Post-work Trout Fishing

I'm really lucky to have a trout stream ~15 minutes from my office. Now that the days are getting longer I have a lot of opportunities to take advantage and fish after work.

Monday was a beautiful day here - sunny with highs in the low 70s. I left work around 5 and made the quick drive through the corn fields and pastures to the stream.

I started out fishing a small streamer and had a few bites, but didn't land anything. After seeing some caddis flying around, I decided to try an EHC instead. After a few minutes I had my first dry-fly fish of the year, though he was a little on the small side.

I didn't have any more luck on the dry, so I switched back to a streamer to see what I could pull out of a deep hole farther downstream. On the first cast I felt a strong tug and pulled in a nice brook trout.

That was it for the day - it was a short trip, but it was nice to unwind with some time on the water after a day at work. The fact that I didn't have to spend an hour in the car was just icing on the cake.

A small white violet - unsure of the e

Signs of Spring

Spring is finally here in Wisconsin. We had an unusually warm February, but March and April have been more typical. Lots of rain, but that's certainly not a bad thing as fishing goes.

I haven't been able to get out as much as I would have liked, but I have had a few good days recently.

Last weekend I decided to check out my current favorite stream in the area. Unlike the slow, winding spring creeks that are common in this area, this one is a swift, high gradient freestone where brook trout, rather than browns, dominate. It flows out of an ancient eroded mountain range, and although hills would probably be a more accurate description these days, the surrounding area is steep with dramatic rock outcroppings.

In the fall I had seen the leaves of one of my favorite flowers - Hepatica. Given that they typically bloom in early April, I was hopeful I would find some - and I did.

I couldn't go 10 feet without seeing a clump of flowers, in varying shades of pink, purple, blue and white (though they are all the same species). I also found a few other species in bloom - bloodroot and Dutchman's breeches (probably my favorite flower name), as well as the first leaves of numerous trout lilies (named for the mottled texture resembling a brook trout's back).

After taking in the flowers I decided I should probably get to fishing. Conditions were perfect for streamer fishing - the water was slightly high and off-color, but not so much that the fish stopped eating.

On my first cast I caught the best brook trout of the day from a fast riffle. As I moved downstream my luck didn't stop - I had hits in nearly every pool and pulled in several more trout - I lost count of the exact number.

Now is crunch time for fishing - conditions should be good throughout the state, but I don't have time to visit every place I want to. Do I keep coming back to this woodland stream to see the stunning variety of wildflowers before they disappear?  Or do I venture to the Driftless streams that will be nearly covered by prairie grasses and thus difficult to fish by July?

In any case, having too many fishing opportunities is a good problem to have - I'm certainly not complaining.

Wisconsin Winter

The trout season has been open since the start of January here. I've been out a few times - it's been cold, but there have been a few days warm enough to fish. While winter sometimes feels long, it's only a matter of time before spring is here again. The days are already noticeably longer and it's just going to get better.

Last weekend highs were in the 40s, so I tried a couple nearby streams. I got some video of a nice brown taking my streamer in a spring creek.

I also found some brookies in a higher gradient stream.

I didn't fish today due to high winds and low temperatures, but I think tomorrow I'll give it a shot.

Salter Season

I'm back in MA this week for the holidays, and this morning I was able to spend a few hours on a salter stream.  It was a little chilly when I got there, but the sun was on the water and tide was high but receding.

This is the time of year when some of the trout head downstream to the salt, so I focused on the estuary. I ended up catching all of my fish under the road bridge. I've found that this is one of the most productive spots in the estuary. I think it provides the perfect combo of cover, current, and depth, so the fish stack up there. 

I caught three brookies, all decently sized, in the span of about 15 minutes. After that, nothing, so I called it a day. 

Tomorrow is forecast to be rainy and in the low 50s - great conditions for winter trout. I'll be out with Geoff all day, so hopefully we can replicate some of today's success. 

Highlights of 2016

My friend Geoff made the Orvis Friday Fly Fishing Film Festival with his video highlights of 2016. While I couldn't be there for every moment in the video, you might see some familiar hands at some point....

Check it out here or on Orvis News

The Off Season

The WI trout season closed on October 15. I unfortunately had to travel for work for the first 10 days of October, but I did get a couple trips in before the end of the season.

The season opens back up January 2, so fortunately I don't have to wait too long. In the meantime I can still fish lakes and ponds.

A Beautiful Weekend in Wisconsin

The weather this weekend was gorgeous here - sunny with a high in the low 70s both days. I took advantage and did some fishing out in the Driftless. The fishing seems to have slowed down bit. It's been colder at night, so it might have been wiser to fish in the afternoons rather than the morning.

I found a couple of fish though, so I was happy with the fishing, and I found a lot of cool scenery, including some rock outcroppings that wouldn't look out of place in the Whites.

