Fishing Report

Widespread haze between 3pm and 5pm. Areas of smoke after 5pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. North wind 8 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Last night around 1 am the area received about 2-3 inches of heavy rain. It was a true flash flood which means things are blown out as of this morning, but are already starting to drop and clear. By this evening we expect to have quite a few creeks fishable, and into the weekend we will be in great shape.
The blessing is that the cold water flush was much needed to drop water temperatures and get fish back in a good mood this summer. As a double bonus, it also was a send off for the heat dome which means we are looking at almost a week of high temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s. Far more comfortable that the heat we had last week!!!
We will keep you posted, but again the muddy water will not last too long on most of the smaller creeks and headwaters, and the larger stuff should be in shape for us by the weekend.

A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 1pm and 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 90. Heat index values as high as 102. Light south wind increasing to 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Super hot and humid out there. That on top of some locally flash flood style rains… Fishing will be difficult today.
The good news is that the rains were brief. While there is some minor flooding happening in some valleys, the creeks will clear out quickly and the rains should help cool things down temporarily. The next few days look to be FAR better than today. There is a high enough heat index today that we can not really recommend that you go fishing!

Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Light west wind becoming southwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Everybody’s new favorite word to hate: “Heat dome”. The edge of it is sitting over us right now, and we are starting down a string of at least 3 more days of hot weather. The nights are not cooling off much, and the creeks are struggling to keep cool right now. While there is still some fishing available in headwater creeks and upper portions near the springs, the list keeps shrinking daily under these conditions.
It is a good week to switch species to fish for, or stay home and save on travel. If you are planning on fishing, please make sure to stay in the upper portion of the creeks and use your thermometer often. Any water temperature over 65 will be poor fishing and much higher than that can be lethal to trout.

Sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Going to warm up through the week. The recent heavy rains have a coupe of creeks still running with a stain, but most are clear and temporarily cool.
Remember your thermometer. Anything over 65 will be poor fishing. While temps are good now, as they creep up this week, making sure you are fishing productive water and keeping the fish safe will be key.
Tricos in the mornings, hopper dropper all day, then midges, ants and parachutes in the evenings.

Heavy rains a couple of nights ago are working through the creeks. THere is fishable water, but most everything is ugly right now. We expect more water to continue to open up barring any more rains.

The weekend weather is not too hot, but definitely summertime weather. When things clear up watch for tricos in the mornings, then fish hopper/dropper through the day. Please remember to use your thermometer as anything over 65 will be poor fishing.

The week ahead is looking great for fishing! The weather is comfortable for summertime and the clouds and drizzle will only help the fish get into a good mood.

Mat is out of town for a few days, so the fishing reports will be spotty, and we have temporarily shut down the shopping page for some maintanence.

The shop is open 7 days a week so please call with any questions you have!

Sunny, with a high near 79. Calm wind becoming northeast around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Creeks are low and clear with temperatures in the high 50s to mid 60. Remember your thermometer as anything over 65 will be poor fishing.
Hoppers and hippies with bead heads below are key right now. We’re in the summer season where fish will rise very early and very late (parachute or klinkhammers in light and dark) and then eat terrestrials and bead heads throughout the day. Focus on the broken water below riffles and push up into the riffles themselves in the evening.
Shop is open July 3rd from 8-5, closed the 4th, and open half day from 8-noon on Monday the 5th.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
It’s summertime here in the Driftless, and the fish are in pretty good moods. There are still a couple of creeks that are running warm, from here on out it is always a good idea to use your thermometer. Anything over 65 is going to be slow fishing. Most of our headwaters and tributary creeks are running in the high 50s to low 60s. Those creeks give you the best shot at good summer fishing.
Even with favorable water temperatures, the fishing is best early and late when the sun is off the water, or on a day that clouds are overhead.
There will be some fish rising early to midges (no tricos yet) then they will switch over to happily eating terrestrials on the surface through the day. Our go-to rig for summer is a foam terrestrial with a bead head dropped below. The evenings will have fish eating some lighter colored mayflies, craneflies, and egg laying caddis on the surface again.

A slight chance of showers between 9am and 11am, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. South wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
After a weekend of heavy rain (especially to the south), things have smoothed out and mellowed. The fish are very happy after a bit of water flushed the creeks. We are still low overall flow wise, but some more lighter rains this week should help there.
It’s summertime in the Driftless. This means fishing a hopper or hippie stomper with a dropper below throughout the day is the ticket to catching fish. There are some hatches of lighter colored mayflies in the last couple hours of day, and there are some fish eating midges on the surface too.
On the creeks that are still showing a stain, leeches scuds and streamers will be very effective.

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. North wind 5 to 7 mph.
Heavy rains have subsided and we’re dropping and clearing quickly. North of Viroqua and a bit east did not get the heavy rains that hit south in Crawford county (use caution south of town as some roads are closed after flooding).
Scuds, leeches and squirmy wormies in the murky water, and hopper/dropper in the clear stuff. The rain was more than needed and should start to nudge us back on track for solid summer fishing.