UPDATE: There is a lot of misinformation being spread out there. We do not have bridges out, our roads are not washed away and we have clear water! (There is a bridge out in Readstown that has been under construction well before the floods and has a marked detour).
WISCONSIN"S SEASON RUNS THROUGH OCTOBER 15TH. TODAY IS NOT THE LAST DAY OF SEASON!
A 20 percent chance of showers after 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 62. Northeast wind 5 to 8 mph.
The high water has come and gone leaving the creeks flushed out and bankside vegetation pushed down making walking and wading simple! Creeks are clear to stained with only a couple running with a heavy stain. The stained water has been fishing very well as trout are quite spooky in the clear stuff.
Water temperatures are peaking in the high 50s.
Fish have been feeding very well throughout the day on a hopper/dropper combo as well as on leeches and streamers. The scud bit has really picked up steam and is especially strong on days with cloud cover.
We are also seeing fish rising to blue winged olives.
The weather this weekend looks fantastic, with cloud cover and a few showers intermittently. The sun has been the limiting factor for fishing lately but the weather this weekend should make fish very happy as well as bring the olive hatch a bit earlier in the day.
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Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. North wind 7 to 10 mph.
Creeks are in excellent condition from crystal clear to slightly stained area wide. The limiting factor today will be the sun. With the scoured creek bottom, the sun reflects off the bottom making fish very uncomfortable as well as exposing them to overhead predators. In other words, find shade and fish when the sun is off the water! Trout seem to be holding around any type of cover they can find.
Fishing has been great on leeches and small streamers as well as scuds and midge larvae. On the surface we are seeing trout eat smaller terrestrials as well as olives in the evening.
We're looking at overcast skies and a chance for drizzle the next few days. Perfect fall conditions!!
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Scattered showers, mainly before 10am, then scattered sprinkles after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. North wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Cold, drizzly, and excellent conditions! Fishing has been quite good, especially with the cloud cover. Look for fish rising to olives today.
Surface fishing has been best on olives in the afternoon, and smaller terrestrials throughout the day. Subsurface has been best on leeches and San Juan worms in the cloudy water, and smaller midge larvae and flashy bead heads on the clear water.
Creeks are clear to stained area wide with only a couple still running murky.
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Scattered showers, mainly after 4pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 58. West wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Sun in the morning, then blue winged olive weather in the afternoon!
Creeks are starting to calm down with most running clear to stained. The lower sections of some larger creeks are still draining and can be pretty murky.
Fishing has been good when the sun is off the water. Trout are keying in on attractor patterns on the surface as well as leeches subsurface. Smaller, flashy nymphs and midge larvae are working well under the surface too.
Since the streams were scoured a few days ago, the sun has really become the limiting factor. Bright sunny days mean poor fishing. Wait for clouds to roll in for some really fun fishing!
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Sunny, with a high near 62. Breezy, with a west wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.
Most creeks have dropped and cleared since the big rains and flash flood. Creeks have changed quite a bit, and fish are finding their holding positions and feeding well on leeches, san juan worms, scuds, and even on the surface on beetles and blue winged olives in the evenings.
Please remember that there are still quite a few landowners who have suffered some major losses and lend a hand where you can, or just stick to public water for a few more days while people put their lives back together.
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Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
Things are dropping and clearing quickly. The creeks have been flushed leaving lots of loose rock and bankside vegetation flattened. Fishing will be easy for the next few days thanks to the easy wading!
There are still some muddy creeks, especially lower sections on larger bodies of water that flush out slowly. There is clear water out there with hungry post flood fish, but it might take some windshield time to find.
Also, be extra sensitive towards land owners as many are still struggling with the loss of bridges, livestock, buildings etc. Pitching in a helping hand this weekend will go a long way in angler/landowner relations.
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A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a high near 66. East wind around 9 mph.
After being POUNDED by rain over the past few days, creeks are back down and even a few were at a fishable level last evening. There are still some smaller bridges and roads out due to the flash flood yesterday, but the county and state are working quickly to get everything back in shape. We are not predicted to get much more rain this weekend and things have already begun to get back to normal.
