Areas of fog before 11am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 82. South wind 6 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Conditions are excellent right now outside of the wind. Creeks are clear and flowing well with really solid water temperatures. The next couple of days are showing some rain especially Tuesday night. Things are good now, but keep an eye on our report for what the rains Tuesday are going to do to the creeks. Foam with a dropper and olives in the evening.
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September 2019
Showers likely, mainly before 8am. Cloudy, with a high near 64. East wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Yesterday we received no rain and the creeks were clear. Last night we only had some light rain, up to 1/4 of an inch. This morning there is no real rain, only some drizzle. That means the creeks remain clear to stained!!! Fishing has been good, but the sunny days have been tough, especially mid day. The major feeding activity has been in the evening when the olives are hatching. Otherwise, fishing shady areas with a hopper/dropper close to the bank or tight line/competition nymphing the deeper runs has been successful.
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 4pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 65. South wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Creeks are clear this morning. We had a very brief and very light shower roll through the area, but it was drizzle. Not nearly enough to change the clarity much at all. We might get a bit more rain later today, but so far we are not worried. Fish are happily eating smaller terrestrials with bead head droppers as well as olives that are hatching in the evenings. So far, things are looking great for today and into tomorrow rain and clarity wise!! If anything happens we will keep you posted.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 66. West wind 5 to 9 mph. Ahhh fall in the Driftless. The leaves are beginning to turn, the trout have started to get their fall colors too, and the fishing has been great! Creeks are clear to slightly stained and flowing well. Fish are eating midges and the occasional olive spinner in the mornings, then switching to terrestrials once the sun dries the bankside vegetation off. Fishing foam with a dropper is deadly through most of the day. In the evenings we are getting a hatch of fall olives as well as a few craneflies. Do not neglect leeches and streamers right now too. Fish have started to chase some bigger meals as they transition into fall pre-spawn mode.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. West wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Creeks are clear to slightly stained and in excellent shape. The storms missed us pretty much completely last night (see radar photo, Vernon county barely got hit) Olive spinners first thing in the morning, then hopper and dropper all day long. In the evening we are still seeing hatches of olives and a few craneflies and caddis. The hatches are spotty and seem to be random. If there are not a lot of bugs in the air and fish are rising but not eating your olive patterns, tie on a small ant or beetle! Larger fish are starting to chase streamers and leeches again too as the water settles down.
Sunny, with a high near 75. Southwest wind 7 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Creeks are clear to slightly stained with only the ones near the main branch of the Kickapoo still murky. Water temperatures are in the high 50s to 60. Fishing is fantastic so far this fall! Fish are happily eating foam on the surface (hoppers, hippies, ants etc) and also subsurface. Scuds, hot spot pheasant tails and other thin but flashy patterns (think perdigons!) are working well. For dry fly activity, the later afternoon and evening has fish rising to olives and craneflies. Fish are starting to get aggressive on streamers and leeches too. Look for some aggressive strikes especially on cloudy days and stained water.
Sunny, with a high near 71. Light west wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning. After a rainy weekend things are back on track. Many of the larger creeks will be heavily stained this morning, but will drop and clear out pretty quickly (except those that dump into the main Kickapoo, they will remain fairly murky). The small stuff is where it is at right now. Fish are happily feeding in the stained water on larger foam patterns with droppers below them, leeches and buggers, scuds and san juan worms. In the afternoon and evening we are seeing craneflies, and olives hatching with fish rising sporadically. Fall fishing is here and the fish are hungry! They are also starting to get their fall colors! Get out there and fish as our season ends October the 15th.
Periods of showers and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly before 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. High near 67. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Cloudy and drizzly day today! The major rains missed us for the most part over the weekend and creeks are clear to stained. The lower sections of creeks will be murky as they dump into the larger, non trout rivers. Fishing has been fantastic this weekend with fish happily eating foam attractor patterns and hoppers as well as rising to olives, craneflies and midges in the afternoon and evening. Subsurface fishing has been good on just about anything too! Larger fish are eating leeches and streamers and the fish are starting to put on their fall colors.
