North Fork Zumbro & Cold Spring Brook

Tommy and I tried the NF Zumbro downstream of Mazeppa. We had heard of big fish and there possibly are but it is a really low numbers deal. We did not even spot any browns bigger than 17." I would say walking 1.2 miles upstream we saw only a dozen total browns, most were your average size. We did catch smallies with worms. Big water, you could almost canoe most spots.

Check out this tall bank. Interesting how the south side is steep and the north side is flat. The area got hit hard this spring from all the constant rain we had, some real gully washers. A few large trees in the crick too.



Lots of up to your chest water. Beautiful scenery reminding me of Montana. Lots of gravel and sand and not too much silt. Reminds me of Little Cannon and Belle. Too bad the trout bite just was not much at all. We really gave it our best and covered a lot of water.



One and only brown landed on the crick. Casted to the edge of the crick by some logs and three trout came darting out and chased my spinner. This brown hit right in front of me at the last minute. Caught on a #9 gold Panther Martin spinner. Estimated to be 15" this fish was nice and fat.



We went over to Cold Spring Brook next. Right downstream of the bridge is a really deep blue green pool. However no fish home at least by worm or spinner. Upstream we found a pool where I thought I had a nice brookie, only ending up being a 12" brown on a worm. Next big pool by the road rising browns jumping out of the water for some type of hatch. The wanted nothing to do with worms, spinners, and small Husky Jerk. Disappointing to see CSB taken over by browns.

Crummy trout bite not the best way to end the season but what can you do? We knew going into this it is a low numbers stream and a higher chance at a skunk. Yet perhaps the right conditions and the right pool, NF might just produce a few quality trout. Time will tell. Until next season.