Driftless Doubleheader

Opening weekend was cold, we knew it would be cold, so we decided to camp. Every sane person I spoke to before the trip told me "you know its going to be cold up there" yes I am aware it is cold in Wisconsin in March. Wisconsin did not disappoint as we pulled into our campsite at a breezy 2 degrees F, but that's what beer, fire and most importantly firewater are for.

Fishing was tough, but we did manage to catch some

after a long wait it felt good to get back in the creeks chasing trout again

Our second weekend proved to be more productive, and more refined as we did stay indoors (even though our cabin flooded).  With the rain on Saturday water was still running clear and fish were pretty active, all of ours were taken on streamers. 

Its nice to catch one in the first 5 minutes

 This guy slammed a woolly bugger after feasting on another brown

 You know you have good friends when they hike around cold streams in the rain/35 degree weather with you for 6 hours

 Driftless Paradise

Sunday the same streams were running like chocolate milk but I did hear from another angler that several streams were still running clear 

 The Bishop branch was not one of them

When no one was catching anything Dan caught his first trout on a fly rod

There were midges and stoneflies hatching on the banks, but with fast and stained water no rising fish

In two weeks myself and our redfish aficionado bassbanger will be hitting up the East Walker river in the sierra nevadas in search of rainbows and cutthroat. 

The following weekend will be our Troutporn southern unit writer's first driftless trip and 

that will wrap up the most fishing I've ever squeezed into a one month.