Driftless in Wisconsin

Several corners of the country have a distinct trouty flavor, northern lakes, Appalachian freestone rivers, tailwater browns and bows, western mountain cutthroats, etc., there are more and another is the Driftless area of the northern-Midwest.  

Weeks ago I asked Scott if he could spare time for an Old Dominion fishing holiday and he told me that his dance card was full with a trip to his old haunts in the Driftless area of SW Wisconsin…did I want to come?   We’d talked about this area on are many adventures together and as he knew…be careful when you ask me to join you because I’ll try my best to make it.

Meaty Driftless Brown

Scott high sticks a run

 The driftless spans Minnesota, Wisconsin, NW Illinois and NE Iowa and was never covered (carved) by glacier.   The rolling terrain continues to be cleaved by the main stem of the Mississippi River and 600+ tributaries as they continue to sculpt the bedrock. Sorry King James, but the rock exposed rock in this area is 500-million years old.  The name itself refers to the lack of ‘gravel-drift’ (not present) in the area. The largest portion of the Driftless area lies in Wisconsin and is bordered by the Chippewa River to the North and the Wisconsin River to the East.    If you’re looking on a map pick out Lacrosse, WI, look just SE and you’ll be in the right area.

Scott and I met in Milwaukee Thursday morning marveling at how Southwest Airlines makes the fishing world a lot smaller.  After grabbing a cup of coffee and snacks at familiar store in Delafield, where Scott used to teach, we pushed west toward Madison and then rolled onto State Hwy 14 toward Richlands Center where we linked up with an old friend of Scott’s.   

Len (behind Scott) put us on his favorite water

Len guided in the Driftless for years and over trips with Scott a friendship took root. With Scott catching up with Len I followed in our rental as we motored 20-min west through rolling farmland to waters you’ll need to ask Len about if you want to ever get there ☺.   It was a treat for both of us to soak up his local insights as we adjusted to this fishery. Len was as direct, kind and knowledgeable and after I passed casting test muster we fished together with Len deferring to us on choice holes then pulling golden-spotted browns out of each hole Scott and I had just worked (Ah…local expertise makes a HUGE difference)!  

This was a learning experience; the tree & scrub lined creek bank and silty/soil bottom lend it itself to bank fishing with bulky black buggers flickering through narrow back cast windows. We fished until the sun settled below a hill to the west and we were all worn out from a long day which had started in VA for me and FL for Scott. After a quick good bye and thanks to Len we were on our way West to the small farming town and fishing center of Viroqua where an overall wearing fella eyed me as a stranger and asked what I was up to, and when I said fishing, he replied,  “that’s good because there’s not much else going on around here.”

The runs and run outs were picture perfect

 We tucked ourselves into the nicest hotel in town boasting a large trout where the sign might once have said Comfort Inn.  And after a quick shower we limped across the street at ‘Gassers’ a fine-enough-for-us sports bar with a local “W” amber lager which washed down our calories, soothed our stiff joints and eased us off to sleep.

We were excited to get on the water so after a pretty darn fine coffee & muffin we headed northwest to the West Fork of the Kickapoo River in vicinity of the tiny hamlet of Avalanche.  We headed upstream from a WI TU Camping convention and found some empty lovely water. We parked streamside rigged up 4 & 5wts and slid through the thick 34 degree morning down a bank and into the mid-50 degree water of the WF Kickapoo.  

Drifting tandem nymphs under indicators we soon picked up small feisty browns in the tailouts of flows and bankside and had expectant feel they wouldn’t be the last.Nymph selection didn’t seem to matter and we picked up trout on prince, hares-ear, pheasant-tail and pink-squirrel nymphs.  What DID matter was attentiveness to a dragless high stick presentation and to the degree the degree possible a stealthy masked approach.  

In retrospect, many indicator ‘bumps’ we read as nymphs dragging the bottom were active browns feeding at the bottom of the water column. We/ I also fell into the tempting trap of long casts until Scott and I conferred and decided that those long casts subjected the floating line to too much current dragging the indicator & nymphs unnaturally and harming the presentation.  This truism endured and once understood we both picked up many more trout.

