A lucky find makes for some sweet tenkara fishing
"As I was driving along a country two lane, I noticed a trail marker I had not seen before. I pulled off and took a look. There was actually a trail map! It looked like the trail ran along a creek. The topo map showed canyon-like features. In my opinion, there’s not much prettier in this world than rocky stream running through a canyon, so I mustered some energy and decided to give a go."
The start of the trip of was fairly typical. I had finished a night shift, took a brief nap and then headed out to fish. I had planned on stopping by Dutch Creek to see if there were any pre-spawn smallmouth bass in the creek. I knew the odds of feeding bass were quite small. If the stream temps were at least 44 degrees (warmer the better), the bass might be active. I got there and measured a temperature of 40 degrees. The chances of catching bass in these conditions are almost zero.
But I was there, the sun was shining and I was still pretty wiped out. Dutch Creek is easy and relaxing to fish, so why the heck not?
As I was gearing up, I heard a truck struggling to come to life behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw an aging Chevy pickup with huge flames coming out of the exhaust. It actually looked like the back of the truck was on fire. I ran over as fast as I could make it in my waders to let the driver know what was happening. I was honestly concerned his truck was about to be consumed by flames. He was on his phone calling someone for a ride. When I told him about his flame-throwing exhaust, he said into his phone “yeah, the ol’ girl’s doin’ her thing again”. You just can’t make this stuff up!
Anyway, there was nothing happening on Dutch Creek. I fished for less than an hour, caught two chubs and decided to pack it up. I took a different route on the way to the creek that morning and stumbled on a ranch raising bison. Not something you see every day in Wisconsin. I decided to wander a little on the way home and see what I came across. That turned out to be a really good decision.
Bison in the morning mist
As I was driving along a country two lane, I noticed a trail marker I had not seen before. I pulled off and took a look. There was actually a trail map. It looked like the trail ran along a creek. The topo map showed canyon-like features. In my opinion, there’s not much prettier in this world than rocky stream running through a canyon, so I mustered some energy and decided to give a go.
The first quarter mile or so was not all that pleasant, as several downed trees blocked the trail. There was a boardwalk part of the way, but sections of the trail were entirely muck. Then I rounded the trail to this view:
A bit shallow in this section, but gin clear in a beautiful setting. I felt like I had stumbled into an enchanted land that was absolutely invisible from the road. And things just got better from there:
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I chase down a lot of blue lines on the map. Many of these trips are busts, but every once in awhile, I find a gem, which is what keeps me going. If there happened to be trout in this stream, I think I could count this place among my found gems.
Yep. A real gem!
It really is hard to describe the joy I get from finding these out-of-the-way beautiful places. I would have returned to this creek if it had nothing but creek chubs and minnows, but the fact I found trout in the creek will likely make it the find of the year for me.
After hiking about a mile up the creek, I gave in to my exhaustion and went home. But I couldn’t get the creek out of mind. I went back this past week. After my first trip, it looked like I had seen the most scenic parts of the creek. I was wrong about that.
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