Brown troutBrown and rainbow troutFish on your own. Guide prices are optional; check licence, permit and access requirements before going.
JFMAMJJASOND
- Guide, per angler
- $375
- Public access
- Good
- Crowding
- Medium
Driftless Area
Spring creeks around Viroqua and Westby, Wisconsin, and southeast Minnesota · USA
Right now
Loading current conditions…
Flow, last 7 days (cfs)Normal range for these dates
Weather forecast
Forecast data loads here when available. Official weather source ↗
Day ratings weigh rain first (it raises and colors the river), then wind.
Flow: USGS Kickapoo River at State Highway 131 at Ontario, WI, USGS Root River near Houston, MN. Recent readings are provisional. Normal range: the middle half of past flows for these dates. Forecast: National Weather Service.
Recent changes
All changes →When to go
JFMAMJJASOND
Catch-and-release season from early Jan; Apr–Jun hatches best, Sep–mid-Oct good Wrong?
The water
Small spring-fed creeks in farm valleys hold dense wild brown trout, and state-bought easements open long stretches of private land to anglers. The early catch-and-release season makes it one of the few Midwest trout fisheries open in winter.
- Target species
- Wild brown trout, brook trout
- Trip style
- DIY-friendly
- Access
- Wade Wrong?
- Public access
- Good Wrong?
- Crowding
- Medium Wrong?
- Difficulty
- Intermediate Wrong?
- License and rules
- Fishing licenseRegulationsTrout fishing in Wisconsin needs an Inland Trout Stamp on top of the license. Stream-by-stream rules follow the DNR's color-coded county maps. Minnesota waters need a separate Minnesota license.Wrong?
What a trip costs
You came from a self-guided day-trip search. The calculator starts with one fishing day and no guide. Licence, permit, travel and any other costs still apply.
Guides and fly shops
- driftlessangler.com · guide rates, rates and trips
- minnesotaflyfishing.com · rates and trips
- rootriverrodco.com · rates and trips
- gameandfishmag.com · rates and trips
- pjguideservice.com · rates and trips
These are the businesses this page's prices and fly lists come from. A listing isn't an endorsement, and nobody pays to be here.
Getting there
Getting there
Fly into LSE La Crosse, then 1 hr (MSN Madison 2 hr, MSP Minneapolis 3 hr). About 29 miles (46 km) by road. Marker on Timber Coulee Creek between Westby and Coon Valley; the West Fork Kickapoo and Bad Axe are south of Viroqua, and the southeast Minnesota streams are about 1.5 hr west across the Mississippi.
Open in Google Maps · Directions from LSE
Your browser asks first. Your location stays on this device; we don't store or send it.
Driving from Madison about 2 hr 50 min, Minneapolis about 4 hr, Milwaukee about 4 hr 10 min, Des Moines about 5 hr 40 min.
Something out of date?
Rates, seasons and access change. Tell us what's wrong and, if you can, where you saw it.
More trout rivers
Brown troutBrown and rainbow trout
Brown troutWild brown troutTrout
Assynt Lochs
Lochinver and Assynt, Scottish Highlands, Scotland · United Kingdom
Fly into INV, 2–2.5 hr
Fish on your own. Guide prices are optional; check licence, permit and access requirements before going.
JFMAMJJASOND
- Guide, per angler
- $298–318
- Public access
- Moderate
- Crowding
- Low
Brown troutBrown, rainbow and brook troutFish on your own. Guide prices are optional; check licence, permit and access requirements before going.
JFMAMJJASOND
- Guide, per angler
- $225–263
- Public access
- Good
- Crowding
- Medium