Fishing Report

We’re over it. Sick of it. It’s devastating the local economy. But we still need to consider the health and safety of our area. As rural areas become hot spots from the virus spreading from larger cities we are asking you to please, do not travel to fish here from outside the area.

Yes, fishing is extremely healthy and safe, and it’s great for mental health as well, but as we see more and more anglers crowding access points and more landowners start to be concerned for their families and community we need to stop asking what we are allowed to do, but rather what we should be doing.

Fish locally, tie flies, watch videos, practice casting. The fish will be here after this craziness ends. Wisconsin is on a path to east some stay at home restrictions at the end of the month. We ask you to please do not travel long distances to fish here until then.

A chance of sprinkles after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 47. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
While fishing has been ok, it is not where it should be this time of year in terms of hatches and fish activity. This is mostly due to the cold front that has been on us the past few days. A few degrees warmer and things should change dramatically with caddis hatching alongside of the olives and midges.
Lately, the hatches have been near dusk. As things warm look for rising fish in the afternoon when caddis start their hatching.
Subsurface fishing is still solid on pretty much anything as long as it is slowly drifted through the runs and pools.

Increasing clouds, with a high near 40. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
A very chilly night and a thermometer that will not rise much will keep things a bit slower today, however the sun shining bright first thing in the morning will warm the stream bed and get the bugs moving for the afternoon.
Midges, olives, spring stones, and a few craneflies and caddis are hatching. Expect the caddis hatch to pop anytime soon with warmer and sunnier weather.
Subsurface fishing has been good on pretty much anything fished in the shin to thigh deep runs below riffles. Do not neglect the shallow riffles when the hatches are coming off as many trout will push up into the riffles to be first in line to eat hatching insects.
Creeks are clear with water temperatures in the low to mid 40s, this will bump up again during the next few days and get the spring hatches back on track.

A chance of flurries after 2pm. Sunny, with a high near 34. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph.
Still chilly today, but it looks like the last cold day for a bit. Nights are still chilly, so no real reason to get up early to fish. Look for the best fishing to start around 10 and hatches to come off in the afternoon.
Before the cold snap we had midges, olives, spring stone, and a few caddis hatching. Expect the caddis hatch to strengthen and the others to slow down a bit in the next week. Add some craneflies to the mix this week and we have the recipe for some extremely fun dry fly afternoons!
Subsurface fishing is good on pretty much anything. Flies like the purple drink, coulee scud, and soft hackles (materials with movement and collars on the fly) are great right now to mimic hatching caddis and craneflies.
Streamers and leeches are now going to always be effective, but even more so when the sun is off the water.
Creeks are clear and running pretty normal for spring. Temperatures are in the 40s.

A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 33. West wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
It’s cold and windy again today. If you feel like nymphing and streamer fishing with a few olives and midges hatching you can still catch fish, but it isn’t going to be pleasant for humans.
Thursday the weather turns nice again and we should see the return of the bug soup. Before this cold front we had midges, olives, spring stones, craneflies, and caddis hatching. With a bit warmer weather and sunny days, expect it to happen again!

Rain, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Temperature falling to around 35 by 5pm. Breezy, with a northeast wind 10 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

A brief drop in temperatures until Thursday next week. Cool to cold and some snow/rain over the area this weekend. Ugly weather as a human, but it won’t mess with trout too much. Olives, midges, stones, craneflies, and one or two caddis are still hatching, We are now at the point where cloudy days mean mayflies and midges and sunny days will start to mean caddis and cranes (still needs to be a touch warmer).

Subsurface, anything heavy is working fished below the riffles in the shin to thigh deep water. Leeches and streamers are always effective, but more so when the hatch is not coming off.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 48. Northwest wind 5 to 13 mph.

Please remember we are encouraging only day trips to the area for the health and safety of our community. Practice social distancing and do not park more than one car per parking area. The state has already started shutting down overcrowded parks, do not give them an excuse to shut down public lands!

Finally a couple days of stable weather. Looking good today and Saturday, Sunday starts a drip in temperatures.
Creeks are clear as we have had no significant rain in Vernon county. Fish are feeding on scuds and bead heads in the mornings. We are still getting a mix of midges, olives, and spring stoneflies in the afternoon, but with the quickly changing weather patterns recently they have not been as strong. Look for fish in the shin to thigh deep water in the morning, then pushing into riffles to feed on hatching bugs in the afternoon.
Leeches and streamers are catching fish, and crayfish and baitfish colored patterns are picking up as water temperatures start to climb.

Breezy, with a northwest wind 11 to 16 mph increasing to 18 to 23 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Changing weather has fishing good, not great. Looking for a bit of stability right now. Fish are still rising, but not the wolfpacks we had earlier this week. Look for the cooler and unstable weather to make it more of a later in the day midge and olive fishery. The stones and caddis will come out on the sunny and warmer days.
Subsurface, however, remains strong. Small, dark nymphs, scuds, and leeches are consistently catching fish. Crayfish on the larger waters are starting to get fish to eat too!

A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 53. Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
It’s officially springtime on the trout creeks. We’re seeing a mix of olives, midges and winter stoneflies hatching with fish rising daily. There have also been reports of caddis hatching!!!
Creeks are clear and a touch low with temperatures in the 40s. With cooler nights, there is still no need to get out on the water at dawn, but fishing all day is now possible.
Nymphing in the morning using scuds, pink squirrels and your assorted thin bodied bugs is still great, then switching to a hippie stomper or training wheel with a dropper mid day has been fishing well. Splashy rises mean caddis, both black and tan have been seen. The main hatch is not quite here, but be ready!

As the Pandemic continues, life has been upended. Our fishery, our area and our community come first. While none of these decisions are easy we worry about the health of our guides, customers and ourselves. This will pass, and things will get back on track.

STORE: The storefront is closed. We are not doing curbside, we are not doing drive through, we are no longer doing deliveries. We are now only able to ship orders. Please call, e-mail, or use our online shopping page! There will be no exceptions to this.

GUIDING: While there is a still a stay at home order, it would be unethical and possibly illegal to be guiding. We are not taking any trips in the month of April. We will see how long this lasts, and may have to cancel all May guided trips as well depending on the virus and what is right for our area.
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FISHING IN THE DRIFTLESS: – Fishing should be done close to home, a day trip only. You should be able to fill up at your local gas station, head to the stream making NO stops for gas or food, responsibly fish, and return home. At this point we do not encourage overnight stays. While fishing is still legal in Wisconsin, you are required to maintain social distancing requirements. This should be easy to do, however we have seen multiple cars parked at access points. Please don’t risk it. Spread out and keep yourself and others healthy.

We thank you all for your support during these difficult times. We will continue posting reports and fishing related photos on our social media. This is not done to encourage you to come visit, it is just to maintain a sense of routine, normalcy (Mat will go crazy if he can’t write fishing reports…), and to allow you to enjoy the Driftless from afar.