Fishing Report

Increasing clouds, with a high near 74. Southeast wind 6 to 13 mph.
Creeks are clear to slightly stained. The rains did not impact our area close to Viroqua like it did other areas of the Driftless and we have had clear water for a week plus now!
It is still summertime and the fish are very spooky. However with the fortunate weather we are having (cooler temperatures and rain) water levels and temperatures are holding in a very trout friendly zone. Only larger creeks and the West Fork of the Kickapoo specifically are a bit on the warm side.
There are still a few fish rising early in the mornings and later in the evenings. Seam sippers in PMD and Olive have you covered for pretty much any surface activity along with your normal parachute adams type bugs.
The main thing on the menu are terrestrials right now. Still mainly beetles and ants, but we are starting to see more and more hoppers daily.
Fishing a terrestrial with a dropper is deadly all summer long.
On the creeks that remain stained, or when the sun is off the water, small baitfish colored streamers and leeches are doing well.
Reports of decent mousing are coming in, but it is a little too wet still for mousing to be hot.

A chance of sprinkles before 3pm, then a slight chance of showers between 3pm and 4pm, then a chance of sprinkles after 4pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Breezy, with a west wind 6 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Rains yesterday didn’t mess things up in our area. Creeks near Viroqua remain clear to slightly stained. Too far east or south things get more stained but still fishable.
Water temperatures are in the low 60s with only a few creeks over 65. It’s time to use your thermometer again, as anything over 65 will be slow fishing and much higher than that you can stress trout.
Smaller terrestrials with droppers are the easiest and most effective way to catch fish right now. Tossing small ants underneath overhanging vegetation has been great too.
Major hatches are pretty much done for the summertime, but there are still fish rising in the evenings. Simple, generic patterns are working for rising fish, with a good presentation they are not too picky.
Sunday and Monday the temperatures will be in the low 70s! Incredibly comfortable for this time of season.

Showers and thunderstorms before 3pm, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly after 3pm. High near 72. Breezy, with a south wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.
It is so nice to see the rains after the drought last year. Creeks will remain clear to slightly stained in our area as it does not look like we are forecasted for anything heavy at all.
With the drizzle and the clouds in the sky, fish should be in a better mood today. Focus on fishing scuds, small leech patterns and pink squirrels. Smaller ants will not be as effective today, so if you are fishing dry/dropper focus on hippie stomper and chubby chernobyl style flies. Something a bit more buoyant. Over the weekend expect sunny weather (warmer on Saturday but beautiful temps on Sunday!!) so make sure you are fishing early and late and avoiding the mid day sun.
Only the West Fork of the Kickapoo is too warm to fish, water temperatures area wide were still in the low 60s mid day and the rains today will keep everything cool.

Partly sunny, with a high near 76. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Creeks are in great shape here, clear to slightly stained. Over the Wisconsin river near Fennimore, things remain muddy to slightly stained.
Temperatures are in the low 60s. We do have a couple of creeks (West Fork of the Kickapoo specifically) that are already in the upper 60s. Use your thermometer and remember anything over 65 will be slow fishing.
It’s terrestrial time in the Driftless. Fishing a beetle, ant, attractor pattern and even grasshoppers with a bead head below is deadly! Hatches are sparse and we are using generic patterns to fool rising fish.
Friday looks interesting with cooler temps and some drizzle! Then the rest of the weekend will be sunny and normal temperature wise. When the sun is shining bright, remember to fish early and late and avoid the mid day sun. Fishing is far better when and where the sun is off the water.

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 9am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Northwest wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.
Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s.
Right now, ants and beetles are the ticket! Riffles, underneath overhanging vegetation and even twitched in the slower water, the surface activity has been very fun lately.
A small hopper/foam indicator bug with a bead head is also working well in the riffles and runs.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Last hot day, things cool down a bit tomorrow and into the weekend.
Creeks are clear to slightly stained and temperatures are right around 60. Not bad at all for late June!
The storms that came through a couple of days ago flushed most of our creeks and even knocked down some bankside vegetation.
Hatches are sparse (normal for this time of year) as we transition into heavy terrestrial season. Outside of a few egg laying caddis and mayflies in the evenings, there is not major hatch right now. It is mostly ants, beetles and foam attractors patterns with bead heads below that is catching fish right now.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Light southeast wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 21 mph.
We’re seeing more and more fishable water open up after a weekend of much needed heavy rains. Fishing yesterday, while on limited creeks, was quite good. Focus on the upper sections of streams, avoid the bigger waters, and you will find clear to medium stained conditions. The farther down the creek you get, the murkier the water is.
In the clear water, ants, beetles and larger seam sippers are catching fish on the surface. Subsurface flies are bright, flashy and skinny.
In the stained to murky water, leeches and worm patterns as well as larger scuds are good.
The good news is the rain flushed out a few creeks and will help keep water temperatures stable as we head into summertime. The bad news, it brought out a large number of gnats. Remember your buggins!

Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 78. Northwest wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
The majority of our waters are muddy to heavily stained with a few headwater creeks and some surprises running clear enough to fish first thing this morning. All in all, it seems we got a decent flush of the creeks, and things are dropping and clearing quickly. Later today will be ok, and by tomorrow we should be good pretty much area wide. South of the Wisconsin river into the Fennimore area will stay muddy longer as they received more rain than by the shop.
Under these conditions, leeches, scuds and San Juan worms are you friend!

UPDATE 3:45. We were hopeful, but now this popped up and will hit the area around 5 p.m. If it rolls through quickly things should be ok, if it gets stuck over us it will re-muddy the clearing waters. We will update you tomorrow morning!

UPDATE 10:00. We’re more hopeful…. It looks like the rains could be done for the day now (we are not seeing anything backing up the rains this morning as of now) and we are getting reports of fishable, not great, but fishable water here and there.

Things are heavily stained to muddy after the brief, but heavy rains yesterday. The least amount of recorded rain is an inch plus, and some valleys received up to 3 inches yesterday. The forecast today is for 1-2 inches more. A much needed flush of some creeks, but not a good idea to fish today. Depending on when all the rain hits, tomorrow might give us some fishable water. We will keep you updated.

First small band of rain is on us now, and were’ getting the feeling that it isn’t going to be good later today and into tomorrow. At this point we are not recommending that you travel to fish our area. While we do not have a crystal ball and could be wrong, looking at the forecasts and radar it looks like we could get the heavier rains throughout the day and into tomorrow.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 11am. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Patchy fog before 11am. High near 79. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.

We will skip the fishing report side of things (come on into the shop for updates, and keep an eye on things here for any major changes). We’re looking at a potential of 1-4 inches of rain today and into tomorrow. If it falls on the low side, things will be excellent. On the high side and we will have temporarily muddy rivers. A silver lining if it falls heavily is that we need a good flush on many of our creeks, especially the smaller headwater ones.
Watch the radar, and we will keep you posted on conditions as best as we can!