Hey,
I just got back from Wisconsin. I was multitasking, visiting kids in Chicago and Madison. I fished Black Earth Creek outside of Madison for two days. I met a native(Tim) who was somewhat chagrined to see me wader waddling up the road to the bridge he had parked next to. It turns out that this was the third spot he'd driven to, the first two being already occupied. He was thinking he'd have to drive to spot three when I asked if I could simply tag along and watch him, since I'd never fished a spring creek and needed to learn how it was done. I had a great time following Tim upstream. He used hoppers and a beetle drifted right next to the bank. He made it look easy. He hooked and landed a nice brown and I got a picture. We came to the tailout of a run and saw a fish rising. He cast to it and got a couple of hits but didn't hook up. He asked if I'd like to have a go. I tried a bwo emerger(#20) and surprised myself by getting the fly in the right place on the first cast and hooking and landing a small brown. I gave Tim a couple of the flies. We proceeded upstream and Tim told me about fishing the famous Hex hatch on the creek. I had to get back to Mad town to meet my daughter and we parted ways.
The next day I fished a different section of the creek. I was on my own this time and had to try to mimic what I'd seen Tim do. I found it wasn't all that easy to place the fly right up against the bank without hooking the weeds and grass. I was using a Charlie Boy Hopper. It was a #8 and a bit larger than I would like, but thats the size hooks I had before heading out on my trip. I rigged my bwo emerger as a dropper. I got on the water around 9am and there wasn't anything happening until the air warmed up around 10am. By the way these creeks run through farms and even though they may be only 100yards from the road you really feel like you are "out there". Especially since you are wading up the middle of the creek with the high grass and weeds on both sides. A 14in brown smashed the hopper startling me( I had almost given up at that point). It jumped three times and went end over end on two of the jumps. A little way upstream a 20in rainbow smashed the hopper. I was shocked to see its size. Unfortunatly it didn't fight at all and I easily pulled it in. I suspect that it was broodstock that had been released to finish its life in the stream. I reached a riffle and saw a fish rising at the tailout. I was about thirty ft away. I floated the hopper through several times but missed getting the drift over the rises. Finally, I got it right and the hopper dipped and I landed a nice 14in rainbow on the dropper. That finished a great day on Black earth creek.
Wed. I had arranged a guided trip out of the Driftless Angler in Viroqua. My luck with guides(2 for 2) continued when I met Peter Cozad who guided me on the Bad Axe. Peter is a commercial fly tier (Dreamcatcher Flys). I'm extremely interested in fly tying and he gave me several tips on our drive to the Bad Axe. Western Wisconsin this time of year is heaven. The leaves are just turning and the rolling country is studed with working dairy farms. We fished a section of the Bad Axe that ran through a farm. Unlike the Black earth creek, the Bad Axe had open banks( grazed) and we fished from the bank. Peter instructed me in accurately casting to the bank. He is an excellent teacher was very patient with my incompetence. He taught me to parachute cast to get a soft landing and extend my drift. He also taught me the proper way to mend which I'm still working on. We fished hoppers and ants and I caught a bunch of fairly small browns. The size of the fish were not important. The challenge of getting the fly in the right place and managing the cross currents was the important thing.
At the end of the day Peter said I was a good enough caster to try his secret spot. He set it up well. He said I'd have one shot at a trophy fish. We drove up a back road to a bar. The bar was closed and this was key. He showed me the pet trout in a pond near the bar. There were bruisers and jumped clear of the water to take dog food pellets supplied to entertain the bar patrons. Now earlier in the year western Wisconsin had suffered from some severe flooding. Some of the "pets" had escaped to the stream below the bar and set up shop in a pool. We crawled on our hands and knees to get to the pool without spooking the fish. Pete warned me about keeping my rod so no shadow went over the pool. We could see several rises. I had to make a 20ft cast while on my knees to a target a foot wide. My first two landed in stream side vegitation and Pete broke off the beautiful flys without a hint of reproach. The third was the money. The hopper floated into the top of the pool and after one twitch was crushed by a huge brown. I stood up and battled the brown for two seconds. Its head shakes and my failing to take the pressure off the 5x tippet assured its freedom. It was a great climax to a great day.
My final adventure was on a creek near Mt. Horeb. I don't know its name. My daughter is in grad school and one of her proffessors asked us out to his farm so I could fish his creek. New York needs to take a page from wisconsin. Wisconsin is investing a good deal of time and money into stream improvement. They have maps of improved streams and have shown that stream improvement allows for 60% greater fish holding and productive capacity. The stream I was going to fish was being improved upstream(caused decreased water clarity for me). The section I fished had been improved several years ago. Jim showed me to the stream and let me loose. I drifted an ant along the bank. Second drift resulted in a pretty 14in wild brown. I should have quit while I was ahead. I stuggled though the head high weeds and various nettles. I observed maybe thirty real hoppers drift down stream unmolested. I managed a few casts into water and many more into vegetation. I never found the money pool that was suppose to be downstream. Still I had a great afternoon finished off trading camping and fishing stories with our host over his excellent hard cider.
In sum, I've always loved western Wisconsin and have found the spring creeks challenging and very enjoyable fishing. I hope to return next spring. Toodles,Frogge.
I just got back from Wisconsin. I was multitasking, visiting kids in Chicago and Madison. I fished Black Earth Creek outside of Madison for two days. I met a native(Tim) who was somewhat chagrined to see me wader waddling up the road to the bridge he had parked next to. It turns out that this was the third spot he'd driven to, the first two being already occupied. He was thinking he'd have to drive to spot three when I asked if I could simply tag along and watch him, since I'd never fished a spring creek and needed to learn how it was done. I had a great time following Tim upstream. He used hoppers and a beetle drifted right next to the bank. He made it look easy. He hooked and landed a nice brown and I got a picture. We came to the tailout of a run and saw a fish rising. He cast to it and got a couple of hits but didn't hook up. He asked if I'd like to have a go. I tried a bwo emerger(#20) and surprised myself by getting the fly in the right place on the first cast and hooking and landing a small brown. I gave Tim a couple of the flies. We proceeded upstream and Tim told me about fishing the famous Hex hatch on the creek. I had to get back to Mad town to meet my daughter and we parted ways.
The next day I fished a different section of the creek. I was on my own this time and had to try to mimic what I'd seen Tim do. I found it wasn't all that easy to place the fly right up against the bank without hooking the weeds and grass. I was using a Charlie Boy Hopper. It was a #8 and a bit larger than I would like, but thats the size hooks I had before heading out on my trip. I rigged my bwo emerger as a dropper. I got on the water around 9am and there wasn't anything happening until the air warmed up around 10am. By the way these creeks run through farms and even though they may be only 100yards from the road you really feel like you are "out there". Especially since you are wading up the middle of the creek with the high grass and weeds on both sides. A 14in brown smashed the hopper startling me( I had almost given up at that point). It jumped three times and went end over end on two of the jumps. A little way upstream a 20in rainbow smashed the hopper. I was shocked to see its size. Unfortunatly it didn't fight at all and I easily pulled it in. I suspect that it was broodstock that had been released to finish its life in the stream. I reached a riffle and saw a fish rising at the tailout. I was about thirty ft away. I floated the hopper through several times but missed getting the drift over the rises. Finally, I got it right and the hopper dipped and I landed a nice 14in rainbow on the dropper. That finished a great day on Black earth creek.
Wed. I had arranged a guided trip out of the Driftless Angler in Viroqua. My luck with guides(2 for 2) continued when I met Peter Cozad who guided me on the Bad Axe. Peter is a commercial fly tier (Dreamcatcher Flys). I'm extremely interested in fly tying and he gave me several tips on our drive to the Bad Axe. Western Wisconsin this time of year is heaven. The leaves are just turning and the rolling country is studed with working dairy farms. We fished a section of the Bad Axe that ran through a farm. Unlike the Black earth creek, the Bad Axe had open banks( grazed) and we fished from the bank. Peter instructed me in accurately casting to the bank. He is an excellent teacher was very patient with my incompetence. He taught me to parachute cast to get a soft landing and extend my drift. He also taught me the proper way to mend which I'm still working on. We fished hoppers and ants and I caught a bunch of fairly small browns. The size of the fish were not important. The challenge of getting the fly in the right place and managing the cross currents was the important thing.
At the end of the day Peter said I was a good enough caster to try his secret spot. He set it up well. He said I'd have one shot at a trophy fish. We drove up a back road to a bar. The bar was closed and this was key. He showed me the pet trout in a pond near the bar. There were bruisers and jumped clear of the water to take dog food pellets supplied to entertain the bar patrons. Now earlier in the year western Wisconsin had suffered from some severe flooding. Some of the "pets" had escaped to the stream below the bar and set up shop in a pool. We crawled on our hands and knees to get to the pool without spooking the fish. Pete warned me about keeping my rod so no shadow went over the pool. We could see several rises. I had to make a 20ft cast while on my knees to a target a foot wide. My first two landed in stream side vegitation and Pete broke off the beautiful flys without a hint of reproach. The third was the money. The hopper floated into the top of the pool and after one twitch was crushed by a huge brown. I stood up and battled the brown for two seconds. Its head shakes and my failing to take the pressure off the 5x tippet assured its freedom. It was a great climax to a great day.
My final adventure was on a creek near Mt. Horeb. I don't know its name. My daughter is in grad school and one of her proffessors asked us out to his farm so I could fish his creek. New York needs to take a page from wisconsin. Wisconsin is investing a good deal of time and money into stream improvement. They have maps of improved streams and have shown that stream improvement allows for 60% greater fish holding and productive capacity. The stream I was going to fish was being improved upstream(caused decreased water clarity for me). The section I fished had been improved several years ago. Jim showed me to the stream and let me loose. I drifted an ant along the bank. Second drift resulted in a pretty 14in wild brown. I should have quit while I was ahead. I stuggled though the head high weeds and various nettles. I observed maybe thirty real hoppers drift down stream unmolested. I managed a few casts into water and many more into vegetation. I never found the money pool that was suppose to be downstream. Still I had a great afternoon finished off trading camping and fishing stories with our host over his excellent hard cider.
In sum, I've always loved western Wisconsin and have found the spring creeks challenging and very enjoyable fishing. I hope to return next spring. Toodles,Frogge.
