Wow, I waited too long to post this update to my fishing trip post. I have been back for almost two weeks now and am still riding the high.
I think the best thing to do is summarize our adventure chronologically and share some photos with you.
We left Dubuque on a Saturday morning (just as thousands of RAGBRAI riders and support vehicles rolled into town!) and headed straight to Potosi, WI, for a quick tour of their MAGNIFICENT brew/pub/museum and to pick out some beer for the trip. Two growlers and two six-packs later we were on the road for WildCat Mountain to see if we could get a campsite in the uber-eco-friendly campground. No dice, though – the last campsite went minutes before we arrived, so we relocated to Rustic Ridge Resort (and old Methodist church camp now a secular dive).
We pitched camp and headed back to Viroqua (pronounced vur-OAK-wah, for you non-natives) to scope out the fly selection and get some stream reports from the locals. We bought some new flies, grabbed some late lunch and hit our first stream in the late afternoon – Bishop Branch just east of Viroqua on 52.
Bishop Branch
The weeds were near impassible. My own experience was pretty taxing – first I was stung by a wasp, tripped into the water (but maintained my balance and did not get wet), then I got into a pretty thick clump of stinging nettles. All this, and I still managed to grab a little 4″ fingerling. Oh, did I mention it was about 90° with a heat index nearer to 105°?
We finished up after a good 2 hours on this stream by traveling in air-conditioned bliss to scout out some other streams.
Sunday was a bit better. We got up and made coffee on the fire (yah, we were rustic like that), then we mapped out a plan to try out some of the streams to the west.
Timber Coulee, Coon Creek
What a difference a day makes. The Timber Coulee was our first stop on Sunday, and although the stream was mostly bordered by pasture, the temps were nice and cool (60-65°) and the fishing was fun. We stopped at an access point near a bridge off of Olstad road (off County P). I am not sure if it was the realization I was finally on vacation or the lack of weeds like we experienced on the Bishop, but this creek did it for me. I was having a blast locating deep pools and refreshing my casting skills from the two-year fishing hiatus. After fishing for a couple hours we grabbed brunch in Westby nearby and headed off to scope out some more streams. By the heat of mid-afternoon we were ready to scout out some alternatives to our campsite so we drove down to Sidie Hollow campgrounds and surrounding areas to view their streams and campsites. We then returned to the north to scope out some fishing at Coon Creek and other access points on the Timber Coulee. We found some excellent access points on both the Timber and the Coon near the intersection of County Highways P and G. This is where Kristof let me try out his FiveFingers shoes and where I learned I needed a pair myself.
Westward Ho
On Monday I awoke with a migraine headache and I suspect a touch of carbon monoxide poisoning from campfire smoke blowing into my tent all night. I loaded up on headache meds and dozed into mid-morning while dad and Kristof pondered the possibilities for the day’s adventures. By the time I had regained consciousness the rainy/hot weather had motivated the two of them to strike camp and make the trek to Iowa and set up camp there since the fishing was OK in Wisconsin, but we were planning on moving camp anyway to be closer to streams and none of us really wanted to set up camp on Monday in Wisconsin just to strike it and reset it in Iowa on Tuesday. Off to Iowa we went. We stopped in Viroqua for lunch and stopped at a couple historical markers outside DeSoto on Highway 82 which described elements of the Blackhawk War.
We set up our camp at a site in Decorah’s Pulpit Rock (a city-owned/maintained) park just feet from Twin Springs – a cold trout stream that runs through the park and meets the Upper Iowa river 200 yards down stream. We drove to check out the local bait shops; we stopped at Oneota Outfitters and found a small selection of flies – the store was mostly catered towards hunters and non-fly-fishermen. We then found the Chick Hatchery downtown in Decorah – they had a small (better then Oneota) selection of flies, a knowledgeable owner-operator and a decent collection of apparel. I bought my first pair of FiveFingers, dad got some flies and we headed to dinner. I hit Twin Springs that night and caught two trout about 400′ from our tent while chatting with a local 12-year-old who has a trout stream in his front yard. Rough life.
North Bear, Waterloo
On Tuesday we made for the North Bear creek very close to the Minnesota state line in northern Winneshiek county. The streams were cold and as we pulled into the North Bear access point off 360th street we heard a truck pulling up an access road down by the stream. The DNR had just finished stocking the stream (an unannounced stocking). I chatted with the DNR worker for a couple minutes about the fishing in the area since it was our first full day in Iowa and he gave me some ideas about where they had stocked recently and where we could find natural reproducing trout. He was very friendly and it sounded like he was used to eager fishermen hitting him up for tips. We fished the North Bear at this access point for a couple hours, then moved upstream and found an access point near a bridge on 128th street just south of the Minnesota border. This was similar to the Timber Coulee access in Wisconsin – another stream moving through open prairie, but there were good pools under some rock structure that provided some nice casting challenges and cooler water.
After Kristof and I fished this area for a while, we drove up through Minnesota and moved on to the Waterloo Creek. We found our way to some of the northern-most access points. There was access to the stream closer to the border by a bridge, but the weeds were thick and uninviting (even though we saw trout rising near the bridge shadow). Finally we decided to tackle the stream at an access point near a farmer’s pull-off close to Blue Jay road; another pastured area, but with excellent riffles and pools with no weeds (cattle pasture was well maintained by the local livestock – who also feature prominently in several of our photographs!). Walking to some of the best pools we fished was easy. The stream was cold (60°) and clear. Dad caught the first fish photographed on our trip at this access point – a 10″ rainbow. Kristof deserves credit for being in the right place at the right time. I pulled two brookies out at a pool I started calling the “Fly Rod and Reel Pool” due to its photogenic nature. I fished this pool while I listened to bald eagles teaching their young how to fish down stream. What a treat!
