No boat or shore stands between these anglers and their chosen sport. As the ice and snow have finally melted, fly fishers ready for their season to begin.

“Just standing in the middle of a trout stream is just incredible,” Al Ducett, an avid fly fisherman, said. “It’s kind of like a psychiatrist. It quiets you down, you can relax – it’s just the beauty of it.”

Aspiring fly-fishers of all ages gathered at Whitewater State Park in Altura, Minn., April 15 for the first session of an introduction to fly fishing course. The four-week course, each Friday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., will conclude May 6.

Mark Reisetter, a retired high school teacher from Lewiston, Minn., who is “pretty much addicted to cold water fishery,” is teaching the annual course for the first time this year.

Reisetter, who caught his first trout in 1972, said his passion for fishing stems from his family’s rich heritage of walleye fishers. Reisetter has fished for walleye, northern pike and sunnies, but he fell in love with trout, often trading in his 14-foot aluminum boat or 17-foot square stern canoe for the chance to stand knee deep in a creek.

There are 50 creeks in southeastern Minnesota, which, according to Reisetter, is the “pride of the driftless area,” which also includes southwestern Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois.

It is in these cold streams that three different species of trout can be found: brook, brown and rainbow. Brook trout are the only stream trout native to Minnesota. Averaging less than 10 inches, “brookies” only tolerate the cleanest and clearest water.

Brown trout are the most common species, accounting for 90 percent of all southeastern Minnesota trout. These fish, which average more than 10 inches, were introduced more than a century ago and have since become naturalized.

Rainbow trout, which average between nine and 11 inches, do not reproduce in southeastern Minnesota and as a result, populations are maintained by stocking.

According to Reisetter, one of the responsibilities of a good guide is to know what is happening within the streams themselves; therefore he performs valuable “research” nearly every day during the fishing season.

“Often on the stream a recurring puzzle presents itself,” Reisetter said. “Fish are not feeding and what worked yesterday, or 10 minutes ago, is not working now. Solving that puzzle and getting a hook-up is very rewarding every time it happens.”

The desire to learn these problem-solving skills--as well as basics like special equipment usage and casting--is what drew many of the participants, including 14-year-old Tyler Picha and his grandfather, to the course.

“Trout fishing just kind of seems like a nice change from the normal type of fishing,” Picha said.

According to Reisetter, in casting, less is more. In a basic overhead cast, the rod must move forward and backward in an almost perpendicular plane, traveling in a slightly oval path.

“There’s a lyrical motion to it,” Reisetter said. “It’s beautiful.”

Requirements of a successful fly fisher not only include the knowledge of equipment and trout, but an understanding of the trout’s environment as well.  Reisetter said it is critical that lures used represent small fish or insects; the live organisms stream trout feed on. The most crucial factors in “matching the hatch” are size, color and shape.

There are four artificial lures, or flies, typically used in trout fishing: dry flies, nymphs, streamers and wet flies.
   
For Reisetter, focusing on the combination of factors involved serves as a welcome distraction.

“When I focus on the stream, the insect activity, the take of the fish, in general, the activity at hand, I don’t have time or the inclination to think about any problems I might have,” Reisetter said.

For many fly fishers, standing in the creek, casting for trout below riffles, or choppy, shallow water and watching them dash into fast water to feed, creates the ultimate outdoor experience.

“Fly fishing takes me to some beautiful, pristine places,” Reisetter said. “I am connected with the natural world while I fish. Wading in cold, clear water soothes my soul.”