End of an Era for Me in MT... Any Wisconsinites want to learn me on the Driftless?

[Longs for Cutts]

My fiance just got a generous offer for a software engineering job in Madison, WI, and the company that has been stringing her along in Bozeman for the last two months failed to counter, so it just became official: I am moving away from Montana to Madison. No more guiding for me after the 2018 season, at least for a while.

There are plenty worse places to have to move than the Madison area, but still. This is gonna be a big and jarring change. In particular since my main career progression for the past 15 years has been preparing me only to run my own fly fishing business in the Rocky Mountain West. If the Bozeman company had countered, I was going to either buy Parks' Fly Shop or start my own next year. Now, wow. I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself. My main hobby nowadays is snowboarding, so that includes winter hobbies as well as work...

If anybody wants to fish with me out here, let me know. That goes for guided trips or me fishing too. I actually fished (rather than guided) fewer than 10 days in the Yellowstone area last year due to Richard Parks having some bad health problems that kept me doing his job as well as mine for most of the season, so you had better believe I'm going to make the most of it while I can this year.

Back to the title of the post. Who wants to learn me on the Driftless, as well as warmwater opportunities? At the very least I need to decide which boat to keep, if any.

[FishnDave]

Well...I'm in Iowa. But I lived and fished around northern Illinois (and SE Wisconsin) for 11 years before moving back to my home state. You'll wanna talk to Len ("Spinner1").
No need to give up on your flyfishing business plans....There are opportunities in Wisconsin!
Unfortunately, the species diversity in Wisconsin is horrible....they only have Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Lake Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, (Great Lakes)Steelhead, Muskellunge, Northern Pike, Walleyes, Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, White Bass, Crappies, Carp, Bluegills, Rock Bass, sturgeon, Yellow Perch, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, and other such species that nobody likes to catch.

There are big-lake opportunities on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, endless smaller lake opportunities, reservoir and river fishing (including the upper Fox River system, upper Mississippi River, and Great Lakes tributaries), as well as the coldwater creek and stream fishing in the Driftless Region.

On second thought, sounds like you just hit the flyfishing JACKPOT! Congratulations on your upcoming pilgrimmage to Wisconsin!

[Rick Z]

Wish you well on your move. You will probably miss the mountains.


Rick

[Longs for Cutts]

Wish you well on your move. You will probably miss the mountains.


Rick

Given that I am a very serious snowboarder (fly fishing has been work for a long time, as well as fun; playing in the snow is all for me) and also have not worked a job with set hours in 14 years, I am sure you are right...

[narcodog]

Contact wyflyfisher he'll get you hooked up. On FB or classicflyrod forum

[dr korn]

Well, my friend, Congrats' to you both on the big moves.... I'm glad we will be coming out to Montana this year. Michelle and I and of course Stella, look forward to seeing you. I hope we can do a little tying and fishing...

[sagefisher]

You are going to an area that has great trout fishing, really good smallmouth bass fishing, some excellent steelhead fishing, a few salmon runs....heck, sounds like a good move to me. The snow and cold won't bother you since you have that already. Have fun.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[Byron haugh]

Walter,
I lived in Iowa for many years.
1. Fishing in Iowa is year-round, but not great fly fishing. I used to fish a little stream, called Waterloo Creek in NE Iowa....right on border with SE Minnesota quite a bit.
2. You won't be too far from Minnesota. There is pretty decent fly fishing on the South Branch of the Root River in SE Minnesota (closed in winter).

Have heard that Black Earth Creek in Wisconsin is decent fly fishing.

Unfortunately, you will soon find why we all traveled out West when we could to fly fish.

Hope things go well for you.

You can still post videos of tying on those cold winter nights...........

[Clay]

I own a place in the middle of the driftless and love to trout fish. I do have to mention another species that my friend Dave forgot to mention (what's up Dave?) The carp fishing is pretty fantastic. Challenging and the drug is the tug so to say. What's so sweet about this area is the ability to fish outside of the crowds. There are so many small spring creeks that if one access point has two parked cars drive another mile or two to another portion of the stream or find another place to fish within the same distance. Lots of water to fish in the driftless and the Madison area has plenty of opportunities to fish as well.

You won't have any troubles feeding the addition here. While some of the well know places get some press, everyone reads about that. Spend some time on some of the other waters and loose the crowd. Welcome to Wisconsin, you'll fit right in.

[BigA]

Walter,

There is plenty of good fishing in Wisconsin

I live in Illinois (Chicago Area) but I fish quite a bit in Wisconsin. In addition to the hundreds of spring creeks in the Driftless region of Wisconsin, there are freestone trout streams in Northern Wisconsin. There are also lots of warm water rivers where you can use your seven to eleven weight rods for fishing for smallmouth bass, northern pike, and muskies. If you have a drift boat, or any other water craft, you will find plenty of opportunities to use them. Every year, I fish the Menominee river and the Wisconsin river among others for smallmouth bass. There are huge smallmouth bass in lake in Lake Michigan, too.

Here are some links to guides and some other fly fishing resources that will help get you on the right path for discovering Wisconsin.

http://www.driftlessangler.com/

http://www.blackearthangling.com/

http://www.greatnorthernflyfishing.com/