Eddie Rivard Fly Fishing: Bridges of Badasson County

In need of a Royalex canoe for my upcoming Nipigon expedition I traveled out to Badasson County Wisconsin to purchase one that a guy had for sale. After the transaction was complete I figured while I was out that way I might as well fish for a couple of hours.

There is a creek out that way where a friend of mine had a successful brook trout outing in early April. I had a stretch in mind that I planned on checking out but with a lot of creek between me and that spot I decided fish some bridge pools along the way.

The first bridge I came to was very nice.

Here is an upstream view. The water was clear. I had no fear.

The nice pool was on the downstream side of the bridge. I was contemplating how I would approach the hole when a truck pulled up and a guy and his three boys jumped out. My presence at this site didn't seem to phase them as they walked purposefully towards the bridge. At that point I knew the time of having this spot to myself was about to end. I quickly darted under the bridge and threw my bugger into the fast water quickly bringing a small Brown Trout to hand. By the time I was done taking this photo there were two lines in the water on the downstream side and two upstream. I was outnumbered and it was time to leave. I said, "Good luck!" to them and walked back to my vehicle. There were more bridge holes to conquer.

The next bridge hole was much larger and deeper than the first. I quickly dissected it with my streamer resulting in nary a follow.

Brown trout like to avoid light so during the day they are either at the bottom of deep holes or hanging out under overhead cover. The bridge was a veritable lunker bunker.

My hypothesis proved correct when my first cast under the bridge resulted in this lunker to hand.

Before I left this spot I spent some time peering into the depths of the deep pool. I could see there was the carcass of a very large fish rotting away in about seven feet of water. I could not however tell if it was a trout or a sucker. I wondered to myself if this stream has BTP. For those who don't know acronyms BTP stands for Big Trout Potential.

Upon my arrival to bridge number three I could see many small trout darting every which way. I had a few chase my streamer but couldn't get any to commit.

I walked and fished about 100 feet upstream. I could see that there had been some habitat improvement work here done at some point. I was so happy.

The next bridge crossing I came to was a feeder creek. It didn't look or smell much like trout water but I decided to take a few casts anyway. It was Creek Chub city over here. This Chub fell for the Superior X Legs.

As I was driving down the road to my pre-determined access point I passed a house where I noticed some folks loading kayaks on to their vehicle. Their house just happened to be on the stream I was about to fish. At that point I had a canoe on top of my car so I thought, "Kindred spirits!". I whipped a U turn and pulled into their driveway. The lady met me as I rolled down my window. "Is it okay if a access the creek through your property", I asked. She said it was fine and they even let me park in their driveway. As I walked down to the river I wondered how often this private section of stream gets fished. Judging by the aggressive nature of the resident Brook Trout I quickly determined not very often.

I pulled seven Brookies out of this pool.

The pool I caught this Brookie in yielded trout ten casts in a row. I actually got fed up with catching trout and switched to a larger streamer in an effort to weed out the little guys.

Pretty place.

Grass Creek?

Rounding the bend I came to a magnificent pool. I failed to lure any trout from the depths but I made a mental note to come back here during hopper season.