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Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. Light and variable wind. Hot and sunny this weekend.  Fish early and fish late and avoid the mid day sun.  It will be far better for fishing as well as angler health/comfort!   Creeks have dropped and cleared significantly with only the largest bodies of water still murky.  Expect clear to stained conditions area wide.   Hatches will be sparse and limited to when the sun is off the water.  Look for midges and a few lighter colored mayflies. Most of the action will be on terrestrials right now.  Fishing a hippie stomper with a dropper has been excellent.   Deep nymphing the pools below the riffles is the other way to go.   Photo is from our guide Pete this morning.

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Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9am. High near 85. Southwest wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.  After a brief, but heavy thunderstorm yesterday afternoon creeks were muddy but dropping.  This morning at about 5 am we had another brief thunderstorm that caused micro flash flooding area wide.  An hour later, there is no more rain here (quite a bit south though) in Viroqua.  What this means is that the creeks will be muddy this morning.  It looks like the storms have passed us for now, but we still have the chance for a bit more rain in another hour or two.   We will keep you updated.

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EDIT 2:15 p.m.  A large gully washer briefly pushed through the area casing some minor flash flooding.  Expect muddy water for a few hours, and mud to continue through tomorrow if we get the forecasted 1-2 inches of rain tonight.  We will keep you posted.    Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 4pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 85. South wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Summer fishing is in full swing here.  Water temperatures are in the high 50s and low 60s.  Still excellent area wide if it weren't for the bright glowing orb in the sky.  The sun is the major limiting factor.  Fish early, fish late, avoid the mid day sun and find shade to find fish.  Fishing an indicator pattern (hippie stomper, training wheel) with a dropper is the most effective way to catch fish right now during the day.  Very early and very late we do have some rising fish, so have your light colored mayflies and some midge patterns handy.   Subsurface fishing has been best on perdigons, frenchies, pink and purple belly pheasant tail nymphs and ice cream cones.

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Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. West wind 6 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.   Light rain happening first thing this morning.  Nothing to muddy up the creeks. Rains were sparse yesterday in Viroqua and north.  There was one cell of rain south and east of us that hit hard.  Overall the creeks are in very good shape today, clear to slightly stained with a higher chance of stain and cloudy water east and south of the shop.   Trout are easing into summer mode meaning fishing through the day with terrestrials on the surface or a larger foam attractor pattern with a bead head is effective.  As always, tight line nymphing heavy bead heads is working too.   In the evening we are continuing to get rising fish.  They are eating a mix of lighter colored mayflies (cahills), caddis, and parachute adams.  Remember to twitch your flies as fish are keying in on movement right now.

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UPDATE: 3:00.  Rain was only south and east of us.  There has not been a drop of rain in Viroqua and the sun is shining!  They also dropped the chance of rain today to 40%.  It's looking like we are dodging a bullet again today!    Showers and thunderstorms likely, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. High near 72. Southwest wind 6 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. We were dead wrong about yesterday.  The storms never came and it was on and off gentle showers most of the day yesterday!  Creeks are still in good shape right now.  We are supposed to get some more storms this afternoon however.   Fishing continues to be solid area wide with fish feeding subsurface throughout the day, and focusing on the hatches in the evenings.  While this week will warm up temperature wise a bit, water temperatures are excellent for summer.  Just avoid sunny parts of the day and you will catch trout!

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ncreasing clouds, with a high near 75. Southeast wind 9 to 14 mph.   Today is looking great.  Creeks are clear to stained with temps in the low to mid 50s.  These temperatures are 5-10 degrees colder than normal for this time of year!!   Fishing a hippie with a dropper during the day is catching fish.  If you are an early riser, you can find fish feeding on small spinners and midges first thing int he morning on the surface.   The evening brings out more hatching bugs (light colored mayflies and caddis) and can get the fish feeding.  If the hatches do not come off, just continue to fish the indicator dry and dropper or nymph deep to catch fish.   Tomorrow doesn't look friendly with thunderstorms predicted all day long.

