Mostly sunny, with a high near 51. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph. Really gorgeous fall weather ahead for the next couple of days! Wisconsin's season is closed until January. We are fishing and guiding over in the Iowa driftless. Olives are still hatching daily over in Iowa, when there are rising fish, a sparkle dun or tilt wing have been killer patterns. We started to catch fish on smaller hippie stompers again too when the weather is drier. Fishing a small hippie with a little pheasant tail or two bit hooker below has been deadly. Deep nymphing the holes with a heavy scud has also been very effective. Fish are in spawning mode so please leave actively spawning fish alone!! Fish the deeper water below riffles and target rising fish.
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October 2018
Wisconsin's season is closed. We are fishing and guiding over in Iowa's Driftless. A 40 percent chance of rain, mainly before noon. Cloudy, with a high near 51. South wind around 6 mph. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Mild and drizzly the past couple of days. Great fishing conditions! Creeks are clear and fishing well. We're still seeing olives in the mid to late afternoon and fish rising during that time too. Subsurface fishing has been great on heavy czech style nymphs and scuds as well as midge larvae and pheasant tails. We as again that you please leave any spawning fish alone and do not step on any spawning beds!
Wisconsin's trout season is closed! This report is for Iowa's Driftless area. Fish are beginning to spawn. Leave spawning fish alone and concentrate your fishing in deeper pools and targeting rising fish. Cloudy, with a high near 51. South wind 3 to 6 mph. Solid fishing continues over in Iowa. Fish have really responded to the olive hatch mid day. Fishing is typically slow until about 9-10 in the morning as things warm up a bit. Once they do, fish are responding well to thicker bodied nymphs rolled along the bottom. Once mid day hits the fish will switch to thinner bodied nymphs and emergers as the olive hatch begins. Around lunch time fish should start rising and a tilt wing or sparkle dun will do the trick in getting them to eat on the surface! Want to make things easy? Pick up our staff's best Iowa bugs online here.
Wisconsin's season is closed. We are fishing and guiding over in Iowa. Sunny, with a high near 50. Southeast wind 3 to 6 mph. Fishing yesterday was good, but only for a brief window of time. Creeks are in Iowa are in good shape flowing clear with cold water temperatures. Fishing was slow until about 11 when the mayflies (mostly size 18 olives) started to hatch. Fish were eating low riding patterns on the surface such as sparkle duns and tilt wing duns as well as emergers. They were also happily eating heavy subsurface patterns rolled along the bottom of deeper runs and pools. Please keep in mind that there are fish spawning right now. Leave spawning fish alone, there are plenty of opportunities in the pools and runs as well as rising fish to keep you occupied. Also be careful not so step on any spawning beds!
Sunny, with a high near 57. Light and variable wind becoming west 8 to 13 mph in the afternoon. Wisconsin's season is CLOSED, this report is for the open creeks in Iowa and Minnesota. Please check regulations before heading out and fishing. The driftless is in transition. With the colder weather and water temperatures fish are beginning to spawn. Please LEAVE SPAWNING FISH ALONE. There are plenty of put and take rainbows in Iowa to chase Fishing has been decent, but difficult with the sunny skies and clear water. We are still seeing slight hatches in the afternoon, but most of the action is subsurface. Heavy bugs rolled along the bottom and leeches twitched through the deeper pools are key.
Wisconsin's trout season is closed. We are fishing and guiding over in Iowa. Rain, mainly before noon. High near 59. Breezy, with a southwest wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Looks like crummy and chilly weather until Mid Week. Then things get comfortable and quite good again. Look for olive hatches mid day. Hopper and Droppers are still working but things are starting to turn more subsurface before the olives as the frosts and cold nights are starting to kill off the terrestrial population. Do not overlook leeches this time of year! Remember, TROUT SEASON IN WISCONSIN IS CLOSED. THIS IS A REPORT FOR IOWA AND THE MINNESOTA STATE PARK LANDS
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. South wind 8 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Last weekend of season. You can fish through Monday the 15th, after that trout season is closed until January. Fishing has been good, and the weather cooperative. Creeks are clear to stained with only a couple of exceptions. Scuds in the mornings, switching to small bead heads below a hippie stomper mid day, then look for risers in the late afternoon and evening. Look for an olive hatch in the afternoon!
Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 42. West wind 6 to 9 mph. Season closes October 15th! Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 42. West wind 6 to 9 mph. Things shaped up quickly yesterday. Two days of clearing after the relentless rains has been a great thing for the waters. Most creeks are clear to slightly stained and the fishing is back on track! Look for olives in the afternoon as the hatch showed up again yesterday! It will be chilly first thing in the morning this weekend. Look for fish to be feeding subsurface on scuds, thin bodied mayfly nymphs, and midge larvae early. Then switching to small terrestrials or indicator flies (hippie stompers in royal are HOT!) and emergers around mid day. If you are in the right place, the olives will start to show up in the later afternoon and get fish rising. Everything is in great shape for the last weekend of season!
Cloudy, with a high near 41. Breezy, with a west wind 16 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. After a day to drop and clear, creeks are sitting at clear to stained area wide with only a couple remaining difficult to fish. Things have finally dried out and are shaping up to get back to the exceptional fall fishing we had before the recent rains. On the clearer water, look for olive hatches late in the afternoon and into early evening. Before that, fish deep with a heavily weighted scud or small thin bodied fly like a perdigon or two bit. On the murky water continue to fish your larger scuds, pink squirrels, leeches, and San Juan worms. The fishing can still be excellent on water that is a bit stained. Season is over after the 15th! Get your fix in before the off season kicks in!
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Cloudy, with a temperature rising to near 67 by 11am, then falling to around 59 during the remainder of the day. Southwest wind 8 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Finally, the big ugly storm missed us last night. While we got rain it was only an inch or so last night. What that means is we have muddy water this morning, but things will drop and clear quicker than expected if the rains stay away as they are forecasted to today. There are already some springs and tiny creeks that are flowing clear! (See picture) In the murky and dropping water, fish leeches and San Juan worms As things drop and clear further, fish larger scuds and pink squirrels. When things are cleared up, go back to matching the blue winged olive mayfly hatch both subsurface and on the surface.
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 9am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 9am and 2pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 71. Light and variable wind becoming south around 6 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A couple of inches of localized heavy rain fell last night. Creeks are chocolate this morning. Things may calm down and clear to a fishable clarity later in the day, but the forecast calls for more rain tonight! We're in good shape if the rains miss us. If the hit us, things will be muddy to murky all day. As usual, we will keep you posted.
UPDATE 3:00 p.m.: Things started to murk up around lunch time. Luckily no more rain has fallen since about 11. The larger storm that might hit us this evening looks like it is (hopefully) going to pass north of La Crosse a bit. We will see tonight... If we don't get significantly more rain, things will be in fine shape tomorrow. Stained to cloudy with a few clear creeks. If the rain hits, expect murky to muddy waters. Things are still clear to stained in our area, but the ground is saturated and if we get heavy rain we will see some muddying of the creeks. In the meantime, the olive hatch has been very strong out there. It isn't on every body of water, but the creeks that do get them have fish looking up most of the middle part of the day. On a rainy day like this, your best bet is subsurface if the olives aren't hatching. Fishing a scud, pink squirrel or larger pattern is a good idea. Leeches have also been quite good!
A 20 percent chance of rain before 10am. Cloudy, with a high near 54. North wind around 8 mph. Rains missed us pretty much completely last night. We only received about 1/2 an inch of rain or so meaning everything is clear to slightly stained and fishing incredibly well. We're still fishing an attractor dry with a dropper during the day with fish loving the royal color hippie stomper and training wheels. Dropping a pheasant tail or zika midge below is deadly as you are covering multiple columns of water. It isn't bad idea to tie a trailing olive emerger later in the day too. Olives are hatching mid day through the evening and fish are keying in on them. A film critic or thorax baetis is perfect to throw at the risers. Subsurface fishing has been hot on scuds and squogs with smaller, thin bodied bugs fishing well later in the day to mimic the blue winged olive nymphs and emergers.
