Wisconsin is home to some 2.900 trout streams which add up to more than 10,000 miles. It also has a good number of spring ponds that are home to trout and the tributaries of the Great Lakes which provide fishing for migratory Salmon, Trout, and Steelhead. Add in a bunch of warm water lakes and rivers and you have a great place to fly fish.
The streams of South Western Wisconsin are gently flowing streams where light rods, long leaders, and heavy hatches are the norm. West Central Wisconsin streams are similar to those of the South West part of the state but there are some nice Brook Trout streams. Central Wisconsin is home to gin clear streams that slowly wind their way through the sandy soil of the area. Living in these streams are wild Brook, Brown, and a few Rainbow Trout.
The streams and rivers of Northern Wisconsin are varied in character. There are scores of small, tree-lined Brook Trout streams but Northern Wisconsin also has largest and wildest rivers in the state.
The Great Lakes tributaries support spawning runs of Salmon, Trout, and Steelhead. Great Lake tributaries spawning runs are comprised of hatchery fish but many Lake Superior tributaries have nearly self-sustaining Salmon, Trout, and Steelhead fisheries.
What’s New on FlyFishingWis.com
Night of the Hex
Robert Thompson has turned a new film called "Night of the Hex". This video captures the passion and madness of Midwest Hex fishing. This hatch that drives so many of us nuts is captured in a unique way and will make you long for a hot sticky night...Ummm in June. Some of the video was shot on one of the outings during Troutapoloza, so you may see some familiar faces.
You can see the Trailer of the video and order your own copy of the DVD at...
Night of the Hex
Black Caddis
River Beast, Gear Review.
For lack of a better term it’s “Show Season for Fly Fishing”!
See our Calendar for more details...
Fly Fishing Wisconsin Store, see our picks for winter reading and more.
More coming soon in 2010!
New books...
If John Gierach is living in a fool's paradise, then it's a paradise that his regular readers will recognize and new fans will delight in discovering. Laced with the inimitable blend of wit and wisdom that have made him fly-fishing's foremost scribe, Fool's Paradise chronicles the fishing life in all its glory (catching your biggest fish ever) and squalor (being stranded in a tent during a soaking rainstorm). In Gierach's world, both experiences are valuable, and both evoke humor and insight.
Fishermen everywhere will understand Gierach's quest to discover and explore new waters (and then not to divulge the best locations to anyone), the unlikely appeal of winter fly-fishing ("the ice fishing shanty served the dual purpose of group therapy and the neighborhood tavern"), how impossible it is to predict the best fishing ("Everything that happens is entirely familiar, but I don't always see it coming"), or even the absurdity of the entire exercise ("day after day, you're casting a fly that doesn't look like anything to fish that aren't hungry and may not even be there"). Braving trips on small prop planes and down "Oh-My-God" roads alike, Gierach and his fishing buddies pursue bull trout in British Columbia, steelhead in the Rocky Mountains, and pike so fierce that a wise fisherman wears Kevlar gloves for the obligatory trophy photo.
But as with any activity that depends on unspoiled wilderness, change is constant. Gierach sees this happening both in the landscape ("You never get to point at a meadow full of browsing mule deer and say, 'You know, all this was once condos.'") and at lodges that now require guests to sign liability waivers ("[I] had a brief vision of herds of lawyers coursing over the tundra in search of litigation"). Just the same, he is always awed by the experience of nature, or as he puts it: "You're on a lovely, remote wilderness river in the Alaskan backcountry. There are people who would make this trip and not even bring a fishing rod."
Musing on the enduring appeal of fishing, Gierach theorizes, "We're so used to the fake and the packaged that encountering something real can amount to a borderline religious experience." Equal parts fishing lore, philosophy, and great fish stories, Fool's Paradise may not be a perfect substitute for actually being out on the water, but it's surely the next best thing.
