went fishing at Hickory creek yesterday (12/13/2018) for first time this month
It looks like the Browns are off their redds, and are hungry as horses
Don't forget though; even though adults are off the redds, eggs (and then babies) will be in them through January.
So, if you don't remember where the Redds were made back in October, don't walk in the water, 'cause it will gett hard to see where the redds are now that the adults aren't keeping them clean. Fish from shore!

had good luck with my soft hackled pheasant tails (orange thread and wire, brass bead), and with small adams dries.
I saw quite a few fish (some large) rising to what i figured were midges, but i got 3 on the adams
Still quite a few rainbows in the water, they seemed fat (from eating eggs?) whereas the browns were all skinny

Just got back from fishing in Wyoming, on the Grey Reef and then up in the Big Horns.
They are having a hopper infestation, which means that those are the thing to use out there now.
Here's a pic of the North Tongue river up on US-14a, which is a cutthroat protected (catch and relase) area.

The stream work on Hickory creek is almost complete!
here is how it looks as of August 31, 2018

the fish seem to have adapted to it already, and they are feeding well.  They seem to like grass hoppers more than past summers (i'm assuming because of the extra sun), but this might be the fact that i'm Throwing more grasshoppers. 
The water has sped up, and is deeper; which means that the bottom is less silty (which should be Great for reproduction!); but the trouts don't seem to find it Too Fast (at least when it's not flooded). 
The bad news is: the construction equipment has made a lane, which makes the Whole lower stretch completely accessible to anyone walking up; this might be terrible, we'll have to see

yesterday , I went up to Patterson creek (which is up north of Waukon sort of on the way to Pine creek, if you were going to Pine creek from Waukon)

a couple of years ago, TU gave the state $28,000 to give to the landowner for a PERMINANT Easement on his property (which he was allowing access on already.  Then, the state did Quite a bit of stream enhancement (riprap, bank hides, etc)

I hadn't been up there for years, and wanted to check it out.

 The middle  stretch was full of very polite cattle, and the lower stretch had a guy and a girl fishing; so I went up from the second style, up to the east bridge. 

The pasture area didn't work for me (too sunny?), but once I got up to where the trees started, it was full of trouts.  I only landed 6 (2 browns & 2 bows on a quill Gordon, a brown & a bow on a pheasant tail), but I had countless strikes, including at least 10 on grasshoppers. 
There were trouts in the trees all the way up to the east bridge.  

It was a sunday, and I had about a mile (half mile?) totally to my self.
It was WAY better than it used to be, that's for sure.

went on Hickory Creek day before yesterday.  Great News!
The farmer has started (is pretty far along) on his stream work. He's taken out trees of the north side (right side, as you walk upstream), and is stabilizing the banks. There's no riprap, yet; but that should be coming.  What it means:
The creek got spread out in the HUGE floods back in 2013.  Many stretches are (were!) still too wide and thin; the stream Had re-channelized some in the last 5 years, but not as much as needed.
Also, the creek was eating into his cornfield (adding mud to the stream, and costing him money).

His stream work is pushing the stream back up against the bluff, which will deepen the pools, and get rid of the bayous and sloughs .  I'll post a pic soon.

Interestingly, it was fishing well on the whole stream; even right where the work was being done.  The 'used-to-be-pretty-good hole'  is Right where they were digging on Weds; and i caught 5 trouts right there!   The new run above the bridge is another spot where he's done work; and it was fishing better than ever!

20180619 fished North Cedar creek this evening.  There was bad flood damage last time i was here (two years ago?); and things are looking alot better.  There's still drifted trees in spots, but the stream is starting to channelize back into shape.  There were a few pools that looked like they'd have trouts: they did.  I didn't go up far enough to where the brook trouts used to be; so i don't know how they're doing.  But the stocked rainbows were either growing nicely, or they're putting 14 inchers in there/

i just got back from checking out the decorah area streams this afternoon , here's my report

Upper Iowa River  back in its banks; BARELY,  surrounding fields have much standing water
North Bear   2pm  back in its banks,  (normally) dry side channels full and/or flowing.
                             somewhere between muddy and very very very cloudy, vis 2feet?
                             took me about 30 minutes to hook and land a trout.
                             tried pools and back waters; no joy , no even a strike
                             then tried a riffle (pocket water?) and had a strike quickly. Figured was rainbow, but was brown
                             quit after catching that one, which was on a beadhead green and partridge with wire rib and peacock
Waterloo   3pm    back in banks.
                            between very cloudy and cloudy
                            took about 20 minutes to hook and land a trout
                            only fished one spot (end of a riffle and start of a run)
                            brown trout on beadhead green and partridge with wire rib and peacock thorax (i call this a Green Retro)
                            quit after that one
French     4pm     high, well within banks
                            between slightly cloudy and hazy (which is pretty bad for french)
                            I didn't fish, cause i was hungry and wanted to go home

