Fishing Report

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch.
Creeks are clear to slightly stained with water temps in the mid to high 50s.
Yes, it looks miserable on paper for humans, but this weather is just about PERFECT for springtime trout fishing in the Driftless. The cloud cover and (hopefully) rains will get bugs and fish active.
Expect the caddis to hatch a bit later in the day because of the lack of sun. We may see some mayflies in the afternoon as well.
Scuds will be much more active subsurface when there clouds are in the sky. Tying one below a hippie stomper will be a go to while searching for trout!
With the sun behind the clouds, streamers and leeches will work a bit better too as fish will be more comfortable to chase a larger meal.

A slight chance of showers between noon and 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 67. Light and variable wind becoming south around 6 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Creeks are very low and clear. Water temperatures have dropped from the heat wave of last week and are back to the mid 50s in most cases. Larger, lower sections are running a bit warmer.
Caddis are still the main item on the menu right now. We are seeing both black and tan caddis pretty much all day starting mid day and lasting through the evening. The hatches have not been massive, black out the sun hatches but fish are still responding to caddis dries twitched and skittered in the riffles and thigh deep runs.
Ants have also started to become important.
We are still going with the old standard searching rig of an indicator foam pattern with a bead head tied about 3 feet below.
The evenings and into the night have been pretty good on large leeches and streamers, and we have even had anglers getting trout to eat mice!

Sunny, with a high near 73. Breezy, with a northwest wind 8 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
Creeks are low and clear, temperatures are dropping back down to normal for this time of season after the brutal heat.
Since the creeks heated up a bit, we have started to see craneflies (and even a sulphur here and there!) in addition to our caddis. Trout have also been keying in on ants and smaller beetles now too!
Fish will spend most of the day in the thigh deep runs and undercuts avoiding the bright sun, and move out into the riffles and runs to feed on caddis later in the afternoon/evening when the sun’s angle drops a bit. Don’t go to dinner early, the good fishing has started late in the day recently!

A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Sunny, with a high near 85. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 21 mph.
Last hot day of the heat wave. Tomorrow things go back to normal. The high heat has put the fish in a little funk. Seek out shade and use your thermometer. We have seen some creeks in the high 60s at the end of the day during this heat crunch!
Creeks are low and clear with temperatures in the low 60s. This will cool down after today.
Caddis are still the main course on the menu with both tan and blacks out there now. Trout are also still doing well on foam flies with droppers through the day too.

Sunny, with a high near 92. Heat index values as high as 97. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
That is not a joke. We are hitting over 90 degrees in May. With our water already low we will see water temps bump up quite a bit today and into the weekend. Thankfully things stabilize after the weekend.
As of now, the fish are still pretty happy eating caddis in the riffles. Even if you are not seeing a hatch or rising fish, trout can tuck up into the shin deep water and eat skittered caddis flies. This is especially true when the sun is off the water.
With the sun today, we might even see a regular caddis hatch.
BUT, with the weather as hot as it is, make sure to take precautions. Drink plenty of water, don’t over exert yourself, and wet wade instead of putting on waders. The weather is like a hot summer day, make sure you are prepared for it.

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. East wind 5 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Everything still solid and on track in the Driftless. A few caddis are hatching and a few leftover olives are still around in the afternoon as well. Trout have also started to eat on the surface on tiny mayflies as well.
The standby rig of a hippie stomper with a bead head below is still the way to go if you do not see rising fish. Trout are gorging subsurface and a few will come up to eat the ‘edible indicator’
Creeks are clear and a bit low with temperatures in the low 50s.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. East wind 3 to 6 mph.
Creeks are clear to stained with temperatures right around 50-ish.
We finally get a sunny day. In theory we should have a good caddis hatch day today, so get your black size 18 and tan size 16 caddis and emergers ready! But…. Being the first sunny day in a while the fish could be hunkered down and fussy for a while. Just keep moving to find the happy fish.
Same subsurface fishing rules from the past few days apply (in other words it doesn’t really matter what you fish below), and the good ole hippie stomper with a dropper rig will work just fine all day.

Showers, mainly before noon. High near 53. Northeast wind 6 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Creeks are clear and flowing still just a bit lower than normal. Water temps are hovering right around the 50 degree mark.
No major changes to the creeks. The rain we are seeing are looking like they will loop south and east of our area and possibly drop more rain in the Fennimore area.
Leeches and streamers in the mornings, foam or an indicator with a bead head fished below through the entire day, and caddis or larger parachutes fished with action (skitter, twitch, drag) mid day to evening will get fish that are not otherwise rising!

Scattered sprinkles before 10am. Cloudy, with a high near 52. Northwest wind 3 to 8 mph. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph.
Here’s the deal. The weather has been pretty glum. The clouds, drizzle and breezy conditions have guzzling more coffee, wondering why we are still wearing fleece in May, and overall just a bit crustier than normal for the springtime The fish on the other hand are LOVING it. We have always said that the Driftless trout thrive on stability. Good weather or bad, they love stable weather. The weather has been the same for a month plus at this point with little variation!
Creeks are low-ish and clear. We go an inch of rain over the weekend which helped bump up flows and get more insect activity going. Despite the correct conditions (sunny and clear skies) trout are eating caddis skittered on the surface in the afternoons. They are also eating foam patterns (hippie stompers of course!) with droppers below as well as size 12 parachutes.
Subsurface fishing has been solid on pretty much anything fished right below the riffles and the tailout of the pool.