Off to the Driftless

[boss_steb]

Hello All:

I am off to roam the Driftless region in Wisconsin again. Some of you probably remember me raving about this relatively unknown part of the world. Spot burning is always a fun topic on here but it is almost impossible in this part of the world...100s of miles of spring creeks in a fifty square mile radius of Viroqua.

It is sniper fishing...many of the creeks are 1-2 feet wide bigger streams are 10-15 feet wide. But amazing fishing. I have never fished this late into the season...Caddis, Hoppers, beetles, and crickets...I hope to post some pictures next week.

Beer and accommodations are cheap...food is good...plenty of real cheese...I will be there from June 23-28th...

Boss

 

[raftman]

Awesome man! My buddy just took a job in Minneapolis so we're already planning a trip out to the Driftless region soon. Do you happen to know of any camping spots?

 

[bikerfish]

I have yet to fish in the region, but I've stayed in the area on trips out west, beautiful looking waters, farms, hills, etc!! and few tourists!! I WILL fish that area soon!!
and yep, great local towns, beer joints, etc.
the Midwest just bleeds Americana!

 

[boss_steb]

Two places to camp on the westbKickapoo---blakely hobbit camp ground and an awesome fishing camp ground known as the west fork sportsman's club. It is open to anyone to camp but you have to join- no membership review jyst pay your membership fee at the iron ranger- I think it is like a 20 or thirty dollar one time fee but it is a ton if fly fishermen staying there tying flies snd swapping lies art night. My hotel in viroqua was like 55 or less a night. *I have stayed at coule cabins for 2-4 guys a night for like $70. But you have 5-6 streams within three miles- great folks there!

 

[boss_steb]

WEB SITES for camping:

Blakely Hobbit http://blakleyhobbit.com/index.html

West Fork Sportsman's Club

http://www.westforksportsmansclub.org/

 

[bikerfish]

awesome, thanks for the info, actually thinking of doing a fall trip in that direction

 

[raftman]

Thanks man!

 

[Acristickid]

Fished Reeds Creek last May. Neat area. Viroqua Is small town. People pretty friendly. Wish I had more than a day. Have a good time. Good luck

 

[raftman]

Hey Boss, where do you fly into?

 

[boss_steb]

I am driving...I like to take all of my fly tying stuff and extra gear...it is about 12 hours from Pittsburgh...unless you stop at fly shops and bass pro in Chicago which is really out of the way.

My buddy is flying into Minneapolis and driving down which I think is about 2 hours away...not too bad...you could also fly into either Chicago (4 hours) or Milwaukee. I think Minneapolis is a hub for some airline so prices might be a bit better there...although everyone flies through Chicago...

My favorite stream is Bohemian Valley or Morman Coulee...Morman is about 2-4 feet wide in most spots.....

Obviously I am smitten with fishing this part of the world...if you want to learn more check out the video Heart of the Driftless...there are quite a few clips on the web as well...

Boss

 

[RLeep2]

Just a couple things..

1) Unless you luck out with the weather (cooler/cloudy, etc.), you're probably going to want to take a light, well ventilated full brim floppy hat to avoid brain broil. In those open meadows, "real feel" temps are usually 10 or more degrees warmer than actual temps.

2) While for the most part, Driftless stream temps are pretty elastic due to the large number of smaller springs that enter the streams, there are some steams that simply do not usually do well thermally after mid-June. Timber Coulee below the Bohemian Valley junction is one. Bishop Branch in Vernon County is another. Yet another is the entire West Fork of the Kickapoo, which for the most part headwaters in an impoundment. Always take a temp first. The West Fork in particular will go to 70 in a heartbeat on an 80 degree day in June and, unlike most Driftless streams, stay there even after the sun drops behind the ridge.

3) Take lots of bug dope or a headnet or two. The gnats (most of which do not bite..) are ferocious.

4) Generally, if you want to be able to have good fishing mid day, even on the smaller water, you're going to need to find stream sections with decent shading. There are a lot of them, you just have to find them. It is not uncommon even with reasonable water temps for the high, relentless sun to put the fish in a torpor of sorts.

5) On a lot of the smaller streams that flow through abandoned pasture/meadows, there is timothy/high grass growover from both banks that completely encloses the stream and makes casting all but impossible. In late May, this isn't a problem because the grass as not yet reached peak growth. But by now, it can be a problem. One prime example of this is the upper easement on Rullands Coulee, but it is pretty common wherever small water and high grass are found together.

6) Here are a handful of creeks that will probably fish better than the average next week: Big Spring (Iowa/Grant Counties), North Fork Copper Creek (Crawford County), Plum and Pine Creeks (Crawford), Weister Creek above Hwy P (Vernon County), Reads Creek, upper half, (Vernon County), Camp Creek, (Vernon/Richland Counties). There are many more, but that's a few..

All of this may sound pretty pessimistic. It is not intended that way. Excellent fishing can be had in late June, but you sometimes have to work a little harder and be more flexible to find it than you would even at the beginning of June.

Have fun and be sure to get that hat and carry lots of water...

 

[fly_flinger]

A group of us just got back from the Driftless on Saturday. We fished 7 or 8 different streams. Some felt much warmer than others and I wouldn't be surprised if they are over 70 with the high temps they've had since Thursday. Check the temps before fishing!
It was our first time fishing there and we were pretty amazed at how many fish there are in some of the streams. And how easy they are to catch. We were expecting it to be like fishing one of our limestoners but that was not the case. Fish readily rose to whatever dry fly you wanted to use. It was great. They also like mice.
As mentioned, it's fairly cheap to stay out there and the owners of the Coulee Cabins are great people. Would recommend staying at one of their places as it's only a few hundred yards from Timber Coulee and you will have a good time with the owners.
We also spent 2 days fishing for muskies with Brad Bohen from Musky County Outfitters. I'm sure you musky guys know the name as he probably invented the flies you are using to fish for them. Up until last week I had only fished lakes for them but we fished a river and I learned a ton. I landed 4 in 2 days with the biggest one(41") taking a top water deer hair popper. It was pretty awesome. I highly recommend these guys. They know what they are doing when it comes to catching muskies.
If anyone is on the fence about going, do it. You will not regret it.

 

[Millsertime]

I haven't fished Driftless yet but I fished corn country in Nebraska last month. I was amazed how many spring fed creeks with wild trout there are along HWY 20 in Nebraska.

 

[albatross]

I've had the pleasure of fishing a couple Driftless streams in Minnesota and Iowa, but I have not yet had the pleasure of fishing any in Wisconsin (which I believe has the majority of them). Always a good time.

 

[boss_steb]

So just got back latelast night. Fished 5 am to around noon then 7 pm to 10 pm. I stayed off the water during tge heat of the day. Had a great trip. I did very well in tbe evenings with snowshoe emergers. I had never fished mice.... very cool and had one karge fish wave a huge pool under a bridge.

Water temos in the morning was around 62 but ckimbed quickly in tbe meadows. I tried to fish high on the streams during the trip. I spent way to much at driftless angler but helped the local economy.

Had aBRATBURGER...burger with grilled brat, chedder cheese, and beer mustard. Great trip! Not really hopper time but pa bit past caddis and sulphurs.

boss