Fished Timber Coulee River which is more of a stream for about 3 hours this morning. Trout were rising so I fished a size 14 Royal Wulff and a size 16 Caddis and caught a couple of 10-inch browns with each fly. It’s hazy from the Canadian wildfires. There is an advisory until noon Thursday.
I’m set up at my campsite in the Driftless Area and will be here till Friday. Unless something unusual happens I probably won’t post anything cause I’ve posted at least two Driftless trips.
For several years I’ve been thinking about taking a Lake Superior Circle Tour taking my time camping around the perimeter of Lake Superior. The estimated mileage is roughly 1300 miles. I’m trying to decide between taking the trip in August or September. A trip in August will probably be warm and crowded while a September trip might be cool but there will be less campground competition. I’m leaning toward a September trip. I have a furnace. I’m not sure but it will probably be about a month early for salmon and steelhead fishing in the rivers that flow into Lake Superior.
Here is a Lake Superior Circle Tour link
https://midwestweekends.com/plan-a-trip/touring/lake-superior/plan-circle-tour-lake-superior/
Another Lake Superior Circle Tour link
From Monday, June 26th through Friday, June 30th I’ll be camped in the Driftless Area near Viroqua, Wisconsin trout fishing and relaxing.
A real bummer! Went to the most popular parking lot on the San Juan River, Texas Hole. It was almost empty. At 9 am a fisherman was walking from the river so I talked him up a little. They are starting to release a great amount of water and for the next few weeks, it will be unfishable. I drove to Aztec for a signal and started looking. On May 9th they released a notification saying they will be releasing so much water for the next few weeks it will be unfishable. Before I made reservations for this trip I researched the best months to fish the river and May was one of them. Oh well.
So what to do? I have 8 more days at my campsite. Bill and I canceled our house reservation. Might hang out for a day or two and head home.
The weather was perfect today, mid-70s, and the wind died. I fished for 4 hours. The water has cleared quite a bit but is still a bit milky. I caught a couple of smaller rainbows and had what looked to be a huge brown on very briefly. I saw it broadside and it broke me off.
More photos, less text
I fixed my black tank drain tube support. You don’t need that tube breaking. Switched to steel instead of aluminum.
I forgot to mention to myself that on Sunday my F150 went over 100,000 miles. When it needs work it’s expensive but a great vehicle.
As you can see by Monday’s photo of my campsite it is spring here. There are some large turkeys in the campground. Plants are budding. The banks of the river look very different to me.
Large bodies of water have a thermocline which is a separation of colder water under warmer water. I guess in the fall and spring there will be a thermocline turnover. I read that is what is going on in Navajo Lake, the reservoir above the dam. Water constantly flows under the dam. That water is the San Juan River. The water now coming from under the dam is very milky and the river is low. The fish are still there but I haven’t been able to see one. I didn’t catch any fish. Usually if you stand still for a while you will see fish. They aren’t that afraid of people.
I drove four long days to get here. Yesterday I fished and drove to Aztec to grocery shop and get a couple of small pieces of steel for a repair. Today I’m going to kinda relax and recover. I’m not going to turn a trip into a job. My trailer and truck are horrible messes that need to be straightened out. I’ll putter around with that. There isn’t a hurry but I need to repair a couple of things on my trailer. Might as well get that out of the way.
Drove from Eagle Nest which is roughly 30 miles east of Taos to Navajo Lake State Park in northwest New Mexico where I’ll be camped for the next two weeks. About 10 miles west of Taos is the Rio Grande River Gorge over which runs the Rio Grande River Gorge Bridge. When a car is approaching the bridge bounces a little. The first time is a little bit of a surprise.
The drive across northern New Mexico is one of my favorites.
My campsite for the next two weeks. Fishing tomorrow!