Cloudy and breezy with a high near 72. Chance of showers and thunderstorms at 40%. Things are actually quite good area wide with the creeks clear to slightly stained. Only the larger creeks that flow into the Kickapoo are still murky. We're watching the potential storms closely. It is a slim chance it will rain today, but tonight could drop some moisture. The ground is saturated, so any heavy rain could blow things out. We will keep you posted! For now, hoppers and foam with droppers are still the main menu item. We are seeing some midges and olives hatching mid day and into the evening so keep an eye out for rising fish.
A slight chance of showers before noon, then a slight chance of showers after 4pm. Patchy dense fog before 11am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 80. Southeast wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 10%. No more rain fell yesterday or through the night giving the creeks a change to clear up quite a bit. While the lower sections of larger waters will still be murky, look for clear to stained water at the headwaters and on the smaller tributaries. Fishing scuds, leeches, worm patterns and pink squirrels in the murky water is working well right now. On the clearer water, zebra midges, brush hogs, and scuds subsurface. Fish them below larger hopper or foam indicator patterns. We are still seeing blue winged olives hatching in the later afternoon and evenings. Saturday is still dicey looking at the weather forecast. The ground is pretty saturated. If it rains things will more than likely muddy up again. It all depends on the amount and intensity of the rain, something that we will not know until it hits.
UPDATE 3 PM. Significant dropping and clearing on some tributaries (like this one on the Timber Coulee). While most creeks are still murky we are starting to find fishable water. If things stay dry (only 10% chance of rain tonight and only 30% tomorrow) fishing will hold through Saturday. We're still a bit nervous about rain on Saturday. If it hits we could be muddy again... UPDATE: 1PM Things had calmed down rain wise but most creeks are still muddy. It is settling quickly and, barring any more rain, we should see headwaters fishable by the evening, but still not very good out there. Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. High near 78. South wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. Steady rain all night last night. The rains fell in a really weird pattern seemingly random through the night. While we have been out scouting this morning and will continue to do so, things are pretty grim for fishing this morning. While some creeks are running chocolate milk however, we have found some with only a medium stain (in other words fishable). Put in some windshield time this morning and you could find some fishable water. If you do, toss larger scuds, San Juan Worms, leeches and pink squirrels. We will keep you updated on conditions through the day.
Partly sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 9 to 13 mph. Although a bit warm for humans, the fish are happy with the cool flows and good levels. Hopper and dropper is the way to go through the day until olives start hatching. When noses come up switch to a parachute or an emerger. There are some scattered storms predicted to roll through the area tonight. We will keep you posted!
Sunny, with a high near 82. South wind 6 to 11 mph. Creeks are clear to stained with only the lower sections of 'big' water showing a medium to heavy stain. The rains have had plenty of time to clear out! Water temps are in the mid 50s to low 60s. Fishing has been solid lately mid morning once the sun has dried the ground. We're fishing ants, beetles, hoppers etc with a dropper when we can. The dry/dropper fishing lasts until the evening when fish start rising to olives and olive emergers. Nymphing with heavy tungsten bead flies is also very effective. Fishing them below indicators or tight line/competition style is quite good, especially mid day when the fish are sulking on the bottom hiding from the sun. Leeches and streamers and mice are very effective when the sun is off the water (dusk until dawn!). While it will be warm the rest of the week, cooler weather hits this weekend. The warm temperatures are not making fishing harder as water temperatures are very stable and the fish are happy.
Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 80. Calm wind becoming southeast 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. Creeks are clear to slightly stained with good water temperatures. While we are due for some warm-fish late summer weather (hitting highs near 80 most of the week) the fishing is more than solid. Look for fishing to pick up in the late morning when things dry out and the terrestrials start moving around. Fishing a foam fly with a dropper is excellent right now! In the evenings we will see some rising fish eating olives. Simple parachutes and film critics will get the job done. Subsurface flies are trending toward thinner bodied. Food, copper johns, pink and purple belly PTs etc.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Light southwest wind increasing to 8 to 13 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Creeks have had a lot of time to drop and clear. We did have rising fish on some headwater creeks yesterday, and the main branches had calmed down and were fishable, but not pretty. Today should be a whole different ball game. Expect clear to mildly stained water through the area and north. South in Crawford county and into the Fennimore area, things were hit far harder by the rains and creeks will be chocolate again. Leeches, squirrels, worms and scuds in the stained to murky water. Hippie or training wheel with a dropper (food, purple drank, perdigons, purple zebras etc) in the clear water. Also watch for olives on the clear creeks as they have been coming off. It still isn't a massive hatch but where they appear, fish are rising to them.
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 63. Breezy, with a west wind 11 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Creeks are stained to muddy today. Rains hit heavy at about 7 pm last night. That gave some creeks enough time to start to drop and clear overnight. Rains hit far heavier south of us in Crawford and Grant counties. Most creeks will be murky (the West Fork was blown this morning) but the tributaries and head waters were looking fishable. Things will only get better as creeks drop and clear through the day. While it might not be dry fly water, fish will be happy later today and through the weekend. On the murky water, fish worm patterns, leeches, large scuds and pink squirrels. On the clear water, terrestrials caddis and olives on the surface with thin bodied bead heads (food, perdigons, pink and purple belly pheasant tails). We dodged a pretty big bullet the past couple of days. Amazed that the creeks held up with the onslaught of rain the past few days!
howers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 2pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Cloudy, with a high near 70. East wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Heavy rain hit about 3 in the morning muddied things up, but it was less than we expected. Nothing major on the radar so far this morning. We will keep you posted. Expect murky water through the day today. Leeches, large scuds and San Juan Worms. If the next batch of rains misses us, then we will go back to normal as things drop and clear. We will keep you posted.
EDIT 12:25 Forecast for the rest of the day (until 3 am now) This Afternoon Cloudy, with a high near 79. South wind around 7 mph. Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 5pm. Cloudy, with a high near 79. South wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible. First round of storms missed us this morning! One a few rain drops and some threatening thunder as we opened, but the major storm was north of I-90. We're not forecasted for another round until about 5 p.m. That means the window is open to enjoy some really solid fishing. Yesterday was excellent with creeks clear to slightly stained as the ground soaked up quite a bit of the earlier rains. Fish were rising all day (not crazy strong but a nose popping here and there) on most of the creeks we fished and scouted. Olives are hatching, so make sure to have some good flush riding patterns in your fly box. Other than that, fish are still responding well to both larger and thicker bodied sub surface bugs (scuds, purple drank, pink squirrels) as well as thin bodied smaller flies (zebras, food, pink and purple belly PTs). We're still fishing our nymphs below a hopper or large foam indicator fly. Even with the periodic rains and wet grass, fish will occasionally eat the foam pattern. It serves as an edible indicator!
Periods of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 10am. High near 83. Southwest wind 8 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Anywhere from half an inch to an inch and a half of rain in the past 24 hours. Expect stained to muddy water. We aren't supposed to get anything after this morning so things will be fishable by the afternoon. Bad news is that rain are predicted to hit the area again through the week. We will keep you posted. Fishing has been quite good with fish happily eating subsurface and rising to olives, caddis and midges in the evenings. With the rain putting color in the water, focus on scuds, squirmy wormies, and leeches in black. In the stained to clear water your normal bead heads and olives on the surface will work.
Update 12:30--- So far scattered showers but nothing heavy. Nothing bad to report! Periods of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 3pm. Patchy fog before 1pm. High near 68. Southeast wind 7 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. The forecast sound foreboding, but so far, it looks like a band of heavy rain will hit quickly. We will keep you updated on what we see. Olives have become THE item on the menu. Over the chilly and cloudy weekend they showed up well in the afternoon and into the evenings. The terrestrial bit slowed down a bit with chillier and less dry weather, and looking at the week ahead that will not change. Look for action to be subsurface until the olives show up.