As the sun peaked over the low ridge to the East the browns started getting bigger and native brookies entered the mix. There was one amazing ripple-run where Scott picked up 6-7 brookies in so many drifts but beyond that exciting aberration browns outnumbered brookies 3:1.

We might have stayed longer, lunch could wait with the fishing this good, but we saw flyrod rod tips swaying like corn in the wind in the next horseshoe bend and decided to call it a morning.  We didn’t count fish but fist bumped an amazing morning. As we walked back streamside through a lovely field we passed a grandfather, his black lab puppy scout greeting all, fishing with his son and two grandchildren …good living.

Legacy Brookie with Scott's Dad favorite fly

After visiting a Subway in full fishing gear (they didn’t bat an eye) we headed SE to Nerdlo Creek to a Small stretch where Scott looked forward to revisiting a special bend in the creek.  We parked off the road and worked our way down a high and steep bluff till we slid into the creek 150m below our target hole. We fished up to the hole w/o success as the water looked to good to pass up, but something in the waters’ DNA causes the browns to stack up in this one 30’ section….wow.  I’ve forgotten who hooked the first brown, but it didn’t matter as we took turns casting, catching and marveling at the productivity of the water. I’ve heard driftless browns described as wild and spooky….these were hungry and aggressive!

This was probably our biggest brown of the trip

12-15 trout out of the top of this hole

After regaining our bearings on our trusty Delorme Scott found a run-out from a flood impoundment he remembered held a brood of brookies, so he rigged-up with his dad’s favorite fly, a classic NE mickey finn pattern, and in remembering his dad, hooked-up a small brookie from the mini-van sized hole.

Amazing natural camoflage

We tried to bribe our way to our final water of the day, but either the ornery farm owners
weren’t in or they didn’t have a taste for the MGD Scott carried in greeting, we’ll never know.  We drove
upstream, just out of shotgun range, rigged up and shimmied under the barbed wire and electrified fence
(yep… “ZZZZZZ” there was plenty of current flowing…but it didn’t really hurt) and made a beeline
for a steeply cut bank.  The streamer fishing in this section of Nerdlo wasn’t what Scott
remembered; the access was REALLY tough: high banks, thick-deadfall and silty,
sinking muck, etc. but we BTH enough browns and a few brookies to make it worthwhile.
Exhausted, dehydrated but very happy we limped back to the car and headed back to
Viroqua to lick our wounds, drink a few beers and fortify ourselves for the next day.

We decided to head back to the WF Kickapoo for the morning

of our last day and we slid into the cold water at 0820.    The water

on Thursday had been a surprisingly warm 62, this water must have been

no more than 55, cold and clear. With lessons learned in our pocket

we worked our drags and drifts and having released more than

our share of brooks and browns already we stalked and

partner-fished the likely water.  After you’ve caught

enough it’s just as fun to scout water and guide

your in-stream buddy.

As 95% of the fish are in 5% of the water finding that

water, those micro runs and holding water and feeding

stations and then directing a successful cast and drift is a great

feeling. The Browns didn’t disappoint especially in ‘redemption hole’

which we’d doubled back to hit where we caught 12-15 until their jaws were

sore and we were looking for lunch.    

Scott knows lots of driftless water and one last spot he wanted to try was Knapp Creek,

smaller spring-fed water flowing through a picturesque farm.   As we approached, I wasn’t impressed,

it looked tiny flowing below the small bridge where we parked, but Scott was confident so we walked ¾

of a mile downstream and hoped in.  We didn’t know if this would be streamer or nymph fishing and after

not having much luck with either and feeling a bit worn out we began to see the telltale rings of rising trout

and a flittering hatch just off the surface.   

Scott guided me to a bend with an active riser and we took our

first brown on a size 19 parachute BWO. This made our day as there’s little we enjoy more than taking

rising trout on dry flies. Casting through narrow windows we fished the last half mile back to our car

targeting and catching aggressive rising browns and brookies.  The adrenal jolt when a well presented

fly is smacked by an aggressive trout is amazing. We finally made it back to our car and with a 3 hour

drive back to Milwaukee ahead of us we stowed our gear and headed out with plans to be back again.