Saturday, July 15, 2006

Iowa's Urban Trout Stream

I'm currently settling in for the night at the Hampton Inn in Cedar Rapids Iowa.

I brought Tracy up for a Preemie Project work day and found this fishing hole in down town CR.



McLoud Run is a tiny stream in the middle of an urban city that is being managed as a trout habitat. It looked like just the kind of place that my 6'9" 4wt was made for.

Other than the fact that Iowa was in the middle of a heat wave (nearly 100 deg) and I only had the middle of the day to fish I'd say my outing was very enjoyable and a tremendous success.

I didn't encounter one other fisherman although I did see some mountain bikers and one couple with a dog that spoiled one pool.

I also saw a mother duck and her brood. They stayed ahead of me as I waded upstream from H Avenue.




I had some limited success with the green weenie.



I believe this to be a White Sucker. There were several schools of these along the stream and they were fun to catch even if they are not so glamorous.





I guess I'll tell about the one that got away.

Most of the trout I saw were rainbows and were seen hanging out under some "fish hides" which were concrete and rock structures installed along undercut banks to provide more habitat. They weren't rising so I was nymphing most of the day. I tied on a #18 caddis pupa and fooled one 10" bow into taking a bite. I hooked him and played him around my feet until I decided to get a picture of him in the water. Just as I was retrieving my camera, I performed the most elegant long distance catch & release maneuver you have ever seen. The fish swam lazily back to the hide and I was left with that bittersweet feeling of having the fish almost in hand but with no picture to prove it.

The flowers along the stream were really pretty - queen anne's lace, purple coneflowers, black eyed susans and bee balm.



Sure beats working!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

your picture is good.

Anonymous said...

I was just down there today, only caught one but it was about a 14" rainbow. I also saw a lot of browns and brooks.