My New Fly Shop: The Driftless Angler

One of the exciting things about moving to any new area, is getting to know your local waters. I'm fortunate to have moved to central portion of the driftless area. What is even better, is that I am lucky enough to have a fly shop in my backyard. Not literally in my backyard, but about 30 to 40 minutes away.

The Driftless Angler is a shop owned by a husband and wife duo who not only run the shop, but take turns guiding anglers throughout the region. In the three counties that surround the fly shop, there are over 250 miles of trout streams to explore. As a newbie to the Wisconsin Driftless Area, any help I can get it I'll take.

The shop is located in Viroqua, Wisconsin. A very cute, small, granola, organic farming town. The shop itself is also very well done. They have a great selection of clothing and equipment. They have a wall full of flies and a women's flyfishing section which I've never seen rivaled. 

I'm very thankful for the regularly updated online and on the wall fishing reports.

And I must say that I'm a little jealous that they have to Derek DeYoung paintings adorning their walls. 

One of the popular nymph patterns here in the driftless area is the pink squirrel. It seems this has become the mascot of the shop.

I first learned about the Driftless Angler Fly Shop through the movie "Heart of the Driftless" which I believe made an appearance on the fly fishing film festival. 

So all in all, it is great to have a neat shop nearby that I can lean on for intel and good equipment when needed. 

If you ever are driving through western Wisconsin, try and add this to your list of places to stop.