(MDA) The Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture monitors concentrations of neonicotinoid insecticides in a number of Minnesota waterways.  Two of its monitoring sites are located on what are likely the largest and best-known trout streams in the Minnesota Driftless Area:  The Middle Branch of the Whitewater, and the South Branch of the Root.  

by Bob Luck
Thanks to the 58 chapter members and followers who completed our survey on aquatic insect hatches in Minnesota trout streams.  This information will be used in comments we provide to the Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture regarding the adequacy of their rules on seeds coated with neonicotinoid insecticides.  

by Bob Luck
After a huge spike and subsequent decline during and after COVID, Minnesota trout stamp sales are growing again.  Sales in 2025 reached 112,922, up nearly 8% over the past ten years, and comfortably exceeding the growth in general angling licenses.

by Bob Luck
Check out this study on the economic impact of recreational trout angling in the Driftless Area, commissioned in 2016 by TU.  

by Bob Luck
Last Thursday, Mike Miller and I decided to fish the lower Kinni before the arrival of the latest heat dome.  We got to the stream at 7:30 and I measured the air temp at 68 and water temp at 61.  After a good morning, we decided to call it quits at 2 pm.  On a whim, I stuck my digital thermometer into the water and saw that the temperature had climbed to 68, the point at which TU recommends stopping catch-and-release fishing due to the stress caused by low water oxygen levels.  The air temp at that point was “only” 83 degrees, but it was a sunny morning, and I suspect that solar radiation was heating the dark rocks in the streambed which were in turn heating up the water.  And heating up the reservoir behind the Junction Falls dam, too.  We really need to get that dam out of there!
If the lower Kinni was 68 on a moderately warm day, you may be wondering how it is faring during the current heat wave. 
​

by Jim Sauter
"And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive.  But one thing is certain, When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in.  That's what this storm's all about." 
Haruki Murakami, Fly Fisherman, Aug-Sept, 2026
​
When reading a recent article in Fly Fisherman, my mind immediately wandered back to a fateful day while trout fishing when I was caught in a terrible storm.  The fishing was very good that day, and I was not paying close attention to the weather.   
I was fishing the Root River on a beautiful summer day in SE Minnesota.  I was preoccupied with a caddis hatch and the brown trout that were actively feeding. 
The next thing I knew, the storm moved in quickly.  Threatening clouds moved in.  The winds kicked up.   Gusts exceeded 50 mph.  The torrential rain began.  I felt completely helpless as I struggled to remain standing.  I was leaning into the wind at about a 45 degree angle and finally ended up on the ground.  By the time it was over, I was exhausted and totally soaked from the waist up.  Luckily, I had my waders on and did not get hit by any flying debris or lightning!  The storm came abruptly, and just as quickly, it was gone. 

 On June 12 & 13, Project THERMALS kicked off when Debbie Fenner, Kerry  Fenner, Colin Mahon, Devin Stephenson , Jordan Erwin. Kai Labella and Douglas Moran joined our friend Mark Nemeth of the DNR in 2 days of climbing in and out of South Creek and the South Branch of the Vermillion.
Project THERMALS is a 5 year program to monitor and report water temperatures in those 2 trout streams. The project was jointly developed between the DNR, the Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization and TCTU. 
Why is it important? Because it will provide important baseline data that can be used to influence policy and practices for the streams and the landscape around them. Think of it this way, it will give the bugs and fish and wildlife in those streams a voice as the land use around the streams change.

