LWTU Outings

LWTU Fishing/Conservation Outings for 2025:

Time to go fishin’! LWTU outings provide the opportunity to sample some great small stream fishing in Wisconsin (and potentially some time in Colorado as part of our planned Exchange Outing with the West Denver Chapter of TU). As always, newcomers are welcome, and we will pair you up with a more experienced angler upon request to provide guidance on fishing locations, tactics and fly selection. The Chapter will also conduct conservation activities during our outings, usually building or repairing stiles to provide stream access to public waters or private land where the owner has granted a fishing easement. Group dinners will be arranged for most evenings during the outings, on a pay as you go basis. Please contact the Outings Coordinator at [email protected] if you plan to attend any of the outings. Space may be limited, and an accurate headcount is essential for lodging and meal arrangements.

Early Spring Outing (Westby/Viroqua, April 24-27)

Our first outing of 2025 will be held in the Westby/Viroqua area in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area. From our base in Westby, you can easily access many of the best streams in the Driftless, including the West Fork of the Kickapoo and its tributaries, Bad Axe River, Timber Coulee, Coon Creek, Billings Creek, Camp Creek and many more. This is a prime time for aquatic insect life, with subsurface action on caddis and mayfly pupae/nymphs, and dry fly action on the reliable black caddis hatch as well as some mayflies. As a bonus, we will have an evening lecture from Chris Firkus on Friday, April 25, in the common area at Logan Mill Lodge, with a planned pizza dinner (cost to be split among attendees) preceding the presentation. Chris will be speaking on streamer fishing in the Driftless area, and plans to bring an assortment of hand-tied streamer flies to be raffled off, with proceeds going to conservation efforts in the Driftless area. The lecture will be open to members from other TU chapters who may be fishing in the area, but we plan to keep the pizza fest restricted to LWTU members only.

Group lodging will be available at Logan Mill Lodge. Due to impending change of ownership of the Lodge on April 1, we will be paying a fixed amount per night for the entire Lodge rather than the per-night, per-room arrangement Ruth had given us. If we get full occupancy (10 rooms, single or double occupancy for all three nights) cost will be $300 per room for the three nights of the outing, plus the usual $5 per night optional contribution for breakfast supplies. If we are unable to fill the Lodge, cost per room will be higher as we need to allocate the cost among whoever is staying there.

Please contact the Outings Coordinator at [email protected] ASAP to reserve your accommodations at the Lodge, as once the space is filled you will be on your own for finding other accommodations, generally at a substantially higher price. Payment in advance for Logan Mill accommodations will be required, and will be non-refundable unless someone is found to take your place.

Spring Outing (Fennimore area, May 29-June 1)

Memorial Day comes early this year, and we will be avoiding that generally crowded weekend. The Fennimore area presents excellent fishing opportunities on the Big Green River and the Blue River and its tributaries, along with a number of other streams within easy driving distance. Our previous preferred lodging spot, Napps Motel, changed hands last summer, and we’re not quite sure what to expect this year; hopefully some early-season feedback from chapter members fishing on their own will be forthcoming. Other lodging in Fennimore includes the Fennimore Hills Motel just west of town, and the Fenway House Hotel in downtown Fennimore. More information on lodging will be provided in early spring. Members will need to make their own reservations for rooms at their selected lodging venue. Please let the Outings Coordinator know if you plan to attend, so we can keep you in the loop on plans for group meals and lodging opportunities

WDTU Exchange Outing, Wisconsin Leg (Westby/Viroqua, June 7-11 (Note this is Saturday through Tuesday nights!))

Anglers from the West Denver Chapter of TU will be joining us for four nights at Logan Mill Lodge; currently we have an estimate of 7 visitors, and we expect space to fill up quickly with double occupancy in the Lodge rooms being the probable norm. This is typically the beginning of the terrestrial insect season in the Driftless, although hatches of tan caddis and other aquatic insects are possible. We did a similar Exchange Outing in 2022 and it was a great success, with camaraderie and fish stories (GASP!) lasting well into each night after we returned to the Lodge from our group meals.

More information on lodging cost will be provided shortly once we have confirmation of the rental rate at Logan Mill from the new owners. We expect room rates to be quite reasonable for this outing, given the likely full house and an expected discount for adjusting our window for the convenience of a group renting the Lodge immediately prior to our outing. Please let the Outings Coordinator know ASAP if you plan to attend this outing as space will likely be a limiting factor.

WDTU Exchange Outing, Colorado Leg (tentatively July 14-16)

Members of the West Denver Chapter will host anglers from LWTU in a reciprocal visit sometime in July (after the snowmelt is over and streams are easily fishable). Accommodations and cost will be determined based on LWTU member attendance numbers, and it is critical that interested members let the Outings Coordinator know early if they plan to attend, as once the WDTU chapter commits to lodging arrangements in may be difficult to adjust to permit more anglers. We will likely be staying at some sort of AirB&B or VRBO.

Travel to/from the Denver area will be the responsibility of attendees. Fishing opportunities in both streams and lakes/ponds abound in the areas around Leadville, Silverthorn, Twin Lakes and other towns in the mountains. This is your chance to catch cutthroat trout, including the elusive greenback cutthroat, as well as rainbows, browns and native brook trout in some of the smaller, higher altitude streams. Or you can try your luck with the highly technical fishing for big rainbows in Silverthorn, under the public pedestrian bridge behind the Calvin Klein outlet store (no joke…)

Fall Outing (Westby/Viroqua, dates TBD)

We plan a late September outing to close out the season in Wisconsin (trout season closes October 15). Group accommodations at Logan Mill Lodge will need to be arranged with the new owners if we have enough people to use the lodge space effectively. Please let the Outings Coordinator know if you would like to attend this outing so we can determine if we have enough people to book Logan Mill.

Please email our Outings Coordinator at [email protected] if you are interested in participating in outings.