Black Earth Creek runs through the farm country west of Madison as one of the Driftless region's most celebrated spring creeks — a fertile, cold, limestone-fed stream that grows wild brown trout to sizes a creek this small has no right to, on a relentless supply of scuds, sowbugs and mayflies. It winds through pasture and village over a bed of gravel, silt and the rooted weed that fertile spring creeks grow, the flow steady and cold off the limestone springs, the famous hatches — the spring caddis, the summer Tricos — drawing fish up with reassuring regularity. The character is classic Driftless meadow spring creek: undercut banks, brushy corners, glassy flats. Wading is easy on firm footing, the challenge being the tight quarters and the educated trout rather than the water. It is small, close to the city, hard-fished and still excellent — which says everything about how good the underlying water really is.

Wading: Tight quarters, soft silt margins