Wisconsin’s Inland Trout Season Comes to an End

All season long I’ve been anxious to throw streamers on some of the larger waterways in Wisconsin’s Driftless area for some monster trout, but unfortunately early season storms kept the water level a bit high when I was available to get out. September 29th was my last day to fish for inland trout in Wisconsin and I had big fish on my mind. But yet again, I was very limited on time, and had to stay closer to home. Trying to satisfy both needs I decided to fish the Blue River. The Blue River is south of the Wisconsin River in Iowa/Grant counties which is a reasonable drive from where I live. It also has a reputation for holding larger trout. Aside from the brood stock Montana strain rainbows that the DNR stocks in the Blue, there are also brown trout exceeding the 20 inch mark. We arrived at first light and almost right away I had a couple small browns take a grey scud. A few drifts later and I set the hook into what felt like a much larger fish. It ended up being a respectable brown trout, and as I scooped him into the net I took one step too close to the bank of the river and my foot slipped off the dewy grass and into the Blue I went! One step of the bank and I fell chest-deep into the river. I pulled myself up on the bank with the fish still in the net, my buddy Dave and I got a good laugh as I let the fish catch it’s breath in the water. After a minute I lifted the net and unhooked the fish. Leaning in for a quick photo the slippery bank sucked me back into the Blue! Once again I climbed out of the river, and this time snapped a quick picture, released the fish, and took a few steps back from the steep bank.

I wanted to spend most the day fishing a section of the river that I haven’t spent much time on, but upon my arrival of the public access point on Snowbottom Rd I thought I was lost. All of the trees that crowded the river were gone! Lunker structures had been added as well as new grass along the banks. The last bit of private land above the bridge is now public! The water looked great, but after fishing about a quarter mile of river with no fish I concluded that the recent restoration had pushed fish elsewhere. I would imagine that stretch will bounce back before the 2011 season opens. I headed back upstream where I new of a spot that hadn’t had large machines rolling through the stream dropping large slabs of limestone in the river, and guess what…. there were some fish! I missed one nice brown right away, and ended up landing a couple large rainbows.