Fishing Report

Mostly sunny, with a high near 32. Calm wind
Cold, but sunny. Perfect early season conditions to catch fish and possibly a midge hatch!

Remember to fish rising water temperatures. As the sun warms the water up, the bugs get active and the fish follow soon after. Once the snowmelt hits the creeks things shut down pretty quickly. Your best window is between 10-2.
Creeks are low and crystal clear. Fish aren’t as spooky as they tend to feed heavily in the middle part of the day this time of year, but still approach with as much stealth as possible.
Midges are showing up daily, not in major numbers, but we have seen sporadic rising fish every day so far. Subsurface fishing is best on heavy, thin bodied bugs. Up top, the user friendly in BWO is always fantastic as an overall midge dry.

Patchy fog between 8am and 2pm. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 27. Light and variable wind.

Please note, we are still in a pandemic! Wear your mask when around other humans, or just keep away from them (fly fishing is easy to social distance while doing)!

Creeks are low and clear with temperatures in the mid 30s. The key in the winter is to fish rising water temperatures. This means fishing is usually better mid day and on creeks that are more wide open and can warm up from the sun through the day. There are some creeks that are frozen in places (the West Fork being one of them) but the wide open meadow creeks are in good shape.
The only real aquatic insects around in the winter are midges and winter stoneflies. To ‘match the hatch’ use smaller thin bodied patterns in a dark color rolled along the bottom. Mid day, there is a chance of fish rising to midges. Using a single bodied midge adult is the trick here.

PLEASE RESPECT LANDOWNERS! We had an influx of anglers country wide last year, and unfortunately many of them were not following any kind of rules or etiquette. There is no reason to tresspass for a trout. If you have not made 100 certain that a piece of property is public, and you can not check in with the landowner, please fish elsewhere.

Patchy fog before 2pm. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 26. Northeast wind 3 to 7 mph.
Tomrrow is forecasted to be 29 and cloudy, Sunday 30 and mostly sunny. While not ideal, these conditions are better than most early catch and release season openers!

Creeks are low and very clear. The clouds tomorrow will actually help with hiding the angler from the fish a bit!
The key to wintertime fishing is to make sure you are fishing rising water temperatures. Peak temperatures are usually from 10-2.
The only real insect activity is midges and winter stoneflies this time of year. That means small, thin and dark patterns are going to ‘match the hatch’. Tie a zebra midge or perdigon behind a scud and hang on!
Leeches can also be very effective this time of year if you fish them very slowly (twitch them, don’t strip them)

Snow, mainly after 1pm. High near 24. Southeast wind 7 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Creeks are very low and crystal clear. We are getting some much needed snow today and through the evening. Up to 9 inches total possible today!

Season opens Saturday January 2nd. We will keep updating on the conditions, but as of now fish are podded in deeper pools and pushing into the riffles to feed (we did see risers yesterday as we scouted creeks) mid day.

Scattered flurries after 4pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 25. West wind 6 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph
Our area finally got some snow yesterday! We were dry for a month plus but with an inch or two of water locked up in snow we can breathe easier for the coming season.
Creeks are crystal clear and very low. Winter temperatures are in effect meaning water is in the mid 30s. When season opens, you want to make sure you are fishing rising water temperatures (roughly from 10-2) on sunny days. Most of your fishing will be on small, thin, dark bodied nymphs. There is always a slight chance of a midge hatch in the middle part of the day too.

We’re booking trips for the 2021 season starting today! Call the shop or shoot us an e-mail and we can get you on the calendar for the upcoming season.

It’s finally time to start planning your trip to fish the Driftless. We will be booking both guided trip and weekends only in the fly shop apartment.

Please call the shop to book (apologies in advance if you do not reach us as we have been having major troubles with our phones). If we miss your call, we will call you back as soon as possible and get you on the calendar!

While trout are spawning, and we’re still dealing with COVID-19 in our rural areas we hope everybody is safe, healthy, and sane. The shop is online and phone order only. Please e-mail us with any questions you might have etc. We’re slowly working on online inventory and adding some new logo gear etc on a daily basis.

On the trout fishing front, Wisconsin’s season is closed. Limited water in Minnesota is open and Iowa is open. However, we do not recommend fishing right now as brown and brook trout are spawning. If you find a stocked rainbow stream in Iowa you will be ok, but overall it isn’t a bad idea to just give the trout a break and don’t interfere with spawning fish!

A HUGE thank you from all of us at the Driftless Angler for your support during a difficult year. The storefront will close today early (Mat needs to catch a fish on the last day too!) and will remain closed through the fall. We will still be answering the phone and e-mails etc and our online shop never closes.

We hope you all have a healthy, safe, and sane fall.

Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 10am, then showers between 10am and 1pm. High near 62. Breezy, with a southwest wind 15 to 18 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Sporadic rains through the area this morning with some local heavy showers. It doesn’t look like it will mess up the fishing in any way, but having a backup plan is not a bad idea.
If the clouds stick around look to be fishing more scuds and pink squirrels subsurface. If not, use spanish bullets, perdigons or other slim bodied bugs.
On the surface, the foam hatch has been good all day long (hippie stompers/training wheels etc). and we have seen olives in the later afternoon/evenings.

We have had MANY reports of anglers trespassing. Yes, it is crowded out there being the last few days of season, but there is ZERO reason and no excuse for trespassing. If you are unsure whether the land is public, and you can’t find a landowner DO NOT FISH THERE. There is plenty of public and well marked water in our area to fish.

Sunny, with a high near 67. Calm wind becoming north 5 to 9 mph in the morning.
Not much has changed out there. It is still foam attractor or hopper with a bead head below all day long. Add to that a chance at seeing fish rising to olives (size 18-20) in the later afternoon and evening.
Creeks are clear and the fish are spooky. Find some shade and approach with caution and stealth.
These are the last few days of season and there are a lot of anglers out there taking advantage of the good fishing and great weather. Please be courteous! If there is a car at an access point and you can not check in with the angler, drive to another spot. Do not hop upstream of another angler. And take extra care to respect private property.