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A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Southeast wind 6 to 14 mph.   Looks like rain will hold off until late this weekend! Creeks are clear to slightly stained with water temperatures in the 50s.  You did not read that incorrectly, we are still getting temperatures that low right now!     Fish are starting to key in on terrestrials right now with fish eating ants and beetles well.  That also means the hippie stomper and chubby chernobyl bite is getting even better.  (Don't forget to tie on a bead head dropper below your larger foam pattern!)   Subsurface feeding has been very random as fish are seemingly eating everything.  From perdigons to brush hogs, from food to coulee scuds.  Your best bet is to grab a bunch of varying patterns.  Think/thick, dark/bright etc.  Keep switching bead heads until the fish tell you what they want.   Mousing and streamer fishing at dusk and into dark is definitely picking up!

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Partly sunny, with a high near 73. Light and variable wind becoming northeast 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Another gorgeous day in the Driftless. Creeks are clear to slightly stained with water temperatures in the 50s.   Everything is going just fine for the last day of Spring.  Fish are eating on the surface early in the mornings and again in the evenings on most creeks.  They're feeding on a mix of caddis, craneflies, and lighter colored mayflies.  When in doubt, a parachute adams or parawulff in purple will get fish rising.   During the day smaller terrestrials (ants and beetles) are doing great on sunnier days like today.  Fish them close to the overhanging grasses especially near undercut or shady banks.   During the mid day lull, a hippie stomper or training wheel with a bead head tied below works.  The larger fish have been eating the hippie on the surface instead of the bead head!   Your bead head does not have to be specific.  Instead carry some thicker bodied flies, and some thinner profiled flies and let the fish tell you what they want to eat.  There is a ton of food drifting around right now, so change flies often to get the subsurface bite dialed in!

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Partly sunny, with a high near 72. Northeast wind 3 to 7 mph. Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temperatures in the 50s.  Only one or two creeks are still heavily stained from the rains a few days ago!   Fishing is good during the day on nymphs and terrestrials.  As things dry out, beetles and ants become more effective throughout the day.     Throwing a heavy nymph right below the riffles and into the pockets in the riffles is deadly all day long.  In the evening things light up with most of the creeks having pods of rising fish.  They are feeding on craneflies, caddis, lighter colored mayflies and even midges!

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A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon.   Mild and partly cloudy today!  This spring weather has been more than excellent for the trout streams.  The rains have kept the springs pumping out water and water temperatures have been incredible.   Creeks are clear to stained with temperatures in the 50s.   We're still seeing quite a few hatches including sulphurs, cahills, caddis and craneflies.  Most of the hatch activity is in the evening. During the day fishing nymphs either tight lined, or as a hippie stomper/dropper is effective.  While the fish are not pattern specific subsurface (outside of scuds!) having a few tungsten bead nymphs in thick and thin profiles is not a bad idea.  Keep switching flies and the trout will tell you what they like.   With the recent rains, mousing has slowed down a bit.  Look for a string of drier days and mousing will pick up again.

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Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind.   Creeks are clear to medium stain after a weekend with spotty rains.  Only one or two creeks are muddy as everything has had quite a bit of time to drop and clear.   On the clear creeks, fishing heavy bead heads during the day right below the riffles and rolling them below undercut banks is key.  As the sun starts to go down later in the day, we are seeing lighter colored mayflies (sulfurs, cahills, PMDs) hatching alongside of craneflies and a few remaining caddis.   On the stained water, larger scuds, leeches and San Juan worms will catch fish.

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Partly sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming east 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.   Good weather morning this morning!  Fishing has been quite solid with cooler weather and cloud cover. We are not expecting much in terms of rain today, but we will keep you posted. Creeks are clear and flowing well with temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s.   Caddis, craneflies, light and dark colored mayflies are the main hatches. Subsurface fishing has been solid on heavy patterns fished deep or as a dropper below a hippie stomper.

