Saturday Driftless Trip

I was on my way to Vernon County by 5:00 am this morning.  About half way, I had to pull over and snap the picture above of the gorgeous driftless sunrise.  I don't get a chance to get out there often, so I spent a lot of time scouring maps, looking for access.  There are so many streams in the Driftless that it is just overwhelming.  If you don't know about this unique area, click here for more information.  Of course there was a car at the overpass I parked at, but it was a pleasant surprise to find it belonged to Blake, the writer of Illinois Wisconsin Fishing.

I went a few hundred yards downstream from the overpass and found a lot of eager fish.  These are the nicest ones that I caught.  The third one wasn't so large, but the pattern on it is beautiful!

I caught most of my fish at the overpass, mostly on tan scuds and black Woolly Buggers.  There was a Boss Fight of a brown trout in the pool that wouldn't budge for anything.  I kept tying on bigger and bigger streamers trying to fool him and avoid the smaller fish.  I finally tied on some kind of a bead head rabbit strip leech which fooled a very nice sized sucker.  He really gave me a run for my money!

The fight with the sucker spooked all the fish in the pool, so I moved on.  It didn't feel like I caught a lot of fish, but I think I just got used to catching a fish every few casts.  When I went a ten minute stretch without catching anything, it felt slow.

Let the pictures below be a reminder to PINCH DOWN YOUR BARBS!  I took a size 14 extra heavy scud hook in the thumb half way up the bend of the hook!  I could see the pressure exerted by the hook point squeezing the blood out of the capillaries under my thumbnail.  I'm so glad it didn't go clean through the nail!  I kind of panicked and got the shakes, but I maintained my calm enough to photograph it for your enjoyment.  Your welcome.

Because the barb was pinched down, the hook backed right out relatively effortlessly with only the slightest elevation in pain.  It could have been much worse.

It rained hard on my long walk back to the car.  There was even some lightning.  I headed  to the town of Viroqua to dry out a little.  I bought some flies at Driftless Angler, and had a Two Hearted Ale and a grass fed burger at the Driftless Cafe. Everything in this town revolves around trout.  I loved it!

Driftless Angler

Brook trout mural in the alley
of the Driftless Cafe

Two Hearted Ale in
a mason jar

I visited several other streams I had never fished, but didn't pick the right ones.  They were either dry beds, or sandy bottom streams with no cover.  I wish I had more time, but I had to start heading back.  Hopefully someday I'll get to spend a weekend or more in the Driftless and explore better water.

My First Driftless Trip

I made my way to a couple of driftless streams on Wisconsin's western edge today.  My first stop was Mills Creek.  It was cold and windy, and the water was rather clouded.  I looked around and cast to some likely cover, but no results.

Back in the car to drive twelve or so more miles to Reads Creek.  I pulled off the road, assembled my rod, and walked down from the overpass to the bluest, clearest water I have ever seen, and watch fifty or so trout scatter in every direction.  I couldn't believe the number of fish in this stream!  I found a pool just downstream of the bridge that had a lot of trout in it, and one trout that looked to be between 15-18 inches.  I spent too much time trying to catch that Boss Fight of a fish, and he eventually took off.

I went downstream a little more, there was a tree down in the creek with a pool behind it, full of trout that wouldn't bite a thing.

Back up to the bridge, I made a couple casts with a wet fly, and finally had a hit.  A beautiful brook trout fell for it.

Now I'm feeling confident.  After I landed the brook trout, I had hit after hit, with every trout shaking the hook.  I ventured upstream a little more.  The creek came tumbling over some rapids, and in the pool below, trout were rising and dimpling the surface.  I couldn't see the bugs, I assume they were tiny little midges.  I really wanted to try out one of my hand tied Elk Hair Caddis though.  I chose the best looking one from my box, greased it up, and cast one of the longest, most perfect casts of my life.  The fly landed so gracefully upstream.  I slowly stripped the line back and let the fly drift for what seemed like five minutes, and then, the rise came.  I was dumbfounded, I almost forgot what to do, it had been so long since I caught a trout on a dry.  Eventually, I remembered to set the hook and reel in the fish.  A decent sized brown took the Caddis.

After that, I had many more rises to the caddis, but missed each one of them.  I could have fished for hours and never tired, but I had a long drive ahead of me.  I only fished about a thousand feet of the stream.  Next time I'll know long perfect casts are what these fish rise to more than any particular pattern.  Thanks, Damien for sharing these locations with me, I can't wait to get back.