much the Internet has affected this aspect of fishing. On the one hand a quantity of fishing information that used to be harder to obtain is readily available, but the quality of that information? Let’s just say I’m getting wrinkles from smiling. I like the Internet for checking on weather, stream flows, et cetera, before I commit to fishing somewhere far from home, and I like to check Trout Unlimited websites so that I know when and where chapter campouts, state council meetings, and the like are being held. In that way a lot of angler congestion can be avoided. I call one other person fishing where I want to fish “angler congestion.” It’s not that I don’t like fishing with people, it’s just that I really like fishing alone.

30 April 1995. Marsh Marigolds have appeared in places. Dutchman’s Breeches are in bloom on the rocky, south-facing bluffs. Chironomid hatch is peaking on Devil’s Lake. Yellow-rumped Warblers and several other warbler species seem packed together in the thickets on the SW corner of Devil’s Lake. Dandelions and Daffodils beginning to overrun civilized areas.

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