by Bob Luck
Greetings from Hokkaido, Japan.  What I would like to write about this month is a beautiful river I fished yesterday for wild rainbows in the foothills of the Tokachi Mountains.  But this is not the Hokkaido Trout Unlimited newsletter, and, as President Yves reminded me yesterday, we are a coldwater conservation organization, not a fishing club.  Which means what I need to write about is bugs.
For most of my fishing career, my favorite order of aquatic insects was mayflies, with their elegant, upswept wings, stately bearing, and tragic Romeo-and-Juliet story of a single night of romance before embracing death. That changed six years ago when my daughter Marisa caught her first trout on a dry fly with an Elk Hair Caddis on the Rush River.  It was a beautiful 12” brown and she did everything right:  approach, cast, drift, set, land, pose, release.  You can guess which of us was more excited.  A few days later I ran into chapter members John Pogatchik, Pat Sexton and Ben Anderson who were clustered around a cell phone at a parking lot on the Rush, looking at photos of a 20+” Brown that John had caught and released.  Ben later sent me 40 (!) photos of the event, which shows you how excited he was. John told me I needed to try swinging wet flies during the caddis hatch and gave me a couple of Stop and Gos, which has since become my favorite wet fly.  With their mothlike appearance, Caddis may not be as lovely as Mayflies, but they are a blast to fish, and trout love them.
I fear that I may have fallen in love with Caddis just in time to watch them disappear from the streams in our area.  

The Hastings Environmental Protectors are one of our partners in preserving and protecting the Vermillion River.  Check out their volunteer opportunities this summer!

by Jim Sauter
"Even if they are not members of the 'Big Four': Mayflies, Caddis, Stoneflies, Midges, they are important for us fly fishers. They are year round residents in the water, are some of the biggest insect morsels for trout, and they are also members of the last major emergence in a stillwater year. Some say the best is saved for last."  Břetislav Kašpar, Global Flyfisher

DRAGONS & DAMSELS
Greetings from the TCTU Streamkeepers.
Tis the season for dragons and damsels.  Monitoring these aquatic macroinvertebrates can offer insights into water quality.  As a bonus, they can help us identify hatches on area streams when they entertain us with their amazing aerial acrobatic skills.  They also eat a lot of mosquitos!
Dragonflies and damselflies act as crucial bio-indicators of stream and wetland health in Minnesota. Because their larval (nymph) stage spends months or years underwater, the presence and diversity of specific species reveal a lot about water pollution, habitat degradation, and overall ecosystem balance. [1, 2, 3] 
The good news is that we have consistently found these macros in many of our area streams and in streams where we have conducted macroinvertebrate testing.

KIAP-TU-WISH, our sister chapter in Western Wisconsin, held its 5th annual STREAM Girls event on May 16th.  Sixteen enthusiastic 11-15 year-olds were joined by over a dozen equally enthusiastic volunteers for a day of learning about stream ecology and fly fishing for trout.  You can find a delightful account of the day by STREAM Girls Czar Michele Bevis below.

Thanks to everybody who attended our chapter meeting on Hay Creek.  If you would like to view/download the meeting presentation, please look below!  You can find the video on our YouTube Channel.  Don't forget to like and subscribe!

by Jim Sauter
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"... it is best to keep those outdoor lights off just in case. That is one way you can help the migration."  Ross Ellet, ABC Meteorologist
 
Greetings from the TCTU Streamkeepers. 
In last month’s newsletter, I shared that I visited with another angler at an area trout stream, TCTU member Gene Scheffler.  He graciously gave me two of his Chuck Caddis flies. 
Well, I had a chance to use the size 16 fly on the SB Whitewater on Saturday, May 2.  Near sunset I decided to give the Chuck Caddis a try and immediately caught four nice sized browns including the largest brown trout of the season so far for me.  The Chuck Caddis worked!  Another angler friend recently gave me some woodchuck fur, so I will be tying some of these soon!  If you don’t have a Chuck Caddis handy, the Mother’s Day Caddis will probably work.
After a long drive to the SB, I encountered numerous other anglers in the area including a family with 3 children.  One of the lads decided to fish very close to me, and what I thought was a splash from a trout turned out to be his large bobber.  He had made a truly amazing cast with a beautiful zebco.  Lots of fun!
Even though the river was "crowded" by my standards, the trout remained very active.  One of the other elderly fishermen that I visited with had been there since 5:00 am when the temperature was a brisk 26 degrees.  The air temp when I arrived was a balmy 60 degrees.

