Spring Creek · Limestone · Wisconsin

West Fork Kickapoo River

West Fork Kickapoo River venue image

One of Trout Unlimited's hundred best streams and a genuinely beautiful piece of water, with a private campground at Bloomingdale that has hosted Driftless pilgrims for years.

Marginal · Brown Trout
Trico Spinner · 20-24
Marginallive now
Slow going — pick your moments
River temperature is the limiting factor today, not the flow. Fish dawn or dusk if you go at all, and handle everything with extra care.
80% confidence
What moved it
  • Level1.02 mLast reading 11h ago
  • Water temp20.0°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
TS
Trico Spinner20-24
Proven pattern for this period
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
1.02 m
Last reading 11h ago
Water temp20.0°C
ClarityClear
Weather23°C
WindN 14 km/h
Pressure1012 hPa
Rain · recent0.4 mm
Rain · ahead0.0 mm

Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Warm — slow
20°C est.ideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Brown Trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Water at 20°C — above the brown trout caution line (18°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots.
Hatch timeline · todayQuiet day

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 3 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

See the full sub-surface read with Pro.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 4 with Pro.

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Evidence
ModelledModerate confidence

Modelled from regional ecology — no survey or occurrence data for this water yet.

Through the year
0–3 scale · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
1
SulphurHatch
2
3
2
Trico (Eastern)Hatch
2
3
3
2
Eastern Blue-Winged OliveHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Eastern Summer BWO (Drunella)Hatch
2
3
3
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box
Local fly shops: Driftless Angler
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • WI DNR — verify reach regulations.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Water here around 20°C. Nothing cooler within range — carry a thermometer.
Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

One of Trout Unlimited's hundred best streams and a genuinely beautiful piece of water, with a private campground at Bloomingdale that has hosted Driftless pilgrims for years. Bigger and a little freer-stoned than the tiny coulee creeks, with proper mayfly and caddis hatches and browns that get heavy. It can colour up after a thunderstorm and then drop and clear within a day — that clearing window is gold.

  • Limestone
Water quality · US Clean Water Act
  • Aquatic life: Impaired
What this classification means

EPA ATTAINS assessment unit 'West Fork Kickapoo River' (WI10002508), 2024 Integrated Report. Aquatic Life use: Not Supporting. Listed impairment causes: Nutrients. This is a Clean Water Act assessment-unit classification (the US analogue of WFD), not a live reading.

Status is for the Clean Water Act assessment unit covering this reach.

EPA ATTAINS (Clean Water Act) · WI10002508

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 80%
How the 28 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature25 × 28%7.0
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time60 × 13%7.8
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity65 × 12%7.8
Conditions total= 63
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitymodelled from regional profilemodelled
What would change the calculation
Cooler water — back toward the 10–16 °C ideal band — would lift the score and ease welfare.
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • TroutFirst Saturday in January (early catch-and-release, artificial only) → October 15 (regular harvest season from first Saturday in May)
Related guides
Euro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts