Scouting Time!!!!

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September 30th every year small stream trout season closes. It does not open again until the first Saturday in March. Those 5 months of closed season seem endless for the diehard trout anglers. I have found a way to ease your pain.

Right after Wisconsin's deer season I start scouting and asking permission for the 2013 trout season. The weeds are down and it makes it much easier to walk. The trout have not been pestered for at least 2 months and are less shy. The bottom vegetation has also died off and you can see some hidden lays. Scouting on overcast days are better than sunny days due to the sun making trout weary and feeling exposed.
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This is also a good time to ask farmers permission to fish in the Spring. Showing up on a door step in full waders can put a land owner out. Showing up in December with your young daughter or son to ask permission in is less in your face and your permission receiving will sky rocket. If you don't have a young child to take with you borrow one from a friend. Land owners are much less likely to say "NO" when you have a young kid standing beside you when you ask. Remember to be courteous if you are told "NO" because that landowner will remember you when you ask the next year.
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Get off the couch and go scout. Make sure you take your camera along and a neighbor kid if you have none of your own when asking for new permission.

Hey Len,
Beautiful pictures, pretty gal and good advice. Of course you can always just drive down here to Pennsylvania where there is always a season and waters open:

http://fishandboat.com/fishpub/summa...trout_regs.pdf

No matter what you are doing is a great reason to get out and enjoy the great outdoors! Thanks Len!

I have a friend in Mississippi who was an avid quail hunter when his health was good. I would do the same thing with the farms where he knew there was likely to be quail and would hand out a case or two of pints of local honey. He was also very careful to close gates that were closed when he got there and to leave other things as he found them. If he killed any birds he would stop by and offer part or all to the landowner. He hunted about everywhere he wanted.

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I am a closed season scouting nut. I actually preach about it. Yesterday the weather was overcast like I like it for scouting and 65 degrees. I decided to do some scouting of a familiar area and an extra large trout.

Closing day of 2011 I had two run ins with the biggest small stream trout I have ever seen. My friend Floren lost it at his feet. I got a really good look at it. The female brown was approximately 30 inches long and skinny. She had a very distinctive markings. Lots of small dark spots and they were close together. I have even had dreams about her.

2012 season I fished the hole I saw her in maybe 50 times. I fished below and upstream of where she was lost. 2012 was a very dry year and the holes were way shallower than the 2011 season.

I decided I was going to scout the deepest hole in the area. The place a big fish could winter in. A hole that had a slow deep bottom so she could hold in place without much effort. There needed to be a feed lane at the top of the hole she could venture in to from time to to time to eat. I knew right where to go.

The hole was about 500 yards downstream of where she had been hooked prior. It is almost in a tiny dorf in Richland County. I went out to the hole and sat down. It was overcast when I sat down. About 25 minutes of sitting there and nothing happened. The sun peaked out from between the clouds. I thought the big girl would not show her face in a sunny environment.

I was just about to stand up and I saw movement at the top of the hole in the feed funnel. Then there was a big wake going down stream and then I saw it. I saw the side of an enormous trout flash in the shallow funnel. There was that distinctive spot pattern!!! She showed herself again.

I hypothesize she was up at the head of the hole feeding in the shallow funnel. She felt hidden by the current and the overcast skies. When the sun peaked out she felt exposed and retreated to the depths of the pool . First Saturday of March I have a date with this girl again.