By Mike Toft
“There are corners of this green footstool which men look upon with more than mere gratefulness - places that they feel deeply at home. Let all of them choose their own inviolate acres. Along the banks of the raging Rogue, or in the pineclad hills of Alabama. All of the close-to-earth hunting and fishing men know their chosen places.” -Gordon MacQuarrie
Everyone has their “chosen place” to catch fish. For the author, it’s the Driftless region of Minnesota.
My “chosen place” is right here in The Driftless. To put a finer point on it, the southeast corner of Minnesota. Within a 60 mile radius of my house are over 700 miles of trout streams! My biggest decision each day is which stream to fish. Oftentimes, the only traffic I encounter is an Amish carriage or a farmer in a slow tractor.
Best time to fish
In this area of Minnesota, we are blessed with the opportunity to fish all year. Some fantastic days can be had in the middle of the winter on our spring-fed streams. That being said, after consulting the scribblings in my trout fishing journal that cover the past 30 years, I would select a specific window of time: The middle of May until the middle of June. Why do I prefer this time of the year?
I say that because of the tremendous amount of bug activity, as shown on the Minnesota hatch chart. However, there is one particular bug that stands out above all other, the Brachycentrus americanus, also known as the American Grannom. If you’re not overly pretentious, then the best way to refer to this is the “Mother’s Day Caddis.”
If you’re planning a trip here, allow me to share with you which flies I use and the way I have found it best to present them. And of course this information will apply to the “Mothers Day” hatch in your neck of the woods and other places where its prevalent.
Preferred Flies to Use
Here’s a look at a basic nymph that closely imitates the larval stage of the Mother’s Day caddis.
First, let’s examine the go-to flies I use. For my nymph pattern, I use a Walt’s Worm. Maybe a tad boring? Let me even make it more boring! Here’s the recipe I use when tying this fish-catching machine:
Hook: Size #18 jig
Bead: 2.3mm/2.8mm copper slotted tungsten
Body: Semperfli Dirty bug yarn mottled light olive (I split it into two stands because “thin to win!”).
Collar: UV chartreuse
For a dry fly, I use my WWG caddis (image below), a fly I came up with that utilizes characteristics that I like from Josh Miller’s Clueless Caddis and Lance Egan’s Corn Fed Caddis. The materials include dubbing, trigger point, deer hair, and cdc. Buggy looking, floats high, and easy to tie. What’s more to love than that?
Watch Tim Cammisa’s playlist of caddisflies: CLICK HERE
This trout is happily eating on Grannom caddis, though the angler interrupted its meal!
Fishing Techniques
Any angler worth their salt will communicate to you that presentation is more important than pattern. You may fish the aforementioned flies traditionally; use the nymph with an indicator and fish the dry fly on a standard tapered leader. However, learn to fish these flies on a Euro nymph rig, too, then you’ll be well cooking with gas! What happens differently when fishing it with a more advanced rig?
With a euro rig, you can get a perfect drag free drift and have the ultimate in strike detection. I know, this isn't for everyone. Many people reading this blog resonate with Norman Maclean when he referred to his dad saying, “ He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume…that all great fisherman of the sea of Galilee were fly fishing and that John, the favorite, was a dry fly fisherman.” Yet, I would conjecture that the other disciples that were fishermen (Peter, James, Andrew) were nymph fishermen because they wanted to catch more fish. I digress…
Go Time!
An angler about to make the perfect cast when approaching a rising trout in the Dirftless region of Minnesota.
Get on the water around 10 am, that's when the action begins. My rig is a 10ft 2-weight Euro nymph rod with a micro leader, sighter, tippet ring, and 6x tippet. I start by dead drifting a single- or double-nymph rig. A dead drift works best until you see the first few adult caddis drifting. Then, start letting your fly swing out at the end of the drift. This entices some ruthless takes!
Within a few minutes trout begin rocketing out of the water, leaping like leopards chasing the emerging caddis! At this stage, many rookies make the mistake of thinking those fish leaving the water are taking the adults. Nope. It’s the momentum of chasing the emergers that is taking them out of the water. Now, when the splashy rises start, I put on the dry or most likely a dry-dropper rig and let it drift and swing. Doubles are common throughout the day.
Every May, I can still relate with the sentiment of MacQuarrie when he observed, “Men who know me will tell you that I am inclined to reckless haste in any campaign on this stream. They will tell you that I practically fall apart spiritually once I’m within earshot of the Brule.” It never gets tiresome, old or commonplace. Contrariwise, time on the steam is life giving, new and adventurous. See you in May!
Mike Toft focuses on faith, family, and fishing, and readily admits that the order of those gets a little jumbled sometimes!
About Mike Toft
Mike Toft grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota and was a bass fishing fanatic! He fished tournaments in high school and college, then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Though Mike wanted to write about fishing, he instead became a pastor. It was as a pastor that he was introduced to trout fishing in the Minnesota Driftless region, a place he now calls home.
After selling his bass stuff, Mike became a trout bum. He endeavors to spend at least 100 days or more each year pursuing trout as the founder and head honcho of Whitewater Guiding. Mike is involved with Altar Fly Fishing, helping out with their retreats in his area. By the way, Mike went down the rabbit hole or as Tim Cammisa says, “He joined the dark side of Euro nymphing!” Outside of fishing, Mike is the editor of The St. Charles Press and Lewistown Journal.
Mike lives with his wife Heidi and loves spending time with her and his three grown children. His focus is on faith, family, and fishing, and readily admits that the order of those gets a little jumbled sometimes.
To book a day on the water, contact Mike Toft:
The WWG Caddis, created by Mike Toft, incorporates dubbing, trigger point, deer hair, and cdc to help make this fly simply buggy!