The 2025 Trout Catch and Release season is underway now and the fishing has been Good!. The lack of snow has made it easy to walk along the stream banks and fish longer without getting exhausted. For anyone who doesnt know the trout season is now open across the MN Driftless area for catch and release. From October 15 - Jan 1 the trout streams are closed and only the designated areas are open for catch and release fishing. Now that all of the streams are open again the trout are hungry. With that being said they sometimes do not come easy this time of year, with low clear water and no vegetation for the trout to hide in they can be spooked very easily. Using a long leader is key this time of year and the smallest strike indicators you can use to hold your nymphs up. We recommend XS Oros indicator's or the Loon Outdoors Stealth Tip Topper yarn indicators in size Small.
I will say that this time of can be very beautiful on the rivers with very few other fly anglers out. This means you can spend more time fishing and less time walking trying to distance yourself from other people.
The Tactics we are mainly using this time of year is Nymphing and Nymphing deep. We are using tungsten weighted flies and making sure we are getting close to bottom the majority of the time. There are days where its sunny and the air temp is over 25 degrees and thats when you can get a short midge hatch and catch trout on dry flies but the rest of the day its subsurface fishing. Streamers can be effective to is fished correctly, slow retrieves staying in the "Strike Zone" as long as possible is key. For fly recommendations stop in the shop or give us a call and we can get your ready for your next adventure.
We are taking bookings for the 2025 season and the best days are filling up fast some make sure you book a guided trip ASAP.
Thank you and Tight Lines.