This picture is not from Appleton but I couldn't resist posting it.   The Mississippi River is down about a foot from normal for this time of year.  Let's hope for rain.  Being a former Vancouverite, I never thought I would hear myself wishing that!

Appleton on the Mississippi is  a popular place.  Most of the guys with motor boats will zoom downstream to who knows where.  I just fish around the launch in either my canoe or float tube.  This time I had my canoe as the bloom is up along with the weeds.  Lots of pan fish of all kinds and the odd SM.  Best fishing is in the evening.

There are also some wading possibilities above the dam but I don't see people there anymore.  "The Old Trout" (you have to be an old timer to know who that is) told me years ago there were a lot of very large bass below and above the rapids.  I think there is only perch and the occasional small bass in there now but always worth trying.  Great looking water!  And easy to wade.

A couple of days ago I was elsewhere on the Mississippi and got my first walleye of the year as well as losing a fair sized bass of some kind.   It is strange to me that all the good looking bass water along the Mississippi isn't just filled with bass.  There are not than many fishers.  Without any hatch, my go to fly is the Mississippi Maiden.  Basically a cone head, with palmered plastic green chenile body and a brown or olive maribou tail.  A good trick to get the chenile to "behave" is to dip it in hot water and then shape it sloping back.

Got a chance to join a friend with a boat on his secret spot south of the city.  Turned out when we arrived, it was not so secret as there were many vehicles parked.  You will never know how secret your bass spot is until you arrive on Opening Day.   Mind you, with other species open, we are able to fish earlier and most of us do. With the clear water we have now with zebra mussels it is fairly easy to spot the spawning beds.  Ethical fishers will avoid them prior to Opening.   Speaking of ethics, one fellow and his wife were leaving as we arrived.  Go ahead and tell them his wife urged.  Look at this!  This is the biggest bass I've ever taken out of this lake!  He hauls up a five pound LM.  I thought about going over and asking him whether he knew if his fish was likely a 20+ year old fish.   As a newly minted senior myself, this is a touchy subject.   Regrettably, I did not.  It is bad enough that we drag these oldies out of their lair.  Far worse that we kill them, especially so close to home.  There cannot be many of them left.

We caught about 50 fish each, more than half of which were LM Bass.  Some of the others were like this Pumpkinseed, the largest I have ever caught.   All safely released.  Surface temperature around 79F which is OK for bass.   Danger temperature is around 90F.  My best flies were a Yellow Coney Leech and Mississippi Maiden on an intermediate line. John, of course, is not only an expert in making the Shit Fly but fishing it as well.  We were getting some action off of the surface.   Any fly that floats will do.   And I have plenty of "failed" trout flies in my collection.

I've been in conversation  with a fellow member of the FMZ 18 Council who is a post doctoral fellow at Carleton.  It appears the "Science" is NOT settled on fatal temperatures for trout.   Most of my concern has been on our local stocked Rainbows.  I admit it, I'm a trout bum.  I love to catch Rainbow Trout.  Pound for pound, they give the best fight, jump the highest, pull the hardest.  A close second is SM Bass.  I've been concerned about the dangers of warm temperatures on trout.  The biologist's textbook bible, "Freshwater Fish of Canada", states that the "fatal" temperature of Rainbows is 24C or 75F.  And that is why for the last few years, I have switched over to SM Bass fishing come July and continue through to September when I go trout hunting again until hard water.  It appears that the "science" contained in the textbook is a bit out of date and research is continuing, interestingly enough, right here at Carleton U. under Steven Cooke (also a member of the FMZ 18 Council).  The Council is meeting with various stakeholders to determine new policy and regulations and give recommendations to the Ministry.   I fish for trout mainly in FMZ 15 but they are not having a Council.  I suspect that whatever we decide will impact their area as well as the Ministry is keen on simplifying regulations. 