The silver lining from the high water is that everything is scoured. Banksides and stream bed are moonscapes making walking and wading far easier for the fall. The fish will be fine and will be eating even today. Expect high water and slightly stained to murky today. This weekend look for clear to murky water.
In the ugly stuff, throw leeches, buggers, and San Juan worms. As things clear up, pink squirrels and scuds along with flashy, smaller subsurface bugs will catch fish.
There are still hoppers, ants, crickets and beetles bankside and they will be the major surface flies until early into next week when temperatures drop and we start to see olives hatching in the afternoon again.
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DO NOT GO OUT! Numerous bridges were wiped out, roads are closed and crews are out trying to manage everything. Major flash flooding area wide. DO NOT GO OUT!
Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before noon. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. High near 75. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.
Way too much rain in the past 48 hours. Looks like we had 5-8 inches overall in just the past 24 hours. And, we are supposed to get a bit more.
Creeks are unfishable, there are many small bridges that were flooded out, and they even cancelled school today because of the rains last night.
We will drive around and update you on the conditions, but it might be tough to find fishable water for the next couple of days.
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UPDATE 11:00 am. It's still raining on and off pretty heavily. Creeks are up and muddy and we're supposed to get even more water tonight. While there will be a small handful of fishable sections out there, it's a better idea to wait it out right now!
Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. High near 79. South wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
It has rained about 2 inches give or take area wide with the heavier rain falling closer to the Mississippi. Looking at the radar this morning the major rains will pass at about 8:30 with nothing really behind it that has shown up yet.
What this means is that there will be very little fishable water, but what there is will fish well on bigger, uglier bugs like black sculpzillas, leeches, and San Juan Worms. The photo was from last week the day after the big rains.
We will keep you updated throughout the day on conditions. It really all depends on what happens this afternoon as to how fishable things will be tomorrow, or in some cases, later today.
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Sunny, with a high near 78. Southeast wind 3 to 6 mph.
The good news, it didn't rain yesterday.
The bad news, the sun is really hurting the fishing today.
The future news, we're supposed to get some clouds and rain which will definitely help fishing, but there is potential on Wednesday to drop some heavy rain and cause localized flash flooding again. We will keep you updates as always, and things should clear out quickly in a worst case scenario situation.
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Partly sunny, with a high near 78. Southwest wind around 6 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Hot and sunny today and into tomorrow. Fish early and late and avoid the mid day sun and heat. Water temperatures are great right now, and these couple of days of heat should not warm things up significantly. Creeks are flowing well and clear to stained.
Fishing has been best subsurface on scuds, frenchies, and brush hogs. On the surface it is still beetles, hippie stompers and ants with a few smaller grasshoppers fishing well.
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Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. Light southwest wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph in the morning.
Gorgeous day to be out outside, but the sun will not do the fishing any favors. Seek some shade mid day or take a long lunch.
Creeks are clear to stained with only the largest ones running murky. Water temperatures are in the 50s.
Look for terrestrials to be the most important surface pattern until late afternoon when the tiny olives start hatching. Fishing a hopper with a dropper is the way to go right now.
Subsurface fishing has been solid with larger, thicker patterns working best on stained waters and thin bodied, smaller patterns on clear water.
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Periods of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9am. High near 74. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
A bit of rain last night (more accumulation to the south of Vernon county) will have creeks stained this morning. Overall with the exception of the West Fork, North and South Fork of the Bad axe, things will be clear to stained. All of this rain has done wonders for the creeks, flushing out some vegetation and adding a ton of cold water into the creeks and the springs! Water temperatures are in the 50s area wide.
Terrestrials have been excellent this week with beetles and ants the best and hoppers still fishing, but not as well as dryer years.
Subsurface fishing has been good on leeches and San Juan worms, as well as scuds and frenchies.
This weekend looks nice weather wise with the sun being the only limiting factor. Fishing has been best when the sun is off the water with the exception of larger terrestrials. They have fished best when things dry out mid day as long as they are fished right on the bank near overhanging grass or undercut banks.
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Mostly sunny, with a high near 73. Southeast wind 5 to 14 mph.
