fished french creek 2 weeks ago. had a good weekend. lots of fish, real spooky.i am new to the area. i have not seen this stream talked about. any comments?? better streams??
Welcome broop. French is pretty small, so you won't see it discussed too much. It can also be one of the less forgiving streams; I just don't think it gets the pressure of some others in the area. Most of the people fishing that area also hit Waterloo or N or S Bear. If you prefer wild fish over freshly stocked, the upcoming months provide some of the best trout fishing of the year. Not many people on the streams, and all the fish have been in the streams since they dumped them in September or October.
Since you're new to the area here's a bit about our fish. Most of the rainbows you catch in Iowa are stocked as catchable sized fish; the browns are either naturally spawned, or stocked as fingerlings. Brook trout in Upper French, South Pine, and I think the upper part of Pine Creek are naturally reproducing.
I'd be interested to hear more about your experiences at French. Like you, I'm relatively new to the area (2+ years) and I've never made it there. A buddy and I fish Waterloo from time to time, and I'll echo Andy, if you like wild, smart trout and lower numbers of people, you might try the lower end, no kill section. Although if you like to catch numbers, it can be humbling (at least for me!)
In my experience the best time to fish the Waterloo no-kill section is when the water is slightly high and slightly stained. Those browns can be aggressive when they can't see you and aren't necessarily hugging cover. Most of the days I fish there it's low and clear; under those conditions I consider not getting skunked a success. Just getting your line on the water without spooking fish can be a challenge.
Oh yeah, where are you from broop? There are some pretty good streams a little farther south too, and this is the time of year to fish them. The crowds are down because they've stopped stocking and the hunting seasons are in full swing.
i live in central ill. just started trout fishing four years ago when my daughter moved to wy. started fishing the driftless area in wi. last year and really enjoy it. the french for me is tough,but i can catch fish there. a few fish can make my day. it's like hunting and fishing together, lot of slow moving and waiting for the fish to settle down. looking forward to finding some other streams not as tough to fish when I am not up for the challenge.
I'd echo some of the sentiments about French. In my opinion, French is a decent stream but Waterloo is pretty close to it from a distance perspective, and has better numbers and better big fish potentail. For those reasons I rarely go to French and hit waterloo pretty hard.
Both streams are similiar in terms of them having good natural reproduction of Brown Trout.
