Book Review: “Woolly Buggers Don’t Count: Trout Fishing Adventures in the Driftless Area” by Bob Luck

Review by Dale Hadler

Bob Luck, Woolly Buggers Don’t Count: Trout Fishing Adventures in the Driftless Area. Minneapolis: Pocket Water Press LLC, 2025.

Bob Luck’s Woolly Buggers Don’t Count is a well-developed account of his lifelong love for fishing, particularly his fascination with trout fishing in the Driftless bluff region of the Upper Mississippi Valley. Luck describes his encounters with mosquitos, cows, farmers, fishery professionals and trout fishing enthusiasts of many stripes including a purist with disdain for trout caught on Woolly Buggers, informing the author that catching a trout in that manner shouldn’t count toward any records and inspiring the title of the book.

The author recounts early Wisconsin childhood memories of fishing adventures with his grandfather, learning the art of Japanese Tenkara fly fishing—a technique that's increasing in the United States and uses a rod with no reel—as well as his many adventures fishing the iconic trout streams of the Driftless including the Root River, the Whitewater, as well as many of the smaller streams that grace the landscape of western Wisconsin. He discusses his relationships with cows that graze the many pastures he has crossed to research some of the more productive trout streams in the region, cattle who in some cases would ignore and in other situations threatened to become aggressive. He also discussed many of the fascinating trout fishing personalities of the region including an old timer he met at Beaver Creek State Park, MN, who told him he learned to fish from Black Bill, a trout fishing legend whose record setting 32in 14lb brown trout hangs on the walls of Mauer Brothers Tavern in Elba, MN. The fish was caught on a nightcrawler—so much for the “woolly buggers don’t count” argument. Oh, by the way, that record was broken by a 16lb fish caught in Lake Superior. However, the author argues that Lake Superior shouldn't count, so in his mind Black Bill still holds the Minnesota State record.

Woolly Buggers Don’t Count is worth the time of any trout fishing enthusiast interested in the Driftless region, describing the region’s trout waters and personalities in a way that is fascinating, concise and informative. I highly recommend it.