Report from Iowa: Some Firsts from a First Outing on the First

On February 1, with the weather prognosticators calling for warmer, above freezing temps and cloudy skies, I slipped over the Mississippi River from Wisconsin to Iowa, for my first trout foray of 2024. I chose the Iowa Driftless over my home waters of Wisconsin because I’d have the chance to keep a couple of trout for dinner (Wisconsin’s main catch-and-keep trout season doesn’t open until May; on the Iowa side of the Big Muddy it never closes). I arrived at one of my favorite streams late in the morning and, despite the excellent, trouty conditions, found it empty of other bipedal hominids. I rigged up and was soon immersed alone in the quiet of winter, which is how I like it. Pileated woodpeckers and the tumbling current were the only ones talking.

As I once again felt the comfort of a stream flowing over my legs, I saw along the bottom an encouraging abundance of winter trout food  –  dark caddis tubes crowded the rocks, and plenty of scuds and sculpins scattered from my wading boots. The water temp was good, 42°F.  In winter I’ve had most success when the water temp is at least 38°F; below that the trout seem to shut down. In winter it’s also key to catch a water temp on the rise (or at least stable), and not falling. This day I caught it well  – the water rose to 45°F over the coming hours, until quitting time.

And the trout responded. There were some slow stretches, but my DRAGONtail Mutant and I managed to land 13 fish, which I’ll take on any winter outing. To get down to their deeper winter lies, with smaller offerings for the lethargic, I variously sent them, with good response, a #16 gray & pink scud, a #14 beadhead Prince Nymph, and a #14 tungsten Egan’s Red Dart. And remarkably,  this inaugural day of 2024 trout fishing yielded three personal firsts.

One was a Driftless trifecta – my first time to catch all three species, rainbow, brown and brookie, on one outing in the same stream. (One small brookie and the rest browns and ‘bows.) Also something of a first, four of the trout ran 13”- 15”.  Any time I’ve caught more than a few stream trout, I don’t think I’ve ever had 30% or more of the catch over 13”.  And browns in this stream have beauty as well as brawn. I texted this photo to a fisher friend in Cody, Wyoming, and he texted back, “What the hell is that, a yellow-bellied sapsucker??”.  Indeed, what a splash of gorgeous to fill one’s eyes on a February day.

My final first (is that an oxymoron?) came at a small pool I knew from previous explorations in other years. I promptly backcast my Red Dart into some overhead branches, set the rod aside and pulled with steady hope on the line. Fortunately, the twig snapped before my 5X tippet – at which time I discovered another fly hooked in the same twig, snuggled up to my Red Dart. And, hey, it’s a tenkara kebari… And, hey, it’s my kebari! It was a #10 Keeper Kebari I’d ordered from TenkaraBum, when the flies were still available there (no longer, alas), and which I liked to use a lot. It was at least two years ago that I lost this fly to the same small branch. Like most of us, I’ve stumbled upon lost files while fishing, but this was the first time to find my own. The hook is a bit rusty, but nothing some fine sandpaper can’t handle.  And at least I know I’m casting consistently…

I heard that the next day, February 2, the groundhog didn’t see his shadow, predicting an early spring. I felt as if mine had already come, on a winter day that offered up gifts of solitude, trout, beauty, and an unexpected reunion with an old friend. A lot of the year still lies ahead, but 2024 has at least started well.

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