April 27, 2025

I spent the morning into the early afternoon hours with John, a gentleman I have gotten know through him buying my flies in the past. The morning was cold (38 degrees), so fishing was very slow for a while. Once the water warmed and the sun got higher in the sky, the trout turned on - caddis emerger was on fire to start, and at the very end we shifted to a caddis dry once we had some risers and did very well/.

April 24, 2025

I had the privilege of taking Mike from Missouri out for his first Driftless fly fishing outing. He knew how to fly fish, so casting, mending, etc. was no problem at all. Action was good from the start of our day at 8:30 until we shut it down at 3:30. We did some basic tandem nymphing to start the day, but I shifted over to a caddis emerger mid-morning, and the trout responded immediately.

Eventually, I tied on a beadhead caddis, followed by a caddis emerger until we started to have a few bugs come off at 12:15. The weather was overcast and cool, so the caddis hatch never really took off like it has been, but we ended up catching 10 or so trout on top in the hour we fished dries.

The day was exceptional - Mike was a very good angler and receptive to my suggestions. The fish were hungry and took well-placed flies all day. We were fortunate to have gotten on the stream early, as there were cars everywhere by 3:30, including an armada of Illinois plates.

March 13, 2025

I have a few days off from school for an abbreviated spring break. The weather couldn't get much better for March, so I spent a good chunk of time getting after it on a favorite stream. It was 9:30 and 35 degrees when I arrived, but a walk in to the good water got me warmed up. I fished a scud lead fly all day with a variety of trail flies, other than a midge.

Fishermen, especially fly fishermen, often embellish their numbers and size, but today got off to a fast start, so I decided to be a counter, something I rarely do; however considering how fast the catching was, I decided to count them all.

The numbers piled up quickly, and I had fish 50 caught and released by 11:30. The recent rains and snow melt still had the stream off colored, perfect for tandem nymphing. Every place I stopped and threw a fly had hungry, willing fish holding. It was one of those days where to you take it all in and kick some ass, because there will be days down the road that will kick back.

I was over 70 fish by 1:00 and trudged to one last pool section with a feeding riffle that is damn near automatic. This was the one and only fish I caught and the last one of the day.

February 2, 2025

The stars finally aligned for me to get out and get my first trip of 2025 in. I wouldn't classify the morning session as overly warm - 34 degrees to start, but there was minimal wind, so it was bearable.

I fished two nymphs, some Dinsmore, and no indicator the entire day. There was not surface activity or midges in the air, but the trout still wanted a midge trailer, routinely.

I fished one section for a few hours and pulled ups takes to hit one more stream on my way home. Ran into another angler early on - we chatted briefly. He wanted to go upstream, so I headed downstream. Onstream communication like this is so important. Ensuring that we don't high hole or tread on each other is an important part of the day if you run into other anglers, so exchanging pleasantries and figuring a plan that works for the both of you is in each other's best interest.

The downstream section was meh, so I opted for a jig head streamer considering I was on poorly constructed woody debris, and I mean that: poorly constructed.

I had a good first day - over 20 trout caught and released with a few brook trout thrown in for good measure.