I have a few biology contacts across the country and I am awaiting responses.   Since the textbook appears to be unreliable and the internet even more so,  I'm assuming that  researcher's comments are closer to the mark.   One researcher I'm keen to hear from out west is on how long we can keep fish out of water.  My memory of our conversation is that more than 30 seconds causes permanent gill damage but don't quote me at this point.   That email is in one of my many dead computers.  Some of the more famous trout fishers (other than myself) like Brian Chan and Phil Rowley have given me figures like 7 or 15 seconds out of water as a max.

Rather than paraphrasing Nick's comments, I'll paste them directly.   In the first one I expressed interest in stress as a factor.

"I agree that stress can be a killer across the animal kingdom.  At the same time, catch and release has proved to be effective across a range of species and conditions (when fishes are handled properly). In terms of fish being caught several times in a season, that could have effects on growth rate, but this type of stress has short-term effects.  Unless the fish was severely injured, the effects of that stress would only last a few hours to days at most.  Being caught multiple times wouldn't likely lead to cumulative stress, though it could perhaps slow growth a tad."

In this exchange, I was concerned about Catch and Release (C&R) for Lake Trout in warm temperatures from depth  for slot determination but also in terms of other trout.   Baratrauma, is the stress of unequal pressure between the inside and outside of the fish, ie, "bends".  Many people believe that trout, especially Lakers, can easily equalize pressure through their air bladder.  That apparently is not true, and especially in the case of Rainbows which rocket from depth when caught. 

"I don't think anyone has a good handle on how deleterious catch and release angling can be.  It all depends on the situation- sometimes survival can approach 100%, other times mortality rates can be very high. Changes in temperature can be stressful to the fish, as can the energy spent fighting.  Add to that handling (which carries the potential for a wide variety of stressors and injuries), and in some cases barotrauma.  Overall, these factors tend to be cumulative- (but) for example, exposing a fish to warmer temperatures might not have a major effect if it is not handled much and released quickly."

Here was my first inquiry on temperatures.   BTW, FCC costs around $120 which is why I don't have one.

"FFC is a fantastic textbook - the authors give a lot more information than just basic biology, including etymology (the history of where fishes' names came from) and a section for each fish on relation to man, which generally involves how they taste. Fatal temperatures aren't quite as cut and dry as that.  Rainbow trout can certainly survive more than a few seconds (probably hours, even days) at 25C, but prolonged exposure will lead to stress and eventually death.  Higher temperatures will lead to this occurring faster- at 35C, rainbow trout would probably be dead in less than half an hour.  Even at 23C though, rainbow trout would experience stress and lower growth rates because their metabolism isn't as efficient outside their optimum temperature range.  As for other trout, they range considerably.  I don't know exact numbers off the top of my head but lake trout would be in the 12-15 C range, whereas brown trout might be in the 25-30C range. "

There are many factors to consider when practicing C&R for trout.  When surface temperatures are ideal around 11C (52F) then one doesn't need to be too concerned.  However, when the water warms, one should get that trout in as fast as possible, keep it in the water, and get it on its way ASAP.  If you are going to fish for trout in the summer, make sure to bring along your canvas creel.  You might have something unintended  for the bar-b-que.  Another concern is slime removal.  Even a small skin area of  slime removed  through over-handling and rough nets will cause fungus growth and eventual death.   Use soft rubber nets and keep it in the water.  Don't fish deeper than 10 meters at any time just to be safe.   The research on baratrauma is ongoing.

At my favorite large-trout lake in Calabogie today, it was a warm clear day.  Normally I don't choose that kind of day but a friend wanted to go.  I started out doing some chironomid fishing in the area that continues to have rises close to the launch but no luck.  Fish rising in the middle of this lake are usually trout as bass have taken over the shoreline. 

