I have been in the water every day since returning home. Here are some observations.

The inland trout season in Wisconsin is almost over.

Sunrise- 6:56 am, getting on the water by 7 seems easy now to catch first light and first bite.

Leaf drop in full swing- Tons of foliage has already been shed from trees and stream side vegetation. The puffy floating foam patches caught in the back eddy’s are alive and well. The foam is the result of the deterioration of the leaves and other organic matter. Fishing sub-surface is a little more tedious because of heavy weed growth and leaf litter floating down stream. Trout will not eat bugs with weeds or leaves attached to your hooks. Check flies often and clear off undesirables.

Water flows are holding just below the mean and median flows for this time of year. Pretty good since we have had below average rain fall in the last two months. The water is very clear. Trout in flat water are spooky.

Water temps are heading the right direction -down- trout are active throughout the day. We have turned the corner and the fish are eating to fatten up, get ready for the spawn and putting calories on for the winter(dirty word).

Find the deeper and faster water for best results. Small (#18)p.tails, scudds, lightning bugs and zebra midges have worked well along with large prince nymphs, beetles and/or stone fly imitations. BWO, Adams para and royal Wulff have produced some fish on the top.

I don’t think the larger fish have been kicked into a feeding frenzy yet but it could happen any day.

Angler traffic has been reasonably light.

The wild marijuana along the river is in full bud(maybe it’s not wild?) I phoned the D.E.A.  They are sending a surveillance drone sometime next week Friday. Frost on Monday night. I must have been mistaken, I saw nothing.

I seem behind on all of the tasks that I need to accomplish before the steelhead run or the snow flies. I think this same trend occurs every year at this time.