Chippewa River-Durand Area

I got the boat out on the Chipp yesterday. It was a tad chilly, but not too bad. I did some fishing in a few spots that I like to hit early. The water is very clear and very shallow. I noticed that the current was still pretty swift though. I ended up catching a couple of eyes just up the river from Durand. I had to really work for them. I was using BFT oyster shell ringworms. Yep they work here too. THe eyes were kind of small 15″ and 17″ both males. I even caught a stinking sheephead. The water temp was only 36 degrees in the channel. I was fising a couple of inlets where creeks come in and the temp was 38 degrees. We deifinately need some warmer weather for the Chipp to start producing. Sorry no pics…I was out there on my own. No one wanted to brave the weather with me. I’ll keep you updated.

It’s great to see a post on the Chippewa! How were the ice conditions? Any floating ice? Once they start in Durand they should start in Eau Claire shortly after.

There was no ice at all floating or other wise. I know the backwaters are still frozen pretty good though. I wanted to get into a slough that I usually fish in early spring(not this early, but early). It still had a good 12″ and my boat isn’t an ice breaker soooo. The water was still way too cold. We get a couple of 50 degree days and get the run off of the new snow and it will pick up. I’ll keep everyone updated.

Hey Krisko. We can finally start posting on the Chip now. Yeah I too noticed the low levels on the Chipp. Maybe this snowfall will help. But yes the water is very cold, hence the slow bite maybe, but we gotta keep trying. When bowhuntr and I were at the shops, there were big ice chunks floating, 6 feet long even. Musta came from Dells Pond.

Taker easy, and we should git out this year finally

Well I went on my high water fish outing yesterday. I was fairly suprised that the water is somewhat clear. I thought it would be a little more muddy or full of debris. I went up river from Durand and started at the Red Cedar/Chippewa. The water temps are still a little low at 39 degrees in the channel and 41 maybe in the back waters. I ended up catching several sauger and walleyes. I caught 8 total. The longest ones being right around the 14″ mark. I picked up some of these off of a sand bar just below where I started. I was using a lindy rig most of the time. It started to get dark and I headed back down stream near 9 mile island and started casting for some northerns in the back waters. Then the fire pager went off so it kind of cut the day short. I was out by myself and didn’t get any pics, not like they were big enought to take pics anyway. I’ll be back at it again here this weekend if I don’t fish the IDA walleye tournaments. I’m hoping it picks up here soon on the Chippewa, I’m getting anxious.

I was done with work early today so I decided to head down to Dead Lake(backwater of the Chippewa). I was fishing for some crappies, and I found them. I ended up catching 10 beauty ones all around 10-12″. Only one of them a female. I also caught some real nice perch. I was fishing in about 6′ of water. The water temp down there is already 58 degrees. The carp and suckers were just rolling on the upper end. There were a couple of kids out there having a ball cathing them. I figured I’d hit it again in the morning and see what happens. I may even take a trip down to Wabasha and see if I can catch me some more crappies.

Where abouts on the Chippewa are you talking for these crappies…I just moved to the area here this winter and have mainly been targeting the walleyes up by the damm doing ok…managing probably one keeper per 20 caught….I am interested in going after some crappies though for fun…I guess if you could get me pointed in the right direction that would be greatly appreciated..

I’m actually fishing a backwater south of Durand. You can get there by going to Durand and then going west on Hwy 10. Then go south on CTH N(or to Arkansaw). It is about 5 miles south of Arkansaw. There is a boat landing. If you need better directions let me know. There isn’t really anywhere to fish from the bank though. You have to be in a boat.

I went out again yesterday. I didn’t do so good on the Crappies. I did catch several really nice perch though. I caught two of them 14″. They were real beasts. I did notice that the water temp was 2-3 degrees cooler yesterday than the day before. I’m sure this had something to do with the lack of numbers in crappies. I also tried down around Wabasha and Alma yesterday with no luck. Water is still pretty high and a lot of current yet. I talked with some local “older gentlemen” They were the ones that told me this. They said they have been having problems catching them too. The water temps down there were in the low 50’s.

Well I caught a couple of 18 in walleyes last night on the chipp. PM me if you would like to know the location. Guess you could say they are still very present in this area. A total of 12 walleyes caught, 2 for the frying pan!! I was very happy to get these two very nice fish!

