5 Best Flies for Trout in Wisconsin

Caddisflies drive the surface fishing on Wisconsin's Driftless spring creeks from May through September. The Kinnickinnic, Kickapoo, and Brule all have strong caddis populations, and the Elk Hair Caddis in tan #14–16 is the universal imitation. It's the searching dry that covers the gaps between the more specific hatches, and it's often the fly that produces the most fish on a full day of Wisconsin stream fishing.

On the Kickapoo River's faster sections, the Elk Hair Caddis fishes exceptionally well in the riffles and pocket water. Tie it on as the default dry fly when prospecting new water and switch to something more specific only when fish are clearly keying on a particular insect.

The Hendrickson hatch kicks off Wisconsin's dry-fly season in April, and on the Brule River and Kinnickinnic, it's the first event that sends dedicated anglers to the stream each spring. The hatch emerges during warm April afternoons and produces some of the best surface fishing of the entire year, as trout that have been subsurface feeding all winter begin rising freely to the large, pink-bodied duns.

On the Brule's upper section, Hendrickson fishing takes place in beautiful spring-fed spring creek character water - slow pools, undercut banks, and clear currents that demand careful presentations. It's a quintessential early-season Wisconsin experience.

Wisconsin's Hex hatch is the crown jewel of the state's fly fishing season. The Namekagon, Wolf, and Prairie rivers are known for exceptional Hex emergences, and the fish - typically the river's largest browns - feed with abandon during the hatch in ways they never do at any other time of year. A warm, calm evening in late June on a Wisconsin Hex river is an experience that stays with an angler for life.

The hatch begins slowly at dusk and peaks after dark. Large yellow or cream Hex patterns in #4–6 are the standard. Fish listen for the splashy rises of big browns slurping Hexes off the surface and cast to the sounds in the darkness. It's disorienting and thrilling at the same time.

Wisconsin's Driftless spring creeks produce excellent Sulphur hatches in May and June, and the flat evening pools of the Kickapoo and Kinnickinnic are at their best during these emergences. Sulphurs bring the most selective Driftless browns to the surface, creating demanding dry-fly opportunities that reward careful observation and precise presentation.

Fish the Sulphur Parachute in the seams between fast and slow water during the evening hatch window. Driftless fish position themselves where drifting duns are funneled through current breaks, making it possible to identify specific risers and cast to them methodically.

The Pheasant Tail Nymph is the year-round subsurface confidence fly across all Wisconsin trout rivers. On the Driftless spring creeks where Baetis nymphs are abundant throughout the season, a #16–18 PT Nymph under a small indicator produces fish even on the slowest surface days. On the Brule, a bead-head PT Nymph handles the faster, heavier water of the upper river effectively.

In fall, when the BWO hatch brings fish to the surface on Wisconsin streams, the PT Nymph fished just under the film during the emergence is often more effective than the dry fly alone. This subsurface approach during an active hatch is one of Wisconsin trout fishing's most useful but underutilized techniques.