East Fork Chippewa River

About East Fork Chippewa River

The East Fork of the Chippewa runs 30 miles through Ashland County, in the country south of the Chequamegon National Forest, before joining the West Fork above the Chippewa Flowage. The survey gives it 763 acres of surface and 135 miles of bank.

For a river with one catalogued public access, it carries an extraordinary set of designations. Twenty-two miles are classified as Class II and Class III trout water with an Outstanding Resource Water listing. Musky are managed across two categories, walleye as natural reproduction only, lake sturgeon as naturally reproducing, and smallmouth as nursery and wadable warm water. All five of the state's warmwater and coldwater programmes touch this river.

The single access on record is the East Fork Chippewa River access in the town of Chippewa. Everything else here is reached on foot or by carrying in.

With trout classification on one reach and sturgeon and musky management on others, rules differ substantially by stretch. Check the current DNR regulations before fishing it.

Written from Wisconsin DNR hydrography and fisheries data. State water ID WBIC 2399800.

How the state manages it

• musky · Natural reproduction plus stocking (Cat. 2); Reproduction UNK, stocking occurs (Cat. 0)
• smallmouth · Wadable Nursery Waters; Wadable Warm Water
• sturgeon · Naturally Reproducing - ANSRI
• trout · CLASS II; CLASS III
• walleye · Natural Reproduction Only

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.