Another gorgeous late summer day in the Driftless! Fishing has been very good with our creeks running normal to high and water temperatures in the 50s. A few creeks are still stained, but most have dropped and cleared from the heavy rains last week.
Tricos are all but done it seems, with a few hangers on in the mornings. Terrestrials have been the main attraction with fish eating them all day long! Beetles, hoppers, crickets and ants. They all work right now. We are also seeing some blue winged olives in the evenings (the tiny 18-22 sized ones).
Subsurface has been good on bigger, ugly stuff like leeches and San Juan worms. On the clearer creeks, scuds, frenchies, and midge larvae are working well.
We do have a few guide trips open this weekend if you want to brush up on some skills for this time of year!
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Sunny, with a high near 68. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the afternoon.
Creeks are dropping and clearing very quickly. While things muddied up unexpectedly yesterday, there were still fishable creeks and really good fishing on leeches, streamers, and San Juan worms in the morning, then terrestrials in the afternoon.
Look for more water to be fishable today with creeks running clear to mildly stained with water temperatures in the 50s. Things are excellent for September and we are looking at continued cool weather all week long! The sun will be your limiting factor so a couple hour mid day break can still be good for fishing success.
The gnats seem to have been re-invigorated the past few days, so do not forget to pick up some Buggins from the shop before your trip!
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Update: things are much muddier than we expected. Lots of blown out water that will drop and clear quickly, but quite a few creeks unfishabke this am.
Cloudy, with a high near 67. Northwest wind around 9 mph.
About an inch of rain area wide last night will not do anything to significantly muddy the creeks. Expect some good fishing with the cloud cover today!
Subsurface fishing has been good on scuds, frenchies, and leeches. Surface fishing has been quite good on smaller terrestrials and tiny olives. The olives have been hatching sporadically throughout the day and are thickest in the afternoon/evening.
Creeks are flowing well and clear to stained with water temperatures in the 50s.
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Sunny, with a high near 78. Breezy, with a south wind 7 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Tropical storms messing with out weather again!
Warmer today and windy as it blows in another bout of rain ( nothing heavy this time predicted thankfully).
Fishing has been great after the rains scoured everything. They were powerful enough that creeks have changed significantly and have been scoured.
Look for clear to stained conditions area wide with water temperatures in the 50s to low 60s. Terrestrials are still key. Tricos are sparse and we have seen some evening olives hatching as well.
The best news about the rains this past week is that bankside vegetation has been pushed over making it like a sidewalk for the next few days!
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Partly sunny, with a high near 66. Northwest wind 7 to 15 mph.
The rains missed us last night! We had about 2-3 inches overall in the past 24 hours, most of it ended late afternoon yesterday. Things are still high and murky this morning but the creeks will clear and drop rapidly throughout the day. Expect stained to muddy conditions area wide. It's definitely bugger/leech/San Juan worm conditions. As the creeks clear, switch over to scuds and hare's ear nymphs as well as pink squirrels. When the ground starts to dry out, terrestrials will start to catch fish on the surface.
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The rains stopped today around 3 p.m. while we still got a couple of inches total, the evening rain storms that were predicted fizzled out and passed us by! This is the best case scenario for fishing tomorrow. Look for clear to medium stain on most creeks with only the larger ones running murky.
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UPDATE: We had about 2 inches of rain fall this morning until late lunchtime. Currently the sun is peeking out from the clouds. The prediction is for more rain tonight that could be heavy. The forecast dropped from 100% to 60% which means the large part of the storm might miss us. As it stands, if we get another inch or two things will be ugly until tomorrow afternoon. You will be able to find some clear to stained water, but most creeks will not open up and be fishable until after lunch time. After that, things should clear rapidly (unless a small bank collapse happens etc) and fishing should be solid. No rain after tonight really means Sunday looks really good.
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75. South wind 6 to 8 mph.
There is some rain predicted, but they are saying it will fall in a very brief timeframe before noon. We will keep you posted.
As of now we have some clear to stained water with only a couple rivers murky. The multiple rains have flushed out the creeks enough that it takes quite a bit of high water to find sediment to put into the system right now.
The weather for the weekend will not top 72 for a high temperature!
