I recently moved to Eau Claire and was looking to take the boat out on the Chippewa this season. I’ve heard that this river absolutely feasts on lower units. Any tips or general info to help a fella navigate this body of water?
go slow enough to hit the the stumps and hope you dont mess anything up
ends are usually facing down stream so if you hit running up it is a really bad day going down it usually just rocks the boat or could flip ya depending on speed
even the sand will take all the cupping out of your prop and you loose all your bow lift. have 2 with that problem good luck
I cut my teeth learning to fish and run a boat on the Chippewa River. We spent a majority of our time fishing within ~5 miles either direction of Durand, WI. We made some mistakes and wrecked some props, but always made it back to talk about it. I don’t recall anyone ever having damage beyond a prop though from our crew.
The biggest advice I can give is that it gets easier with experience. Learn to read water and how the current flows near trees, sandbars, gravel, cut banks, etc. If/When you do make a mistake and hit something, take the time to note what it was and what it appeared like. Have a boat that has a shallow draft. We ran extremely shallow 14-16’ boats with 15-40hp short shafts. Have a spare prop with you and know how to change it. Carry an anchor that is overkill for your boat. It’s crazy how fast you can drift if something goes wrong. Check the nearest river gauge on each outing and start a notebook with relevant information. I knew at what levels I would both fish different spots and how I could get to them.
Enjoy that river. I’m jealous I can’t fish it often anymore. We’d fish for an entire day and maybe see 1 other boat. There’s some great medium sized smallie action along with a decent number of channel cats, some eater sized walleye, pike, decent perch population, and every river rough fish you could imagine. Some of the biggest gar and paddlefish I have ever seen were in the Chippewa along with a few accidental Muskie catches. I still remember catching a nice 19” smallie on a cheap white spinner bait thrown at a cut bank only to land a 45” Muskie the next cast in the same area.
I recently moved to Eau Claire and was looking to take the boat out on the Chippewa this season. I’ve heard that this river absolutely feasts on lower units. Any tips or general info to help a fella navigate this body of water?
Are you trying to navigate the chippewa river up or down stream of the pope and talbot damn?
We ran from the landing just up from the confluence of the Mississippi up to the landing before Eau Claire. From what I saw a guy should be able to get around in a jon reasonably well around most landings. Where it braids out by the red cedar might be tough to navigate though.
Assuming the pope & talbot dam is the one that forms Dells Pond? If so I will be primarily downstream from there. I live relatively close to the wastewater treatment plant landing.
It really does seem like a super underutilized fishery. The smallies and kitties are what im excited about!
Yes that stretch of river is tough to navigate until you learn it and depending on what you are using to navigate it. Most use canoes and kayaks but it can be done with a small boat in normal water levels. Many will float down and leave a vehicle down the river. Catfishing will be ok since there are not that many deep holes but you will get smallies, carppie, northern, and an occasional walleye , musky. Good luck.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
