Lower Wisconsin River

A bit laggy on posting but it was a busy fall.   Late in August we had 5 days free and were headed to the Madison area on other business, we had to can our summer BWCA so we opted to canoe the Lower Wisconsin River.

 

From the last dam at Prairie Du Sac the Wisconsin River twists and turns some 90 miles until it spills into the Mississippi.  In a way it is a bit like a larger kin to one of my favorite rivers in WI, the Chippewa.  Both are sandy, large, and harbor an interesting mix of species - in the case of several species these rivers are some of the last remaining strongholds in the Uppper Mississippi basin.  To my surprise the Lower Wisconsin was significantly slower moving, for the most part, with a much lower drop per mile that made paddling downstream into the dominating westerly winds difficult.  While the Lower Wisconsin does have many deep stretches, all are punctuated with long stretches of water so shallow that even canoe travel can be a challenge.  

 

sombero dude was a White Bass catching ninja, putting fish on the bank at seemily impossible speeds

 

The last dam is an impressive sight, not the structure itself mind but the sea monsters that hold below it.  As stood below and fished for an hour or so I witnessed several large Lake Sturgeon and enormous Paddlefish launch into the air.  I anchored some small crawler chunks in the deep, fast waters.  Before too long a long double over, I picked it up and line melted from the spool.  3/4s of the line was speeding downriver and a massive Sturgeon completely cleared the water before continuing to head whatever direction it felt like.  WIth a tiny hook, the fast current, and many other anglers I knew I was out gunned.  I clamped down on the spool busted the weak link; I always tie the knot to the hook with the weakest knot in the system, just in case.  

 

A few more small fish came to hand before heading downstream, no Smallmouth Buffalo - though a few did line the banks):

 

Mode of transit was a car/bike shuttle between boat launches.  We spend 5 days on the river, though we were late on the water the first day and fairly early off the last.  Saw plenty of wildlife and some great scenery.  The weather was great until the last night, I was thunderstorms cross close to the south while looking for Gar.  

 

The next morning a storm cell crashed right on top of us.  I've weathered lousy weather in the woods of all kinds, I've been uncomfortable often but fearful rarely.  This was the most scared I've ever been in the woods.  Camped on a sandbar in the middle of a wide river with one lone tree and lighting all around striking ground less than a mile away, in all directions.  After a brief discussion we opted to ford the river, and wait out the storm in a bottom land stretch of forest filled with moderate sized trees.  There we shivered and hoped the the lightening stuck to the taller trees on the hillside or the lone tree on the sandbar but would pass over the mundane stretch of trees we hid beneath.  Fortunately it worked and no lighting struck close enough to do actual damage.

 

The fishing plan was mostly to target Gar and Shovelnose Sturgeon.  In plans to try both for tablefare.  While I landed a variety of species, quality fishing for any one was slim.  I did however have excellent Shorthead Redhorse fishing, catching many 20" class fish.  

 

Gar tactics were mostly sight fishing with cutbait, blind fishing cutbait caught turtles too quickly for my liking and the gar showed no interest in rope lures.  Most the gar were small thought I did get the fin from some nice ones around 40"

 

The Shovelnose were shockingly difficult to find, I've had far better success in rivers that (in theory) have fewer.  Not sure what my difficulty was.  Much time was dedicated to crawler fishing all over typical sandy current breaks and occasionally on faster runs.  Bottom rigged crawler produced all species caught, except Longnose Gar.  

 

 

No lifers for me, though I didn't put a serious effort into that.  Just a great camping trip and some decent fishing.  I can certainly recommend the Lower Wisconsin as a stretch of river worth exploring.

Comments

Jason E.'s picture

Nice report.  That stretch of river is quite interesting to fish.  See any nudists at the ol' colony down there?  (that's always been a big disincentive for me to canoe that stretch).

TonyS's picture

Actually we didn't know about any nudist colony.  We were there mid-week but did see some people who were obviously missing clothing... Though in general we saw very few people, lots of open stretches of water  - few boats, not that many canoes, and (other than public access areas and towns)  not many people.  

Jknuth's picture

Fantastic!
I need to float this stretch over a few days. 
Its actually a dream of mine to float the whole WI river before I pass into the great beyond. 
Take it from Michigan to the Mighty Miss.

I am SO happy you got to see sombrero dude! He is a Legend. Outfishes everyone and everything.
I have seen him in snowstorms wearing that hat. he has been there for years.
Here is a picture of him from out 2009 roundup


He's a cool dude, real nice guy but a bit strange. He is actually a fishing ninja, he clearly practices the old ways.

 

Hengelaar's picture

Thanks for a couple sweet reports, Tony!


I want to see more of the Wisconsin River.... She pretty much ignored me the only time I seriously fished there. Which, I guess, means I got off easy. But I know she can be really sweet too....

 

And I know now that I will not allow myself to physically die before I have seen Sombrero Dude in action.

 

Big thumbs up on the car/bike shuttle!

Fishn sure is neat

TonyS's picture

Yeah sombero dude is awesome.  Floating the whole WI would be really awesome.  I know we've talked about doing the whole Mississippi.  It would probably take 3 months so it might be a long time if it ever happens. 

 

The Wisconsin is kinda fickle river to fish definately different than most rivers I've fished, though most of it does remind me of lowest reaches of the Chippewa (downstream from Durand) with the endless twisting shallow sand bars.  That stretch is tough for me to fish too, the rest of the Chippewa is far kinder to me.  I do feel like I learned a bit about fishing that kind of water. 

perkinsdonald's picture

Great report! Thanks for sharing! Storms can be wicked on the lwr... Where did you get out at the end?

 

 

The gods do not subtract the alotted span in men's lives the hours spent in fishing.

TonyS's picture

We pulled out at Bridgeport - paddling the last mile or two didn't seem worth landing at the state park.