Fishing Report

Temperature rising to near 53 by 11am, then falling to around 33 during the remainder of the day. South wind 5 to 14 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Really not sure what to make of today’s weather! Saturday and Sunday are sunny.

Please remember Wisconsin is under a shelter in place order. Do not travel unnecessarily. While fishing is an outdoor activity, there are legal lines that are very blurred about crossing state borders to come and fish. We can not give legal advice, but we do encourage you to stay healthy, and if you do go out and fish maintain social distancing!

Creeks are clear and running a touch low. Hatches include midges, olives, and spring stoneflies.
Fishing nymphs and scuds in the morning has been good, then switching to a training wheel or hippie stomper with a dropper mid day when fish start looking up. If you are in a hatch of olives or midges, switching to a small soft hackle or dry is a good idea when you see rising fish!

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 60. Breezy, with a southeast wind 11 to 16 mph
Today is bringing in another brief cloudy and drizzly weather pattern. Friday looks like some light rain (nothing that should impact stream fishability!), and the weekend looks sunny and pleasant!
Creeks are clear and a touch low with water temperatures in the low to middle 40s.
Midges, olives, and spring stoneflies are hatching daily around the area. Typically we have seen the best surface activity in the later afternoon.
Subsurface fishing has opened wide up. We’re still doing well on our thin bodied, heavy dark patterns, but scuds, hare’s ears, soft hackles etc have all come into play.
On the surface, with the stonefly hatch, we are relying heavily on chubby chernobyls (training wheels) and hippie stompers as edible indicators. Tying a nymph dropper to these is a good idea!
WHen fish are gently rising, it is time for an olive or midge pattern on the surface.
Fish are still eating leeches and streamers, but are much more aggressive when the sun is not shining down on the clear water.

Creeks are clear and fishing well with water temperatures in the low to mid 40s at peak.

Bugs are hatching mid day and into the evening (midges, olives and winter stoneflies).

Nymphing and fishing scuds and squirrels early is good, leeching all day long is getting fish to eat too.

Fish are spookier when the sun is shining, so approach with caution on these sunnier days!

Shop is still open for online orders and delivery!!!

Showers. High near 42. Breezy, with a west wind 8 to 13 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Richland Center had almost an inch of rain. Fennimore about the same. La Crosse .25 inches, Viroqua .4 inches. In other words, Vernon County and north are in great shape, east and south of Vernon County things will be stained to muddy today and into tomorrow.
On the muddy creeks, leeches and san juan worms will be key. On the clear stuff, nymphing in the morning. The magic has happened in the afternoon and early evening. Olives are hatching daily as are midges and if the water temperature rises enough, the fish will rise! If not, smaller soft hackles and continuing to nymph is not a bad idea.

Rain and thunderstorms before 4pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 4pm and 5pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 5pm. High near 49. Breezy, with an east wind 13 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Yesterday we had some light rain in the evening that will stain up the creeks. Most are still fishable (watch out near Fennimore as many of those creeks get muddier than the creeks nearer the shop).
Water temps are just about at the sweet spot of 40 degrees. When the overnight temperature gets above freezing (high 30s to 40 preferably) things will really get hopping here!
As of now we are still seeing solid midge hatches and some blue winged olives later on in the afternoon. Subsurface flies in stained water should be a bit thicker and larger than normal. Pink squirrels, squirmy wormies, leeches, scuds etc.

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. East wind 5 to 8 mph
We’re at a tipping point (a good one for a change). Water temperatures are flirting with the 40 degree ambient temperature mark. A few more sunny days and a slight uptick in temperature and things will get really, really good quickly.
As it is now, we are still seeing midges hatching mid day, and olives around 2. Midge larvae and small, thin profile nymphs (especially with a bit of purple) are still the best subsurface, but we are getting more fish to eat scuds and thicker bodied bugs such as purple drank too.
The store is open for deliveries only right now, please shop online or call/email and we can get you what you need!

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 48. Light southeast wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Just out of habit, we will continue giving weather reports and more.
We have not seen the details of the shelter in place and can not be sure that fishing is on the list of activities. Obviously we will let you know as soon as we here. The physical storefront is closed, but we will continue to ship things out to you. We’re working on some sort of support for our guides too as we will not be able to book trips through the shelter in place order.

Until then, stay home, stay healthy and let’s get this thing under control!

Store is closed for delivery/pickup and drive through. (online shopping still going until we hear otherwise).

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers said Monday he will order the closure of all nonessential businesses starting Tuesday, and is urging people to stay at home to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Cloudy, with a high near 45. Southwest wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
Creeks are clear and a bit low. Water temperatures have taken a dip over the past 2 days, but still in the high 30s to low 40s. Fish are rising mid day to midges and a few olives. The olives should pop once we see warmer water temperatures.
Trout are also eating leeches and streamers well.

Stay healthy!

Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 32. Breezy, with a north wind 14 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph.
Things calmed down quite a bit overnight. While we got a good glut of rain throughout the day, it slowed down in the afternoon and has allowed things to clear out overnight. Expect stained conditions area wide with fishable water but only a handful of clear creeks first thing this morning.
Fishing remains very good right now! In the clearer water yesterday, fish were eating chubby Chernobyl’s with small bead heads tied below them as well as leeches and squirmy wormies subsurface.
It is looking chilly today and into tomorrow, but the fish aren’t caring. Expect good winter/early spring conditions all weekend long.