A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 53. Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
It’s officially springtime on the trout creeks. We’re seeing a mix of olives, midges and winter stoneflies hatching with fish rising daily. There have also been reports of caddis hatching!!!
Creeks are clear and a touch low with temperatures in the 40s. With cooler nights, there is still no need to get out on the water at dawn, but fishing all day is now possible.
Nymphing in the morning using scuds, pink squirrels and your assorted thin bodied bugs is still great, then switching to a hippie stomper or training wheel with a dropper mid day has been fishing well. Splashy rises mean caddis, both black and tan have been seen. The main hatch is not quite here, but be ready!

As the Pandemic continues, life has been upended. Our fishery, our area and our community come first. While none of these decisions are easy we worry about the health of our guides, customers and ourselves. This will pass, and things will get back on track.

STORE: The storefront is closed. We are not doing curbside, we are not doing drive through, we are no longer doing deliveries. We are now only able to ship orders. Please call, e-mail, or use our online shopping page! There will be no exceptions to this.

GUIDING: While there is a still a stay at home order, it would be unethical and possibly illegal to be guiding. We are not taking any trips in the month of April. We will see how long this lasts, and may have to cancel all May guided trips as well depending on the virus and what is right for our area.
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FISHING IN THE DRIFTLESS: – Fishing should be done close to home, a day trip only. You should be able to fill up at your local gas station, head to the stream making NO stops for gas or food, responsibly fish, and return home. At this point we do not encourage overnight stays. While fishing is still legal in Wisconsin, you are required to maintain social distancing requirements. This should be easy to do, however we have seen multiple cars parked at access points. Please don’t risk it. Spread out and keep yourself and others healthy.

We thank you all for your support during these difficult times. We will continue posting reports and fishing related photos on our social media. This is not done to encourage you to come visit, it is just to maintain a sense of routine, normalcy (Mat will go crazy if he can’t write fishing reports…), and to allow you to enjoy the Driftless from afar.

Temperature rising to near 53 by 11am, then falling to around 33 during the remainder of the day. South wind 5 to 14 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Really not sure what to make of today’s weather! Saturday and Sunday are sunny.

Please remember Wisconsin is under a shelter in place order. Do not travel unnecessarily. While fishing is an outdoor activity, there are legal lines that are very blurred about crossing state borders to come and fish. We can not give legal advice, but we do encourage you to stay healthy, and if you do go out and fish maintain social distancing!

Creeks are clear and running a touch low. Hatches include midges, olives, and spring stoneflies.
Fishing nymphs and scuds in the morning has been good, then switching to a training wheel or hippie stomper with a dropper mid day when fish start looking up. If you are in a hatch of olives or midges, switching to a small soft hackle or dry is a good idea when you see rising fish!

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 60. Breezy, with a southeast wind 11 to 16 mph
Today is bringing in another brief cloudy and drizzly weather pattern. Friday looks like some light rain (nothing that should impact stream fishability!), and the weekend looks sunny and pleasant!
Creeks are clear and a touch low with water temperatures in the low to middle 40s.
Midges, olives, and spring stoneflies are hatching daily around the area. Typically we have seen the best surface activity in the later afternoon.
Subsurface fishing has opened wide up. We’re still doing well on our thin bodied, heavy dark patterns, but scuds, hare’s ears, soft hackles etc have all come into play.
On the surface, with the stonefly hatch, we are relying heavily on chubby chernobyls (training wheels) and hippie stompers as edible indicators. Tying a nymph dropper to these is a good idea!
WHen fish are gently rising, it is time for an olive or midge pattern on the surface.
Fish are still eating leeches and streamers, but are much more aggressive when the sun is not shining down on the clear water.

Creeks are clear and fishing well with water temperatures in the low to mid 40s at peak.

Bugs are hatching mid day and into the evening (midges, olives and winter stoneflies).

Nymphing and fishing scuds and squirrels early is good, leeching all day long is getting fish to eat too.

Fish are spookier when the sun is shining, so approach with caution on these sunnier days!

Shop is still open for online orders and delivery!!!

Showers. High near 42. Breezy, with a west wind 8 to 13 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Richland Center had almost an inch of rain. Fennimore about the same. La Crosse .25 inches, Viroqua .4 inches. In other words, Vernon County and north are in great shape, east and south of Vernon County things will be stained to muddy today and into tomorrow.
On the muddy creeks, leeches and san juan worms will be key. On the clear stuff, nymphing in the morning. The magic has happened in the afternoon and early evening. Olives are hatching daily as are midges and if the water temperature rises enough, the fish will rise! If not, smaller soft hackles and continuing to nymph is not a bad idea.

Rain and thunderstorms before 4pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 4pm and 5pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 5pm. High near 49. Breezy, with an east wind 13 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Yesterday we had some light rain in the evening that will stain up the creeks. Most are still fishable (watch out near Fennimore as many of those creeks get muddier than the creeks nearer the shop).
Water temps are just about at the sweet spot of 40 degrees. When the overnight temperature gets above freezing (high 30s to 40 preferably) things will really get hopping here!
As of now we are still seeing solid midge hatches and some blue winged olives later on in the afternoon. Subsurface flies in stained water should be a bit thicker and larger than normal. Pink squirrels, squirmy wormies, leeches, scuds etc.

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. East wind 5 to 8 mph
We’re at a tipping point (a good one for a change). Water temperatures are flirting with the 40 degree ambient temperature mark. A few more sunny days and a slight uptick in temperature and things will get really, really good quickly.
As it is now, we are still seeing midges hatching mid day, and olives around 2. Midge larvae and small, thin profile nymphs (especially with a bit of purple) are still the best subsurface, but we are getting more fish to eat scuds and thicker bodied bugs such as purple drank too.
The store is open for deliveries only right now, please shop online or call/email and we can get you what you need!

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 48. Light southeast wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Just out of habit, we will continue giving weather reports and more.
We have not seen the details of the shelter in place and can not be sure that fishing is on the list of activities. Obviously we will let you know as soon as we here. The physical storefront is closed, but we will continue to ship things out to you. We’re working on some sort of support for our guides too as we will not be able to book trips through the shelter in place order.

Until then, stay home, stay healthy and let’s get this thing under control!

Store is closed for delivery/pickup and drive through. (online shopping still going until we hear otherwise).

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers said Monday he will order the closure of all nonessential businesses starting Tuesday, and is urging people to stay at home to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.