By Topf Wells
The next time you venture to Vernon County to fish for trout, turn right and head for LaCrosse County, specifically the Lower LaCrosse River and Halfway Creek watersheds. Kirk Olson just published his assessments of the streams in those watersheds. Some of the streams are full of brown trout, some full of brookies but all of them are filled with one or the other. The trout are all wild. A few of the brook streams have, as far as Kirk’s historical research can show, always held wild brook trout. A real rarity. Don’t fish Muddlers … none of the streams hold mottled sculpin. Kirk is so great; he is the Champion of Driftless sculpins. He’s going to re-introduce them in some of those streams.

This report is a tour de force of the scientific knowledge this generation of DNR fish biologists bring to their work. I’m humbled by the expertise and really grateful for it. To find it, go here and select LaCrosse County.