Fishing the Rush and Willow Rivers

After fishing the Kinnikinnick on Saturday and Sunday I headed out in search of some larger trout. I first made the trip to the Rush River near Elsworth. I arrived and decided to leave the fly rod in the car. I tied up a white and black Panther Martin with gold blade, size 2. I found a litte curve above a larger rapid and tossed out the spinner. It landed just under a downed tree, and as I retrieved it a 11" brown smashed the lure and I landed it right away. The pool below that little run proved free of any takers. I then hiked upstream and under a bridge. I was able to see some large trout holding behind a cement pillar, but none were interested in what I had to offer.

Since this river was wider and I was having difficulty launching a little spinner so far I decided I'd bump it up to a size 4 Panther Martin with a silver blade. I landed a couple more browns in the 12-13" range. As I rounded what would be my last bend of the day I saw a huge boulder in the middle of the river at the head of a large pool. Casting here proved to be pretty tough due to a large overhanging tree but after some consideration and a couple of carefully fired casts I managed a pair of beautiful browns. One rocking the tape at 14" and the other being just short of 13 and a half. I broke down the rod and headed back to the car.

I hopped in the car and headed down the road to turn around and saw a beautiful series of riffles and a nice undercut bank and decided I'd park and try for one more fish. I got one more nice brown and called her a day.

The next day (Tuesday) I had an hour in the late afternoon so I tried the Willow River race which is just a short drive from my house. I haven't fished this in a long time and remember catching mostly brooks and rainbows. It was a short trip but I managed 3 browns in the 11-14" range and last fish of the trip... A beautiful 9" brook trout. It was nice to see one while I had the chance to fish all this beautiful water.

So all in all 29 browns and 1 brook trout were landed in my early season, barbless, catch and release trout fishing adventures. It was a really beautiful 4 days of fishing.

Back to Chicago, maybe I can find some Steelhead and Cohos soon.