Black Earth Creek

I’ve been fly fishing BEC since 1995. Caught my biggest Wisconsin brown, 21” in a hole right behind the shoe store. This was always a place I could go and catch plenty of trout. The last three years have been really disappointing. I don’t know if my timing is just bad but the fish are very few and far between. Yesterday, I went up for the day. The stream itself was in great shape. Water was low and clear. Moving pretty slow so it made for nice presentations.  No other anglers in the sections I fished. There were white caddis and mayflies coming off the water. I literally saw TWO rise forms all day.  Added a brassie dropper and caught a four inch shiner. After that, nothing. Back in the day, I used to land 10 or more fish easily in a few hours. And even if I failed to match the hatch, there were always plenty of rising trout to cast to.  What gives?  It’s sad to see this fishery dry up. 

One interesting note. I noticed the limit on BEC is now 1 fish and they have to be 18” or better. Was there a big kill that depleted the native population?  

I am late to the discussion but I have not had as much luck in BEC since the flooding 4 years ago. I have caught fish since then but not as reliably as I used to

Koepper:

They really messed up that section of the stream when they rebuilt the bridge and dredged out the sections above and below the bridge. I used to fish upstream of that bridge and it was loaded with trout. The big holes aren’t wadable and they are full of rough fish. 

I’ve been exploring more of the areas upstream in the last two years with pretty good luck. 

I’m surprised you hooked into that northern!  I’ve caught panfish and bass on spinners there but never a pike. That’s crazy. 

Fished the Shoe Box hole yesterday (1st time fishing on Black Earth Creek) and hooked a 30+" Northern Pike on my trout spinner! After a 10 minute fight the line broke just above the spinner (only had a 6lb test leader). Also caught a sucker but no trout!!!

I fished several other nearby areas and had a few bites but no fish! I though the Black Earth Creek was a great trout water?????

NOT IMPRESSED!!!!

Got back out to BEC yesterday for a few hours. Water was a little high but pretty clear and it was easy to make a good presentation. Not a cloud in the sky so the fish were skittish. I caught a nice brown on a pheasant tail nymph. Had a couple of short strikes but the action was very slow. Scouted a section upstream that I hadn’t fished in probably 15 years. The DNR has done some nice work. Lots of deep runs and they cleared out a bunch of trees so the casting was much better. Although it was slow, it was a beautiful day to be on the stream. 

Jigginup;

That’s cool. I did not know about the downstream rule. Figured it might have something to do with different regs by section. Sounds like you had a good outing. I’ve walked the steam up by Cross plains but never fished it. A couple weeks ago, I checked out the Donald Park area and Mount Horeb. Found some nice stretches and new areas to fish. 

3 yesterday near Cross Plains, 9", 11" and 12".

The 1 over 18" rule is only downstream from South Valley Rd to Hwy 14. Upstream from South Valley is 3 over 8".

Went back this week. The fish are back!  As if someone waved a magic wand, the switch went on and the stretches that were dead are lit up. Managed about a dozen nice browns on bead head nymphs. Most fish were over 12” with the largest over 16”.  Still no luck on dry flys.  I’m happy. Thought the stream was in trouble.