The Water Wulff

Pack National Forest, WA

2011-08-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

A road bends around a ridge in Pack Forest on a misty morning

Nick and a Western Red Cedar

Pack Forest was a gift from lumberman Charles Pack to the University of Washington's College of Forest Resources in 1926. Initially only 334 acres, today it has expanded to 4300 acres of forested land.

The forest is primarily Douglas fir, Western Red cedar and a small variety of other mixed conifers and hardwoods. Some of the cedars are hundreds of years old.

One of the winding service roads leads to an old hidden pond. There was initially a spring here that was diverted into a man-made pond that was used for water storage for fire fighting. Helicopters used to lower there water bags into the pond and then take off to dump the water on the fires. The pond is no longer used for this purpose, but now holds some amazing rainbow trout due to its cool spring fed waters.

The hidden pond in Pack Forest once used as a fire retardant source for helicopters

Backing the drift boat into the pond

The author fishing

The water in the pond was cool, clear and deep. Minnow pattern presentations had no effect on the trout, only insect patterns. The trout taken took a large insect pattern called a superior x-legs. This fly has been my go-to when nothing seems to be biting. It is a lead wrapped shank so the fly sinks quickly. Retrieval should be a brisk haul to imitate a darting aquatic insect.

A superior x-legs pattern tied by the author

A netted bow

A football shaped bow

The first fish of the afternoon broke my 4X tippet to my dismay. I was disheartened until I had another fish on the line. With some careful netting by friend Nick Reep, a nice male bow was landed.

The kype on this male is clearly visible

The rainbow had a prominent kype (black tip of the lower jaw) telling us the fish was a male.

Thanks to Nick and his trusty pal Lulu for rowing and showing me the ropes in WA

The Kinnie, July 30th 2011

2011-07-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

A Brown caught on a glass bead-head nymph

A new spot was found on the Kinnickinnic that looks to promise large fish. On a sweltering day with high humidity, the fishing was not fantastic, but the one brown pulled from a shallow pool was of some size. The trout taken was in a prime lie (right outside of the ideal current, but hidden). There were plenty of places where the river bottle-necked creating turbulent deeper pools on the end of the neck. At the end of the pool, or the tail, is where bigger trout like to hold.

A nice Brown before release

There were also many good visible seams in the water where trout wait just outside of the turbulence and wait for food to drift past. There were a few fish rising, but none would rise to the variety of flies offered. The trout taken was caught on one of my glass bead-head nymphs I tied this past winter.

A very large, deep pool

I am excited to return to this new spot in the future. At the end of the day, I found an extremely large and deep pool with a nice current and many fish rising. By this point in the day however, I was out of my nymphs, sinkers and strike indicators and too many kayakers were passing by and stirring up the waters. I am eager to see what this spot tholds in the
future.

Painted Turtle Photo

2011-07-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

DNR turtle information poster. Painted turtle photo by T. Keyler

One of my photos was used for the DNR's 'Turtles of Minnesota' poster. I took the shot of the painted turtle this spring at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen, MN. The front helps with identification of these turtles. The back of the poster educates readers about MN turtle species and what they can do to help their status.

Cascade River State Park

2011-07-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

The Northshore is home to the most beautiful rivers in Minnesota. These rivers offer spring steelhead and Kamloops rainbow runs, fall Pink salmon runs and decent trout fishing at points.

Upper Cascade

Cascade River State Park offers camping within walking distance of the falls. The Superior Hiking Trail runs through the park, and this can be followed to many of the fishing locations.

Columbine grows on the edge of the falls

To fish for trout in the park, you must hike above the falls (unless it is spring and you're fishing for kamloops). The river widens considerably and the water slows.

The author fishing a deep hole

There are a few decent holes that I like to fish, and plenty of fish hold behind structure in the river. The areas that move at about 1'/sec are right for these trout.

A small Brown trout

I have been successful with both small trico spinners and small bead-head nymphs. These waters hold small rainbow and brown trout.

Rainbow trout taken on a trico

Rainbow release

Brigitta with a Luna moth

In the evenings, ir you're lucky, you may come across a Luna moth or a polyphemus moth fluttering about.

View from Lutsen mountain in the fall

In the fall, the Pink salmon return to the mouth of the Cascade to spawn. The males have a distinctive humped back that forms upon entering Superior. Post spawn, the salmon die. Egg patterns work best for these fish.

The author with a humpie on line

Male Pink salmon

Salmon Genetics

2011-07-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

I just finished this paper for my Evolution Grad course: "Euro-American Influence on the Evolutionary Trajectories of the Pacific Salmon".

Click HERE to read the paper

A sample figure from the paper

Mississippi River Valley

2011-06-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

Large Timber Rattlesnake

The Mississippi River Valley in South Eastern Minnesota is one of Minnesota's greatest attributes. My father, Dr. Daniel Keyler, Dr. Phil Cochran, and I have been part of an ongoing study in Timber Rattlesnake populations in South Eastern Minnesota. This Sunday, temperatures were in the mid eighties and the humidity was high. We managed to find 8 Timbers on our hike. Most were 2-3 year old juveniles but 2 or 3 were gravid females. Finding both juveniles and older snakes in an area is a good indication of a healthy population.

