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  Minnesota Fly Fishing Reports  Southeast : Bluff Country  Mill Creek - Ch...
 Mill Creek - Chatfield
 
 5/29/2007 10:16:43 AM
huntercooper2003
3 posts


Mill Creek - Chatfield
 (United States)
5-28-07

Stream: Mill Creek - Chatfield
Water clarity: 18 - 24 inches
Fly's used: Brown Elk Hair Cadis, DH, Black Elk Hair Cadis, Black
Midge
Number of Fish Caught: 12 Rainbow, 1 Brown
Average size: 14" - 16"
Largest: 18" - 20" (Brown)
Time Spent on Stream: 2 Hours

I'm a newbie to Fly fishing but...
Yesterday morning around 6:00 a.m. I went down to Mill Creek Pond in Chatfield to try to catch a few fish before my wife woke up (probably around 8:00). It's not really a pond but just a big hole in the stream. Anyway, the DNR stocked a lot of 8-10" rainbow trout in there about a week and a half ago, and the stream has a pretty good natural brown trout population. You could really see the fish hitting the top of the water in what seemed like a feeding frenzy. The water was pretty brown yet from all the rain the last week, the clarity was only about a foot and a half to two feet. Anyway I spent the next hour and a half fishing and was getting quite a few bites. The Dark Hendrickson seemed to be working the best until I lost it on some weeds, but then I had a poorly tied Black Midge (I tied it myself, I'm still learning) that seemed to do the trick.

Even though I had a lot of fish taking the fly's I can't seem to get the hooks fully set and they jump off the line as soon as they get anywhere near me, but it's still a lot of fun trying.

So anyway, I need to get going so I'm getting my stuff together to head back home and I look behind me and here is this really old guy with a walking cane in one hand and a fly rod in the other and he's just kind of shuffling through the grass towards the hole. I greet him with a simple hello and he smiles real big back at me and with nod of his head he says "hi, looks like you've been having some fun." I told him I'm brand new to this and that even though I've had lots of hits I just wasn't able to land any fish. We talked for a little bit and to make a long story short I end up staying and watching him, hoping to learn what ever I can just by watching his technique. Over the next half hour (if that) I watched him pull out 12 really nice rainbows averaging 14-16 inches and one really nice Brown Trout that I think went close to 20 inches, all of which were released.

So needless to say, this report isn’t about the fish I caught but about the fish this 87 year old guy caught. I learned more during that half hour of watching and talking to him than from any book, or article I’ve ever read or video I’ve ever watched. His technique was simple, yet effective. And I had the time of my life watching and helping him.

I helped him pick up a fish that snapped his line just before he could get the hook out and saw the fly he was using was a black midge with a red tail on what I would guess to be a # 14 or # 16 size hook. He told me that fly was on his rod since last summer and he really liked it because he caught a lot of fish with it. He had a bit of a time getting the fly back on because his eye sight wasn’t so good any more and his hands shook quite a bit so I helped him put it put it back on. I have to say I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so willing to teach others what they know about fishing as he was. So if you run in to a pretty old feller fly fishing around there, don’t be afraid to say high. His name is Leo.
 5/29/2007 10:32:52 AM
TheFlyMaster
524 posts
www.mnflyfishing.com
1st




Re: Mill Creek - Chatfield
 (United States)
What a story and thanks for sharing it with us huntercooper.  Memories like that are sure to last forever.
  Captain Ouitdee Carson - Arrowhead Fly Angler
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 5/29/2007 4:03:04 PM
Northhike
22 posts


Re: Mill Creek - Chatfield
 (United States)
Thats an awesome story......just love this sport and the people who participate.  So what was his technique?  I'm relativley new (3 years now) and all I seem to catch is the small trout taking flies off the surface (even below the surface).  I have tried nymphs, streamers and all kkinds of techniques in books and still I only catch a trout in the 12-15" size every blue moon.
 5/30/2007 1:08:19 PM
D.A.
34 posts
ontheflyguiding.com


Re: Mill Creek - Chatfield
 (United States)
Try some bigger water with bigger patters (streamers) for the chance at some bigger fish.

Regarding Mill Creek:  The DNR did an extensive HI project there a few years back as a model of how trout streams can coexist in an ever burgeoning agriculturally dependent society we've become (translation: ethanol).  Unfortuantely, the project has its flaws.  Other than being smack dab in the middle of corn country and subjected to endless runoff, it really has very average instream forage and reprodiction capapbilities.  There's a reason why they stock it with rainbows - the brown trout peopluation is pretty thin and reproduces poorly at best.  The other major flaw to the Mill Creek project is lack of depth.  Trout need overhead cover for protection purposes.  Protect the trout and you increase the odds of them growing larger in size, thus maturing into your ideal breeding fish.  The lunker structures that were placed in Mill do not provide much depth for overhead cover.  In other words, the stream wasn't dug out enough before the lunkers were placed for them to have their full positive effect on the trout.

Glad you had a good outing.  Sorry to ramble,
D.A.
D.A.
On The Fly Guide Service - Fly fishing guide service in SE Minnesota and the surrounding areas.
 6/11/2007 12:31:11 PM
huntercooper2003
3 posts


Re: Mill Creek - Chatfield
 (United States)
Northhike
His technique was simple, just flip the fly rod towards the place you want your fly to land, don't let it sit there to long, just long enough for the fish to investigate it and see if they want it.

D.A.
As for Mill Creek, I've had pretty good success, not with numbers but with size. Two years ago I cuaght an 18" brownie right behind the subway, and this spring I watched two guys pull in a couple of real nice ones of comparable size right out the the same hole. I think your right, that in the past there has been a general lack of deep enough water and not enough cover. But the DNR just finished some stream improvements last year and from the looks of it the fishing may really improve over the next few years. Most of the improvements I've seen are in the part that runs just on the outside of Chatfield, I'm not sure what the've done up stream though.

I haven't fished a whole lot of streams, like I said I'm a newbie so I have to admit that my basis for comparison is the Whitewater and only a handfull of other streams. but if you rate Mill Creek pretty low then maybe I aught to branch out a little more to get a better taste of what's out there.
 6/12/2007 7:34:14 AM
D.A.
34 posts
ontheflyguiding.com


Mill Creek - Chatfield
 (N/A)

I would rate Mill Creek average in the big picture.  Sure, the habitat improvement will help, but this coutnry's new found fascination with ethanol will definitely impace our watersheds neagtively.  All the H.I. in the world isn't going to save streams like Mill Creek in the big picture.  Sedimentation and pollution will be the bigger issue.  As you said yourself, there isn't a big population of fish in Mill; the DNR's supplemental stocking of that stream definitely makes up for the lack of natural production.  Will there ever be a significant fish population in Mill?  Maybe, but it will take a combination of land use changes, continued supplementl stocking, and perhaps some special regulations to get it off the ground.

 

Best of luck,

D.A.

D.A.
On The Fly Guide Service - Fly fishing guide service in SE Minnesota and the surrounding areas.
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