Fishing Report

Isolated showers and thunderstorms between 9am and 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 75. South wind 7 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
The warm weather over the weekend put the water temperatures in the low 50s and the creeks turned on! We saw olives and caddis the past couple of days and the trend will continue even with some chillier weather and rain this week.
Fish are feeding subsurface in the mornings, then you can see pods of rising fish in the afternoons if everything clicks. Fly patterns don’t matter too much subsurface, but scuds and caddis larvae are a bit more popular on the trout’s menu right now.

Sunny, with a high near 53. Breezy, with a south wind 7 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
Creeks are clear and a bit low with temperatures in the high 40s to 50. With the warm weather Saturday and Sunday we should see a heavier hatch of olives and even possibly some errant early caddis. As of now the dry fly fishing is solid, but not crazy good overall. Most of our fish are being caught on nymphs and caddis larvae fished below the riffles in the shin to thigh deep water.
With the water being so clear, make sure to approach with as much stealth as possible. Fish are super spooky.
We are still doing well fishing a foam fly with a dropper below, then switching to dries only if we find rising fish in the later afternoon.

Partly sunny, with a high near 37. Breezy, with a northwest wind 7 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
We’re pretty tired of the wind and cold front! Good news is we are staring at mid 60s for the weekend!
Creeks are clear and a bit low with temperatures in the high 40s. We’re still hanging on waiting for the warmer weather (this weekend!) to really see the olives and possibly caddis hatching. They are on the rocks and ready to go!
Fishing has been quite good subsurface the past few windy days. Spanish bullets, perdigons, and coulee scuds are the main items on the menu right now.

Please remember that after the crowds of last year, and the continued traffic on the creeks while the pandemic drags on, stream etiquette is even more important than ever!
The general rule of courtesy is: If you see a car at an access point, drive to the next one. There is no need for multiple cars at access points, we have enough water to spread out on.

Do not ‘high hole’ another angler. Fishing upstream is what we do in the Driftless. Never walk upstream of another angler and start fishing (unless you check in with that angler and get permission first),

When you park, do not block gates, driveways, or field access roads with your vehicle.

Finally do not trespass on private property! Make sure you are 100% positive you are on public property if you are on the bank. The various apps and map books are not 100% accurate! Make sure you do your homework, check in with the landowner, or just keep your feet wet whenever possible. The Driftless is a great place due to landowners allowing anglers to fish or selling their land to conservation easements. If anglers do not follow the rules, the excellent system we have here will vanish.
On the surface we are still seeing a solid midge hatch mixed in with a few olives.

Partly sunny, with a high near 48. Breezy, with a west wind 13 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
Creeks are clear with temperatures in the mid to high 40s. We’re waiting for temps to hit 50 degrees (which should happen in a couple of days….) for things to really take off. As of now we are still getting rising fish to midges and olives and we are seeing a few caddis. Things are ready to pop and could go off at any time bringing us into the beginning of the peak of season. It just needs to warm up a degree or two!

Sunny, with a high near 66. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 16 mph increasing to 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 43 mph.
Creeks are clear and flowing with temperatures in the high 40s.
The wind today will make things very difficult. Focus on fishing near bluff faces, or in the woods. The wind is blowing from the south, so if you have a north/south flowing creek at least the wind will be at your back. It is amazing how helpful the wind can be with a long roll cast!
If all else fails, don’t hesitate to swing leeches or soft hackles down and across below the riffles. There is less casting involved and if you aren’t perfectly accurate it doesn’t matter!

Partly sunny, with a high near 51. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Creeks are clear and flowing about normal. Water temperatures are hovering in the mid 40s to 50.
Everything in the Driftless is in a pleasant idle right now. Creeks are all in good shape and fishing has been decent. We haven’t had any crazy major hatches, although midges, olives, and spring stones are around it just feels like things are waiting to explode. This switch from winter to spring could happen any day as the rocks are covered with BWO nymphs and caddis larvae just waiting to hatch.
We’re still doing very well fishing a hippie stomper or training wheel with a bead head below while waiting for rising fish in the afternoons. With the spotty cloud cover we have had the past few days fish have been more willing to eat and less spooky than on the cloudless days.
Nymphing has been great lately with fish eating mostly the smaller, thin bodied bugs, but also including some scuds and thicker patterns (including caddis larvae) starting to catch on with the fish.