Scattered showers before 11am, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Cloudy, with a high near 55. East wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. 1/4 to 1/2 an inch forecasted tonight. Although it has lightly rained the past few days, we still have crystal clear to slightly stained water area wide! Fishing has been quite a bit of fun lately with fish in fall mode feeding well. On the surface we are fishing hippie stompers and training wheels as well as other attractor dried and terrestrials. If possible, hang a bead head below! Olives are also hatching on most of our creeks and can get the fish rising steadily in the afternoon and evening. Do not neglect some emergers mid day on as fish can key in on things below the surface film during the early stage of the hatch. Subsurface is a mix of heavy, larger patterns with a fuzzy look to them (squogs, squirrels, scuds, she hulks etc) as well as the more 'match the hatch' flies like pheasant tails, midge larvae and other thin bodied dark colored bead heads. Just make sure your subsurface bugs are heavy as fish want them near the bottom early in the day. Leeches and smaller streamers are also working quite well. Fish are aggressively hitting them throughout the day as long as the clouds are overhead and the sun is off the water.
Sunny, with a high near 54. North wind 7 to 11 mph. Fall keeps on rocking in the Driftless. Conditions are quite good and temperatures have cooled down back to normal again. Fishing has been quite strong lately with fish eagerly eating smaller terrestrials on the surface as well as mayflies (olive hatch!) in the afternoon and evening. It is almost to the point subsurface that anything will get a fish to eat. To dial in what they prefer switch back and forth between a thicker profile like a scud or brush hog, and a thinner bodied pattern like a perdigon or zika jig. Season ends on the 15th, get your Driftless fix in while you still can!
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 76. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40% Cloudy with a chance of light rain today. The trout friendly weather continues!! Fishing has been quite good lately thanks to the prolonged cloud cover and cooler temperatures. Today is a slight bump up in temperature, but things get back to fall tomorrow. Fish have been happily eating training wheels with a bead head dropper in the morning through mid day. After that some of our creeks are getting a fall olive hatch that has fish looking up and eating film critics and tilt wing olive duns. Subsurface fishing has been good as well. Larger, buggier nymphs like the dirty bird and coulee scud on the stained water, and slimmer profile bead heads in the clear water. Creeks are clear to stained in our area. Near Fennimore they are runing pretty high and murky.
Patchy drizzle before 10am. Patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 59. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon. Things are looking better than expected after the rains yesterday. The Madison area got pounded with rain (again!) while Vernon County escaped relatively unscathed. We only received half an inch to an inch tops. This has the creeks clear to mildly stained with only a couple muddy. The fall has been absolutely fantastic so far! Cool temperatures, olive hatches later in the day, and happy fish. If the clouds stay in today, fish scud patterns and leeches. When the clouds go away, switch over to smaller mayfly nymphs and midge larvae. Look for fish rising to olives in the afternoon. Trout will also be looking up and smashing hippie stompers and training wheels. Season runs through October 15th. Still plenty of time to get your Driftless Fix this fall.
Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 52. East wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Last night most of the rain passed south of us by quite a bit. Viroqua barely registered any overnight rain. So far, looking at the radar, the storms are south of us again. While we are getting some drizzle here and there things are in excellent shape so far. Look for olives hatching in the latter part of the day. Fish are becoming selective to these bugs when they start rising. When not rising, fish are happily eating terrestrials on the surface. Just make sure they are not too large. Subsurface fishing has been excellent on scuds and pink squirrels as well as tungsten pheasant tails and other heavy euro style nymphs as long as they are slimmer bodied. Leeches and streamers have also been hot during this cool down and cloudy weather. It is a good time of season to get some larger fish to eat a larger meal!
