Rain Puts A Damper On The Stream Trout Opener

Last night I was pumped to do something that I haven’t spent much time doing during the past few years…in fact, I haven’t really been serious about stream trout fishing for almost 20 years.   Still, it seems this spring I have been fighting off the urge to revert back to some of my old sportsman ways and activities.   In particular, I have been anxiously awaiting the opening of the stream trout season in Minnesota.

Now trout fishing in the Gopher State is by no means as mystical or fabulous as it is out West in states like Colorado or Montana, yet it holds a very special appeal to me.   It is in the streams of Goodhue County where I cut my teeth, so to speak, on this fascinating and sometimes frustrating sport.

I’ve been lucky, however.   When I was growing up the stream that runs through my family farm had trout transplanted in it by one of the local sportsman’s clubs.   It seemed at first the fish were somewhat easy to catch immediately after being released into the stream…but within a week or two they were as canny and difficult to coax into the landing net as any of the native fish the stream might have held.

This year I had a special motivation for the trout opener.   About six weeks ago I got married to a wonderful lady who admitted to me last night that she had NEVER before had a fishing license.   Oh sure, she thought she would like to fish and would be more than willing to give it a chance…but in the previous years of her life it just wasn’t an opportunity that presented itself.

Well, I was about to change that.   No wife of mine is going through life without ponying up annually for a fishing license, or so I thought.   Last night I marched right out and purchased my first ever Combination Sportsman’s License which in Minnesota allows both a husband and wife to fish (and also one of the spouses to hunt small game).   I then dusted off my old trout equipment, made sure the line was new and everything was in working order…and we waited for this morning to make our debut marital casts.

Much to our chagrin, last night the TV weathermen were not sounding too optimistic for today…but hey, they are weathermen I figured.   With their poor accuracy record as of late I would rather have them predicting rain than pleasant skies and be painfully proven wrong.  Well, this time they weren’t wrong.   Today was one of those absolutely miserable days to be a trout fishermen.   Heavy overcast and rain that varied from light to not-so-light almost all day.   In fact, at 2pm it was so dark and gloomy down in the trout valley that vehicle headlights were necessary for travel just to be safe.

As planned, my wife and I packed our gear and headed off toward Hay Creek near Red Wing.   This place holds a special allure for me because it was in this valley where I cut my teeth on turkey hunting (see Tuesday’s blog).   I also had special plans to go hunting for a wildflower called the pasque flower which is one of the first flowers to bloom in the springtime in Minnesota.   This location is the only place I have ever seen such a flower bloom naturally.   But to no avail.   The trails were miserable, everything about the day appeared to be a total washout.

Now typically I am not one who would let a little rain scare me away from hunting or fishing.   On the other hand, today the adventure was not all about me.   My wife would have been fixated on the fact she was getting cold and wet and realistically she would not have enjoyed the outing.   So instead, we drove through the area and looked at the hearty trout fisherman, made some future plans for fishing on another day, and went to our favorite little hangout in Hay Creek called Dressen’s Saloon for lunch.

Even though I did not wet a line fishing today it was a special time to just pass through an area recalling all the memories it holds.   Next time when we visit we will be sure to heed the weatherman’s advice a bit more closely.   Still, there’s a long season ahead for trout fishing and undoubtedly there will be more promising days to wet just a line and not our entire bodies.

© 2005 Jim Braaten.  All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.