Driftless trout hunting

Roadsides laced with white Queen Anne's lace, blue chicory, and yellow sunflowers of several varieties. Startling patches of sumac leaves that have already turned to autumnal colors. We're driving backroads in Vernon and Crawford County, Wisconsin looking for places to fly-fish for trout. Roadside grasses were full of young cottontail rabbits. Much of the stream mileage lacks access. Many of the streams are overgrown, lacking water,  and may hold trout but are questionably "fishable."

sumac leaves turning autumnal color

Photo by J. Harrington

This afternoon we'll do more reconnoitering but so far, the Driftless country we're exploring is very comparable to the area in Southeast Minnesota around Lanesboro, up to and including a number of Amish farms, farmers and families, some traveling in carriages or on wagons drawn by horses.

Trout

By Kathryn Starbuck

I do my best 

to keep pointlessness 

at bay. But here, 

wet above my 

knees, I let it fly. 

Here, hot and cold, 

fingers thick with 

thinking, I try to 

tie the fly and look 

for the net, loosening 

the philosophical   

knot of why I came 

here today, not yet 

knowing whether 

I’ll free or fry 

the rainbows 

and browns once 

they’re mine.

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