Wisconsin's season is closed. We are fishing and guiding over in Iowa. Mostly sunny, with a high near 39. West wind 5 to 7 mph. Dusting of snow on the ground this morning. but overall a pretty day. It's starting to morph into cold weather fishing mode. Fishing smaller nymphs and scuds deep under an indicator or tight line nymphing in the morning, then switching to olive dries if the fish start to rise in the afternoon. While chilly, it is still quite pleasant out there right now.
Driftless Angler Fly Shop
Wisconsin's Premier Fly Shop and Guide Service
Blog
October 2019
Sunny, with a high near 48. Calm wind becoming southwest 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Wisconsin's season is closed. We are fishing and guiding over in Iowa. The last couple of frosty mornings have started to put a hurt on terrestrials. While we are still using larger foam patterns as indicators through the day, they have begun slowing down in the fish catching department. Rolling small nymphs and scuds below the runs is still effective, and we are seeing some spotty rising from fish mid day and into the evening. There is no need to get up early as the chilly mornings are typically quite slow. The real action is when the sun warms the stream bed a bit and the bugs start moving around.
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Breezy, with a southeast wind 6 to 11 mph becoming west 12 to 17 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Today is the last day of trout season in Wisconsin. Get out there and fish. The shop will be open until noon (we need to get our last few fish in this afternoon!) Thank you all for a great season!
Areas of frost before 10am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 47. Southwest wind 3 to 8 mph. Creeks are in good shape. Only today and tomorrow to fish. We're going to simply suggest you get out and fish and do not worry too much about what's going on. Hopper with a dropper and streamers/leeches today and tomorrow. Shop closes at noon tomorrow (tuesday).
Showers, mainly after 1pm. High near 42. Breezy, with a southwest wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Cold this morning and the wind is a bit annoying. Good thing the fish aren't as fussy about cold and wind! Fishing was solid yesterday with fish loving crickets and darker foam patterns on the surface. Subsurface fishing has been great on zebra midges, perdigons, purple drank and food as well as scuds. There have been many anglers hooking some really nice fish on leeches and streamers too! Season shuts down after the 15th, only 4 more days of fishing left! Get out there while you still can.
UPDATE 4:15 Rains today missed most of the Wisconsin Driftless. They stayed west of the Mississippi for the most part. Only brief light drizzle in town and the surrounding area. A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 65. Southeast wind 8 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch. While the weather sounds ominous on paper, this is excellent fishing weather (if you can tuck in and avoid the wind) The rain isn't scary right now. It looks like they are predicting drizzle to light showers which should not do anything to mess our creeks up. Creeks are clear to slightly stained with water temperatures perfect for this time of season. The fish are starting to put on their fall colors and become aggressive on streamers and foam patterns on the surface. Subsurface fishing has been great on purple hot spot pheasant tails, small frenchies and zebra midges as well as pink squirrels and prince nymphs. There are only 5 days left in Wisconsin's season (closed after the 15th) get out and fish!!!!
Sunny with a high near 67. South wind 11 to 13 mph. Gorgeous fall day today! Season closes after the 15th, so get out there and fish. Creeks are clear to slightly stained with only the lower end of large creeks still sowing some color. Fish have been happily eating smaller terrestrials all day long on the surface, then switching to olives in the late afternoon and early evening. Subsurface fishing has been best on scuds, purple belly pheasant tails and food. Fishing nymphs in the riffles or just having one tag along with a terrestrial as a dropper has been effective. Streamers and larger leeches are starting to pick up some larger fish too as the fall weather has trout becoming a bit more aggressive than normal!
Sunny, with a high near 62. Northwest wind 5 to 9 mph. Creeks are clear to stained with excellent temperatures. The murkier water is down near the kickapoo river. If you drive up the creeks a bit the clarity is far better. The majority of water is in excellent shape despite the rainy weekend. The past couple of days things have dropped and cleared quickly. We're fishing scuds and heavier bead heads deep in the cooler morning, then switching to hopper and dropper mid day. In the later part of the day olives are hatching and bringing fish to the surface consistently. Remember season closes after the 15th! Get out and enjoy the great weather and conditions!!
Periods of showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 55. Breezy, with a southeast wind 9 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. Raining as of opening this morning. This first system will be some normal rain and not muddy things up completely. There is a second band coming through that will hit around 11 or noon-ish. After that, there should be no more rain.
Partly sunny, with a high near 55. Calm wind becoming northeast 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Creeks are clear to medium stained. The headwaters are in great shape, the creeks that flow into the Kickapoo or have flood control dams on them tend to be much murkier. Fish were feasting yesterday subsurface on larger nymphs (scuds, purple drink, prince nymphs etc) and should continue to do so on the stained water. Fishing a foam indicator is still very effective, but a bit slower as the cooler and wetter temperatures mean less movement by terrestrials. Size down a bit and the fish will eat them more often. Leeches and streamers are picking up steam. The cooler temperatures combined with the stained waters have fish looking for some bigger meals right now!
Moistly cloudy with a high near 54. Breezy with a northwest wind 10-16 mph gusting to 25. No real rain yesterday gave the waters a chance to drop and start clearing. The smaller creeks and headwaters are clear to stained and the larger creeks are still going to be muddy, especially the lower sections that dump into the Kickapoo. Things drained a lot quicker than we expected and we had fishable water as early as yesterday! In the murky water, fish black leeches and squirmy wormies. In the clear stuff go back to using a foam fly with a bead head dropper (hippie stomper or chubby chernobyl with food and drink below). We're finally getting some fall weather the next few days so look for fish to start getting a bit more agreeable and aggressive if the weather doesn't heat up again! Remember season closes after the 15th of this month. Make some time to enjoy the Driftless again before things shut down!
UPDATE 8:00 Our guide Nick has already found fishable water. While the majority of our creeks are still murky, this is a great sign that things are dropping and clearing quickly. Showers likely, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 56. Northeast wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. We're on the tail end of the rains. Anywhere between and inch and two fell in the last 24 hours. The good news is that the heavy storms last night went south of us. While our creeks are muddy this morning, they did not blow out like crazy as they were forecasted to do yesterday. This means things are dropping and clearing through the day today. Expect the tiny springs and even some small, headwater creeks to be fishable if not clear by this evening. Barring any more major rains, tomorrow is looking good!
Periods of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Temperature falling to around 63 by 5pm. North wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible. The luck streak seems to end today. It's already raining and we are forecast for an inch or two tonight. Today and through tomorrow are looking grim. We will head out after the rains as always and keep you posted as to overall clarity. But it looks like a couple days of poor to no fishing are in the cards.