 by Doug Moran
In many Upper Midwest trout watersheds, invasive species management often focuses on well-known culprits like buckthorn or reed canary grass. Yet another plant—wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)—is quietly degrading trout stream riparian zones in ways that directly impact habitat quality, water temperature, and restoration success.  While commonly viewed as a roadside nuisance, wild parsnip can have outsized ecological consequences when it establishes along streambanks and floodplains.
Wild parsnip readily forms dense, often monotypic stands that displace native riparian vegetation such as sedges, grasses, and forbs. These native plants typically provide deep, fibrous root systems that stabilize streambanks and support diverse ecological functions.In contrast, parsnip-dominated areas tend to have simpler structure and shallower root systems. The result is reduced bank stability and an increased likelihood of erosion, particularly during high flow events.  For trout streams, this shift matters. As banks destabilize, more sediment enters the channel—setting off a chain reaction of habitat degradation.

How You Can Help
TCTU has expanded its habitat efforts to include taking action on wild parsnips. We have several events either planned or in development, so make sure you check our Events Page to help.

by Bob Luck
​My wife says I treat trout fishing like a job.  Just about every weekday morning I pack my lunch, load my waders into the car, give her a kiss and tell her the same thing that Black Bill told his wife before catching the state record stream trout on the Whitewater River:  “I’m going out to catch the big one”.  And sometimes I do, although nowhere near the size of Black Bill’s 14 pounder.  Last year may have been my best big-fish year ever.  I caught ten trout in the Driftless area over 16”, including two that were 20”. 
This being fishing, last year's success has inevitably led to this year's failure.  I have been catching plenty of 10-11 inchers, less in the 12-14” range than I usually do, and my biggest fish so far taped out at a measly 15”.  There have been a few opportunities:  I was fishing a bankside pocket on the Kinni in mid April when my nymph stopped.  I set the hook and saw a large head come out of the water.  Then…nothing.  Two weeks ago, I fished a cramped, brushy stream on a tip from Doug Moran.  On the second hole I had a swing and miss from a trout that looked close to 20”.  I reported this to Doug, who went back with his spinning rod and sent me a photo of an 18” brown trout—his personal best.  If I were a bigger person, I’d be happy for Doug.  ​

In 2014, Minnesota passed a riparian buffer law, requiring perennial vegetative buffers of up to 50 feet along lakes, rivers, and streams and buffers of 16.5 feet along ditches.   The objective of this law was to reduce sedimentation and nutrient loading in order to improve aquatic ecosystem health.  
Is the law working?
That is the question that the TCTU Streamkeepers set out to answer last year, by doing macroinvertebrate sampling at two sites on the South Branch of the Whitewater River, following up on research that had been conducted in 2018, shortly after the law's implementation.  A team of amateur entomologists including Mitch Abbett, Carl Nelson, Mark Peerenboom, Jim Sauter and Dave Sauter (aka Jim's brother) collected samples of insects that were analyzed by MNTU Habitat Director Dr. Jennifer Biederman and Winona State PhD Candidate Will Varela.  Doug Moran provided angling support.

Thanks to John Edstrom for a great presentation.  A video of his presentation is on our YouTube channel here.  You can view or download his slides below.  

by Bob Luck
A big thank you to everybody who attended the Earth Day Trash Pickup in Lakeville.  This year's event was "choose your own adventure" style.  My wife Sahya and I picked up along South Creek near the border with Farmington.  Lots of trash to clean!  We also did a bit of seining in the water and found some scuds, but no mayflies, caddis flies or stone flies,  Hopefully the stream restoration project we have in store will help to change that.
Earth Day is this Wednesday, April 22nd.  The weeds are low and the trash stands out.  If you get a chance, please clean up in your neighborhood, or pick up some trash the next time you are out on the stream!