Oconto River
A river in Wisconsin
About Oconto River
The Oconto runs 29 miles through Oconto and Shawano counties, from the country around Suring and Gillett down past Stiles and Underhill to the city of Oconto and Green Bay. The survey gives it 1,017 acres of surface and 122 miles of bank.
Twenty-eight miles carry a Class II and Class III trout classification, which places the coldwater fishing on the upper river. The river is also on the state's impaired waters list. Lower down, lake sturgeon are classified as naturally reproducing and smallmouth habitat runs from nursery water to non-wadable coarse substrate.
Nine public landings serve it, and they split cleanly by reach: Breakwater Park and the Oconto City Docks at the mouth where the river meets the bay, and Iron Bridge and North River Road access further up.
A trout reach above and a bay fishery below means the rules differ by where the line goes in. Check the current DNR regulations for the stretch being fished.
Written from Wisconsin DNR hydrography and fisheries data. State water ID WBIC 440200.
How the state manages it
- smallmouth · Non-Wadable Coarse Substrate; Non-Wadable Fine Substrate; 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.