Upper Midwest
Fly fishing in Wisconsin
Short answer
Wisconsin fly fishing is Driftless Area spring creek fishing, with wild brown trout in extraordinary numbers, native brook trout in the colder headwaters, and Lake Superior steelhead in the north. Timber Coulee, the West Fork of the Kickapoo and Black Earth Creek are the headline waters. You need a licence and an inland trout stamp, and the catch-and-release season starts in January.
What makes Wisconsin different
The Driftless Area is the part of the upper Midwest the last glaciers missed. No ice sheet flattened it, so instead of the lake-and-bog country around it you get steep wooded coulees, limestone bedrock and hundreds of cold spring creeks running through farmland. Some of those creeks hold wild brown trout at densities that rival anywhere in the United States — thousands of fish per mile in the best stretches — and they are small enough to cross in two strides. The second thing that makes this work is unglamorous and more important: decades of habitat restoration paid for by trout stamps, and a state easement programme that bought public fishing rights across private farmland. You park at a sign, climb a stile and fish, on water somebody else owns. Very few states have made small-stream trout fishing this available to people who do not own land.
What trout are in Wisconsin?
- Brown trout
- Wild and self-sustaining throughout the Driftless, and the main quarry.
- Brook trout
- Native, and strongest in the coldest headwaters and the northern counties.
- Rainbow trout
- Less common inland; the Lake Superior tributaries hold the migratory ones.
- Steelhead
- Lake Superior and Lake Michigan tributaries, chiefly the Bois Brule.
Where to fly fish in Wisconsin
- Timber Coulee Creek
- Near Coon Valley. The restoration project that proved the whole Driftless model works.
- West Fork Kickapoo River
- Vernon County. Easement access, wild browns and a long season.
- Black Earth Creek
- Half an hour from Madison, and far better than a creek that close to a city ought to be.
- Castle Rock Creek
- Grant County spring creek, fertile and open, with sight-fishing in low water.
- Bois Brule River
- Northern Wisconsin. Steelhead, big browns and a long presidential history.
- Namekagon River
- A National Scenic Riverway holding wild browns and brook trout.
When to fly fish in Wisconsin
| When | What is happening |
|---|---|
| January – April | The early catch-and-release season. Midges and small nymphs on spring creeks that never freeze. |
| May | The general season opens the first Saturday. Caddis, Hendricksons and sulphurs — the best hatches of the year. |
| June | Sulphurs into the evening, and the first good terrestrial fishing as the hay gets cut. |
| July – August | Hopper season. Low clear water, long leaders and short casts to the undercut banks. |
| September – October | Tricos, Baetis and pre-spawn browns to the close of the general season on 15 October. |
Do you need a license to fly fish in Wisconsin?
Yes. Licenses are issued by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
| License | Price |
|---|---|
| Resident, annual | $30 |
| Non-resident, annual | $65 |
Wisconsin sells trout fishing in two parts. The resident total is a $20 annual fishing licence plus the $10 inland trout stamp; the non-resident total is $55 plus the same $10 stamp. The licence year starts 1 April. Prices change — check with the agency before you buy.
Rules worth knowing before you go
- A fishing licence is required from age 16, and an inland trout stamp is required in addition to fish for trout on inland waters.
- The early season runs from 1 January to the Friday before the general opener: catch and release, artificial lures only.
- The general inland trout season runs from the first Saturday in May to 15 October.
- A Great Lakes trout and salmon stamp is a separate purchase from the inland trout stamp, for the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior tributaries.
- Streams are classified and regulated individually, and easement access is marked by yellow signs. Respect the crops and the fences.
Regulations change every year and vary water by water. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources rule book is the only authority — this page is a starting point, not a legal reference.
Flies that matter in Wisconsin
Each of these is a card in the deck, and each has a full page in Our Fly-brary.
Keep reading
- Do I need a fishing license? — how licensing works across states
- How to read water — where trout hold, anywhere
- Best time of day to fly fish — the seasonal logic behind the table above
- Our Fly-brary — every fly in the deck, explained
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The deck
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A 54-card fly-fishing deck of original hand-drawn flies, each explaining what it imitates. Made by a father-and-daughter team in Eagle, Idaho.
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