Wisconsin Tributary Forecast

Fishing conditions are looking hot for this weekend. Flows are a little low, but still very much fishable, especially on some of the bigger water such as the Root or Milwaukee. With the water running pretty clear right now, fishing has perhaps been best in the low-light conditions of the early morning and evening. Heavy cloud cover is certainly desirable and it would appear that we should have at least some cloud cover over the weekend. Swinging streamers continues to be a productive method though fish in deeper pools behind large sections of shallow spawning gravel are keying in on eggs. Pink, chartreuse and orange egg patterns have all been producing but be sure you are fishing them at a proper depth.

Also, in these low water conditions fish are spread out in unpredictable lies. More desirable holding water is created when flows recede as trout can comfortably sit in spots where they typically would become exhausted. Be sure to thoroughly cover the length of each pool whether fishing upstream or down. This will ensure you don't miss that fish laid up in one of the secondary lies.

Great Lakes Angler on Asian Carp News

Tom Harris of Great Lakes Angler covers Chicago fishing news extraordinarily well. Check out his coverage of local angling, river and lake news. I just just pulled up his site and saw a new post on local efforts to halt the advance of the invasive Asian Carp. Biologists plan to poison a stretch of the Chicago river in what has truly become a sort of last ditch effort to stop these freaks. Check it out.

Milwaukee River Steelhead Report

Had a chance to fish for a short while this afternoon. Wound up nabbing a nice chromer and a smaller lake-run brown trout. With low flows on the Milwaukee right now, fish are spread through out pools and you can find them all over. In higher flows, fish hunker down in the more discernible pools and lies in the river. Things are really heating up on the tribs and this weekend should provide some exceptional fishing. If you would like to pick up some of the flies that I've been catching these fish with, check out my new fly pattern blog at chicagotroutbumflies.blogspot.com.

Anthony Hits The Milwaukee River

Sometimes readers should get it straight from the source. Anthony sent me this great report and killer set of pictures. He certainly had a banner day. With the nice cloud cover and rain we are getting, conditions are prime for fall steelheading. Enjoy his report.

Before I give you my fishing report I should let you know that I have been on a steelhead mission since early August when I had some hook-ups on some summer run skamania's but never got one close to the net.  Once September came around I focused on the Wisconsin tribs and have caught some nice browns but no sign of a steelhead other than the two little skippers my bro and I got.  This morning right off the bat I had a nice colored up male take a swinging streamer.  Already satisfied, having caught my steelie, and got my first fish ever on the swing, I could care less how the rest of the day went.  About an hour later another colorful male took a swinging streamer.  Later in the day as the sun got high I decided to switch to eggs and an indicator.  It didn't take long before a beautiful bright chrome fish took my nuke egg and put on quite a show. Here are pics of those fish and some others that Justin caught earlier this week including the nicest looking lake-run brown I've seen yet.  Enjoy!

<><  Anthony

Chicago Trout Bum Fly Selections

I've just launched a new parallel blog to this one devoted to my fly-tying exploits. It will showcase my work as well as provide readers with a new and easy way to pick up my patterns. Check out the site: Chicago Trout Bum Fly Selections. You can also scroll down the side of my page to find the link under "Custom Fly Selections" and "Sites of Interest".

Currently, I only have a handful of flies photographed right now, but many more patterns are available. I am working with another local angler and blogger Tom Harris (Great Lakes Angler) to get some beautiful shots of my flies in the future. Tom has an MFA in Photography and takes some of the coolest fly-fishing pictures around. Check out Tom's site!

Adam Got His Steel

For those of you out there who have been grumbling about a slowdown in tributary fishing or a lack of fresh-run fish, check this out! My angling buddy Adam landed this dime bright beauty on the Milwaukee over the weekend swinging streamers. Well done man. Beauty of a fish!

Great Lakes Represent...Moldy Chum Love

Hey guys. I submitted my Brown that I got last week to Moldy Chum and they posted it up on their site as a November Slab of the Month Entry. Be sure to hit up the Moldy Chum blog and vote for my fish in November. Keep those pictures and reports coming guys.

Wisconsin Tributary Steelhead Pictures and Report

Two good friends hit the water earlier yesterday and were able to bang out a few chromers. One angler had never fished for Great Lakes Steelhead before, but thankfully he did not go home empty handed. Jeremy's steelie fell to my black streamer. Check out the great corner-in-mouth fly hook up. Thanks for the pictures gentlemen. There is plenty of fine fishing to be had in the next few weeks folks! Get out there soon. Eggs and basic streamers will still cover the bulk of fishing scenarios as well as available species. Black and chartreuse color combinations have been remarkably effective for the brown trout. For Steelhead, it is still pretty hard to beat a dead-drifted egg presentation, but swinging flies has also yielded high numbers of fish.