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?
