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Central Sand Plain fly fishing trip

Sand-bottomed spring water through the central counties — the Mecan, the Tomorrow, the White.

The water

Water	Miles	July mean
The Tomorrow Artificial-Only Water — named stretch	—	—
The White River Artificial-Only Water — named stretch	—	—
The Plover Artificial-Only Water — named stretch	—	—
The Mecan Artificial-Only Water — named stretch	—	—
The Wolf Artificial-Only Water — named stretch	—	—

Ordered by mapped length. July mean is measured at the USGS gauges standing in each river; a dash means no gauge on it reports temperature.

A 3-day plan

Assembled, not written: the days are the largest waters in range, longest first, and each one carries the nearest site in Wisconsin's own access file — measured from the middle of the water, so it is a place to start looking rather than a landing on that river. Fish them in whatever order the weather gives you.

Hatches to hit

The months with the most recorded hatches in northern Wisconsin: June (23), July (21), August (15).

Insect	Months	Hook
Fish Eggs	October–January and April	#10–16
Little Brown Stonefly	February–April	#12–16
Blue-Winged Olive	March–May and September–November	#16–22
Blackfly	April–June	#18–22
Cranefly	April–June and September–October	#6–10
Grannom	April–May	#14–16
Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie	April–June and September–October	#10–14
Hendrickson	April–May	#12–14
Alderfly	May–June	#10–14
Caterpillar	May–September	#8–14
Crayfish	May–October	#4–8
Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly)	May–June	#4–6
Green Sedge	May–August	#12–16
Light Cahill	May–July	#12–16

Recorded from northern Wisconsin, earliest first. The year-round records sit at the bottom because they are true and they are not news.

Public land in range

• Mukwa Wildlife Area — 3.5 mi
• Wolf River Bottoms Wildlife Area — 6.1 mi
• Lower Wolf River Bottomlands Natural Resource Area — 8.4 mi
• Outagamie Wildlife Area — 14.1 mi
• Wolf River Wildlife Area — 14.1 mi
• Deer Creek Wildlife Area — 15.2 mi
• Rat River Wildlife Area — 16.1 mi
• Mack Wildlife Area — 16.5 mi

Blocks of ground with a page of their own, nearest first. Ownership from PAD-US as Wisconsin publishes it.

Camping and lodging

We have campground records for Michigan and for no other state, so there is nothing to list here rather than a list somebody guessed. The public land above is where the dispersed camping is, where the state allows it.

Fly shops

• Fish Tales — 28.6 mi
• Smiley's Feed & Bait — 32.6 mi, Wautoma
• Taps And Tackle Co. — 35.3 mi, Stevens Point
• Tight Lines Fly Fishing Company — 38.7 mi, De Pere

From OpenStreetMap and a curated list, across all five states on this site. Call before you drive — a shop in a file is not a shop that is open.

Before you go

• Wisconsin regulations
• Wisconsin fishing report
• Central Sand Plain fishing report
• The Tomorrow Artificial-Only Water
• The White River Artificial-Only Water
• The Plover Artificial-Only Water
• The Mecan Artificial-Only Water
• The Wolf Artificial-Only Water

Open the map around here →Every trout stream in reach, coloured by today's water temperature.