Druid Creek - Tenkara for Little Native WI Brook Trout

Hard to reach blue lines can make for excellent tenkara water

It is not like we record these conversations for posterity, but I think it went something like this: “Hey Matt, I found a pretty little creek that I think will be loaded with brook trout and sees almost zero fishing pressure. You interested?”. Not surprisingly, Matt responded in the affirmative. He always does.

Druid Creek had actually been on my radar for several years. While we mostly fish the Driftless region in Wisconsin, some of our best times are had along a stretch of billion-year-old worn down mountains not too far from our base of operations. Little creeks trace the divides on these ancient hills. Some of them are little more than a seasonal trickle, others have wiped out bridges during spring flooding. So far, everyone of them we have explored has held fish. Native brook trout are the usual inhabitants, but we have also found browns and warm water species. The problem with Druid creek is the access. It largely runs through private land, and while the creek itself is in the public domain, getting to it proved vexing. Ultimately, I found a creative and legal solution. Not all of our creek gambles pay off, but this one did!

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