Bass are not native to our lakes and were not introduced by MNR.  Many of these larger, deeper lakes were natural Lake Trout lakes. They are now mostly gone with the odd one  reported caught.  Surface Temp (ST) was 72F even early in the AM.  That is getting close to fatal temperature for Rainbows (75F).  By noon we both had caught one small Rainbow each.  At about noon I got a 4# Rainbow on a Green Slumpbuster (close to a Zuddler, only with rabbit strip around the collar) on a #4 sink.  I had a white BH WB as the dropper and attractor.  I often do that on these clear lakes. There aren't that many fish per acre and you have to do something to get them over to have a look.  Pretty good fight, few jumps and a few runs.  I was about to take a picture of it while holding it by the hook in the water and off it went, no worse for wear. I try not to even use the net, certainly don't take the fish out of water.

One other bump was the only other action, other than the occasional cast to shore to bug the bass.  If you get a bump/bump, that is a fish hitting your fly with its body and then its tail to see if your fly is something that even resembles food.

And then I noticed the water temp: 74.2F !! and headed back to the launch with a few casts along the way.  I caught this guy.  Didn't jump as high though.  Notice the rough looking tail and stabilizer fin.  This guy has seen some action.

Here are the emails I got from the guys in Manitoba for a week's fishing in reverse order:

Another excellent day yesterday. Several over 8 lbs.

Tigers: they fight very hard. Usually like a Brown, but sometimes jump several times like a 'bow. Lost one yesterday (~4 lbs) on his fourth jump when he jumped a full five feet and shook the hook out. I almost put down my rod and applauded. Fantastic! He really wanted his freedom.

Another fantastic day at Twin Lake for Tigers. We used P Quads when trolling, and Chironomid techniques when anchored. Both worked very well. Several Large Tigers caught as well as a host of 15-18"

Boy, are we spoiled! R. did not catch a fish last evg after supper and was a little pissed despite having caught ~ 30 lbs of fish earlier. He caught two 8 pounders this AM to compensate, however. :-).

Cannot believe yesterday. Learned two chironomid techniques and both resulted in huge fish. Caught two at or greater than 10 lbs and several "small" ones only 6-8 lbs. Best day ever. Biggest brown ever! Going to "trophy" lake today. Will see if that gets even bigger ones.

Quick report: weather is very benign. No bugs, max wind ~ 10 Mph. Fishing very good. R. got a 6 lb Brown as well as two nice 'bows yesterday. G. caught the 'bow of his life >10 lbs - had to land it on shore as was far too big for his net. Others caught lots too. Today, new lake (Patterson) and more Chronomid technique. Worked very well yesterday. D. and I also caught several nice ones - but no "hogs" yet. Much better conditions than last Fall.

I made another trip to this lake because they stocked Fall Fingerlings last year.  When they did this in 2007, we had a fabulous 2008 year.  MNR Pembroke will stock whenenver they can get trout.  And they like doing it in the Fall especially in lakes that have bass.  Bass are less active and consequently there would be less predation.  Only this year, it hasn't panned out, at least not yet. This is my second trip with no trout and another very technical fisher also got skunked earlier this Spring. I caught a lot of bass though even in 40 feet of water with a #4 sink line!  Trout will hold in deeper water if there are bass patrolling the shore line where they prefer to be.   This doesn't make for great fly fishing, unless you like fishing for bass!  But that is not why we come to a trout lake.  I can get better bass fishing closer to home.  I did notice a massive layer of small dots down 40 feet.  I suspect this is some kind of "hatch", likely zoo-plankton.  If that is the case, their bellies will be full and it will be very difficult to catch fish feeding thereupon.  Brian Chan says the only way is to put on a small woolley bugger and get it down into that layer but 40 feet is a bit deep for a flyfisher and I detected no fish in that maze.  Later in the summer when the thermocline develops, you will see a line at a certain depth.  That is the thermocline where the zoo-plankton like to reside.  Fish will cruise at that line, open their mouths and feed like whales.  Great for their wastelines!

