Cloudy, with a high near 49. North wind around 11 mph. The cold front is fading through today and into tomorrow. While fishing was still solid, the couple chillier and drizzly days suppressed the dry fly action a bit. We did not get the heavy rains, our creeks are clear and a bit low and fishing well. Water temps are in the high 30s to high 40s. Midges have been hatching daily, and with warmer days (especially Saturday!) we should see some olives popping mid day. Subsurface fishing has been solid on scuds, midge emergers, midge larvae, and other heavy bead heads fished on the bottoms of pools and runs. Trout will sulk in deep water early, then start to push up into the runs and riffles as water temperatures start to climb a bit.
Driftless Angler Fly Shop
Wisconsin's Premier Fly Shop and Guide Service
Blog
March 2017
Periods of showers. High near 39. Breezy, with a northeast wind 15 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. EDIT: We did not get any heavy rains. We have only received an inch or an inch and a half tops. Creeks are in great shape and flies are hatching! Drizzle this morning, but it hasn't muddied anything up or affected fishing. Things are still good area wide with clear creeks and water temperatures in the low 40s to high 40s. Dry fly fishing has been a ton of fun the past few days with fish rising to midges, olives, and a few left over winter stones mid day and into the afternoon. Subsurface scud fishing has been fantastic with the cloud cover. Otherwise fishing a midge larvae, leech, or thinner bodied bead head is catching fish below the surface.
Rain likely, mainly after 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 45. East wind 5 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Cloudy but fairly warm with some light showers in the afternoon. It should still be great dry fly fishing weather as the sun yesterday really got water temperature back up to springtime levels. Creeks are clear and a touch low with water temperatures in the low to high 40s area wide. Look for midges and a few olives to hatch in the afternoons when water temperature is the highest. Subsurface scuds are becoming very important, and on cloudy days like today there will be more moving around. Other subsurface trout food includes pheasant tails, midge larvae, and leeches.
Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 51. Northeast wind 3 to 7 mph. Fishing continues to be solid! Midges and olives hatching mid day, and strong subsurface action on scuds, midge larvae and pupae, as well as leeches and buggers. Fish are sluggish first thing in the morning as the evenings cool down water temperature, but they gradually become more active and push out of their holding lies into the runs and riffles to feed on the hatching midges and olives. It's still early season where the fishing will slow down quite a bit in the evening, but each day we are able to fish later and later as things slowly warm up. Creeks are flowing clear to stained with water temperatures from the high 30s to high 40s area wide.
Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 46. North wind 3 to 5 mph. Fishing was decent over the weekend with surprisingly good dry fly fishing considering it was in the middle of a cold front! This week looks more stable weather wise with temperatures in the mid 40s to low 50s. Creeks are running clear to stained due to some rain over the weekend, but everything is dropping and clearing very quickly. Temperatures are in the high 30s to high 40s. Fish are feeding on olives and midges on the surface which are hatching pretty much daily in the afternoons. Subsurface fishing has been best on scuds, pink squirrels, and other heavy bead heads fished in the deeper spots below riffles. Trout tend to go deep early in the morning and later in the day, while mid day they will push up into the riffles and runs to feed on the hatching bugs.
Showers, mainly after 1pm. High near 42. Breezy, with an east wind 16 to 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. The drizzle continues! We have, so far, dodged the bullet with rain. While the creeks are stained to muddy, there is quite a bit of fishable water in our area, and some creeks are clearing out very quickly to the point that we even had some dry fly fishing yesterday! The olives and midges are still hatching, and not he clearer water you should see some noses this afternoon. Otherwise fish scuds and other thick bodied patterns like She Hulks. On the dirty water, leeches streamers and San Juan worms are the ticket.
A 20 percent chance of showers after 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 53. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast in the morning. Some brief, heavy rains yesterday has things running with some color today. Fishing larger patterns like leeches, san juan worms, and scuds will work on the cloudy water. We are slated for some more rain tonight and into tomorrow. On the creeks that are clear, smaller bead heads nymphs and scuds along with leeches. Hatches will be a bit sparse today relative to the past few days.
