Those underwater pics are great!
-Mike

Hello sir! The hopper action seemed to be just starting. I used one as an indicator most of the time. When the hopper did get hit, which was just a few times, the attacks were vicious, and the fish were above average in size. Missed most of those. Landed two.

I was able to see a few of your rods in person at the Driftless Angler in Viroqua. Beautiful. I have really been enjoying fiberglass lately. I was soo tempted, but will have to wait a bit on that. The owner (Geri?) went on and on about what a nice guy you were...

My favorite stretch is the area from Bloomingdale to Highway P on the West Fork. Kind of a long walk back but worth it. Ruland is fun too.

Nice pics

I was in the area as well, dropped a bunch of money at The Driftless Angler, got some great advice (and a half-day guide to help my son learn to cast). Those streams are mighty brushy these days. I did pretty well using terrestials, a greenish beetle and black ant. At dark I tied on a mouse fly and had a blast with that! It was like a Great White Shark coming up behind an unsuspecting swimmer.

Great report and photos... my American aunt and uncle sent me a copy of Ross Mueller's guide to this area a few years ago, and these rivers have been on my personal wish list ever since...

Theo

I looked up the Mueller guide on Amazon.com this morning and used copies were around $100 and a new copy $200!! For a 100 page paperback! Out of the realm of fishing guide and now a collectable.

How awesome does that West Fork look!!

Before this goes off track, there are no wild tiger trout as it is a hatchery designed fish.

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tiger trout
The tiger trout (Salmo trutta X Salvelinus fontinalis) is a sterile, intergeneric hybrid of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). The name derives from the pronounced vermiculations, evoking the stripes of a tiger. It is an anomaly in the wild, with the brook trout having 84 chromosomes and the brown trout 80. "

Well with more research I'll give you that they may be there but they are not "relatively common" as such. Smoke em if you got em. Me, I don't smoke.

"Inland Records For Wisconsin Trout

Driftless streams have four specific types of trout in the waters. Female trout grow bigger than males. Their colors are typical more muted than the males. The four species are brown,brook,tiger and rainbow.

First is the TIGER trout. This trout is not stocked and happens in stream. It is a hybrid trout. It is a cross between a male brook trout and a female brown. This trout is extremely rare and is not even listed in the trout regulations.

This interspecies cross is unusual, in part because each fish belongs to a separate genus (Salvelinus for brook trout and Salmo for browns). It happens rarely in the wild, but can be (and is) easily performed by fisheries biologists or hatchery technicians.The egg yoke sacs of these hybrids are thin and many tiger young don't hatch because of it.

The tiger trout is a sterile hybrid cross between a female brown trout and a male brook trout. The fish exhibits unusual markings found in neither parent. Tiger trout are rare in the wild, appearing only in areas where brook and brown trout share spawning grounds. The tiger looks most similar to the brook trout species. This cross can not be done the other direction because brook trout eggs are too small to be impregnated by brown trout.

Tiger trout will be getting even more rare in the upcoming years due to the Gill Lice epidemic killing off many brook trout. "

They are uncommon, but relatively more common in the Driftless Area than some others, depending on the makeup of the stream. I am told that streams that have mostly brookies but a few browns are the best places to find them. A guy caught a 17" tiger up there on opening day, January 2. I saw him that evening, he had an ear-to-ear grin.