The Kinnie

Date: May 14^th 

Weather: 83, clear, blue skies

Stream: Clear

Hatch: Cahills

Water Temp: Cold

Beer: The Dancing Man 

            May is too beautiful a month to pass up an opportunity to head outside. With school done, any excuse to go fishing is good enough for me. After work, I jumped in the car and headed out to the Kinnie, rolling through scenic St. Croix County blasting the good vibes of Bunny Wailer. You don’t get too many May’s in your life and I have to enjoy my favorite month to the fullest.

Foul hooked

Lovely stretch

            When I got to the river, the parking lot was a little more crowded than I anticipated for a Monday evening so I hiked way up the Kinnickinnic to find some good spots. The first few spots I hit were slow, no rises and only a few mayflies so I headed on. It seemed every time I arrived at a great spot kayakers would rip through and spook up the fish. That’s the worse part about the Kinnie, kayakers are always passing by and they have no tact. Has it ever occurred to them to paddle closer to the shore instead of over the deep runs when they pass an angler?

            Heading up the river, I stopped at my honey hole. There are few things more frustrating while trout fishing when you are trying to match the hatch and it’s not working. All around me, trout were slurping insects off the surface but every dry fly I threw was simply ignored. After digging deep in my fly box, I threw on a pale yellow Light Cahill because I didn’t have anything else similar to the hatch. My first drift resulted in a strike! I fought it for a few seconds but the trout managed to throw my hook. That always sucks but I was feeling great, I finally found the winning fly.

            However, just as I found the right fly a group of four kayakers paddled through the area. The first three were nice but the last guy was just an idiot. His boat was weighed down with too much water and as he tried talking to me about fishing, he capsized the damn kayak right in the middle of my spot. Unbelievable, how does anyone capsize a kayak on that stretch of the Kinnie? He didn’t even apologize for spooking the fish and being a complete jackass. Just pissed at that damn ‘sconnie, I headed upstream but found no luck.

Look at those shoulders!

            With no luck, I headed back to my honey hole where the hatch was happening. It’s a weird thing with mayflies; they can hatch at one section of the river but 150 yards upstream they are not even there. Light was fading but the fish were rising so I threw a fly out there. After quite a few misses I hooked a beauty. I didn’t measure it but it was easily 18 inches and fought like a tiger. After that, my luck held and I kept on hooking trout. I missed a few more but it was great. It was such good luck I stayed till after the sun dropped over the horizon and hiked back in last flickers of sunlight. I popped open a dancing man in the parking lot and savored every drop sitting on the sand bank listening to the river babble. Another great trip fishing, this season is already way better than the entire 2011 season.