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Comments: I finaly found a page that has my river on it. I live on the mighty Nam, above airport bridge about half a mile. I have personally witnessed the decline of the fishing on the river. In front of my house I have a mixture of fish, pike, smallmouth, muskies, and trout, although usally only a few. The DNR stocked the river in 95' and the fishing was awesome that first summer.
However that summer the water, temp.reached 82 degrees by my place. That was only for a shot time, but this put the fish under considerable stress. Then came the winter with temps. down to -40, I was able to walk on the river and I drilled a hole and it was 12" thick in some areas. Then with the combination of otters, eagles, ospreys, lamprey eels, fishermen etc. The trout population has dropped considerably. There are still fish in the Nam, but they are mostly browns and they are big, wild and hard to catch. The last fish over 20" I caught was a 23" I caught and released on June 1, 1996. That fish was wild and had a chunk missing from the top of it's tail.
Actually I fish the Brule more often because of the simple fact there are more fish. Some of you may know me. I've worked at Pastika's Sporting Goods, in Hayward for the past 5 years and the guys have dubbed me the guy to call if your looking for trout. For now the season is closed for another year. Next year, from what's left of the Phipps Dam to the Airport bridge it's going to be catch and release only. Check with the DNR book next spring. Right now I'm in Ely, MN attending Vermilion Community College. I will try to keep this updated with what's happening on the Nam, next spring.
Sam Shafarik sammy138098@hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------