Table Of ContentExploring
Wisconsin
Trout
Streams
The Angler’s Guide
S E
ECOND DITION
Steve Born, Jeff Mayers,
Andy Morton, and Bill Sonzogni
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street, 3rd Floor
Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059
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Copyright © 1997, 2014
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any format or by any means, digital,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed
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Wisconsin Press, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical
articles and reviews.
Printed in the United States of America
Illustrations on pp. 8, 20, 30, 48, 62, 63 (bottom),
65 (bottom), 80, 99 by Stephen Di Cerbo.
Copyright 1995 by Stephen Di Cerbo.
Illustrations on pp. 1, 16, 29, 38, 40, 43, 47, 49,
50, 53, 54, 61, 63 (top), 64, 65 (top), 72, 87,
92, 94, 109, 111 by Richard Berge
Maps by Susan Hunt
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Born, Stephen M., author.
Exploring Wisconsin trout streams: the angler’s guide /
Steve Born, Jeff Mayers, Andy Morton, and
Bill Sonzogni. — Second edition.
pages cm
First edition published in 1997.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-299-30004-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)—
ISBN 978-0-299-30003-6 (e-book)
1. Trout fishing—Wisconsin—Guidebooks. 2. Fly fishing—
Wisconsin—Guidebooks. 3. Wisconsin—Guidebooks.
I. Mayers, Jeff, 1959–, author. II. Morton, Andy, author.
III. Sonzogni, Bill, author. IV. Title.
SH688.U6E96 2014
799.12’409775—dc23
2013046016
Contents
Illustrations
Foreword by Gary A. Borger
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: These Are the Best of Times
PART 1. Before You Go Fishing
1 Wisconsin’s Trout-Fishing Heritage
2 Wisconsin’s Environmental Management Legacy
3 Getting Started
4 Insects and Crustaceans of Wisconsin Trout Streams: A Quick Survey
5 “Don’t Miss” Wisconsin Fishing Opportunities
6 Looking to the Future
PART 2. Pursuing the Trout
7 A Regional Guide to Wisconsin Trout Fishing
8 Trout Fishing in Northern Wisconsin
Bois Brule River
Namekagon River
White River
Prairie River
Peshtigo River
Oconto River
Wolf River
Pike River
East Branch of the Eau Claire River
Kinnickinnic River
9 Trout Fishing in Southern Wisconsin
Tomorrow-Waupaca River
Mecan River
Lawrence Creek
Black Earth Creek
Mt. Vernon Creek
Castle Rock Creek and the Blue River
Big Green River
Timber Coulee Creek
Willow Creek
Kickapoo River
Appendix: Fishing the Web
Selected Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Photographs
Young woman flyfishing, ca. 1930
Enthusiastic participants at a women’s flyfishing clinic
A happy Wisconsin trout angler
The 2013 restoration of lower Black Earth Creek
The lower Black Earth Creek returned to its former meandering channel
A beautiful brookie
Aldo Leopold
The original design for the MEPPS spinner
Duke Welter with one of the “rewards” of his conservation work in
Wisconsin’s Driftless region
Stabilization of stream banks and habitat improvements on Black Earth
Creek
The same Black Earth Creek section, one year later
The Big Green River
Dr. Mark Ratner with a soon-to-be-released brown trout
A young angler shows off his catch
Steve Born with a fine Driftless Area brown trout
Bill Engber with a beautiful brown trout
A magnificent Hexagenia spinner
Bill Engber holding a trophy steelhead
A fine April Brule River steelhead
A healthy small watershed in the Kickapoo River drainage system
Scott Harpold with a monster brown trout
The majestic Brule River in northern Wisconsin
Reed’s Creek
Winter reveals a totally different portrait of a trout stream
A challenging lie under the bridge
Trout fishing on the Bois Brule River, ca. 1900
President Calvin Coolidge fishing at Cedar Lake Lodge on the Bois Brule
River
The Prairie River dam and power house
The free-flowing Prairie River after removal of the dam
Every angler’s goal—a big brown trout in the net!
A wild brown caught nymphing
The Hunting River
A jewel-like brook trout
Elk Creek, Chippewa County
Nelsonville Dam removal, new culverts, and stream restoration on the
Tomorrow River
The next generation of anglers
Picture perfect Black Earth Creek
Black Earth Creek
The caddis hatches of springtime
Some of the most picturesque and productive trout angling in southern
Wisconsin
Jim Bartelt fishes a corner pool on the Big Green River
Multi-brooded small blue-wing olive mayflies
The Kickapoo Valley and its coulees seen from Wildcat Mountain State
Park
An angler fishes one of the many small tributaries in the Kickapoo River
drainage
The “pay-off” for a good student of trout and trout fishing
Steve Born pursuing trout on Bishop’s Branch
Figures
4.1 Aquatic and terrestrial insect emergence schedules
5.1 Typical alkalinity and hardness of Wisconsin trout waters, indicating
the most fertile streams
Foreword
Trout fishing has always been a passion for me. At age four I was casting into
the mud puddles in front of the house. By six I was exploring the local trout
streams with vigor. At eleven I was inspired to take up flyfishing by the
writings of Joe Brooks, Al McClane, Ted Trueblood, the young Ernest
Schwiebert, and other flyfishing writers of the time. It has been a full-time
and fast-paced pursuit ever since.
Over the years I have been blessed with an agenda that has taken me
around the world to some of the best trout fishing that can be found: the
hallowed chalk streams of England, the crystalline streams and lakes of New
Zealand, the swift little mountain brooks and spring creeks of South Africa,
the tundra rivers of Alaska, the freshwater lagoons of Tasmania, the brawling
salmon rivers of Russia, and many others.
In all this, I have come to see the common threads in the complex fabric of
flyfishing; the strands that run through trout fishers, the fish they so lovingly
pursue, the environs that make this sport possible, and the impact that
humankind has had on this fragile resource. It has become evident to me that
the cold, clean water that harbors trout is a rare commodity on this planet. In
fact, scientists have calculated that less than one millionth of one percent of
the world’s water actually flows in trout streams at any one time.
Because they are so rare, such waters are easily degraded by the activities
of man—farming, road construction, housing developments, waste disposal,
even recreational activities, all take their toll. And so it is, that when one finds
a state well blessed with trout water, such as Wisconsin, one can be assured
that it is no accident—that it must be a carefully husbanded resource.
The truth is that the history of Wisconsin has been one of intense overuse
of the forest and agricultural resources, followed by an intense, conservation-
based ethic that has restored the pristine quality of many of the state’s lakes
and streams. True, the vast forests of huge white pines are gone, but
Wisconsin’s currently well-managed forest cover contributes strongly to its
healthy watersheds, and consequently to its healthy fisheries. True, the
sweeping acreages of tall-grass prairie have disappeared beneath the plow, but
the farmers of Wisconsin now are among the most conservation-minded of
this nation. Ours is a state that tries hard to reconcile its human resources with
its natural resources.