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Partly sunny, with a high near 72. Breezy, with a southwest wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph.   Outside of the winds, conditions couldn't be better for mid June!  Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temps in the mid 50s to low 60s.  We're still seeing sporadic hatches of a bunch of bugs.  When it seems overwhelming with the amount of insect life, keeping things simple is key.  Parachute adams, parachute cahill, CDC and elk and craneflies will match most anything out there right now.   On windy days like this, the ant and beetle fishing can be fantastic!  Fishing them near grassy banks both dry and just subsurface can be a blast.   Of course, going with the standard hippie stomper or training wheel with a dropper will work.  Bead head wise, again nothing too specific.  While scuds are hot right now, fish are also eating pink and purple belly pheasant tails, hot spot hare's ears, food, and purple drink flies.   On the creeks that still have a stain, fish leeches, large scuds, and squirmy wormies.

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Sunny, with a high near 67. North wind 6 to 10 mph.   Cool and sunny today.  Expect stained water with a couple clear creeks and only one or two muddy creeks. The rains fell heavily early yesterday and one heavy shower around 7 p.m.  The ground did a pretty good job of absorbing much of the rains yesterday and the creeks have had all night to drop and clear.   On the clear water, nymphing with a thinner bodied bug (zebra midge, food, coulee scud) has been excellent.  On the creeks with a stain leeches and streamers as well as San Juan worms have been excellent!  On a sunny day, finding a creek with a stain can be a good thing as fish are more comfortable.

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UPDATE 8:40 a.m.  Raining heavier than predicted.  We will keep you updated, but some valleys have already received about an inch of rain.  Again, the rains are not supposed to last for a long time and things should clear quickly.   Periods of showers and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly before 1pm, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. High near 63. Light and variable wind becoming north 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.   The forecast sounds far more ominous that it looks.  We have a small cell of light rain over us that will turn into a brief shower at about 8, then it mellows out quite a bit with nothing backing it up.  The rains should not be heavy enough to muddy things up as we have had little to no rain fall since last night.   Creeks are clear and flowing well with water temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s. Hatches include craneflies, caddis, lighter colored mayflies, yellow sallies and a bunch of random mayflies (parachute adams hatch)  Subsurface fishing has been best on the purple drink, coulee scuds, oops, and prince nymphs.

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 Cloudy, with a high near 73. Southwest wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.   So far no rain in Viroqua.  Just light sprinkles here and there.   Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temps in the mid 50s to 60. This cooling trend is doing wonders to fishing!  Fish are happily eating subsurface on purple drink, pink squirrels, oops, and scuds. On the surface we are still having success with craneflies, light colored mayflies, and small terrestrials (ant hatch!!!)

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A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 78. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%.   Cloud cover, sweet cloud cover! The past couple of days have been tough with the bright sun and hot temperatures.  It felt like August out there instead of June! The coming week looks like it will get back to normal.   Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s.  Hatches are all across the board with caddis, sulfurs, yellow sallies, red quills, march browns and more hatching.  Your best bet is to have a variety of sizes and colors to you dry flies.  The key is the twitch.  Move your flies for best results.   Subsurface has been a bit better on slimmer and more subtle patterns like zebra midges and ice cream cones.  As the sun goes away a bit and water temperatures cool down, the thicker bodied patterns and scud will pick up again.   Do not neglect mice and leeches at dusk!  We're seeing some aggressive and some larger fish showing up at night.

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Sunny, with a high near 84. Southeast wind 5 to 8 mph.   Creeks are clear with water temps in the high 50s to mid 60s. We're still seeing hatches of craneflies, caddis, and lighter colored mayflies. The sun is a limiting factor right now as it is causing a lull in fishing action mid day.  Fish early and late and find shade for the best fishing! The upside of the sunny weather is that it has terrestrials moving around quite a bit.  Our success with beetles and ants (especially sunken) has been quite good the past couple of days.   Subsurface fishing is still best on heavy bead heads fished right below and up into riffles.  Perdigons, purple drink, frenchies and scuds are all fishing well. The weekend looks like more of the same weather, so fish a hippie or training wheel with a dropper through the day and match the hatch early and late when the sun is not directly on the water.

