Daavski and Friends: Whitewater State Park

The boys were on Spring Break this week. We weren't going to Florida, and the weather was looking good, so we headed south to take in the Spring catch-and-release season in southeast Minnesota.

We rolled into Whitewater State Park mid-afternoon on Thursday. The day was to be our coldest but even so the sun came out and we quickly set up camp. We had the whole campground to ourselves and picked a nice spot by the river (#91). There weren't any facilities yet (toilets, showers, or water), so we were basically leasing a plot of dirt and grass for a few days. In a few weeks you won't be able to get a spot here. This was a great trial run of the wall tent, in anticipation of heavier use out West.

Here are a few pics of the layout inside - it was great to be able to stand up, walk around, and generally have room. It didn't rain while we were there, but there was plenty of room to eat a couple meals around the table.

The Alaskan stove from our winter camping kit came in handy, though it was a bit undersized for 12x14.

The first night was pretty cold, but I didn't hear any complaints so I figured the extra blankets helped the boys. We were getting ready for bed the next night when I noticed Sean layering on extra clothes. In the course of talking him down from three t-shirts and a fleece he explained how cold he was the previous night, quickly corroborated by Sam. I'm pretty impressed that I didn't hear any sniveling from the boys - they just took the cold in stride, drove on, and came up with a plan for the next night.

Happy Sam - fleeced up and ready for bed.

Fishing: It's why we came down here, and I don't think I've ever had a better couple days fly-fishing in Minnesota. The weather was warm, the water was clear and high, there was nobody else on the river, and most importantly - the trout were hungry. Sam counted 22 caught altogether, and we missed just as many - mostly browns but some rainbows too, including a couple nice 14"+. We were catching them on nymphs in the morning and evening (pheasant tail and copper john) and both days there was a great March Brown hatch mid-afternoon. I didn't have a matching pattern, but dark elk hair caddis worked pretty well, especially in choppier water. There was a hole right below our campsight where the flish were slapping at the surface for hours. At times the browns were porpoising out of the water to get at the bugs. It was unreal.

Sam was all over the fishing. Every second he could steal away from camp he'd head down to the river with his fly rod. He had some bad luck with gear though. We found a leak in his wader on the first day, and he snapped the end of his rod the second (I was just casting...).

Bent rod and tight line on a nice rainbow:

Signature Sam pose

I was cleaning up after breakfast when I got the "Daddy get the camera" call.

Sean gave it a go for awhile, but he got pretty frustrated with the fly-fishing and switched to spinning off and on. Still, for the first time he did pretty well and actually remembered several of my admonishments.

Sean the "gizmo man": binoculars, pocket knife, and two multi-purpose compass/magnifying glass/thermometer/+ thingys that he's picked up over the past couple years. After having to untangle the mess of lanyards a couple times, I lighted on the idea of storing it all in his fishing vest. Apart from the hassle, I was worried he was going to trip and snag himself on something.

He also did a bit of whittling - or commissioning me to whittle. I would have had one for Sam too, but I nearly sliced the tip of my finger off digging out the "M".