Welcome

As the leaves of autumn settle in over the Root River valley, our trout season has come to a close. But the annual cycle of production has begun again as the myriad groups of shredders, collectors, filterers and scrapers begin the processing of the new litter while continuing to dodge the best efforts of their predatory brethren.

It is time now to reflect on the season past, and to speculate on those approaching. Will the new redds result in another generation of brookies and browns, or, will unseasonable torrents scour them away or smother them with silt? Will the fisher's equipment endure cleaning and storage or be transformed into cold-hardy devices to ply winter's waters with the catch-and-release opener only three months away? Time also to generate anew the tattered lines and leaders and depauperate inventory of nymphs, dry and wet flies, spinners, jigs, streamers, and plugs so that next season, we can be fishing instead of repairing our tackle as the first blue wing olives emerge to greet us.

I hope that all who visit this site will aspire to share their experiences, on the stream, and in journeys of the mind, on waters here and elsewhere. While my streamside companions and I are hunkered down in the sheltering valleys of the Driftless Region of the upper midwest, we will be looking forward to hearing of the adventures of others, that we may plan escapades of our own.