Fishing Report

UPDATE 10:00 PM. Rain falling fairly heavily in town, much larger storm south of us. This will keep the creeks heavily stained to muddy through the day. Still waiting for the main band to hit (probably around mid day)

Showers and thunderstorms likely, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 1pm. High near 73. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
The storm today looks like it is staying south of us a bit. We will get hit, but as of now it doesn’t look like it will be a long soaking rain, but rather a quick rain. As always, we will keep you posted on clarity and conditions.
As of now, some smaller headwater and tributary streams are clear to stained (less than an inch fell in the last 24 hours) with the main channels and lower ends stained to murky.
Under these conditions, leeches, squirmy wormies, large scuds and pink squirrels are your best shot at fish. As water starts to drop and clear go smaller with your flies.

UPDATE 10:30: Rains have passed through for now. There is a little bit of fishable water available on the tiny feeders and upper ends of creeks, but the vast majority of our waters are heavily stained to muddy. Things have already begun to drop and clear out, but if we get more rain it will set the process back a bit.

We had a nice fishing report up early about how there was only an inch of rain in the past 24 hours. Then the skies opened up. Expect muddy water through the morning and possibly into the afternoon. The radar clears up in the next hour or so, but the damage has been done. If it rains more this evening, then tomorrow will be toast. If it drizzles or misses us we will be ok on Sunday.

While there will be some fishable water out there, expect the majority to be chocolate.

EDIT 1:15. Light rain in the area, but a very short band and will not do anything to the fishability of the creeks. No rain before and nothing really following this band until later tonight. We will keep you updated!

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 77. Southwest wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
So far, it looks like the heavy stuff is going to miss us. We have clear to slightly stained creeks area wide with water temps in the high 50s to low 60s. This rain will help cool things down and put a stain back on the water. We will keep you posted as things progress because the forecast is changing hourly it seems!
Hatches are sparse lately with some sulphurs, craneflies, and cahills showing up seemingly randomly in the evening. Expect happier surface feeders if the cloud cover stays in the area!
Small terrestrials are also great right now. As it gets windy before the rains, fishing an ant or beetle, especially under trees or overhanging grass can be deadly. Do not be afraid to let your terrestrial sink a little bit!
Subsurface fishing is great right now both high lining heavy nymphs on the bottom and fishing a dropper below a large foam attractor pattern.
If the rains hit and cloud the water up, tie on a leech or smaller streamer and hold on!

Increasing clouds, with a high near 85. South wind 6 to 11 mph.
This should be the last hot and humid day. We’re in our ‘summer’ weather pattern now. A few hot days followed by some showers and a cool down. Looking ahead, the rains are nothing bad at all. We’re watching the forecast and it is calling for a tenth to a half inch of rain each day. Just about perfect as it will cool down the temperatures, and if enough rain falls, it might put a slight stain on the water too!
Today, fish early and late and find some shade. The sun is definitely the limiting factor to fishing success. Concentrate on the water below riffles and throw a hippie and a dropper during the day. When the sun starts coming down, the fishing turns on! Fish have been rising nightly to sulphurs, craneflies, and simple parachute adams.
Creeks are clear and a touch low with water temperature in the high 50s to low 60s.

Sunny, with a high near 84. South wind 6 to 14 mph.
As we near summertime, the rhythm of fishing changes a bit. Fish early, fish late, and avoid the mid day heat. When the sun is off the water, the fishing is MUCH better right now. While we are still catching fish on hippie stompers with a bead head below throughout the mid day, the best fishing happens at first and last light.
Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temperatures in the high 50s to 60.
We’re seeing sulphurs, cahills, a few caddis and craneflies as well as yellow sallies hatching. Simple parachutes in a dark color (brown/grey) and a lighter color (PMD or Cahill) covers most of what you will run into in the evening. Don’t forget to twitch your flies!
Subsurface flies are all over the board. Having a few thin bodied flies and a few thick bodied bugs in your arsenal is key. Keep switching nymphs until the fish tell you what they want.

Sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 8 to 11 mph.
Fishing has been solid in the Driftless! Creeks are low and clear to slightly stained with water temps in the high 50s to 60.
Fishing is best when the sun is off the water. It isn’t bad in the open, but you give yourself a much better chance at catching trout when you find shady areas, and fish early and late when the sun is not shining directly on the water.
Terrestrials are starting to become very important in your fly selection. Ants and beetles and hippie stompers have been being eaten more and more often on the surface.
In the evenings we are getting a bug soup of cahills, sulphurs, a few caddis, craneflies, and some larger mayflies. Fishing an emerger or klinkhammer style fly in a light or dark color (the fish will let you know which they prefer) will get most rising fish to eat. Twitching a larger parachute (12-14) is also a great way to get some aggressive strikes.
Subsurface has been hot lately with thinner bodied, and flashy nymphs being most effective. Scuds and brush hogs coming in a close second.
Don’t forget leech patterns too! Especially in the evening and on the creeks that are still showing a bit of stain!

Sunny, with a high near 76. Light and variable wind becoming northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
The rains have helped fishing quite a bit! We have clear to stained conditions area wide. The larger creeks (West Fork, North Fork etc) will still be showing a good stain, while smaller creeks and tributary creeks will be clear.
Fishing has been excellent subsurface with a Werthers, surrender jigs, and brush hogs cleaning up. We’re tying these below a hippie stomper or amy’s ant. While the surface fly is not getting a ton of hits, it is still worth using these ‘edible indicators’.
In the evenings we are seeing sporadic rising fish that are eating emergers (film starts and klinkhammers) and larger (size 12-14) parachutes.
Creeks are clear to stained with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s.

Sunny, with a high near 75. Breezy, with a west wind 8 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph.
About half an inch of rain last night didn’t do anything to change the creeks. In the lower sections and on larger waters, creeks will have some heavy stain and mud. Up higher and on the tributaries we had clear to slightly stained conditions that will start to clear up quite a bit more as the day goes on. In other words, we have some excellent post rain conditions!
In the murky water, leeches, san juan worms, and larger scuds are very effective. In the clear stuff we are fishing a hippie stomper with a bead head below through the day, and switching over to mayfly emergers in the evenings (purple and brown).
Hatches are sparse but include sulphurs, yellow sallies, tan caddis, and very few larger mayflies.

Showers and thunderstorms likely before 1pm, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm between 1pm and 4pm, then showers likely after 4pm. Temperature rising to near 66 by 9am, then falling to around 60 during the remainder of the day. Breezy, with a light northwest wind increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
The rains last night dropped from 1.5 to 2 inches on average area wide. West of the Mississippi got a bit more. While our creeks will be murky this morning, they will drop and clear out fairly quickly giving us stained water this afternoon and evening, and clear to stained tomorrow.
In the stained water, think big. Fish larger scuds, squirmy wormies, leeches streamers, and pink squirrels.