At our September tying meeting, Dave Conny suggested fishing Willow creek. Not the stream up north, but the one by Gothem, WI. He had worked with some WDNR people in shocking the C&R area at Loyd. In fact, I found you can turn right in Loyd, find parking and then walk either direction. The shocking truth is that the steam has 3000 fish per mile, which is about what  the Big Green has. These fish were up to 19 inches in length or height depending on how you measure.

The trip is about the same length as my usual last day trip to the West Fork of the Kickapoo. When I got there, not a soul was around. I headed down stream. There was nothing rising that I could see, so I walked to the first big hole. I had intended on fishing hoppers, but with no rises, even to the hoppers I was driving into the water, I decided to try a bugger. No takes, so I moved to the next hole. There had started to be a light breeze. The second hole was no better than the first. I moved to the third hole. The wind was picking up. The Third hole was no better. I was starting to wonder if I was in the right place. I went to the forth hole. It was starting to blow even more. The forth hole did nothing for me, so I moved to the next hole. It is full of wood. A decent fish would be real hard to get out of here. Now its blowing leaves all over. Nothing in this hole. I can't really fish it wet, I figured I'd fish it dry on my way back. I move to the sixth hole. Now it is really blowing. It's hard to hit the water. I switch to a two-nymph combo, a soft-hackle woolly and a caddis nymph size 18. Finally a fish. Smallest trout I've ever caught. All of three inches. Then another, about 8 inches. Both on the Caddis, both browns. Then a 11 incher on the woolly. This hole is obvious by its tractor wheel rim setting on the bottom. It didn't come into play, but a big fish could use it to get off.  I decided to walk down to the end of the field and fish up with hoppers. Now it's blowing so hard that my 1 wt. is bent double with just the fly in the wind. Hoppers are hitting the water from a block away. I still don't see any splashes, but I'm going to try.

I start  up the creek. I'm only hitting water one out of four casts. I round a bend, the wind drops a bit, I cast, a strike, I catch a 10 inch brown. Now I see a 14 inch brown in front of a rock . I cast, I catch an 8 inch brown. I cast again, shore. More shore. I finally get a good cast and drift, he looks, he drops back. No fish.. I move on. A fish here , another there. Lots of bank casts. I get back to the wood hole. I wait for the wind drop. I cast. I see a fish turn. I cast again, a take. I have a heavy tippet, so I pull back hard. It's in the clear, a nice 12 inch brown. I work up stream some more. A nice cast and a 4 inch brown. Yes, four inches of fish on a one inch bait. Must be hungry. I get nothing at the big holes. I lose a nice one in a riffle, I'm not paying attention. It's starting to sprinkle. I try deep again at the first hole. Nothing. It's raining. I move to the bridge. There is a gentleman from Madison there. He says he likes this hole. It has 20 to 24 inch rainbows in it. Dave didn't mention them. He had talked to the shocking crew too. Thinks the hole is probably to deep to shock. I ask what time it is. "3:30" he says. It doesn't seem that long. I decide to head home. It's blowing a real gale and raining on and off. Not a bad day of fishing and some real nice color. The donkeys didn't even give me a bad time.