fly fishing trout (dane county, wi)

I made the early drive into southern Dane county for a solo fishing and recon trip to check out a new creek. As soon as I crossed into the hill filled county the fog was apparent and the cloud cover was complete. I found my creek and drove from the headwaters down to the mid section of the creek checking out the bridge crossings along the way. The head waters were skinny and looked to average no more then 2 or 3 feet.

the creek's headwater

The mid section looked to average no more then 4 or 5 feet.

just downstream

Once I was geared up I started the hike from the dnr lot down the path to the creek bank. Every step further I took into the field the more and more mosquitoes found my exposed skin.

mosquitoe heaven

By the time I made it onto the creek I had over 30 bites on my neck, face, and arms. I made my way a short distance up and down a small section of the creek looking for fish and structure. Within 30 minutes I had enough of smashing mosquitoes off me by the half dozen, and made my way back to the car.

I took an hour driving around and visited the near-by river and 2 of the closest towns (one of which had a fully operation blacksmith). Around 9:00am I decided to man-up and made my way back down to the creek. Thank god the bugs had dissipated by this time. I waded up the creek fishing ahead of me and found just how difficult this creek was in mid-summer. Branches and brush were everywhere just waiting to grab my flies. Some sections of this creek narrowed to only a couple feet, and some sections were deeper then they were wide. I was fishing a floating beetle with a heavy scud dropper behind it. Fishing my way up stream was almost impossible and with only an hour left I made my way back down stream.

On the way back downstream I was feeding my line down the creek ahead of me. This proved to be a lot easier and quickly I was rewarded with a strike that I was unable to connect on. I floated my line around a sharp turn with a rock and gravel outside bend. This time I watched the indicator take off and I set the hook sharply. This time I felt the fish tug back. I hand-lined the fish in and pulled him out of the water. This fish was my first brook trout ever!!!

my first brook trout!!!

This has been my first season fly fishing for western Wisconsin inland trout and there have been many firsts this year for me. I have always been a spin-fisherman up until 3 years ago when Neal introduced me to tributary fly-fishing. Since then my passion for the art fly-fishing and fly tying has grown tremendously.

This spring creek was healthy and cold even with temperatures reaching into the high 80’s and 90’s around here. I was able to spot many fish on my way up and back down the creek. I spooked quite a few on the way up (even one I estimated to be around 2 pounds). This creek could be an absolute sleeper and I will hold its location close to my chest. I will be back soon…