Saturday, September 14th, we are happy to have a fly line demo day sponsored by Scientific Anglers! What it is: Bring your own fly rod or rods that just do not seem to be performing right. Representatives from Scientific Anglers will be on hand with pretty much every fly line that they make. You will be able to test different tapers, weights, and textures of fly lines to create a perfect match for your fly rod! Instead of just guessing what will work well with your fly rod, you get a chance to test drive a bunch of different lines to get a perfect match for your fly rod and casting style! This is not a parking lot event, there will be water to cast on (as well as a bar inside...) to get a true feel. The event is free and starts at 3 p.m. at the Bad Axe Country Club in Esofea. For more information or directions, please e-mail or call the shop!
Increasing clouds, with a high near 70. Light west wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Beautiful weekend for trout fishing! Cool water temps and good flows have the fish very happy. There are a few tricos around in the morning, but the spinner fall has been very spotty all summer long. Mid day fishing a foam attractor or terrestrial (beetle/hopper etc) with a thin profile bead head below is the ticket. Fish are eating the nymph far more often than the hopper, but bigger fish will come up and smash the foam! Just make sure to target grass lined banks. In the later afternoon and evening we are seeing an olive hatch as well as a few caddis.
Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 73. North wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Last windy day today before the weekend. The wind isn't necessarily a bad thing though as it is blowing terrestrials into the creeks! We're looking at some cloudier weather for the weekend and a slight chance of drizzle. In other words, it will be cool cloudy and give anglers the edge versus a bright sunny sky! Excellent conditions We're still doing best on hoppers with droppers during the day. A chubby chernobyl or a user friendly (the fish are liking slimmer profiled foam flies) with purple drink, food, frenchies or zebra midges dropper below are great right now. In the late afternoon and evening we are seeing our late summer hatch of olives. A sparkle stacker or bunny dun emerger (as well as simple parachutes) will get the rising fish to eat. Creeks are clear to slightly stained with temperatures in the mid 60s. Excellent summer conditions!!
Sunny, with a high near 76. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Creeks are clear to stained with temperatures in the high 50s to 60. Fishing hoppers should be better today as the sun is bright first thing this morning drying out the bankside grass. Tricos are sparse with only a few spinner falls area wide getting the fish to rise early. Seek out the grassy banks and plop a foam fly with a dropper today for the best success. Olives are hatching in the evenings, but the hatch is still young and not quite thick yet. Leeches and streamers in the stained water have been deadly!
Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. Northwest wind around 6 mph. Things are great after the rains a couple of nights ago. Creeks are clear to stained and the flush in the creeks have the fish feeding a bit better than normal. Today will be an extremely pleasant summer day (again!) Tricos are still around in the mornings, but not in great numbers. Unless you are a morning person, sleeping in is a good thing! Fishing during the day on hoppers with bead head droppers is the key. Not only true hoppers, but foam patterns such as hippie stompers and training wheels or beetles have been good on the surface. Bead heads do not have to be anything fancy, but purple and a bit of flash seem to be working a bit better. In the evening we are seeing some olives hatching and fish feeding on the surface. If they do not seem to be eating olives, fish a royal stacker midge or a smaller foam ant.
UPDATE: Apparently we got a bit more rain than expected. Buzzing around creeks mid day today, a lot of things are murky out there. It is dropping and clearing quickly, but not clear like we reported first thing this am. A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before noon. Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 79. Breezy, with a southwest wind 8 to 18 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Last warm day in a while. A bit breezy and drizzly this morning, but nothing awful. Creeks re in great shape and fishing has been fantastic lately. With a touch warmer weather, the trico spinner fall has been a bigger thing, but still nothing to be super excited about. The main action is terrestrials and nymphs still. Fish are loving ants, beetles and hoppers as well as simple foam attractors. Tying a bead head below them lets you hit two different pieces of water at once. In the evening fish are rising to some late summer olives. Again, not the major hatch, but enough to get fish looking up. This has been one of the best trout summers we can remember. It's definitely worth getting out here and fishing and things will only get better as the rest of the week cools down!
