Bad River
A river in Wisconsin
About Bad River
The Bad River runs 29 miles north through Ashland County, past Cayuga and Mellen and on through Odanah to Lake Superior. The survey puts 840 acres of surface and 137 miles of bank on it. It runs through the Bad River Reservation on its lower reaches, which is worth knowing before planning access.
The designations here are strong. Twenty-seven miles carry a Class II and Class III trout classification with an Outstanding Resource Water listing, the state's highest water quality designation. Musky are classified as self-sustaining via natural reproduction — Category 1, the state's assessment that the population needs no stocking. Lake sturgeon are classified as naturally reproducing, and smallmouth habitat spans cool, warm and nursery water.
No public boat landing is catalogued on the river. Between that and the reservation boundary, this is a river to research carefully rather than to turn up at.
Tribal and state jurisdictions both bear on parts of this river. Check the current DNR regulations and confirm access before fishing it.
Written from Wisconsin DNR hydrography and fisheries data. State water ID WBIC 2891900.
How the state manages it
- musky · Self-sustaining via natural reproduction (Cat. 1)
- smallmouth · Wadable Cool Water; Wadable Nursery Waters; Wadable Warm Water
- sturgeon · Naturally Reproducing - ANSRI
- trout · CLASS II; CLASS III
Wisconsin DNR fisheries designations. These describe how the water is managed, not what is in it on any given day.
Fishing license
Wisconsin sells them online. Buy one from the state. We don’t know whether you need one — that depends on your age, where you live, the water, and what your guide’s own license covers.