Lauren Genske’s earliest forays into trout fishing didn’t go exactly as planned.
Consider her first outing in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area when she was about 11 or 12.
“My dad was supposed to be taking me to go morel mushroom hunting,” recalled Genske, who lives a couple hours north of the Driftless region in Antigo, Wisc. “I was a little upset when he said we were going trout fishing instead.”
It got worse.
“I made only one cast when my little brother, Blake, jumped into the spot,” she said. “And then on his first cast he hooked an 18-inch brown.”
Even though Lauren’s pesky brother snaked her––he is two years younger and was just doing what little brothers do––something changed. As Blake fought the fish, Lauren grabbed a net. But then the hook popped just as the fish got close to shore.
“I jumped in after it and was still able to net it,” Lauren said.
Her passion for trout launched right then.
TU bolsters passion
Lauren, a 17-year-oild senior at Antigo High School, is not only an avid fly angler, but she also became a volunteer on conservation projects and a mentor to new anglers.
The jump from angler to angler/conservationist got a boost when she attended a TU Teen Summit in Montana in the summer of 2023. This summer she participated in a TU Teen Expedition.
“After that teen summit I was like, ‘I really like this fly fishing thing,’” Lauren said. “And it really opened my eyes that there are other teenagers like me who are into conservation and want to get involved.”
Lauren and her family are devoted volunteers with TU’s Coulee Region chapter. Despite it not being the chapter nearest their home, the connection makes sense because they spend so much time recreating in the Driftless Region. There’s plenty of work happening there because it is a designated TU Priority Waters region where TU has spearheaded a formal restoration program for nearly 20 years.
Lauren also volunteered as a mentor with STREAM Girls, helping to teach and inspire kids who are not much younger than she is.
“I can’t really explain why I’m so passionate,” she said. “It’s just so exciting and TU offers such a cool environment to stoke my enthusiasm.”
A quick learner
Lauren’s early trout fishing was what she calls “bobber fishing.” But one day a few years ago she was watching YouTube videos when a trout fly fishing video showed up in her “suggested” videos feed. The video was by West Virginian Jon Hardman, who runs the Hardman Fishing Adventures YouTube channel. She found herself binging Hardman’s videos.
Not long after, during a weekend trip to the Driftless Area, her parents surprised her with an entry-level fly rod and reel combo for her 15th birthday.
“It was funky and weird,” said Lauren, whose only instruction had been watching those videos. “I had a lot of bites, but I didn’t land any fish and kept breaking off. I lost a lot of flies that day.”
Though she was self-taught, she was a quick learner.
On an August fishing trip to the Driftless with TU staffer Peter Jonas, Lauren expertly worked a small stream that TU restored with funding from the federal Farm Bill.
Trout Unlimited manages the Driftless Area Restoration Effort, a partnership focused on restoring fish habitat, improving water quality and educating others about the unique and accessible resources in the Driftless Area. All in an effort to improve the fishing for people like Lauren.
Using an array of casting techniques to battle wind and high streamside vegetation, Lauren effortlessly dropped a meaty terrestrial fly into promising pockets, hooking and landing more than a dozen colorful brown trout.
“I love the big trout and the variety of species out West,” Lauren said. “But there’s just something so peaceful and beautiful about the Driftless Area.”
Passing on the passion
Lauren helped inspire her dad and brother to start fly-fishing.
“It was fun getting them into it,” she said.
And that even applies to her little brother, who continues to show off.
“My brother is extremely lucky,” she said with a laugh. “He went out to Montana after he just started and caught a 22-inch brown.”
Lauren thought it had something to do with a horseshoe she found while in Montana.
“My brother was the last one to touch it,” she said, still laughing. “And then he buried it so I couldn’t find it.”
She may soon get a chance to try to find that buried good-luck treasure. Her first choice for college is the University of Montana, where she plans to study—no surprise here—aquatic wildlife biology.
Lauren is taking a bit of a break from fishing.
“I’ve been doing a lot of duck and goose hunting with my dad and brother,” she said. “And then October will be for deer hunting.”
Her final fishing trip of the summer, like so many before it, provided lasting memories.
“My dad and I went camping in the Driftless and we went mousing at night,” Lauren said. “It was a full moon so I could see everything. I had a bunch of strikes, but the browns were so aggressive they were just knocking the mouse into the air.”
She finally connected with a Driftless brown.
“It was only 10 inches long,” she said, laughing. “But that didn’t matter. It’s about so much more than catching fish.”