Cold, but sunny on Friday, a little nicer Saturday, and Wisconsin warm on Sunday.
Not the best temperatures, but tolerable to be out there fishing. The peak time is always between about 10 and 2 when water temperatures are climbing. Once they start to fall, things shut down quickly. We have seen some sporadic midge hatches on some creeks, but the main fishing will be subsurface on small black nymphs and dead drifted leeches.
Quite possibly the go to dry in our guide Flybox. Sometimes the simple answer is the best when chasing trout in the Driftless. Have a few of these in 12/14 and a few in 20s and you will be dangerous for pretty much any hatch the creeks throw your way.
This little bead head combines a little flash, movement and color, but most importantly it has a ton of contrast to it. The neutral color to bright color alone is worth its weight in gold when it comes to selective trout in the Driftless.
Either the sample’s caddis Pupae or the pearl core caddis.
These flies are the most important aquatic insect in the Driftless. Fishing the pupae is essential for success!
Ants. They are like candy to trout. From spring to fall, fishing an ant either on the surface or sunken is one of the top ways to catch trout. Be aware of overhanging trees and other vegetation, these are ant hot spots.
note: some people got different styles of ants (hi-vis etc) from what is shown here. Fear not, any ant pattern with some segmentation and legginess works very well!
Another caddis dry that has a different profile than what we are used to. The sparkly, thicker abdomen on this fly works as an adult, hatching or dead pupae, and even an egg layer. Sometimes a different impression on the water is all it takes to fool trout.
A different profile that sits low in the surface film making it look oh so tempting to trout. Added messiness of CDC in the wing bring out even more life in this pattern. In various sizes and colors you can match everything the Driftless throws at you!
Looking for the dry fly to solve a frustrating hatch? Or are you in need of a solid early winter season midge pattern. This is the fly you need! A low riding, flashy bug that doesn’t exactly imitate anything, but seems to work for everything.
Due to the success of our purple drank guide fly, we expanded into a couple different colors this past season on an experimental basis. Look for this fly, the olive drank, to be another all season long fly!
It is so new, we don’t even have a photo of it yet!
The front end loader in tan is our GO TO caddis pattern in the springtime. It also doubles as a terrestrial and a small, subtle fly to tie emerger or light beads heads below.