A slight chance of showers between 2pm and 4pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 43. Breezy, with a south wind 14 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Blowing in a new weather system today! Look for hatches to be a bit slower with the new front today. Subsurface fishing should still remain solid. We will be keeping an eye on the rain for the weekend. As it is forecasted at this point it should not be enough to mess our creeks up thankfully! Creeks are clear and a bit low with temps in the high 30s to high 40s. We have been seeing olives and midges hatching. Subsurface has been best on scuds, smaller dark bodied nymphs and scuds.
Sunny, with a high near 40. Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph. Things are fishing well in the Driftless! We have been fortunate enough to find rising fish the past few days. Midges, olives, and a few winter stoneflies are on the menu. Creeks are clear and flowing a touch low with water temperatures in the the mid 30s to mid 40s. Subsurface fishing is still solid on leeches, scuds, and small, heavy bead head nymphs.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 42. North wind 13 to 15 mph. Spring fishing is here! We saw midges and olives yesterday afternoon, and subsurface fishing has been hot too. Look for fish to feed on smaller nymphs subsurface as well as leeches and scuds. On the surface fishing an emerger in size 18-20 or an olive dry fly when the noses are coming up can be excellent! Creeks are clear and a touch low with water temperatures in the high 30s to mid 40s.
Partly sunny, with a high near 55. North wind 6 to 13 mph. Happy spring! We have an incredible week ahead of us with some sunny skies and mild temperatures. Fishing has been a ton of fun mid day lately with fish rising to midges and even a few olives starting to appear. Creeks are clear and a touch low with water temperatures in the high 30s to mid 40s. We're slowly transitioning form the larger subsurface bugs of the colder part of the early season into more match the hatch flies. We're getting more fish on micro mayfly nymphs, ice cream cones, and frenchies rather than the larger leeches and big ugly patterns. While you shouldn't stop fishing the bigger stuff, just be aware that things are just starting to turn.
Partly sunny, with a high near 48. South wind 7 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Best case scenario, the rain is not predicted to fall at all today! That means the sun will warm things up again and we will have rising fish mid day! Fishing has been quite good lately thanks to the sun in the sky. Between 9 and about 2 fishing is best as the water temperature climbs. Make sure to use your thermometer! Although there is not enough snow on the ground to blow things out, it is still enough to put cold water into the system in the later afternoon. Once this starts happening and water temperature drops, fishing shuts down. Creeks are clear and flowing with temperatures in the high 30s to mid 40s. Midges and winter stoneflies are the main hatches/emergences. Look for bulging rises mid day and tie on a smoke jumper or unweighted pheasant tail. Leeches have been lights out good most days this early season. Fish them slowly with a lot of twitches. The best subsurface flies have been pink squirrels, she hulks, copper johns, scuds, and pheasant tails. The entire weekend looks good to be out fishing with temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees and sunny. Water temperatures are at a point that on Sunday we might (temps need to stay over 45 degrees) see some spring stoneflies and olives hatching too.
A 10 percent chance of rain after 5pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 39. South wind 6 to 11 mph These sunny day have been incredible! Mid day yesterday fish were rising all over the place to midges and winter stones. We're slated to get some cloud cover and possible light rain tonight and into tomorrow, but it should not affect the water. Expect clear to slightly stained water with temps in the high 30s to mid 40s area wide. The forecast for the weekend looks great! Fish are keying in on larger subsurface patterns in the deeper holes and runs in the mornings, then as the sun warms things up they are switching to midges mid day both surface and subsurface. As the water temperature cools from melting and the angle of the sun changing, fish start to shut down. Use your thermometer, as soon as temperature starts dropping the fishing starts to shut off.
Sunny, with a high near 31. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph. We were spoiled in February with a few days that were unseasonably warm. If we re-calibrate expectations, today is a fantastic day on paper! It has been sunny all morning and will continue to be so throughout the day. It feels warm in the sun and the creeks are already starting to warm up a bit. Even a slight bump in water temperature will get the fish feeding on a day like today! We may even see some midge hatches mid day and rising fish. Just make sure you are fishing creeks that are more open and get more sunlight throughout the day. Leeches, scuds, she-hulks, pink squirrels, brassies, copper johns, and pheasant tails are the flies of choice subsurface. On top smoke jumper emergers and single bodied midge dries (not clusters) have been great when we are seeing bulging rises.
