CategoriesFishing Report

June 4th Fishing Report

A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph.
Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s.
The hot weather lately has water temperatures up a bit, make sure you are fishing early and late and seeking out shade whenever possible.
We’re still seeing our June bug soup. While hatches have not been heavy everywhere, we are seeing caddis, craneflies, sulphurs, a few larger mayflies (size 12 adams and size 12 brown parachute hatches!) midges and terrestrials are being eaten on the surface.
Subsurface fishing has been best on brush hogs, poutine, zebra midges and thread frenchies.

Guide service is back and running and we will be opening the shop’s front doors to a limited number of customers at a time starting Saturday!!!!

CategoriesFishing Report

June 3rd Fishing Report

Sunny, with a high near 83. Northwest wind 3 to 7 mph.
Rains hit hard and fast last night dropping up to an inch of rain (south of us got hit with up to 2+). Luckily, thing soaked in and started clearing up quickly leaving many of our smaller creeks clear to slightly stained this morning.
The rain will have cooled down water temperatures a bit, after yesterdays 90 degree weather, temps were pushing into the 60s. Today expect mid to high 50s.
Caddis, craneflies, and some lighter colored mayflies are hatching, especially in the evenings. During the day we are fishing our standby hippie stomper with a bead head dropper (check the highlighted flies below for one of our hot bugs right now!)
On the cloudy water leeches and squirmy wormies.

CategoriesFishing Report

June 2nd Fishing Report

Sunny, with a high near 90. Heat index values as high as 96. West wind 5 to 10 mph
Creeks are low and clear with temperatures in the mid to high 50s.
Yesterday was incredibly windy which means the hatches were blown about and fish were not rising well. Luckily the subsurface fishing made up for it! Bug wise, there have not been any super thick hatches lately but sporadic caddis, lighter colored mayflies and craneflies have fish rising here and there. The terrestrial bit is picking up! Ants, beetles, and attractors such as hippie stompers (orange) and training wheels (orange, yellow and purple royal) are getting some aggressive eats especially in shaded areas. Dropping a thin bodied bead head nymph or smaller scud below these has been excellent, especially mid day.
We’re in a summer type rythym right now. Early on fish will eat midges and some mayfly spinners, then when the sun hits the water around 10 they will switch to subsurface and opportunistically feed on terrestrials and attractors. In the evening, the hatches get fish looking up again.

Practice good social distancing on the water. The Centers for Disease Controlrecommends staying six feet apart from others. We’re taking it a step farther — we’re asking anglers to stay a rod’s length apart from their fishing partners whenever possible. The standard fly rod is nine feet long.

Wear a multi-layered face covering when in the vicinity of other anglers. Even a double-layered cloth mask can help slow the spread of the virus.

Avoid fishing from a boat with someone you haven’t been in lock-down with. In other words, if they’re not family, don’t fish from a boat with them — it’s just not possible to practice social distancing while in a drift boat.

Drive to the river separately to get to the angling destination.

Stay local, if at all possible, to limit exposure to others, and limit others’ exposure to you.

CategoriesFishing Report

June 1st Fishing Report

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before noon. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Looks like the weather is blowing in some summer temperatures over the next few days. And, our fishing has become a bit like summer fishing. Meaning we are concentrating on fishing early, and late, and avoiding the bright mid day sun.
Creeks are clear and flowing in the mid to high 50s. Tan caddis are still round, but in fairly small numbers. If you see a splashy rise now it is more likely a cranefly eat than a caddis. In the evenings, we are getting sulphurs, pmds, and cahills. Mayflies in orange, green-ish, and white.
During the day, it is hippie stomper season! Tossing a big, visible foam fly as an indicator and dropping a bead head below is great. If there are clouds in the sky or a stain on the water, fish larger, thicker bodied patterns. The more clear the sky/water is, fish thin bodied patterns.
Guiding is back! We have finally put into place the last pieces to ensure that you, and our guides are safe while still being able to provide a great guided trip. Please call us for details.
We are finishing up the plans to re-open the shop to a limited amount of customers soon. Look for ‘re-opening’ later this week!

CategoriesFishing Report

May 30th Fishing Report

Sunny, with a high near 65. Northwest wind 6 to 13 mph.

Creeks will range from crystal clear to muddy area wide. If you aren’t happy with the clarity drive upstream bit for clearer water, and downstream a bit for stained water. Water temps are in the mid 50s.

On the stained water, leeches, scuds, and squirmy wormies are working well. On the clear stuff, smaller, thin bodied bead heads under a foam terrestrial.

Practice good social distancing on the water. The Centers for Disease Controlrecommends staying six feet apart from others. We’re taking it a step farther — we’re asking anglers to stay a rod’s length apart from their fishing partners whenever possible. The standard fly rod is nine feet long.

Wear a multi-layered face covering when in the vicinity of other anglers. Even a double-layered cloth mask can help slow the spread of the virus.

Avoid fishing from a boat with someone you haven’t been in lock-down with. In other words, if they’re not family, don’t fish from a boat with them — it’s just not possible to practice social distancing while in a drift boat.

