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.

First Wisconsin Explorations

I made my move to Wisconsin last week, and I was able to get my first fishing trip this week. On my way from Madison to Minneapolis to visit some friends,  I stopped to check out a small stream flowing through a small group of hills. Based on the pictures I'd seen of this stream, I thought it would be more like the freestone streams I'm used to than the spring creeks common here.

I found the flow low, but quite cold. Despite the freestone character of this stream, it must have some springs feeding it. I tied on a mini hopper, and it wasn't long before I got hits. I found brook trout in most pools, ranging from 5-10", but my hook up ratio was terrible. I only landed one fish in the hour and a half I fished. It was a beautiful brook trout though, and as my first trout after the move it's at least somewhat special.


I've also discovered that wild black raspberries grow prolifically here. There are some in MA, but I've never seen those yield nearly as many berries as the bushes here.

I'm now working full-time during the week, but there is a trout stream abutting my office, so hopefully I'll get some before or after work fishing in once I get settled.

Yellow Rockets

Yesterday afternoon I got over to Wisconsin for the first time in about a month. It was a gray day, but Yellow Rocket was in full bloom along the streams and fields. Though it's a troublesome weed for farmers, I was happy to see a splash of color added to the landscape.

Fortunately those weren't the only yellow rockets I found yesterday. The wild browns were out in force.

At the first stream there were occasional rises, but nothing consistent, so I decided to try a small streamer. I worked my way downstream through a stretch of TU Habitat Improvement and started picking up fish right away. The TU work created some riffles in a stretch that was previously flat and shallow. In the first riffle I got a nice brook trout that got off before I could get a picture, but a little further downstream I redeemed myself with this brown.

I got another brookie and a few more small browns before reaching the end of the habitat improvement. Downstream there are plenty of fish, but the stream is shallow, flat, and choked with brush - not the most fun place to fish. I decided to head down to the larger river into which this stream feeds.

I realized immediately upon reaching the water that I made a good decision - fish were rising everywhere and I could see caddis skimming the surface. I found a nice, unoccupied stretch of river (this spot can get crowded), tied on an Elk Hair Caddis, and got to work. It wasn't long before I had my first take. The fish weren't rising consistently, but I found that I could usually get a strike if I put my fly over the fish a couple seconds after a rise to a natural.

I caught 3 and had many more strikes before I decided to call it a day. Glad to finally get back into some trout!

Geology and the Trout Stream

The other day I was talking with Will from Flies, Fat Tires, and Family about a small wild trout stream we both fish. We both noticed that the fish there are bigger and more numerous than in similar streams, and Will mentioned that a friend from the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife told him electroshocking confirmed these observations.

A nice brook trout from the stream in question

A quick look at the Massachusetts Coldwater Fishery Resource List will tell you that there are a lot of wild trout streams in Massachusetts - over 1,200, in fact. But not all 1,200 have fish like the stream Will and I like. You might think that the best streams are those with the most pristine watersheds, but that isn't always true. This stream is fairly close to Boston, yet it is far more productive than several streams I've fished further west.

So why is this stream so much better? The answer is, at least in part, geology.

Bedrock and Acid Rain

Bedrock is the layer of rock that lies underneath soil, sand, and other deposits on the surface. If you've explored the White Mountains of New Hampshire, you've probably seen the granite bedrock jutting out from the thin mountain soil.

So how does bedrock affect a trout stream? Groundwater, which contributes a significant portion of the flow of most wild trout streams, flows over and through bedrock on its way to the stream. As it flows, it dissolves some of the rock, changing the chemical content of the water. For trout, the most important consequence of this chemical change is acidity.

Different trout species have different tolerances to acidity, with Brook Trout being the most tolerant and Rainbow Trout the least. But the direct effects of acidity on the trout are not the most significant influence on productivity, rather it is the effects on their food supply that translate to the quality of the stream. Most aquatic insects prefer water in the neutral to slightly basic range (pH ~7-8), and crustaceans, such as scuds and sowbugs, require basic conditions to prevent their shells from dissolving. This means that all other things being equal, a more basic trout stream will have more food, and therefore more/bigger trout than an acidic stream.