Fishing was solid yesterday on hoppers with a dropper in the clear water with the droppers tending to be smaller and thinner bodied. With the cool and cloudy weather, there is a good chance that we will see some olives this weekend on the surface too.
Subsurface fishing is excellent, especially on the stained water. If clouds are in the sky fish scuds and pink squirrels. If the sun is shining go for pheasant tails and frenchie type flies.
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Our guide Nick was out scouting water today and found quite a few clear creeks! While some of the well known creeks might be murky, look for smaller water and you will be surprised.
We do have some openings for guide trips this weekend, if you are interested give the shop a call and we can book you!
Pardon the sideways picture! This was taken mid day today.
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UPDATE: There is amazingly some clear water being reported today.
Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 77. Light north wind becoming northwest 6 to 11 mph in the morning.
Rains last night did their best to avoid our area. We only got about an inch total in the past 24 hours. The Madison area streams and south of the Wisconsin River got pounded again.
Our creeks will start dropping and clearing rapidly today. Expect stained to murky water area wide. Fishing is best on San Juan Worms, leeches, larger scuds and black streamers. As things clear, we will get back to attractor dries and terrestrials on the surface.
Temperatures are dropping again with the next few days hovering in the low 70s to a high of 68 on Saturday with lows in the mid 50s! As long as that trend continues expect to start seeing the late summer olive hatch re-appear.
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Lots of rain last night has everything blown out today. We're supposed to get even more throughout the day today. Things will drop fairly quickly when the rain stops. We will keep you updated!
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Partly sunny, with a high near 85. South wind 8 to 11 mph. Possible rain after 2.
Today and tomorrow should see some rain showers which may temporarily stain waters (we will keep you updated). As long as there is no lightning, fishing th early part of the rains will be excellent as water levels rise and temperature drops.
Then temperatures cool down throughout the end of the week and into the weekend (Saturday's high is forecasted to be only 69!)
Fishing remains solid on the remaining tricos, but terrestrials have taken over as the more important surface flies! The hopper bite is picking up steam while ants and beetles remain solid.
Subsurface has been best with tiny bead heads all day long, as well as leeches and buggers fished deep and underneath undercut banks mid day. The mid day lull will be in effect today until the clouds and rain come in.
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Just a head up, the shop is closed today. Back to normal hours Tuesday. Enjoy Labor Day!
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Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Another gorgeous day, with the sun being the only limiting factor. The fishing has been good in the mornings if you can find the tricos, then it slows down a bit mid day. In the later afternoon as things dry out from the sun, the terrestrial fishing turns on and remains steady into the evening.
Subsurface fishing is best on tiny, thin bodied flies bounced along the bottom. In the evenings streamers and leeches have been good as have mice on the surface.
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Sunny, with a high near 74. Light and variable wind becoming southeast 5 to 7 mph in the morning.
The gorgeous summer weather continues! It is not supposed to top out over 75 the entire weekend. Cooler nights have fish energized, especially first thing in the morning, then in the afternoon when the sun is not shining directly on the water. Fish are starting to put on late summer color thanks to the dropping temperatures.
Tricos are still around in the mornings on some creeks. It isn't as thick as it was lat month, however it will still get fish rising early. After tricos, subsurface fishing with tiny, thin bodied bead heads is working.
Once the sun dries out the backsides, it's hopper time! Fish have finally started to eat hoppers well (they have been decent up until now and the fish are starting to aggressively eat them) along with ants and beetles.
Don't overlook a slowly fished leech pattern too, as some fish are starting to eat larger flies.
Mousing is great right now!
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Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. Northeast wind 3 to 8 mph.
You couldn't ask for more pleasant summer weather!
The sun is the only limiting factor right now as creeks are flowing well and cool with water temperatures in the low 50s to low 60s area wide. Cooler evenings mean the trico spinner fall is happening a bit later in the morning (meaning you can sleep in an extra hour or two!). Once the sun dries the dew off the grass and warms things up a bit, terrestrials start crawling around and the fish will key in on them from late morning throughout the day.
Subsurface fishing has been best on leeches, midge larvae, and scuds.
Now that the rains have passed, mousing has picked up again at night.
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