Drive to the river separately to get to the angling destination.

Stay local, if at all possible, to limit exposure to others, and limit others’ exposure to you.

CategoriesFishing Report

May 28th Fishing Report

Showers, mainly before 1pm. Patchy fog before 10am. High near 72. North wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
Anywhere from half and inch to two inches fell yesterday, and we are seeing light rains over the area now. While not all creeks are unfishable, expect most of them to have a heavy stain on them.
When the high water hits, fish leeches and san juan worms or larger nymph patterns!
Shop is closed today, will be open for curbside and drive through again tomorrow.

CategoriesFishing Report

May 27th Fishing Report

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 81. South wind 5 to 8 mph. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Rains last night dumped about a quarter to a half of an inch quickly. Creeks today are clear to slightly stained with some that are heavily stained. Looks like we are supposed to get 1-2 inches of rain tomorrow. Think of these as summer storms, but in May… The big rains shouldn’t mess things up for the weekend but we will keep you updated.
Today, expect good fishing subsurface on scuds and thread frenchies. Surface fishing has been good in the evenings on sulphurs and caddis, and on beetles and hippie stompers during the day. Foam with a dropper is the ticket again mid day in the sun!

Practice good social distancing on the water. The Centers for Disease Controlrecommends staying six feet apart from others. We’re taking it a step farther — we’re asking anglers to stay a rod’s length apart from their fishing partners whenever possible. The standard fly rod is nine feet long.

Wear a multi-layered face covering when in the vicinity of other anglers. Even a double-layered cloth mask can help slow the spread of the virus.

Avoid fishing from a boat with someone you haven’t been in lock-down with. In other words, if they’re not family, don’t fish from a boat with them — it’s just not possible to practice social distancing while in a drift boat.

Drive to the river separately to get to the angling destination.

Stay local, if at all possible, to limit exposure to others, and limit others’ exposure to you.

CategoriesFishing Report

May 26th Stream Report

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 5pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 82. South wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Recent rains have either missed us, hit hard then disappeared, or soaked into the ground. In our trip county area, creeks are clear to stained and up just a little.
While we are waiting for sulphurs, craneflies, or caddis to hatch and before the fish are rising, the hippie stomper and brush hog combo have been deadly! Nothing like fishing the old, familiar driftless guide combo.

Practice good social distancing on the water. The Centers for Disease Controlrecommends staying six feet apart from others. We’re taking it a step farther — we’re asking anglers to stay a rod’s length apart from their fishing partners whenever possible. The standard fly rod is nine feet long.

Wear a multi-layered face covering when in the vicinity of other anglers. Even a double-layered cloth mask can help slow the spread of the virus.

Avoid fishing from a boat with someone you haven’t been in lock-down with. In other words, if they’re not family, don’t fish from a boat with them — it’s just not possible to practice social distancing while in a drift boat.

Drive to the river separately to get to the angling destination.

Stay local, if at all possible, to limit exposure to others, and limit others’ exposure to you.

CategoriesFishing Report

May 23rd Updates

We’re still watching the virus cases in our area closely. They have recently showed up and are climbing. We’re following the advice of the CDC, WHO, and state and local health agencies and have the storefront and guiding closed until at least June 1st. We will begin curbside and drive through on Tuesday.

Showers and thunderstorms. High near 70. East wind 11 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
As of now creeks are clear and flowing a bit low. Sulphurs have arrived and are added to the bug soup along with olives, caddis, craneflies and midges. We have even spotted some yellow sallies here and there already.
Subsurface fishing has been good on heavy nymphs rolled along the bottom. Check out the featured fly below, the thread frenchie, as it has been excellent for us lately!
Chance of rains starting this afternoon and through most of next week. We will keep you posted!

CategoriesFishing Report

May 21st Updates

This has been a frustrating spring for everybody. Our lives have all been upended and thrown into a bit of chaos. At the Driftless Angler, we believe that the health of our staff, clients, and community comes first. We are looking at a return to guiding with some restrictions starting June 1st. As of now the storefront remains closed and will continue to ship items. We are looking at starting curbside pickup/drivethrough after the holiday weekend.

If you are coming into the area, please be aware that Vernon, Richland, and Crawford county are just now (within the past 2 weeks) starting to see their first cases of covid-19 and the numbers are rising each day. Services are still very limited as many stores, restaurants, and campgrounds etc remain closed until things calm down.

Please be respectful of local landowners, and each other! Unfortunately there have been some anglers not following the rules (trespassing, cutting fence etc) this spring and we have already lost a handful of landowner friendly properties because of it. If we want to continue to be welcomed as anglers, please make sure you are on better than your best behavior!!

The fishing has been good with creeks clear to slightly stained (the rains did little to muddy things sphere) and water temperatures in the low to mid 50s. We are seeing sulphurs and caddis hatching with fish sporadically rising throughout the day. Subsurface fishing has been best on scuds and heavy bead heads in the riffles.

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