Cloudy, with a high near 50. Northeast wind 3 to 8 mph.
Creeks are clear with temperatures in the mid 40s.
Somewhat stable weather through the next few days. The clouds and drizzle have put the trout in far better moods than the sunny days!
Midges, olives, spring stoneflies and even a caddis or two have been spotted flying around.
Fishing a foam fly (training wheel or hippie stomper) with a thin bodied bead head below (spanish bullet or perdigon) early has been very effective util fish start rising. Once they are feeding on the surface, fishing a user friendly, or a purple klinkhammer will catch fish! Don’t be afraid to move the user friendly or a CDC and Elk style fly. Fish are definitely picking up on movement the past few days!

Rain, mainly before 2pm. Patchy fog before 1pm. High near 52. Breezy, with a south wind 10 to 17 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Last night’s rain was not horrible with a bit less than half an inch falling in total. Expect a mix of clear creeks with a few stained up due to the rain. The stain will not last long at all.
WIth the cloudy sky and potential cloudy water, focus subsurface on scuds and leech patterns (as well as squirmy wormies!) as fish will be active on these larger profile bugs. As things start to clear up, switching back to your thin bodied match the hatch patterns is a good idea.
We’re still seeing midge hatches daily, and a few more olives hatching every day. While we aren’t super excited about the olives yet, the major hatch could come any day. We are also seeing quite a few spring stoneflies out there.
Fishing a leech or larger and heavy nymph pattern in the morning is a good way to start. Switching to a foam fly with a dropper in the later morning, then to a dry fly in the later afternoon if you find rising fish!

Please remember that after the crowds of last year, and the continued traffic on the creeks while the pandemic hands on, stream etiquette is even more important than ever!
The general rule of courtesy is: If you see a car at an access point, drive to the next one. There is no need for multiple cars at access points, we have enough water to spread out on.

Do not ‘high hole’ another angler. Fishing upstream is what we do in the Driftless. Never walk upstream of another angler and start fishing (unless you check in with that angler and get permission first),

When you park, do not block gates, driveways, or field access roads with your vehicle.

Finally do not trespass on private property! Make sure you are 100% positive you are on public property if you are on the bank. The various apps and map books are not 100% accurate! Make sure you do your homework, check in with the landowner, or just keep your feet wet whenever possible. The Driftless is a great place due to landowners allowing anglers to fish or selling their land to conservation easements. If anglers do not follow the rules, the excellent system we have here will vanish.

So far today (up to 3:30) there has only been drizzle or light rain in the area. It hasn’t been enough yet to muddy anything up. We will keep you posted tomorrow morning as to stream clarity. It is not supposed to rain heavily tonight.

Clarity is still good overall, and fishing was solid today. The cloud cover made fishing scuds and other larger bodied nymphs much better as the fish were less spooky. Expect more of the same the next few cloudy days!

Midges, spring stoneflies, and a few olives are hatching.

A 10 percent chance of rain after 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 59. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 7 mph.
We’re watching the weather closely. The clouds and rain will be great for fishing overall. But, if we get too much rain things will get muddied up pretty quickly since there is no real vegetation to soak it up quite yet.
Creeks are clear and flowing a bit low. Water temperatures are in the low to mid 40s.
Hatch wise we are still seeing midges, and have started to see more olives in the later afternoon/evening along with our spring stoneflies.
Subsurface fishing has remained very solid on thin bodied subsurface bugs, but fish have started to eat scuds and caddis larvae as well the past couple of days.
Now that the sun is behind some clouds, expect streamer and leech fishing to pick up too!