Sunny, with a high near 26. Wind chill values as low as zero. Northeast wind 7 to 9 mph. One of those odd winter days. Although the air temperature is chilly, the sun is making it feel warm out (there is melting on the front of the fly shop already). Fishing can be unexpectedly great on days like today, it just depends on your comfort level. There is not a lot of snow on the ground, the last storm only dumped a couple of inches which will melt over the next few days and soak into the springs. We're looking at 40 degrees and warmer starting Wednesday and going throughout the weekend.
Partly sunny, with a high near 24. Wind chill values as low as -4. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. Just cold today that to a north wind. The water temperature will be stable and fine, but it will be pretty uncomfortable to be out for long with the windchill. Things will warm up again in a couple of days.
Today Sunny, with a high near 22. Northwest wind 9 to 13 mph. Apologies as out employee watching the shop is sick. We're closed today (Friday the 10th). Saturday and Sunday are covered. Fishing is good, despite the chilly temperatures. The water has not supercooled and is in the high 30s to low 40s area wide. Creeks are clear and a touch low. Fishing has been best on the early season staples. Leeches, She Hulks, scuds, pink squirrels, and brassiere. We have seen flies hatching mid day on sunny days like this. If you dress for chilly weather, you will catch fish!
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. The winds are gone! It will be chilly the next few days, but it will have very little impact on water temperatures. We're still in the early season mode of fishing between 9-3 but without any snowmelt, the water temperature can not take a nose dive each evening. So bundle up and come and fish! Creeks are clear to stained and flowing a touch low. Water temps are in the high 30s to low 40s.
Sunny, with a high near 41. Windy, with a west wind 25 to 30 mph decreasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 48 mph. Stinking wind! Creeks dropped and cleared out pretty quickly after the weird heavy rain storms. Creeks are clear to milky with water temps in the mid 30s to mid 40s. When the wind subsides, the next couple of days, it will be chilly but the fishing will remain solid as there is no more snow to impact water temperature.
Partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 49. Windy, with a west wind 20 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph. Nice day, if it was not for the wind! Your best bet is to try and find some shelter near bluff faces and in deeper valleys. Creeks are stained to muddy after the brief heavy rain last night. Look for things to drop and clear pretty quickly. Water temps are in the high 30s to mid 40s.
Cloudy, with a high near 59. Breezy, with a south wind 17 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph Wind the next few days, take shelter in the valleys and against bluff faces and fish leeches and streamers (flies that do not need to be casted all that accurately to be effective). Creeks are clear and flowing a bit low with water temperatures in the high 30s to mid 40s. Fishing has been good lately with midge hatches and winter stonefly emergences mid day. There will be pods of rising fish around lunchtime, sometimes they are hard to find! Subsurface fishing is best. Leeches have been incredible this early season! Fishing them along with scuds, deep brassies, she hulks, and copper johns will catch fish.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 41. Breezy, with a southeast wind 15 to 17 mph. Sunny and warming up! Fishing has been good and fish will be happy this weekend. Look for midge hatches mid day.
Increasing clouds, with a high near 28. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon. Nothing super special about today, but with the early sun we have, the water temperatures will start to climb earlier and get the fish moving. We do not have a ton of snow on the ground. The last snow only dumped a couple of inches on the ground and between yesterdays melt and today there is little left. Saturday and Sunday look like fantastic weather! Saturday 43 and Sunday 58 for the highs! Creeks are clear to slightly stained and running in the high 30s to mid 40s water temperature wise. Fishing has been solid lately with the same stuff working well all early season. Midges are still our only hatch (it is not warm enough for olives yet) but we are seeing fish eat them mid day on the sunnier days. Subsurface fishing is best on leeches, scuds, brassies, ice cream cones, and She Hulks. Do not be afraid to fish a steamer slowly through the water as well, as we have seen some larger fish chase streamers the past week.
Snow, mainly before 3pm. High near 32. Breezy, with a northwest wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Heavy wet snow falling this morning. Fishing has been spotty with the ever changing weather patterns. The good news is that things will start to pick up and steady starting today. Fish have been happily eating scuds and leeches as well as brassies subsurface. The midge hatches have slowed down a bit, but we should see them again starting Friday. It is now March, which means the shop is open 7 days a week! M-Sat 9-5 and Sunday 9-Noon
