Sucker Migration

Quillback are difficult to catch. I drifted half my carp box to see if anything would stick. I drifted a few nymphs. In the end I caught a couple Quillies. 

Forgot my waders. Luckily I didn't need to move much and the water was 62 degrees. 

pics from the Driftless

Talon Streamer

Featuring Andy's streamer pattern, the Talon. I picked up a couple Talons from Andy last summer and have caught trout, smallmouth, white bass, and the illustrious sucker. Love the action on this streamer. 

Andy swinging a Talon

Riverside lunch

The wood canoe was built by Andy's dad in Winterset IA. A sweet canoe indeed.

Quillback

Quillback show up in large numbers on my local warm water creeks each Spring. They blend in nicely with the creek bottom -- until one turns sideways to swallow some food drifting by. Thats when the sun catches their armor, producing a flash of silver and gold. Quillback comprise a large portion of the biomass in many warmwater rivers. The Cedar River is no exception. They'll be in the creek for the next 6 weeks. Then they will return to the big muddy river. I nymph for them or bounce something buggy on the bottom. 

Another sign of Spring. Minnows sunning in the shallows. Soon the smallmouth will be up the creek chasing them down.