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I fished a bit when I was younger. My son fishes a lot and my grandson quite a bit. Somehow the question of species count came up. Being fair I left off things I'd caught in Alaska and Florida, but still....the little stinker was ahead of me. Roughly (unintended pun) 20 to 18. So I challenged him. I said I was going to catch 20 different species in seven days of dedicated fishing.
This was late in the year, so the Challenge is ongoing. But he's pulled further ahead. He's at 21 (and is now 5 years old), I was only able to manage 11 species in 4 days. Clearly rough fish are going to be critical to this mad errand, and I have managed two species of Redhorse, a couple of minnowish critters and one species of buffalo.
I don't ice fish, so it is plotting and scheming time. Looking for suggestions for:
- Western Wisconsin
- Spring
- Lots of species possible.
Of course he's going to win, but he enjoys it equally when either of us catch something new.
Cheers
T.Wolter
If trying to get max variety in the spring with the least jumping around most the medium sized warm water rivers in western WI would have a ton of different species holding the same current breaks in the spring. The WI below Prairie Du Sac, the Chippewa below Eau Clarie and the Croix below Taylor's Falls would all be good starting points with a worm on bottom in any obvious current breaks. Whatever is closest to you, they are all good. Many smaller tributaries fish well also, especially if the water is too high in the bigger rivers.
Welcome to the site! Wisconsin has good streams everywhere. Tony has good advice about the bigger ones, but make sure to check for tucked-away spots on smaller tributaries. We have a few "Rough Waters" articles about Wisconsin rivers that you might find interesting/helpful -
Red Cedar RIver, WI
St. Croix River, WI/MN
Sugar River, WI
When it gets hard to catch new species in your area, downsizing to fly hooks or tanago hooks and fishing tributaries will help you find many smaller species not usually caught intentionally. This type of fishing is great for the kids as it's most often sight fishing.