Steelhead are in the southern Wisconsin tributaries in decent numbers now but are hard to reach due to the high water levels. Fishing the smaller rivers is paying off for those persistent enough to seek out what little “fishable” water there is right now. Some friends and I had the chance to get out yesterday before this cold front hit us and managed some fish. We started the day late and decided to check out the Milwaukee just to see what kind of condition it was in. Like we had expected, it was too high, but we did see a couple fish break on the surface in the few minutes we hung around. Trying not to waste too much time staring at a flooded river we headed for something smaller. We found a good looking section of water and parked the car. This was a new spot for all of us and it looked great from the bridge, but when we approached the rivers bank we saw anglers lining the shoreline. I had little hope at this point that we would hook any fish, but all it took was two minutes of light rain and everybody scattered. We had the place to ourselves!! In the last hour of daylight we landed four fish dead-drifting eggs through the deeper runs. Three of them were lightly colored males 4-6 lbs resembling your typical inland rainbow trout, the other one sporting the same colors but slightly larger, close to 10 lbs. It was a bad day not to have a camera! The fishing is just about to get good though and there will be plenty more photo-ops for these beautiful creatures in the near future! Always remember to handle these fish with care when taking pictures, it’s best to keep the fish in the water and only lift them out for a few seconds while you capture those wonderful memories.
