September is always a great time to be on the trout streams of SW Wisconsin.  The leaves are turning colors, the hopper bite is fairly consistent, the stinging nettles and insects are waning and the brook and brown trout are getting ready to spawn and getting all colored up and aggressive!  What else can one desire in life?

Click on any of the pictures for larger views

Unlike the spring and early summer, cracking the hatch code in September tends to be fairly easy.  Put on a smaller hopper, an ant or a beetle and chances are that you will find an eater.  Jon who was there earlier in the week did see a few defined hatches of really small BWO's in the size 20-24 range, but it was much more straight forward when I was there...





If you feel like "thinking outside of the box" try any attractor pattern that you have had kicking around in that fly box of yours for the past few years.  Chances are that it just might work.  The purple parawulff seems to do the trick every time for me and this year that was THE fly again.

Good things come in small packages

The week prior to closing this year featured warm days in the low 70s and cool nights in the 40s.  Perfection!
The water was low and super clear.  Once again I was reminded that a stealthy approach to the streams was necessary and that longer casts produced the most fish. Sloppy approaches meant seeing fish fleeing from 50' away...

Clear water means 5 or 6 X and long casts...

The wind was down and the Sage TXL-F  3710-4 (7' 10" 3 WT) was again the absolute perfect rod!  I absolutely LOVE this rod!!!  You can comfortably pop a small hopper 30-50' if you need to, or can gently drop a beetle 15' upstream to a sipping trout without spooking it.  I fished some of my old favorites, and they all felt "clubby" next to this slim, light weight TXL-F.  I also have to say that I really like the Umpqua Trout 9' 5X leaders in these conditions - they are pretty darn supple yet turn over flies pretty well and the material seems to disappear under water.  If you are newer to this game - the 7 1/2' Umpqua Trout Leaders are a bit easier to use and turn over a bit better.


As usual - I am compelled to say that no matter where I have been around this big beautiful world - I am utterly blown away each and every time I return to the creeks in Wisconsin.  They are alive, intimate and really are among my favorite places to recharge, unwind and fish!  They open back up the first Saturday of March 2013, and you owe it to yourself to check them out.  I leave you with a few more pictures of the last week of another magical season......

Tight Lines- Andy

If you keep your eyes open - you can see cool stuff!  Does anyone have a clue what animal	this was?