I think (assuming that the weather cooperates) that this weekend will be okay for decorah.  I'd fish Waterloo [Don't Forget!  parts of Waterloo are catch and release; And access now goes all the way down to the upper iowa]            Have fun!

i was catching little chubs (on dry flies-stimulators) about an hour ago on lower otter

at the access point (about halfway between echo valley and elgin. )

it used to be, that there was access from a little downstream from the parking lot, upstream to the bridge where a side road crosses otter (except that there wasn't really a way to get all the way up to the bridge from the parking lot.

i was heading back towards West Union, and lo and behold!   Upstream from the bridge (on the main gravel -echo valley rd); there's a NEW Access lot, with new access.

It looks like it went in this year: the gravel's still clean, and it looks like they did some stream work.  

It was getting dark by then, so i didn't try it; but did take the attached pic.

4/26/2018  Thurs
It's Finally warming up here, and Nearly all the snow is melted.
I drove over to Yellow River State Forest today, and fished Little Paint Creek in the campground. 
There were Lots of big fish, rising to caddis flies, as well as other bugs that I  didn't recognize.

I cast a Yellow&Partridge soft hackle (size 16), and very quickly hooked (and after a while landed) an 18" brown trout.  There were several other trouts that size, plus scores of smaller trouts (some of which appeared to be stocked rainbows).   There were only a few people in the campground, and I was the only one fishing when I got there (two people were fishing at the lower ford when I drove out).
I drove up the road that follows Big Paint creek up to Waterville (White Pine Rd), and saw that they done a whole lot of stream work to Big Paint. Right upstream from the State Forest, they put in about six wing dams; and there was new rip rap in many places before Waterville (and some after).

Fished Hickory (again).  talked to the farm owner; he's having problems getting the government (epa, army corps, etc) to approve his riprap request.   Hoping he gets it; the stream needs it after the huge flood of several years ago.

was 40 degrees out, which felt nice, but filled the creek with ice cold runoff.  Only caught one brown trout in an hour.  Had multiple strikes, but they were so slow and weak that I missed them all but that one.   Saw several trouts rising pretty regularly on what appeared to be mayflies (or caddis?) ...  big enough to see them anyway, so I doubt that they were midges.   Couldn't get trouts interested in  my dries though.  every strike I had was on a green retro.

Walked down to Glover's Creek yesterday.  They have a gate up right as you enter Echo Valley park, but the walk in wasn't bad at all.  Stream nearly completely open, with just a few places iced up.   Temps around 30 degrees.  Saw (scared) quite a few trouts.   Went up to the first ford, and then onto the rocks; staying on the left side of the creek (and keeping my sox dry). 

Hooked one rainbow (on a Green Retro), but lost him without getting him to me:  Skunked.

Kept fishing that same hole, 'cause I couldn't go up further without using the ford.  No Joy.
It started snowing, and after a while I gave it up, and walked out. 

The steep hill by the stream was a little hard to go up, since the patches of ice now had snow on them. Had to walk slow, as I had neither my cleats or my wading staff; but it wasn't too bad as long as you went slow.

fished Hickory Creek today (as usual).

Temps nearly 50; most snow melted so stream wasn't too cold. Saw a few trouts rising; and saw One mayfly.
Caught 5 browns on my Green Retro fly: which is all I used. One  about 14 inches, another about 12; the others were yearlings.  Fished from 10 to 1pm, waded from lower bridge to middle access.

now that I'm retired, i'll have time to write about trouts

2017 year end wrap up:
52 days fishing, including
10 days skunked
fished 33 places, in 5 states
Caught 11 breeds (not counting cuthroat strains)...
18 bluegills
3 brook trouts
187 brown trouts
1 crappie
1 cut bow
52 cutthroats (four different strains)
1 largemouth bass
1 PERCH!!!
136 rainbows
2 suckers
4 whitefishes
Thanx to everyone that guided me, thanx to all the land owners that let me fish on their land, thanx to the trouts (and other fish); and thanx to GOD for letting me fish