Fishing Report

EARLY CATCH AND RELEASE SEASON OPENS JAN 7!

A 20 percent chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 45. South wind 3 to 6 mph.
Creeks are low and clear, but will get a bit of stain today with the melting. The rest of the week is forecasted to be in the high 20s to low 30s. Nothing remarkable ahead setting up for the early season. A

There have been fish rising to midges pretty much every day in this mild weather. Expect the best fishing in the winter to be mid day between about 10 and 2 when the water temperature is at its peak.

Hello everybody! We hope everyone enjoyed (or just survived) the holidays!

Here in the Driftless it has been very cold and we have had quite a bit of snow fall already which is excellent news for our creeks so far. The official season opens on January 7th. The shop is still currently closed and we will announce winter season hours soon (remember they are a bit odd and weather dependent, so watch social media and this page).

If you are interested in travelling with us to Argentina, just a heads up that there will be a slight increase in rates for 2023. If you want to fish on one of our hosted trips (or on your own) and want to lock in 2022 rates, let us know ASAP and we can make that happen for you. We are only able to do this until January 1st so email (info@driftlessangler.com) or message us soon!

We’re still around this winter, so if you have any questions, or want to get your trip or apartment stay on the calendar, call or email us!

We hope everyone is enjoying the fall and winter! As per usual our storefront is seasonally closed. However, our online store is always open, and we are checking e-mails and voicemails every day.

Please shoot us an email with any questions, or reach out via social media or WhatsApp with any and all questions. We are still here for you!

We can not thank you all enough for your continued support over the years!

Wisconsin’s inland trout season closes after today. That means the Driftless creeks are not open to any fishing (even catch and release) until January.

The shop will close at noon today so the guides and owners can get out and fish a bit before the end.

We will update off season hours here soon, but until then we will be taking a brief break.

Thank you all again!

Showers and thunderstorms likely before noon, then scattered showers after 5pm. Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a steady temperature around 57. Breezy, with a west wind 8 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Season ends after October 15th. Get out there and fish.
Clouds this morning should have fish in a good mood. Clearing skies and wind will have anglers in a bit of a crummy mood later in the day…..
Fishing is still good. Difficult in many cases with the low clear water, sun and wind, but we’re still catching fish.
Focus on the riffles and broken water. Nymphing is key as hoppers are continuing to slide in effectiveness. We are still using smaller foam patterns as indicator flies for a dropper, but true ‘match the hatch’ hoppers are slowing down with the cooler days.
Olive hatches are around and fish will be rising to them, but they have not been as predictable as usual for this time of year. Have a few greased lightnings and pearl butt secrets in your fly box to fool those fussy olive eaters!

Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Breezy, with a south wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.
Creeks are still very low and clear, but the fish turned on just a little bit more yesterday. While they are still a bit hesitant to eat on the surface, some fish are still slashing at hoppers and beetles mid day, and when the sun goes down they are eating a few mayflies up top too.
The vast majority of action is subsurface with fish eating bead heads and small leeches.

Sunny, with a high near 66. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the morning.
Wisconsin’s trout season ends after this Saturday the 15th. Get out there and fish!
We’re still cursed with ending the season with low water and some sunny skies today. Fish are very spooky, so make sure to focus on the broken water in the riffles and current seams. If the you can see fish, they can see you and can be very fussy under current conditions.
We’re still doing well with an ‘edible indicator’ foam or hopper pattern with bead heads below. The olives are also showing up in the later afternoon. The hatch is still spotty, but fish are rising. Make sure to have some small lighter colored dries with you as well as fish can key in on that this time of year.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 50. Northwest wind around 9 mph.
Chilly mornings with frost and light freezing today and tomorrow. While this will not mess up fishing directly, it will definetely slow down the terrestrial bite as some hoppers will start dying with the freeze overnight. This does not mean you abandon your foam/dropper rigs, just change it a bit and carry some hippie stompers in dark and light colors instead of your ‘match the hatch’ true hoppers.
Olives are still showing up in the evenings, the hatch is still spotty but fish are rising in the later afternoon and evening.
Trout are just starting to get aggressive. The low and clear water has not given us the best conditions for leech and streamer fishing, but we are seeing an increase in activity chasing larger patterns.

Showers likely, mainly before 10am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 59. Breezy, with a north wind 7 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Creeks are very low and clear. The mist and drizzle this morning will, unfortunately, not do much to raise the water levels or stain things up. Fishing has been difficult the past few days.
We are still getting fish to eat foam attractors and terrestrials with droppers all day long, and we are still seeing some olives hatching in the later afternoon and evening. Leeches and streamers are actually doing quite well right now with fish just starting to get that fall aggressive streak.

Partly sunny, with a high near 71. South wind 3 to 8 mph.
In the bizarre way that trout fishing flows, yesterday’s warmer and sunny weather turned the fishing on. Specifically the hopper fishing. With the warmer temps terrestrials started moving around a bit more in the afternoon (same thing should happen today!) and fish were happily eating hoppers the second half of the day until the olive hatch showed up.
Expect terrestrials with droppers to work well through the day today, and watch for olives in the evening.
Creeks are very low and clear and fish are extremely spooky. Find shade, approach with as much stealth as possible, and focus on the broken riffle water and runs where fish can not see you as well.