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Home › Waters › Wisconsin › Dorn Creek
Spring creek · South-central Wisconsin, Dane County, the spring-fed creeks north of Lake Mendota near Waunakee · Wisconsin

Dorn Creek Fishing Guides

A genuine Dane County spring creek north of Lake Mendota, small and cold, carrying wild brown trout within twenty minutes of Madison.

Sunrise over a winding river cutting through open farm country
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Dorn Creek

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About the Dorn Creek

Dorn Creek is a spring creek in the strict sense, and the United States Geological Survey says so in the station name itself. It rises from groundwater in the moraine country north of Lake Mendota and runs a short course through Dane County farmland to the lake, draining only about twelve and a half square miles at the County Highway M gauge. The whole system is small enough to walk and cold enough through summer to hold trout when the surrounding warmwater lakes are unfishable.

Spring creeks behave differently from freestone streams, and Dorn is a clear case. Groundwater keeps flow and temperature remarkably stable, so the creek fishes through drought and through midsummer heat when a rain-fed stream would be too warm. It also means the trout are resident, wary and used to seeing anglers. Brown trout are the main quarry and a portion of the population is wild, with brook trout in the coldest headwater sections.

The fishing is close and technical. Banks are often grassy and undercut, the water is clear, and the approach matters more than the pattern. Scuds, sowbugs and small nymphs cover most days, with terrestrial patterns earning their place from midsummer onward as hoppers and beetles come off the pasture. Casting room is limited in places and short accurate presentations beat long ones.

Wisconsin has invested heavily in restoring Driftless and Dane County spring creeks, and Dorn has benefited from habitat work and easements. Much of the surrounding land is private, so anglers should confirm access and respect posted boundaries. Its proximity to Madison makes it an unusually convenient piece of trout water, and it sees pressure accordingly on pleasant weekends. Wisconsin regulates its trout streams by category with varying seasons and tackle rules, so the current regulations for this water should be checked first.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Dorn Creek.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

County Highway M - the gauge crossing and the most direct access point.
Waunakee - the nearest village for parking, supplies and local information.
Governor Nelson State Park - nearby access to Lake Mendota at the creek mouth.
Westport - town roads giving access to the middle reach.
Six Mile Creek - the neighbouring spring creek, fished on the same trip.
Token Creek County Park - another Dane County spring system close by.
Madison - the nearest city for fly shops, guides and lodging.

Seasons

Spring: cold stable flow and the most forgiving fishing of the year on nymphs.
Summer: the creek holds temperature when other water fails, best on terrestrials.
Fall: brown trout colour up and move, with the season closing under state rules.
Winter: catch and release seasons apply where open, fished slow and deep.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Dorn Creek?

As of Sep 17, 6:00 am, the USGS gauge DORN (SPRING) CREEK AT CT HIGHWAY M NR WAUNAKEE,WI reads 5 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Dorn Creek?

Anglers target Bluegill, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, White Sucker on the Dorn Creek in Wisconsin.

Where can you access the Dorn Creek?

County Highway M - the gauge crossing and the most direct access point. Waunakee - the nearest village for parking, supplies and local information. Governor Nelson State Park - nearby access to Lake Mendota at the creek mouth. Westport - town roads giving access to the middle reach. Six Mile Creek - the neighbouring spring creek, fished on the same trip. Token Creek County Park - another Dane County spring system close by. Madison - the nearest city for fly shops, guides and lodging.

When is the best time to fish the Dorn Creek?

Spring: cold stable flow and the most forgiving fishing of the year on nymphs. Summer: the creek holds temperature when other water fails, best on terrestrials. Fall: brown trout colour up and move, with the season closing under state rules. Winter: catch and release seasons apply where open, fished slow and deep.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Dorn Creek?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Wisconsin agency site: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/fishing/regulations