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Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 81. Calm wind.   Things continue to roll along on our trout creeks.  Expect clear to slightly stained water area wide with only one or two creeks still showing a medium stain.  Everything is fishable!  Water temps are in the high 50s to low 60s.   Craneflies, caddis, lighter colored mayflies (cahills and sulphurs) are hatching and we are seeing yellow sallies on a few creeks too. Subsurface action has been great with tungsten bead head stuff working well.  Prince nymphs, purple drank, and other thick bodied patterns are working on the stained waters where pheasant tails, midge larvae, and the oops fly are doing well on the clear waters.   Do not be afraid to fish foam indicator flies.  Even hoppers are catching fish even though there are no hoppers on the banks!  A foam fly with a dropper is a great way to fish through the day when nothing is hatching.   When the sun comes out switching to bottom bouncing nymphs is a good idea as things will slow down a bit with the sun directly overhead.

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Partly sunny, with a high near 80. Northwest wind 3 to 5 mph.   Patchy rains hit us yesterday, but only an inch or so with a few valleys getting anything much heavier.  In other words, we escaped the bad storms once again.  While there will be a few murky creeks this morning, the vast majority are going to be stained with a few already crystal clear as of this morning.  If you find murky water and do not feel like fishing leeches and Squirmy Wormies (which are deadly on the stained water right now!) drive a valley or two over and you will find something clearer and fish willing to eat dries.   Water temperatures are in the high 50s to low 60s.   We are seeing light colored mayflies hatching in the evenings, as well as caddis and craneflies throughout the day.  Subsurface fishing on the stained water will be great on leeches and squirmy worries.  On the clearer creeks, coulee scuds, purple drink jigs, and other tungsten bead head jigs are quite effective.  Especially when put below a hippie stomper or training wheel!

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UPDATE 1:00  I was a bit wrong.  The rains did stain the water fairly heavily this morning.   However, it was a true 'mini flash flood' and creeks have dropped and started clearing as of mid day.  There is quite a bit of clear to medium stained water out there now with only one or two creeks still murky.     Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. South wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.   A small band of rain rolling through this morning.  It will be gone by 9. Creeks are clear to slightly stained and fishing well.  Hatches include craneflies, caddis, and lighter colored mayflies.  Hippie stompers and chubby chernobyl's are doing well as indicator flies with a bead head dropped below.  Bead heads of every variety seem to be working!  Purple is a hot color right now.   If fish aren't targeting thicker bodied flies like the brush hog or prince nymph, then switch to a zebra midge or perdigon. Water temps are mid 50s to high 50s. This rain will not muddy things up significantly with the rains this morning.

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Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. South wind 5 to 9 mph. It's almost too nice out there right now!   Creeks are clear to slightly stained with water temperatures in the mid 50s to low 60s.   Lots of bugs are hatching including caddis, craneflies, and lighter colored mayflies.  Fish are also feeding well on ants and beetles.   Fishing a hippie stomper with a bead head below has been just deadly lately.  Do not forget to twitch your flies every once in a while. Subsurface fishing has been best on medium bodied patterns with a bit of flash.  In the middle part of the day on the super clear creeks, switching to a zebra midge or something a bit thinner and more subtle will get spookier fish to eat.

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Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon.   Creeks are clear to slightly stained with water temperatures in the mid 50s to high 50s. Everything is going well in the Driftless!  We're seeing hatches of crane flies, caddis, lighter colored mayflies, and yellow sallies!  When the fish are not rising we are fishing a hippie stomper with a bead head below.   There was a brief storm this morning that was more thunder than rain.  We're looking at a great cloudy day today.

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