Periods of showers, mainly before 11am. High near 51. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Drizzle and clouds all day today. This weather should put the fish in a good mood! This is the forecast for the entire early part of the week as well. Look for the caddis hatch to have slowed down a bit with the cloudy and wet weather. Mayflies (olives especially) and craneflies will take over as the important surface food. Subsurface fishing has continued to be excellent on spanish bullets, brush hogs, and zebra midges. We are still fishing them below hippie stompers and training wheels. And, yes, fish are eating the terrestrial type flies too! With the gloomy weather, look for the all day effectiveness of streamers and leeches to climb. This is a great way to find fish through the day.
Driftless Angler Fly Shop
Wisconsin's Premier Fly Shop and Guide Service
Blog
April 2019
Snow before 3pm, then rain and snow between 3pm and 4pm, then snow after 4pm. Steady temperature around 34. East wind 10 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible. It is snowing. Heavily... Ugh.... Good news is that it will not significantly mess up the creeks (much better snow than rain!). Fishing will be solid despite the snow. Look for olives to hatch today, and subsurface activity on leeches and scuds to be solid.
Sunny, with a high near 57. Breezy, with a northwest wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Wow does today look nice. Outside of a bit of wind, it will be an excellent day to be out there and fishing. Tomorrow's forecast is terrible. 4-10 inches of snow. Seriously.... Then Sunday turns around and is sunny and mild, but nice again. If you don't mind the snow, it will probably be a good day of fishing as miserable weather usually is. Creeks are clear to stained after recent rains with nothing unfishable due to water. The flood warnings you see on the weather forecasts are for the Mississippi and Wisconsin, not our trout creeks. We're still finding caddis as the main menu for trout. The hatch is still seeming a bit spotty and coming in waves throughout the day and week. It can be strong in one spot, then fade only to appear on another creek or farther upstream. But the bugs are around and the fish are keying in on them. Subsurface fishing has been quite good on heavy, thicker bodied patterns. Think prince nymph and hare's ear instead of midge larvae and pheasant tail. Getting the fish to roll along the bottom just below the riffles is fantastic this time of season. The guides have been doing well fishing with an indicator fly and bead head dropper. Stimulators, hippie stompers, training wheels... All are catching fish right now while doing double duty and acting as your indicator. When the sun is off the water, leeches and streamers are fishing very well with some big fish being hooked and landed recent.y
Rain showers. Highs in the lower 60s. West winds 5 to 10 mph...shifting to the northwest in the afternoon. Chance of showers 90 percent. Light drizzle predicted today, and we need the rain! Most creeks are a touch low. Overall creeks are clear to stained and have temperatures in the mid 40s to mid 50s. The caddis showed up again on a couple of creeks north of the shop yesterday, and we will continue to see them even through the goofy weather the next couple of days. Subsurface fishing has been best on thicker bodied patterns like brush hogs, pork chop express, and pink squirrels. Fishing them below a foam indicator fly has been quite good lately. Soft hackles fished downstream and swung with a bit of speed below riffles has been very effective too! When the sun is off the water, do not neglect fishing streamers and leeches!
Sunny, with a high near 71. Light and variable wind becoming south 8 to 13 mph in the morning. Well, the caddis stayed home a bit yesterday to aggravate us. They are around and hatching sporadically. Where you do find them hatching the fishing is excellent! Otherwise we are fishing essentially a hopper/dropper using a hippie stomper or training wheel on the surface and dropping bead heads below. The fish are picking up on smaller terrestrials and attractor patterns on the surface when there is no major hatch coming off. Soft hackles are another great way to catch fish right now. Swinging them below riffles will get some aggressive strikes. The fishing is better in the mornings before the sun has been on the water for too long (fish are spooky as our creeks are clear), and at the last hour of the day. In the evening tie on a leech or streamer and hold on!
Partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 62. North wind 10 to 13 mph. Caddis showed up in good numbers yesterday (finally!) Both black and tan. We did get some rain last night, a nice soaking shower that dropped about 3/4 of an inch. This will not muddy things up in our area significantly. Expect clear to stained water today. Creeks are flowing pretty normal after the rain yesterday with water temperatures in the mid 40s to 50s. If the caddis continue, that will be the #1 meal on the menu for trout both on the surface and subsurface. Caddis larvae, pupae, and dries were effective yesterday, as was swinging a soft hackle below the riffles. We have also started to spot creek lamprey. Fishing a large olive colored streamer will get some larger fish right now!
High near 78. South wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. Creeks are low and clear with water temperatures in the high 40s to mid 50s. Fish are eating thicker bodied nymphs in the morning (Pork Chop Express, Brush Hog, Cold War Caddis) as well as streamers and leeches fished slowly in the pools or swung down and across. In the afternoon we are seeing dry fly activity with the caddis hatch ramping up around mid day. A bit of cloud cover is needed to make fish happy and feed on the surface. Guide have also had success with small terrestrials and attractor flies with bead heads below.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. South wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Happy Easter everyone! Another sunny day which is nice to be out in, but the fishing can be tough. Creeks are low and clear with water temperatures in the high 40s to low 50s. We saw a few caddis yesterday, and conditions are right to see the hatch show up in a big way and second now. Fishing subsurface caddis larvae and pupae as well as pinks squirrels and scuds has been excellent along with zebra midges. On the surface, hippie stompers, training wheels, parawullf adams and caddis are the ticket. The fish are fussy because of the bright sun. If you find shade, or find a hatch the fish are hungry! Do not neglect streamers, even in the sun fish are chasing a larger meal right now.
