SW WI Fishing Report

I had to get one last trip to SW Wisconsin before the season closed.  The last weekend of the season is not ideal  because everyone has the same idea, but crowded water is better than no water.  Frankly, it wasn't that crowded and there is a lot of water to share.  I had a beginner-buddy of mine with me and we hit the timber coulee system.  

Saturday was tough. We ended up getting only a half-dozen or so after a full day of fishing.  All came within a 50 yard stretch and mostly on foam with rubber legs.  It was fun to get some top water action and we ended the day with a nice, fat 13 incher wearing his fall colors.  I thought they were going to be on fire but I ended the day humbled - that's fishing.

Sunday was short but much better.  A low pressure system moved in overnight and turned the fish on.  My buddy got a few on small nymphs (18s) and I, still feeling yesterdays desperation, put on a wooly bugger.  Man do fall brownies like wooly buggers.  I hadn't fished a bugger up there in a while, opting for dries and nymphs, but it was fun to watch those little brownies go head-over-heels for that wooly.  Per the norm, I lost a VERY nice fish, which I let take me under an under-cut bank.  I could feel him thrashing as I tried to guide him out then he was gone (probably upper teens).  

Good way to end the trip.  If you can get up there before closing time, they were taking small thin-bodied nymphs and we got a few on scuds, I used a black foam fly with rubber legs with success, and of course streamers.

Tight lines.

Quick Fishing Report

Unfortunately my report is based solely on observation. I've had to work going on 16 days straight, so I haven't had a chance to do much else. However, I decided to on a walk down by Chicago's lake front this morning with my better half before heading into work once again. I observed the following:

1. A man holding a spinning rod in one hand and a clear plastic bag containing a steelhead in the other (probably a stocker but I don't love it);

2. a gentlemen who claims (I believe him) to have a caught a large king last week; and

3. a young boy with his dad holding a 5-6 pound Coho (or small king I didn't get the best look at it).

Seems to me like the fish are close.

Tight Lines.