Time: 7:00PM – 8:30PM

Location: Duck Egg Park

Bad Axe Creek 06/10/2017 Photo Album

After dinner at the Viroqua Food Co-op I allowed Jane to drive, while I navigated using the Driftless map that was highlighted with our destination on Bad Axe Creek. Our path required numerous turns, as we twisted and curved up and down hills and rural valleys west of Viroqua. Eventually we reached small Duck Egg Park just beyond a bridge and next to the creek. Saturday developed into a hot evening, and the gnats continued their assault on my person. As I mentioned, Jane accompanied, but she immediately surrendered to the insect population and remained in the car during my 1.5 hour venture on Bad Axe Creek.

Narrow and Dark Olive Spring Creek

Once again I chose my small light Orvis Access four weight rod, and when I approached the stream fifteen yards above the bridge, I could see that Bad Axe was larger than Camp Creek but smaller than Timber Coulee. As mentioned by the gentleman in the fly shop, the water was a deep olive color like many classic Pennsylvania limestoners, and the streambed was similar to a trough with steep banks and tall grass along the edge. I stuffed my headlamp and my regular glasses in my backpack to enable fishing in the low light of dusk should I last that long.

I began just above the bridge with a yellow fat Albert, beadhead hares ear, and salvation nymph. Jane briefly confronted the gnat attack and stood on the bridge to watch my initial efforts to land a Bad Axe Creek trout. Almost immediately I noticed a solitary rise in a small nook along the opposite bank behind an exposed rock, so I lobbed a short cast to the area. I was quite surprised when an eleven inch brown pounced on one of the trailing nymphs, but my glee was momentary as the fish battled and slipped away. A second temporary connection in the area within view of the bridge raised my frustration level; however, I persisted and landed a spunky ten inch brown on the salvation nymph to break into the scoring column.

This Section Looks Quite Good

The low light and the dark olive color made it very difficult to read the depth of the water. At one point I snagged one of the nymphs on some aquatic vegetation, and I initially took a step toward the area where my fly was held captive, but I found myself immediately in water above my waist. This situation was quite surprising given the ten foot width of the stream.

Another Bad Axe Creek Resident

I covered .5 mile during the course of my wandering along Bad Axe Creek on Saturday evening, and I built the fish count to four. In addition I registered a foul hooked fish and three long distance releases, so this was a decent amount of activity for a short amount of time. One of the escapees felt particularly hefty in comparison to the other landed fish. Two of the netted fish nabbed the salvation nymph, and the other two grabbed the hares ear. I quit at 8PM in spite of ample light, so that I could find my way back through the tall grass and weeds in the dark. On my return hike I was sorely disappointed when the cable on my right Korker wading boot snapped.

Jane and I departed the Duck Egg Park by 9:10 for Westby, and surprisingly the sky remained quite bright. Saturday evening was a blast, and I second guessed my decision to spend only an evening there. I was the only fisherman, and quite a bit of stream remained upstream to explore. If there is another trip to the Driftless Region, I plan to devote more hours to Bad Axe Creek.

Fish Landed: 4