Driftless late season...the good old days!

Driftless trout fishing is winding down.  Probably a good thing...I can't get enough of it.  The fishing is fantastic...and, as one of our fish managers says...now is the good old days.  The fly fishing for trout is the best I've ever seen it...I would even go out on a limb and call it the best spring creek fishing on the planet.  And, I've fished the spring creeks of the paradise valley...many times.  Today, as many nice trout came to hand in two hours as in a full day at Armstrongs, Nelsons, or Dupuys.  And, that was fee fishing...this is public water.  I've seen two other cars the last five times out and they were together and throwing spinners.  Ten miles of one of the best driftless spring creeks to myself all summer...you all have seen the pictures...just has me shaking my head in wonder as the west fork and timber coulee get pounded.  And, I've spent years guiding on both...

Now, you are probably saying I'm full of...myself.  And, you could be right...I feel pretty good after the afternoon rise and then watching my 14 yr old play football for his middle school.  He caught his second TD pass in two games today and another 40 yard pass he ran down to the two yard line...so you can hopefully pardon my strong opinions.  The rise ended just in time for me to get there to see the kickoff...

A bluebird day... trout were just starting to come up as I entered the water.  They were in shallow riffles and undercuts, sometimes in only inches of water...casting accuracy and careful wading were at a premium.  As they always are...but, my trude matched the bwo's perfectly and had few refusals.  My apologies, these pictures don't do the fishing justice...

Some color in the valley today...

...and I just had to take some photos.  Otis went with me and hunted some moles...while a large bird sailed overhead.  I'm not sure what it was...possibly the osprey I've been seeing or a young bald eagle.   I saw one low flying bald eagle over the back yard with a large snake just a couple of days ago.   Whatever it was today I am sure he was just checking out the colors like I was...

Big fish...

...are where you find them.  Today I found them...but, didn't catch any.  Honestly, I don't know how I missed them.  Except that one that broke me off...I just picked up too fast after all the brush offs I got earlier.  It was a beautiful morning in the driftless...low clouds hung on the hillsides and some frost on the pumpkin.  Otis and I tried for a trout in the small pool behind the house but no luck...he's learning to be patient and watches the fly for a rise.  With him dogging me most places I decided to take my gear along for a ride to town just in case.  Stopping at a bridge on the way back found me struggling to get a new leader on among other problems getting ready.  It may have been the two foot long brown feeding in the middle of the stream when I first got there and looked over the bridge to check the water.

It was gone when I finally got in place but still up against the bank...my best casts brought nothing.  I moved up and could see it move in tighter under overhanging grass.  Several other similar fish raced by me as moved up further to rising fish under the bridge...three casts and three misses.  Large fish with their backs out of the water...all I could do was keep moving upstream.  That larger fish that broke me off was the last I saw of the big fish.  They were probably just recently stocked brood fish anyways.  So I settled for these...

Understanding driftless...

...as a lifestyle is catching on.  More and more, folks are getting it...less, really is more.  Mass consumerism as a lifestyle is almost by definition doomed to failure.  Now, I'm not saying we don't consume or its not part of our existence...its how and what we consume.  We seem to have a hard time understanding decay...a part of consumption.  A balanced land will use decay...necessary for fertilizing and sanitation.  Recycling isn't just a trendy word for driftless living...neither, is sustainable, or permaculture.  Water can run uphill...

I think to understand this, one must understand the driftless area as an equation...balance.  Some researchers are now saying the Kickapoo river and its valley is one of the oldest rivers and places on the planet.  An ancient place we know the story of how the glaciers missed the area but only the heart of the driftless, the kickapoo valley, missed each lobe of the last three.  Biodiversity is said to be the largest anywhere.  Its just that much of it is small...like flowers, snails, fungus, or, decay.   Permaculture, for a larger scale...Understanding the driftless is a matter of scale.

It wasn't always so...for over 100 years the land was abused.  Mass consumed...its natural balance was upset by man.  Hillsides eroded and valleys filled in.  100 year floods

came every 10 years.  100 years is a short time in the frame of the oldest place on the planet.  Its just to what effect man has become part of the equation.  Thus...a driftless life.  And, understanding it...Each year I watch the leaves grow and turn and fall.  Winter snow causes decay and decay nurtures life.  A simple process that can balance itself given enough time...that largest biodiversity on the planet takes time.  Like a falling rock...it didn't happen in an instant.  It started falling long ago...