Wisconsin River

About Wisconsin River

The Wisconsin River is the spine of the state. The survey traces it 238 miles from the northern lake country down to the Mississippi, breaks it into 29 separate pools and stretches, and puts 1,039 miles of bank and 25,773 acres of surface on it. It touches fifteen counties on its way past Rhinelander, Merrill, Wausau, Mosinee, Nekoosa, the Dells, Portage, Sauk City, Spring Green, Muscoda and Boscobel.

Sixty-seven public landings are on record, more than any other water in Wisconsin, and they are as varied as the river. Paved city ramps at Wausau and Mosinee, county park ramps at Plover and Rock Falls, DNR gravel at Blue River and Boscobel East, and carry-in access at Hat Rapids and Highway 33. A handful — Gilbert Park in Wausau, Galecke Park in Plover, Jim Freeman Memorial in Nekoosa, Fredrich's Landing in Newbold — are marked accessible.

The state manages it for four species at once. Musky are classified both as self-sustaining and as natural reproduction plus stocking depending on the reach. Walleye likewise. Smallmouth habitat runs the full range from wadable nursery water to non-wadable coarse substrate, and lake sturgeon are classified as naturally reproducing.

A river this long is really a dozen rivers. The dam-to-dam flowages in the middle fish nothing like the free-flowing lower stretch below Prairie du Sac, and regulations differ between them — check the current DNR rules for the specific reach.

Written from Wisconsin DNR hydrography and fisheries data. State water ID WBIC 1179900.

How the state manages it

• musky · Natural reproduction plus stocking (Cat. 2); Self-sustaining via natural reproduction (Cat. 1)
• smallmouth · Non-Wadable Coarse Substrate; Non-Wadable Fine Substrate; Wadable Cool Water; Wadable Nursery Waters; Wadable Warm Water
• sturgeon · Naturally Reproducing - ANSRI
• walleye · Natural Reproduction Only; Stocking plus Natural Reproduction

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.