I was able to hit the Chippewa again on Monday. What a beautiful day. The weather was perfect, except for the wind. I didn’t have a lot of time but I loaded up on some minnows and headed south of Durand. At my first stop I found a nice little current break with a lot of timber next to it. Tossed out a minnow on a 3 way with a floating jig and sat back in the sun. It was tough to do anything with the wind where I was. So I just had to dead stick it, my favorite on a day like that anyway. After sitting there for an hour I reeled in 7 walleyes, most of them 14-18″ long. That is very typical for the river. The last 3 I caught were just a touch bigger. I ended up with a 22″, and two 24″ eyes. These gals were already spawned out and looking a little thin. Not one of the eyes were slammin the minnow either. I had a lot of small bites and found teeth marks on the minnows that’s when I added the traler hook.

I was sick of the wind and trying to move around with tossing a jig wasn’t working. It wasn’t producing either. I had some crawlers that I tried to use there and the only thing they caught was mooneye and suckers. Si I moved to another spot now that I was out of big fathead minnows and the wind wasn’t gonna cooperate. I found a couple of places I wanted to try, but the wind didn’t cooperate. I did find a couple of interesting places I hadn’t fished this year. They are little back waters that I was able to get my boat into. I’m not even sure what they are called. I started casting them with my trusty white spinner bait. On the second cast BAM a huge northern. I ended up getting him to the boat 38″. I don’t have a scale but it was a pig. It’s belly just sagged. I could see it had a small bass already in its mouth as I took the hook out. I just wonder how many more were in it’s tummy?? That was about the end of it and I had to head out. The fishing is picking up, so get out there! I didn’t get to try the smallmouths, but I’m sure they are out too.

Thanks for the reports guys, You ever catch any big northerens down in Dead lake Krisko? I know there are some real whoppers in thee.Steve

I have never caught any big ones in there. There was a girl in there last weekend that hooked up a 36+” one. There tape was only that long. I never saw it but I guess it was big. I know some hit them hard at Black’s Lake and back in Fox Coulee. I’m usually not much of a norhern fisherman anyway. They wreck every spinner bait you have.

I made it out last night for a couple of hours. I couldn’t believe it, but the water temp was 54.7 degrees. I was kind of suprised. It didn’t help fishing that much though. We need a couple of warmer days. I did a lot of crankbait casting and ended up with only one smallmouth…I think that one just by chance ran into the lure. He really didn’t hit is or fight. I tried using crawlers even trolling them on a 3-way with no success. I did see a few guys catching some suckers and sheephead. I also talked with a couple of friends that only landed one perch in 9 mile slough. So other than that fishing looks to be a little slow on my part of the Chippewa. I’m heading to Lake Wissota for Friday and Sunday…trying to get some crappies and on sunday maybe look for some eyes and bass???

I made it out yesterday for a few hour. The river was up about 3′ and flow was greatly increased along with the water clarity. The rains filled it up nicely. I went up to the Dunnville bottoms area. I caught some really nice cats on crawlers. The biggest was about 10#. I had caught a couple of smallies just before I latched into this beast. I thougth I had one heck of a smallie until it started rolling. I only caught 2 saugers and 1 eye. I thought I would have caught more with water clarity down.

I pretty much worked X-raps and jigs the rest of the way down to Durand, with a couple of stops on some flats along the way. The white bass are were slamming my bettle spins and so were the sheephead and mooneyes. Well hopefully the river will clean up a little so I can hit is again.

I know this thread is over a decade old but I’m new to the area and have yet to fish the Chip, I was wondering about depth of the river? I know you guys are running around with 14′ boats but I have a 16′ sea nymph, wondering if I can launch anywhere on the southern half by Durand? I have a smaller river runner 14′ boat with a mud motor but I would rather use the big boat when the weather is cold like this more comfortable and safe.

Any specific depth information is appreciated. Is I guess was now lol, but was there a main channel that you can shallow drive up with an outboard? Or is it pretty much a no go with a larger v hull?

Might be old, but still saw you posted. I no longer really fish the Chippewa much anymore. It has gotten so shallow and I upgraded to a bigger boat for the family. You would be hard pressed to get your 16′ up and down the river. Plus south of Durand is very shallow. You almost have to have someone show you the river. Unless you are good following river channels, and reading submerged dead heads. Your small boat with a mud motor would work til you can navigate better. Also summer it gets pretty shallow. Just try not to wreck too much stuff. It is a great fishery! If you can get around.

Thanks for the information krisko, I got a buddy coming up next week with a serious duck setup so we can navigate with a big river runner and 37hp mud motor. It will be interesting to see if the holes you guys talked about are still there. Ill be sure to post everytime I get out. I’m hoping after the initial trip I’ll be able to run the small boat with more confidence. Hopefully it hasn’t filled in as one big shallow flat! I did see a guy pull out from the highway H launch the other day with a 14′ and outboard didn’t get a chance to talk to hime though. Thanks again for the information.