Mother Nature is making a push for summer down here in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin. While temperatures up north around Hayward where Granny and I live remain cool, down here to the south, this morning it was 65° at sunrise. We would go on to reach 77° this afternoon.
Jason Randall, Tim Flagler and I left early down the winding dirt roads of the WI farmland to beat the heat. While I could study the map and see exactly where we fished, I’ll not worry too much about location because Jason was kind enough to take us to one of his special haunts.
The colors today were amazing. The sky was a rich blue and we could literally see the trees popping their leaves providing a special green color only seen for a few days. And the ground is covered in fresh vegetation including some stunning blue flowers as if to match the sky.
When we arrived at our location we wadered up and rigged up. You know me, unless I’m in the World Championships on some European stream, I fished a dry fly. I already had my Stimulator on my 4-weight from yesterday and I continued with it.
Jason and Tim opted to nymph right out of the gates. Both guys are excellent Euro nymphers and love the tactic. Jason instructed me to head downstream on my own and they went up so they wouldn’t mess up my dry fly chances. I meandered along with the river dropping my Stimulator into likely spots but I had no action.
The water was slightly off color and my guess is the fish weren’t seeing my dry. When I came to a fast water stretch of riffles and boulders I grabbed a seat on the bank and adjusted my set up to dry-dropper. It was a good move. Before I stood up from my seat on the bank I landed four handsome little wild brown trout.
My fishing was no less than ridiculously good. I admit that sometimes I keep count. These small WI rivers remind me of competing in Europe and therefore I was keeping track the best I could. That is until I landed over 25 or so. The bite was on and I had a good grove going.
A big part of this trip is fishing but another hefty chunk is about being with friends. Around noon I met up with the guys. They had observed a few risers and generously saved them for me. I got in the pool and enjoyed landing another six or so nice fish. One was easily pushing 14”. Then we returned to Jason’s for an amazing lunch with the ladies.
For the most part we made it a leisurely afternoon. We made a pass on the stream near Jason’s and caught a few. But you could feel the warmth in the water. So much so we opted not to hassle the fish. Instead we kicked back in the shade and enjoyed a couple New Glarus’s.
Tonight we had a feast. Seriously, a feast! I swear we had half a cow for dinner along with several scrumptious sides. And let’s not forget desert. I indulged far beyond human protein limits. It will be a hot night. We’ll be back on the Driftless streams in the morning. Life is good!
Beautiful day and great fishing with excellent beer!
Tad
Checks off all the boxes in one day for sure!