Has anyone ever fished this stretch? I have plans to be in the area this weekend while staying at some in-laws. Given the reputation I have within my family for fishing near the Twin Cities, somehow expectations develop that I will be able to ‘guide’ said in-laws towards the greatest fishing of their life without knowing a thing about this part of the river. From what I hear, walleyes and bass shouldn’t be too difficult to come across.
Never fished the river that far down but under normal summer flow conditions, you would be traversing a lot of shallow water.
Right now, the river is pretty high so that should help quite a bit with navigation.
Good small mouth fishing. Not sure about the walleyes.
Kevin Clark is the guy you need to hear from.
I have a fair amount of experience on more upstream sections (Sauk City down to Spring Green)…
The Wisconsin River is a great fishery. Lots of smallmouth and a fair amount of walleyes/saugers. Lots of “other” fish too (Sturgeon, cats, muskie, panfish, rough fish…). Much of the river is shallow and swift and generally doesn’t hold fish. Best spots to try will be in or near deeper water (3+ feet) with moderate current. Look to the downstream side of breaks in the current (sand bars and points) and any type of structure like rocks or trees in the water.
I have decent success with cranks, plastics, and crawlers. I try to stay away from live bait if I can though. Lots of rough fish around.
Two specific things to try… Casting cranks to the downstream side of sandbars and trolling cranks upstream in the deeper water often produces eyes. Rock shore lines and trees often hold smallies. Any fishy looking spot should be investigated though, odds are good it’s holding something.
The depth of the river changes frequently and fast, with many parts being very shallow. Be aware that the river is not well channelized or marked in anyway and can be very difficult to navigate with a deep boat. The water should still be up this weekend which may be very helpful.
There are also some special regs on the river. Walleye are 18″ minimum and Sauger are 15″ minimum with a combined limit of three in total. Glass bottles and fireworks also strictly prohibited.
There are also a fair amount of back water areas on the river that usually hold good panfish and largemouth.
Finally, bring plenty of terminal tackle. The river is very snaggy.
When I lived in Mazo, I fished sections of that frequently..(about 20 years ago…) A buddy of mine still hits a lot of the same areas as i did back then. The sand bars are constantly moving and tons of shallow water as Joel stated. We took the canoes or a jon boat. Best consistent action was casting small stick baits or 3″ grubs amongst the brush along the shorelines. Everything from bass, pike, walleyes, crappies… There are a lot of great little places to fish and camping on the sand bars if conditions are right.
I grew up in Boscobel. The river can be a challenge down there. anywhere you see rocks you can throw rebel craws at them and 4.5 inch texas rigged green salt tubes will put a bunch of smallies in the net. Anywhere you see a snag with current on it you can pull cats off them. Beware of the strong current and undertow. Where a PFD especially if you need to get out to push your boat off a bar. Find Woodman lake which is down river from Boscobel and that has good pike and largie fishing using a buzz bait.
I thought I might dig up this post I made last year. I fished the Wi river near Boscobel again this past weekend. Conditions during June 2014 were similar to June of 2015, with the river up a few feet and rising. The same methods that worked for me last year worked again this year.
I poked around a few backwater spots near where I stayed, but generally that struck out for me. I struggled to find much for bass. I found a few current seams near back/slack water areas, however, that had a good number of walleyes and saugers stacked on them. Cranks worked, but when I got sick of losing those to the wood, jigs wound up doing just as well. A 31″ pig even made its way to the boat.
Each weekend, I think I saw one other boat, which might not have even been fishing. That’s definitely a quiet stretch of river.
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I live in Boscobel but I don’t fish the Wisconsin any more. Right now the water is very high. The old county boat landing is under water the city landing is good. Very fast current also. When I used to fish that stretch of river I caught a lot of cat fish. When the water is closer to normal we caught small mouth on crank baits on the down stream side of the sand bars and downed trees. I always stayed off the water when it’s this high.
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