Pine River
A river in Wisconsin
About Pine River
The Pine runs 39 miles through Florence County in the far northeast, past Long Lake, Fern and Commonwealth. The survey puts 737 acres of surface and 130 miles of bank on it — small water by acreage, long by any other measure.
It carries an unusually strong set of designations for a river this size. Sixty-four miles are classified as Class II and Class III trout water, with an Outstanding Resource Water listing and federal Wild and Scenic River status. Walleye are classified as natural reproduction only. Smallmouth habitat spans nursery water through non-wadable coarse substrate.
Ten public accesses are on record and nearly all are carry-in or canoe access: Johnson Creek Road, the Oxbow put-in and take-out, Lost Lake Road, White Ash Road. This is a river reached with a boat on a shoulder.
A trout river with federal protection and a walleye classification is a river whose rules change with the reach. Check the current DNR regulations for the stretch being fished.
Written from Wisconsin DNR hydrography and fisheries data. State water ID WBIC 650300.
How the state manages it
- smallmouth · Non-Wadable Coarse Substrate; Non-Wadable Fine Substrate; Wadable Nursery Waters; Wadable Warm Water
- 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.