Sunny, with a high near 68. Southwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Beautiful holiday weekend. Creeks are low and clear with water temperatures in the mid 40s to mid 50s area wide. Were officially under caddis watch! They are showing up sporadically in between hatches of olives. Once the big hatch shows up we will let you know. It will be any day now.... Otherwise, fishing bead heads below and indicator fly (hippie stomper or training wheel) is a good bet until you see fish rising.
Sunny, with a high near 59. North wind 8 to 14 mph. Conditions are PRIME to start seeing the caddis hatch again. While we can not guarantee (political and fly shop owner speaking here) a hatch, things are lined up to where we should the hatch turn on this weekend. Creeks are clear to slightly stained and flowing well with water temperatures in the mid 40s to low 50s area wide. We did not suffer from the recent rains, and have had good fishing the past few days! The olive hatch is still around, but starting to fade a bit. Scuds are moving around subsurface and our bead head patterns are getting larger and thicker (think more pink squirrel and brush hog than zebra midge and PT). Leeches and streamers are still catching fish, and you can run into some larger fish in the lower sections of the creeks right now.
Patchy drizzle before 11am, then isolated showers after 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 49. Breezy, with a northwest wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Major rain missed us yesterday with only a couple of brief showers. That means our creeks are clear to slightly stained and in good shape this morning! We've seen olive hatches daily lately and while they are fading, fish are still looking up and can be caught on attractor patterns and even small terrestrials right now later on in the day. In the mornings we are fishing deep with heavily weighted bead head nymphs and leeches. With the warmer and sunnier weather tomorrow and Saturday we should see the caddis hatch show up again!!!
A chance of rain and thunderstorms, then rain and possibly a thunderstorm after 4pm. High near 56. Breezy, with an east wind 11 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Looks like rain this afternoon. Creeks are in excellent shape, and this rain doesn't look like it will be heavy which means the ground will soak quite a bit of it up and we shouldn't have muddy conditions. Olives are the bug of choice on the menu for surface activity in the afternoon. Unless the wind starts howling, fish are rising around lunchtime and will eat olive dries and emergers. Subsurface fishing is heating up on scuds along with the normal leeches, heavy tungsten bead head flies (squog, pork chop express etc) and midge larvae. Do not neglect streamer fishing as these temperatures have some larger fish on the prowl right now!
Isolated showers before 8am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. Light and variable wind becoming northeast 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Warmer and cloudy today. It feels like olive weather out there! Look for hatches in the afternoon. We're still fishing heavy nymphs and leeches early in the morning, but quickly shifting over to smaller nymphs (to match the olives) and emergers. There are a few olive hatches going on from lunchtime into evening. They are still a bit spotty so you might have to move a spot or two if you are chasing rising fish. Otherwise, just keep throwing your bead head and emerges and you will be fine. With the slight warm up, fish are also eating foam patterns again! Hippie stompers and small training wheels with a nymph tied below are hot again.
Increasing clouds, with a high near 53. Light and variable wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the morning. Things are back on track for springtime fishing in the Driftless! Creeks are clear and flowing well with water temperatures in th low to mid 40s. Nymphing and slowly twitching leeches in the morning is catching fish, and we are starting to see the return of olives in the afternoon (around 2 p.m.) as the sun warms the creeks a bit.
Cloudy, with a high near 39. West wind 11 to 14 mph. Far better out there today and through the next few days. There is little snow on the ground and is slowly melting through the day. The creeks are clear to slightly stained with water temperatures in the low to mid 40s. We're fishing deep with the cooler weather and water, heavy tungsten nymphs rolled along the bottom and leeches or streamers twitched slowly through the runs are catching fish. We are still seeing a few olives but hatches are going to pick up over the next few days as things warm up!
UPDATE: Guides have caught a few fish out there, but things are not great. We pushed trips to tomorrow. There is nothing wrong with the creeks temperature or clarity wise, they just feel 'off' today. A slight chance of snow before noon, then a chance of rain and snow between noon and 4pm, then a slight chance of rain after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 37. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. The ugly stuff is over. There is an inch or two of crusty slush on the ground right now that will start to melt slowly today. The creeks are in great shape and the melting should not significantly muddy things up. We're still seeing a few olives hatching in the afternoons, but due to the cold snap fishing bead heads and slowly twitching leeches has been the most productive. Creeks are clear to stained and flowing well with temperatures in the low to mid 40s.
Rain and snow, becoming all snow after 4pm. High near 36. Breezy, with an east wind 15 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. Sorry for the lapse in reports! We have been in Argentina fishing the last week. With the cooldown in temperatures things have stayed stable in the Driftless. This means we are still seeing olives in the later afternoon on some creeks. Nymphs and streamers are still the best way to catch fish right now. Fishing starts mid morning and lasts until the sun goes down at night. We have crummy weather for the next couple of days, but things look good for the weekend.
Snow before 7am, then scattered snow showers between 7am and 8am. High near 50. West wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Wet snow falling early this morning, but it is all melting as soon as it hits the ground. This will not affect fishing or driving in the area. Creeks overall are clear and flowing well with water temperatures in the mid 40s. Olives are hatching, and we are seeing some spring stoneflies around too! Fish are responding on the surface to larger attractor patterns so we have already started fishing dry/dropper through the day. If the hatch comes off, it is typically later in the day. Subsurface nymphing has been good on the heavy thin bodied patterns, and scuds are starting to heat up.