Weather was just right so I made a quick desicion to head over to the closest fishing.  I had only an hour or so available.  What am I doing? It is 2PM.  I usually don't fish until the evening, especially on a sunny day.  As I arrived, I met three fishermen on one of the two best spots with lines in the water.  They were obviously bait fishing.   Asked how it was going.  Only tiny sunfish!  I waded over to the "other spot" and proceeded to haul in fish after fish with each cast.  I didn't look over to see their jaws dropping.  Reasonable sized Rock Bass, White Fish/ Suckers.  Flyfishing Rules!  I used an intermediate line with cone head flies.  Over at the main part of the river, I used the intermediate line again to get down a bit and got larger fish.  In the evening, I almost always use dry lines with various flies depending on what might be floating around.   Goes to show that you can have a good time anytime on this river, at least in faster moving water.

 I often fish near a spot on the Mississippi River a seven minute drive from home.  I've always maintained that the "best" fishing is that which is closest to home. "Close" is the key word here.  I usually catch "fall fish" here but this OOS SM was caught on the Mississippi Maiden, a fly developed by a local flyfisher gal.  It was in fast moving water so he/she was not spawning. 

Yesterday, I was invited by a friend to tour the river near Carleton Place in his motor boat.  You need a motorized unit to fish this area.  I learned first hand that you have find the fish.  The area is enormous and we spent most of the day looking only to find them where we started out from.  We were fishing for Blue Gill.  a most tasty pan fish in abundance (if you can find them). 

Of course, when you are fishing where some fish are in season and some out, you are going to catch some that are out.  We got into a few SM Bass and they were mostly in the 12-14 inch range, but I did get one about 16 inches.  The rule is that you are to move on, that is, assuming someone of authority is watching.  They are still on the spawning beds.  With the zebra muscles in abundance it is easy to see the spawning beds.  I learned  that you can tell the Bass beds from the sunfish  (Pumpkinseed and Blue Gill) as the sunfish ones are in clumps. They scrape away the plants to create a roughly circular gravel area 16 inches in diameter.   When you do find the clump of fish  then it is a fish or two a cast.  Grant is trying to get me hooked on pan fish eating, so he filleted some for me to try.  Will let you know how they taste.  This is a very sustainable fishery, at least it is now with the new regulations in place.  We almost lost it with Yankees  taking them out by the thousands. Best fly were foam flies, although I did quite well with that Mississippi Maiden and a brown CH Rabbit Leech.

Four of our OFS members are currently fishing the Parkland area of Manitoba.  I've recieved two reports so far.  One fellow had to beach his float-tube because the fish was too big for his net.  It was over ten pounds.  Today I received another email that several ten pound rainbows and browns were caught using chironomids and they are not even fishing the "trophy lakes".  Trophy lakes are those lakes with limited harvest so that the fish will grow big.  Ten pounds is pretty big for me! 

Bob Sheedy who was one of the orignators of this amazing fishing resource told me that the Ministry had to hauled kicking and screeming into making the necessary changes in regulations to create this fishery.  It is a pretty well accepted norm that civil servents don't like change.   While creating these lakes with large trout through regulation changes, they also made available to the harvest type fishermen, the normal lakes where mulitiple fish could be taken.  Guess what?  Those fishermen are now fishing the trophy lakes.  They have discovered what we all learn.  It is the experience of fishing that is what makes it all worth while.   They are much happier taking one large trout home then five smaller ones.  Pretty soon they become converted and release all fish except those that unfortunately don't make it for one reason or another.  Bob told me it was the Economic Development people who saw the various foreign licence plates at these lakes that clinched the changes.

Apparently, the aerators which make these shallow lakes survive the winter have been donated by US clubs.  Manitoba set up  and supplies the electricity.  Yankees are willing to drive through the most celebrated trout waters in the world to come to Manitoba.  At some point in the early summer, it will not be so easy to catch these large trout as the shallow water will warm up too much.   Trout lakes shouldn't be fished when the surface temperature exceeds 75F (24C).