The leaves are just starting to change. I'm excited to see what this area looks like in a few weeks when the colors are at their peak

September

I just realized how badly I've neglected this blog - no posts in the month of August. The last two months have flown by. It's hard to believe it's already mid-September. I've appreciated the shift to cooler weather. I'm not sure how thrilled I'll be come winter, but there's good winter fishing out here at least. I haven't had as much time to fish as I would have liked, but I guess that's just something I'll have to get used to.

I have gotten some fishing in though.

On Monday I drove about half an hour to a trout stream after work. I only caught one fish, but it was a big one. This stream has wild browns, and I couldn't find any evidence of rainbow stocking nearby. It looks like a stocker, so I guess it must have come a long way away. It absolutely smashed my chernobyl ant - luckily I was using 3X so I didn't have to worry about breaking off.

I also made a few trips to some Driftless streams farther west. It seems that the stream gradients are higher there, which mean rockier bottoms and slightly easier conditions that some of the glassy low-gradient streams near Madison.

Big Fish, Tiny Stream

Deep valleys dissecting a flat plateau

I made two trips west to fish this weekend. On Saturday I was kept off the water by thunderstorms, but on Sunday the weather stayed relatively clear. Thanks to the recent rains, the first stream I tried was very stained. I decided to drive upstream to the headwaters in search of clearer waters.

The stream was tiny in most places...

Near the top of the valley I crossed a small tributary. It wasn't on my map of classified trout streams, but it was somewhat clear and the pool near the bridge looked deep. I fished the bridge pool first, but caught nothing but a few small chubs.

...except for under the bridge

I moved downstream and realized the stream was tiny - below the bridge pool it was just 1-2 feet wide in most places. I didn't catch any fish in the few small pools I found here, so I decided to try the big pool one more time before leaving.

This time I tried to cast a bit farther under the bridge. I let my small wooly bugger sink for a few seconds then began slowly pulling it in. I felt a tug much stronger than one from a chub, and soon pulled in an extremely light-colored brook trout.

Almost colorless

Emboldened by my success, I decided to try again. A few casts later, I felt an even strong tug. A nice wild brown put up a great fight, at one point jumping a couple feet out of the water.

I kept going, and soon found the best fish of all. Unlike the previous brown, this one never came near the surface. It stayed deep and pulled hard, putting up a strong fight against my 2 weight. Luckily he had nowhere to go in the small pool, so I was able to net him. I don't know exactly how big he was, but I would estimate somewhere in the 14-16" range and very fat with a bit of a kype. Easy my personal best wild brown.

Though a great fish anywhere, it was even better catching it out of such a tiny stream.

Freestone Brook Trout

I had a great outing to a small brook trout stream this past weekend, but I’ve been busy and haven’t had time to post about it until now.

I’ve spent most of my fishing time over the past few weeks exploring some of the nearby spring creeks. While these creeks can offer some great fishing, they’re pretty tough to fish this time of year. Streamside navigation is difficult, with my East Coast nemesis, poison ivy, being replaced by stinging nettles, wild parsnips, and 6’+ tall prairie grasses. The silty bottoms found in these streams make wading an even more unpleasant proposition.

With those difficulties in mind, I decided to set out for the stream I fished my first weekend here. There, at least, I knew I could probably land a few fish without waging constant battle against the local environment.This stream, unlike most nearby, is essentially a freestone, flowing down from the Baraboo Hills, the remnants of an ancient mountains range.

I decided to try a foam hopper, one of my go-to flies for freestone brookies, especially later in the summer. I wasn’t disappointed, and I soon began picking up fish in nearly every pool. This stream is quite small volume-wise, but it forms plenty of deep pools as it moves over the boulders in its path.

In one place I found a large pool alongside a giant boulder. The water moved slowly along the edge of the boulder, where it must have been at least 3 feet deep. I bounced my fly off the edge of the rock and watched as a dark shape emerged from the depths and grabbed it. I ended up landing 4 or 5 brookies out of this pool before the fish finally decided to stop biting.

After catching a good amount of fish I contemplated leaving, but I decided to try one last spot. It didn’t look like anything special, just a small plunge feeding a small pool about 5 feet wide. But when I cast my fly into the current tongue I was met with a surprise - a heavy and hard-fighting brookie.

I was amazed to find such a fish in this stream - ~10” and very fat - the only brookies I’ve caught that rival this one are salters.

It was a great day, and more than made up for my struggles on the spring creeks. We got 3-4” of rain over a period of about 2 hours last night here in Madison, so I think the local streams will be blown out this weekend, but I’m going to head west into the heart of the Driftless in search of clearer waters. If only we could send some of this water back to MA - I know you guys need it out there.