Sunny, with a high near 94. Heat index values as high as 105. Breezy, with a south wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. It's ugly hot out there! Creek temperatures are still stable but it is borderline dangerous to be out in the mid day heat. Fish early, fish late, and find shade to find fish. Fish will be deep near the springs prepare to deep nymphs and throw terrestrials near the bank for the best success!
Driftless Angler Fly Shop
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Blog
June 2018
Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Hot weather is coming! Fish early and fish late and find shade to find trout. Water temperatures are still good but the sun is shining brightly and will make it uncomfortable for anglers mid day as well as will make the fish spooky and fussy. Creeks are clear and flowing well. We're still seeing some hatches of caddis, light colored mayflies and craneflies, but the focus has begun to shift to terrestrials on the surface. We're catching fish on smaller hoppers, beetles, and ants (try sinking your ant or beetle!). Fishing a hippie stomper and a dropper is deadly right now. Night time fishing on mice and large streamers has been a ton of fun too.
Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Calm wind becoming north 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Perfect summer conditions today! Rains yesterday missed us for the most part leaving creeks clear to slightly stained with only one or two exceptions. Water temperatures are in the mid 50s to mid 60s area wide. It is starting to get to the point that carrying a thermometer is a good idea again as a couple of the larger creeks are hitting the mid 60s water temperature wise. Over 65 and fishing slows down quite a bit and can be stressful on fish. Overall though the fish are very happy eating a mixture of mayflies, craneflies and caddis early and late on the surface while starting to aggressively eat ants beetles and hoppers all day long. Subsurface fishing on the cloudy days has been excellent with leeches and scuds. On clear days in clear water we are doing well with soft hackles, midge larvae, and thinner profiled flies (pink belly PT, perdigon etc). As is the case each summer brush hogs are a go to subsurface fly. Don't hit the creeks without a few in your fly box!
Showers and thunderstorms likely before noon, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm between noon and 3pm, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 3pm. High near 72. Southeast wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. Things are still hopping in the Driftless! Creeks are clear to stained with temperatures in the mid 50s to mid 60s. As we transition into summer we will start to see some warmer water temperatures. It is a good idea to carry a thermometer with you. When you start to see surface temperatures of 65 degrees, fishing will be slow. Overall temps are in great shape though, and the trout are happy. Fishing is best on days like today when there are clouds in the sky! Look for fish to feed early on the surface, then retreat subsurface near mid day. They will venture out to the shallower runs in the evenings to feed on the hatching mayflies. Terrestrials including ants, beetles, and small hoppers are great right now on the surface. We're still catching fish on craneflies, caddis and light colored mayflies too. Subsurface is best on scuds, squogs, and brush hogs on cloudy days. Sunny days have been fishing well on pheasant tails, zebra midges (especially purple) frenchies and perdigons.
Partly sunny, with a high near 79. East wind 8 to 14 mph. Fishing has been quite fun lately. Water temperatures are in the high 50s to low 60s area wide. Creeks are clear to slightly stained. Sun will be the limiting factor today, so make sure you fish early and late and find the shade. Fish have been happy to eat ants, beetles, and small hoppers throughout the day on the surface. Hatches of sulphurs and cahills are still around mostly in the evening. Cranflies and flush floating caddis dries skated and twitched on the surface are very effective right now too! Subsurface fishing has been best on zebra midges (especially purple), ice cream cones, frenchies and brush hogs. Fish are holding early and late in the shin to thigh deep water and will fall back to deeper pools and undercut banks when the sun is shining on the water.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Calm wind becoming northwest around 6 mph. Things are fishing well right now! Creeks are clear to stained and flowing with temperatures in the mid 50s to low 60s area wide. We're seeing the return of lighter colored mayflies hatching in the evening, and in the mean time hippie stompers and user friendlies have been catching fish like crazy. We're doing well on our evening hatch aquatic insect fishing, but the terrestrials are starting to take over as the most successful patterns on the surface. Subsurface fishing has been solid on leeches, scuds, pink squirrels frenchies and squogs. Sun is still the limiting factor so fish early and late and find shady areas and you will catch more trout.
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. Light north wind becoming northeast 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Despite the light rain the past couple of days we do have fishable water! Yesterday we found some clear water and some rising fish too! Expect stained to cloudy water area wide. Things are clearing quickly as we did not get intense rain yesterday. Do not expect the larger creeks to be clear. Focus on the headwater areas and smaller feeder creeks. Stained water was fishing well yesterday on san juan worms and leeches as well as larger attractor patterns (training wheel) with a scud dropper. Clear water was fishing well on craneflies, cahills, and hippie stompers with a pheasant tail type fly dropped below it. Water temperatures are excellent right now and fish are happy. This cloudy weather has dropped temperatures and made fish very comfortable as well as re-invigorated some of our hatches.
