Baraboo River
A river in Wisconsin
About Baraboo River
The Baraboo runs 42 miles through Sauk County, from La Valle and Reedsburg down past North Freedom and the city of Baraboo to the Wisconsin River near Portage. The survey gives it 829 acres of surface and 182 miles of bank.
Fifteen miles are classified as Class II and Class III trout water, mostly on the cooler upper reaches and the spring-fed tributaries. The river is on the state's impaired waters list. Below the trout water, lake sturgeon are classified as naturally reproducing and smallmouth habitat is classified across four types.
Seven public landings are on record: Giese Park, Glenville, Granite Avenue, Luebke, and a handful of canoe launches. The river runs through the Baraboo Hills, which is old, hard country and makes for a river with more gradient and more rock than most of southern Wisconsin.
Check the current DNR regulations for the reach being fished.
Written from Wisconsin DNR hydrography and fisheries data. State water ID WBIC 1271100.
How the state manages it
- smallmouth · Non-Wadable Coarse Substrate; Non-Wadable Fine Substrate; Wadable Cool Water; 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.