Precipitation is naturally mildly acidic (pH < 7), but in areas with significant industrial pollution (basically all of the Northeast and Great Lakes) it can be significantly worse. As this precipitation flows into the ground, the acid is neutralized by basic ions dissolved from the rock. The only problem is, when it comes to neutralizing acid, not all rocks are created equal.

Granite, which makes up most of the bedrock in New England, has very little capacity to buffer acid, so our streams tend to be more acidic, and therefore less fertile. The White Mountains are a perfect example - the fish are small and almost all wild fish are brook trout, rather than the less acid-tolerant browns and rainbows. A good counter-example would be the streams of the Driftless area of Wisconsin or the spring creeks of Pennsylvania - the bedrock there is limestone, which has an exceptionally high buffering capacity. This results in highly fertile streams with tons of insects and trout populations exceeding 10,000 fish per mile.

Applying Geology to find a Productive Trout Stream

There are many other types of bedrock besides granite and limestone, each with a different degree of buffering capacity. It can be a little difficult to figure out how a given type of bedrock will influence acidity, so the best things to look for are actual measurements of pH from the stream of interest.

For Massachusetts, a great source of data is the Acid Rain Monitoring Project run by UMass. They have pH data for most streams in the state dating back several decades.

When you look at the data, keep in mind the date of the measurement - nearly every stream will be relatively acidic in late winter and early spring when the snow is melting. Generally, streams with good buffering capacity will run between 6.5 and 8 in summer and fall. If a stream is lower than 6.5 in summer, it's probably somewhat sterile.

If you can't find any pH data for a stream, take a look at a Bedrock Geology map and identify the type of bedrock underlying the stream. Try a Google search for "X bedrock buffering capacity" or "X bedrock acidity". There are an unbelievable number of categories and subcategories of bedrock, so you might not get a definitive answer short of asking a Geologist.

For Massachusetts, the three main types of bedrock with good buffering capacity are Carbonate Rocks (royal blue on the map below), Calcpelite (sky blue), and Calcgranofels (lavender). Find a stream in one of these areas, and the fishing is likely to be pretty good.

Bedrock Geology of Massachusetts - from MA OLIVER

Conclusion

Keep in mind that there are many factors that influence the productivity of a trout stream. A stream flowing over limestone will generally be better than a stream flowing over granite, but there's more to trout fishing than productivity. If granite streams were never fun, no one would fish in the White Mountains, but obviously that's not the case. So as you explore new trout streams this spring, consider geology - just don't forget to consider everything else that makes for a great day on the water!

See also: Aquifers: Saviors of Suburban Trout Streams

A Late Report

I've been busy the past couple of weeks and haven't had a chance to post, but here are a few pics from the trips I've taken over that time. It's starting to warm up here, so the fishing should only get better! I'll be back in MA next week, and I'm looking forward to what should be good conditions on some of my favorite streams.

Browns in the Rain

The forecast today called for a high in the mid 40s and scattered showers. That sounded like good fishing weather to me, so I decided to make a trip over to a tributary of the Kinni.

I arrived around 10 AM and started fishing under the bridge where I parked. There's a deep hole under the bridge, and I've found that the fish like to pod up there in the winter. Despite the warm temperatures, there was still a fair amount of ice around the edges of the pool, so I was limited in where I could cast. I started out with a yellow version of the Salter Fly I posted a few weeks back, stripping it slowly near the bottom. It wasn't long before I felt a tug and pulled in the first brown of the day.

I saw a few fish spook after I caught the first fish, so I decided to move to a new spot. Farther upstream there is a side channel about 100 yards long arising from a spring. At the head of the spring is a deep pool where I've had good luck in the past. I switched to a pink squirrel with a balloon indicator and began casting to the edges of the pool.

The spring is at the end of the channel on the right

On the second cast I saw the indicator go under and I pulled in what looked at first like a small trout, but turned out to be a chub. I kept fishing, and soon saw the indicator dip again. This time I knew I had something more substantial. It turned out to be the biggest brown of the day.

As I fished the spring the rains came, and soon reached a level I would no longer call a "shower". I was still catching fish though, so I couldn't stop just yet. I pulled in a few more browns, then went back and fished under the bridge to get shelter from the rain. That was enough for me, so I called it a day after catching 7 fish in 2 hours and turned for home.