Rains have stopped. We lucked out again and only received light rain throughout the day. We have fishable water and even a few clear creeks. We are not expected to see any more rain tonight and through tomorrow which means things are dropping and clearing quickly. On the murky streams, San Juan Worms, leeches and scuds are working. The clear creeks are fishing well on craneflies, soft hackles, and pheasant tails. Sorry for the late report! Forgot to click save this morning!
UPDATE: No extra rain has fell since this morning!! And it looks like we are not supposed to get any more. Creeks are dropping and clearing quickly here. We have fishable water right now and will have more by this evening! Raining this morning as we opened the shop. It has been fairly heavy so far, but nothing on the radar behind it. Creeks yesterday were clear to mildly stained. With the rain this morning expect stained to muddy in the morning with a handful clearing out by this afternoon (barring any more rain). It isn't disastrous as the first storm has already passed as of the writing of the report. San Juan worms, scuds, leeches in the murky water. Scuds, brush hogs, Squogs, and hare's ears in the clear to stained water. A temporary pain, this rain has super cooled things and refilled the springs which means solid fishing for the near future!
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8am, then showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 82. Southwest wind 6 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. We received about an inch of rain throughout the night last night. Rain intensity varied from valley to valley which means we will have some clear water this morning as well as some murky water. This rain was a much needed relief after a hot and humid weekend! Look for fish to be feeding on scuds, leeches, and San Juan worms in the murky and cloudy water. As things drop and clear they will switch to scuds and other larger nymphs. The rain will suppress the terrestrial activity a bit, but we should see some decent aquatic insect activity on the stained to clear creeks throughout the day.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Heat index values as high as 97. Light and variable wind becoming south 9 to 14 mph in the morning. Fishing has remained strong despite the horribly hot weather. Make sure to fish early, fish late, and stay hydrated if you do not take a break mid day. Fishing is best when the sun is off the water. We're still seeing fish feeding heavily on ants and beetles throughout the day as well as responding to soft hackles swung below the riffles. In the evening fish are rising to lighter colored mayflies and yellow sallies. Subsurface fishing has been good below the riffles on thinner profiled nymphs and small midge larvae. This is the time of year to fish a mouse pattern at night! We've had some nice fish caught after the sun goes down lately.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 91. Heat index values as high as 98. Breezy, with a south wind 13 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Hot. Sunny. Fish early and late and find shade to find the happy trout. Hatches in the evening including larger size 12-14 cahills and 16-18 sulphurs continue daily. We're also seeing yellow sallies. Terrestrial fishing has been great, even mid day. Fishing a hopper and dropper is not a bad idea right now (especially if the dropper is a sunken ant!) The mousing at night has been fantastic with a couple huge fish being caught recently.
Partly sunny, with a high near 77. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Some much needed cloud cover is around today. While spotty, it will be far better than the bright sun we had yesterday. Fishing has been quite good with creeks clear to stained and running in the mid to high 50s to 60s temperature wise. We are seeing our bug soup in the evenings with all kinds of different light colored mayflies, yellow sallies, caddis, craneflies and midges hatching. During the day fishing a hippie stomper with a dropper is very effective as is fishing a heavy tungsten bead pattern right below riffles and into the undercut banks. Fish are feeding in the riffles and runs early, then will slip into deeper water and under cover mid day only to emerge into the riffles and runs again in the evening. If you aren't too tired after a day of fishing, mousing at night has been a lot of fun lately!
Sunny, with a high near 76. Northwest wind 8 to 11 mph. Fishing conditions are great right now! The recent rains missed us leaving our creeks clear to slightly stained with water temperatures in the mid 50s to 60s area wide. We're doing very well on terrestrials and attractor flies with small bead heads tied below (dry/dropper) as well as still catching fish on caddis, craneflies, sulphurs and other lighter colored mayflies on the surface. Subsurface action has been quite good right below the riffles on perdigons, pink belly PTs, brush hogs, and soft hackles. Mousing at night is really picking up. We've had lots of aggressive eats each night we have been out mousing lately with a couple larger fish being hooked (notice I did not say landed!)
A slight chance of showers before 10am, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Southeast wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Things are still looking great in the Wisconsin Driftless! The recent rains have all but missed us or given us some light soaking showers. Our creeks are clear to slightly stained with temperatures in the mid 50s to 60s. We're still seeing hatches of olives on cloudy days. Also hatching are lighter colored mayflies and even a few caddis are getting fish to eat on the surface. Aquatic insects are usually better early and late, with terrestrials (ants, beetles, hoppers) working mid day. Fishing a dry dropper mid day with a larger, visible attractor pattern and a bead head tied below it is great right now! Subsurface fishing is still hot on heavy bead heads rolled along the bottom of deeper pools and right below riffles where fish are feeding. Mousing at night is picking up with quite a few fish hitting a slowly swimming mouse pattern!
Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 4pm and 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. East wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. The rains passed south of Vernon county yesterday. We only received a half inch or so overall in the past 24 hours. Our creeks are clear to slightly stained today with temperatures in the mid 50s to mid 60s. Lighter colored mayflies are hatching, especially in the evenings and we are having success on dries throughout the day. In addition to the sulphurs and cahills, tan caddis are working as are terrestrials. Subsurface fishing is good on pretty much anything right now with pheasant tails and brush hogs being a safe bet.
Periods of showers and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly before 1pm, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. High near 71. East wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A bunch of scattered rain is due to fall today. So far it is not looking to be anything that will blow out waters. Fishing has been quite good and a bit of rain will only make it better by recharding some springs and cooling the water (hopefully putting a slight stain on it as well!). Lighter colored bugs are the main course. We are seeing decent numbers of sulphuirs, cahills, and even some sallies and craneflies out there. Tan caddis are still working, and on cloudy days we are STILL seeing olives hatching. Subsurface fishing has been quite solid on most anything with a thinner profile and with some decent weight to it. Fish are in the runs feeding well and will push up into the shallower riffles if a hatch is present.
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. East wind 5 to 7 mph. Consistently good fishing out there right now. Tan caddis are getting fish to eat in the mornings, switching to small terrestrials mid day and even some cahills and sulphurs if the clouds remain overhead. Subsurface fishing is quite good, especially on heavy tungsten bugs fished right below the riffles. Fish are quite happy and feeding throughout the entire day. The cloud cover we have been seeing lately makes for excellent conditions!
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75. South wind 8 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. We love seeing the clouds! Fishing has been quite good lately with quite a few different flies hatching. Fish are looking up to sulphurs, caddis, craneflies, ants, beetles, and even small hoppers and hippie stompers! Subsurface fishing has been good on heavy flies (tungsten heads) like frenchies, squogs, dirty birds and perdigons. Creeks are clear with the exception of one or two and flowing with temperatures in the high 50s to 60s. Fishing has been best when the sun is off the water, so if the clouds hold overhead, it should be quite fun out there today!
Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. Light and variable wind becoming east 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Another gorgeous spring day in the Driftless. Nothing much has changed over the past couple of days of fishing which is an excellent thing. Stable weather means solid fishing. The sun is your limiting factor right now. Creeks are a bit low and clear with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s. The sun shining down on crystal clear water means fish will seek shelter mid day while they wait for the evening hatches. Sulphurs and other lighter colored mayflies are the main course right now with a few caddis, craneflies, and terrestrials also getting fish to rise. Subsurface fishing has been best on thin bodied nymphs with a bit of weight and flash. Things like the rainbow perdigon and two bit hooker have been good when the sun is out. Early and late we are doing well with thicker bodied patterns like the Squog and the brush hog. Looking ahead weather wise, we are getting into the pattern of possible rain each night. Nothing horrible is forecasted and the evening showers/storms can make fishing even better by re filling the springs and possibly putting a stain on the water. As usual, we will keep you updated!
Sunny, with a high near 77. Breezy, with a light west wind increasing to 11 to 16 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Spring time bug soup is on us! We are seeing sulphurs, yellow sallies, caddis, craneflies, olives, PMDs, Cahills, and even some larger March Brown type mayflies throughout the day. Dry fly fishing has been quite fun lately with the best fishing early and late. Mid day surface fishing has still been effective, but leaning more towards small terrestrials and attractor patterns. Subsurface fishing has been solid on Sqogs, brush hogs, small scuds, and pink belly pheasant tails as well as perdigons. Fish are in the shin to thigh deep water below the riffles and will push into the riffles when a hatch is coming off. Creeks are clear and a bit low with water temperatures in the mid 50s to low 60s.
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. Southeast wind 9 to 13 mph THings are back on track with the weather in the Driftless for the next couple of days. It feels chilly this morning, and we are supposed to get some showers this evening. Fishing has been quite good lately with fish rising early to some mayflies and attractor patterns as well as small terrestrials. Mid day we are doing well on nymphs rolled right below the riffles at the head of the pool. In the later part of the day fish are moving up into riffles to feed on hatching sulphurs and yellow sallies. Terrestrials are quite important when mayflies are not around. Fishing an attractor foam pattern with a bead head nymph below is great for prospecting. Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s area wide.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Light east wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Fishing is good in the Driftless! We're seeing quite a few bugs hatching with caddis, yellow sallies, and sulphurs. Most of the hatch activity is concentrated later in the day, but we have had rising fish all day regardless of the bug situation. Terrestrials are also doing quite well with ants and beetles getting fish to eat. Subsurface fishing remains good on pretty much everything. This has been the year of tungsten bugs. Fish your nymphs deep and you will find fish! Creeks are clear to stained and flowing in the high 50s to 60s area wide. We're starting to get rid of the higher water temperatures from last week, but taking a break mid day on sunny days is not a bad idea. The weekend looks quite pleasant weather wise with only a small chance of some showers Saturday night.