After the success at the Waterloo we traveled down its length past an access dad and I had fished when we were in this area back in 2008. We found numerous additional access points and marked them in our notes for future use.
French, Little Paint
On Wednesday we headed back east to Allamakee county to find the French Creek – a relatively secluded stream north of Waukon, IA. We found access to the stream at a neat little valley (perhaps my dad’s favorite spot on the trip). It was another hot day and there were plenty of weeds stream-side, but the access paths were very well positioned and even crossed the stream once or twice providing nice wading access for in-stream casting. I ventured furthest downstream and changed my first leader on the rig I was fishing. There were some decent sized fish in this stream, but we suspect they were native to the stream and as such were quite picky about our fly selection. We unanimously agreed that French Creek was the best stream that skunked us. Oh, and as a side story – this is the stream where Kristof found two holes in his waders – he fell over when he got stuck in the stream and filled his waders with water.
After some lunch at a great Mexican restaurant downtown, we found a passable outfitter in the Sportsmen on the north edge of town in Waukon.
The Little Paint is another stream that remains cool all summer long. Access is relatively easy as well since there is camping all along the stream from its mouth at the Big Paint up to a beautiful deep and large pool where we spent most our time. Three fly-fishermen could (and in our case did) fish this pool simultaneously. We saw the remains of a bald eagle’s breakfast lying in the shallows by the shore of the pool – 2 dozen trout carcasses picked clean as a whistle! While we fished the local reel-casters started to crowd in on us and after I caught a little brook trout we decided to move along.
Cold Water Creek, Grannis Creek
On Thursday we decided to take the advice of a local fisherman we met at our campground and head northwest to Cold Water Creek. The stream was cold and clear, easily accessible from Cold Water Creek road – even where there were weeds you could walk on pre-trodden paths made by several local fishermen. You could tell the fish were gun-shy and overly fished; if we hadn’t been there at mid-morning we would likely have gotten far better results. As it was we got several nibbles on our more successful flies (orange scuds, prince, midges).
We then took a long drive down through all of Winneshiek and most of Fayette county to Hub City Brewing near Stanley, IA. We bought some beer and then headed up to the Grannis near 5pm. By the time we got to the stream access on Grannis Creek Road, we saw that several reel casters and even a fly fisherman or two were parked at the stream. Most were packing up and leaving and shared the information that the DNR had just stocked this stream too! From 2008 I knew that this was a great stream, but the trout can be really persnickety. The water is so clear you can see them laughing at your paltry fly. I got skunked in 2008 and again in 2010 at the Grannis. To add insult to injury, two locals overtook me on a hole I was fishing while I changed a fly. They were pretty rude about it, but to avoid confrontation I just walked farther down stream. It was another beautiful stream (perhaps my dad’s favorite spot on the trip) and the drive in and out of the stream valley was very nice. Dad caught two rainbows down at the farthest pool, even though he had to walk through poison ivy to get there.
We headed through the Volga River State Park on our way back to the campsite and Kristof took a break to wash with poison ivy soap as the sun sank into the west. We had to get a picture of this. We returned to town for dinner and a relaxing evening at the campground.
Trout River, Waterloo (Revisited)
Friday was my best day all week for fishing – we hit two streams and four access points. The day started great with a trip just east of Decorah to Trout River. Our campsite buddy gave us a great tip on a relatively new access point by a farmer’s gate. The water was cold and clear, and pretty fast-moving. I caught a nice sized brook trout near a willow tree and after shouting for Kristof, he came and took the first picture of a fish I had caught. Dad fished a little longer, and then we traveled up to the Waterloo to hit some of the access points we had identified on Tuesday.
Now that it was practically the weekend the fishermen were far more abundant. One spot that had been wide-open on Tuesday was packed with 4 reel casters, so we worked our way up to another access point off of bridge near Bee road. This was very similar to the kinds of access points on the North Bear and the Timber Coulee – open prairie with shaded limestone ledges teeming with great fish. We fished this spot for a while and I pulled out two brook trout. Dad caught one on the camera while I netted him. Dad also spotted a dead cow down stream. We left shortly thereafter.
Next we went farther upstream and ended up at the same access point we had visited on Tuesday. Dad caught more fish in the pool where he caught the rainbow earlier and I caught a brook and brown trout down at “Fly Rod and Reel pool.” I was experimenting with letting the rapid current suck the line under a large boulder underwater when I caught the brown – which was a good 12″.
We fished until close to 6pm and called it a day and headed back to camp for another relaxing dinner and enjoyable time by the fire.
Bankston Creek
I think I got food poisoning or some other stomach bug the night before because I was barely able to sit upright come Saturday morning. We struck camp, packed the car and pointed our way towards Dubuque. I slept most of the way there, but woke a little when we stopped just northwest of Dubuque on a tributary of the Maquoketa river called Bankston Creek. The recent flooding had changed the course of the stream pretty substantially and dad was the only one who fished it. After about 50 minutes he returned to the car ready to go and told us he had caught 5 trout! That’s it, I had decided then and there that fly fishing didn’t need to require week-long excursions to become realistic. Even though I was too ill to fish, I was excited to learn there is such good fishing so close to my in-laws.
I have started planning my first rod-and-reel rig and am excited to hop back in the streams as soon as possible.
Thanks to Kristof for taking so many great pictures. Please visit his Flickr site and leave him a comment. Thanks to my dad for taking us on such a great adventure and for all the fun memories we created! I am looking