We also stumbled across a few black widow spiders. The female was encasing a june bug while 2 males sat nearby.

A Royal Wulff protrudes from this Brown's jaw

In the afternoon, I headed off to a local stream to do some fly fishing. Large browns were rising and taking small dry flies such as Royal Wulffs and black gnats. These trout were in slower water than I am used to, and would arise from the depths of cloudy pools. I caught 2 or 3 fish, but many fish rose to my flies and missed the fly. Even though I only took 2 fish, seeing the rise makes it very enjoyable.

On the drive home we saw the sun setting over the river while the fishing boats cruised back to their docks. I also stopped by the harbor in Lake City (the township where waterskiing was invented) to take a photo of all the sail boats that were docked.

Lake City Harbor

After the sun set, there was a june bug hatch and our windshield became so encrusted with bug juice that we had to stop in Hastings and wash the car off. We got home late that night, but it was a an ideal day in the Mississippi River Valley.

June bug-covered windshield

Kinnickinnic State Park

2011-05-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

Essential gear for small river fishing

The Kinnikinnic, AKA the Kinni, is a Class 1 trout stream located in River Falls, WI. Kinni State park offers 9 stream entry locations, 7 of which classify trout as abundant, and 2 as common. There are brown trout and brook trout in these waters, brookies being the native species, but browns being far more common.

Picturesque Kinny

I use a 4wt rod and reel and an assortment of small nymphs and dry flies when fishing these types of waters. I generally look for slower moving waters (1'/sec) and deeper pools to fish. When nymphing, I use a small oval shot about a foot above the fly (depending on depth of pool), then a strike indicator a few inches above that. For dry flies, I simply use a 16" 4lb tippet to give the fly maximum mobility.

A large pool that held decent fish

Some midge flies I tied

All trout were taken on a assortment of midge flies I had previously tied. I used a variety of dubbing colors and different flash on these midges, but all used small, red glass beads for heads. There is a previous entry on this blog for tying these midge flies.

First nice sized brown trout of the day

I caught 4 trout, with 10" being the largest for the day. This trout was taken in faster moving water, and was holding behind a large rock. I drifted the nymph past the rock multiple times until I got a hit.

Second, smaller brown. Four browns taken that day

Late fern fiddle heads

Fishing aside, Kinnickinnic State Park offered a variety of flora, and an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. I enjoyed it so much, I bought a WI state park pass for the season. I will certainly be returning to the Kinni.

Boundary Waters, Spring 2011

2011-05-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sun Setting on Fourtown Lake

This year, we headed up to the BWCA earlier than usual. We entered on May 14th and put-in on Fall lake and made a counter clockwise loop to Mudro lake. This route included 14 portages along the way. The weather was spectacular with temps in the 70's during the day and dropping to 40's-50's during the night. The bugs were minimal until the last day.

Courtney and Mark on Basswood

Our 6 day counter-clockwise route

We canoed through Fall lake and camped there for the evening. We were eager to get out of this lake however due to it being a motorized lake and it also being fishing opener. We then paddled through Newton and into Basswood. Basswood was gorgeous and although it too is a motorized lake, we saw no other boats, canoes or motored.

A loon observes us

We spent a night on Basswood, and then continued on to Tin Can lake and then to Horse lake where we spent 2 nights. Along the way we saw many loons and other water fowl, such as mergansers.

Common Merganser

We managed to do quite a lot of fishing during our trip and caught A LOT of pike. There were only 2 pike around 30", but they were a ton of fun to catch. Pike were exclusively taking top water lures in shallow bays (sometimes as shallow as 8"). When taking lures, these Pike were explosive and would erupt out of the water. Most pike were caught on a Zara Spook with a walk the dog motion. We also caught many pike while bobber fishing. When we would reel in the bobber to do a worm-check, the Pike would strike at the bobber and often become hooked elsewhere on the body.

I managed to catch myself and a Pike

Unfortunately, during a standard hook removal of a Rapala from a landed Pike, I hooked my finger. After an hour, a needle-nose, and a fillet knife, the hook was removed. I recommend always using pliers or forceps when removing hooks. Lesson learned.

A strong afternoon's work

Walleye were caught on slip bobbers with hook and worm or with a lead-head jig with a grub jigged along the bottom. They were fantastic eating.

Author with a nice Smallie

Mark and a nice Pike

The BWCA also offered great photo opportunities and I truly enjoyed taking hikes in the afternoons and evenings.

Great reflections

Fourtown reflection

Trail near camp at Fourtown

Up and Running!

2011-05-09T16:13:00.001-07:00

The new blog is up and running! Many posts are to come in order to get the blog current. Here is a small taste of a Brown trout taken at Hay Creek last July.