Wisconsin’s Fishing Opener is May 4th

Schloop; The bobber disappears under the water. A quick tug on the fishing rod and the hook is set. The pull on my ultra light reel tells me there is a nice bluegill on the far end of the line.

I reel the fish into the boat as the bluegill fights the line by swimming around in large circles at it nears the boat. When the “gill” is up to the boat, I swing it over the gunnel and, yes, it is big enough for tonight’s fish fry. Lots of fishing action like this outing last summer will be happening soon as Wisconsin’s fishing opener is set for May 4 for most species of fish. 

And as usual, a new fishing season brings with it new and changed fishing regulations. Many of the changes apply to specific lakes and sections of rivers throughout the state. Several regulation changes apply to waters in or near to Dunn County. On both Cady Creek (in Dunn, St. Croix, and Pierce Counties) and North Pine and Pine Creek (Pierce County), five brown or rainbow trout of any length may be kept while all brook trout must be immediately returned to the waters. Kasey Yallaly, Senior Fisheries Biologist Wisconsin DNR explains, “The reason for the regulation change on Pine and Cady creeks is because brown trout have invaded both of those streams and in the case of Pine Creek, have basically excluded brook trout from most of the stream. The same thing would have happened in Cady Creek as well but we started a brown trout removal project in Cady Creek in 2018 and have continued it annually since then. We have documented great results from that project and brook trout densities are improving significantly. The goal of the regulation is to promote angler harvest of brown trout while protecting brook trout until they can fully recover in Cady Creek. Pine Creek is likely too far gone to bring the brook trout back unless some extreme management activity takes place in the future but the new regulation will protect the existing low densities of brook trout and promote harvest of the high-density brown trout population in Pine Creek”.

The statewide daily limit for walleye is changing to three walleye and sauger in total. Many of the flowages on the Chippewa River will now have a slot size for walleyes. Under the slot size regulations, walleyes of at least 13 inches may be kept. No walleyes between 16 inches to 24 inches may be kept. They must be immediately released. One walleye over 24 inches in length may be kept. Water bodies impacted by this rule change are Lake Holcomb, Cornell Flowage, Old Abe Flowage, Lake Wissota, Chippewa Falls Flowage, Dells Pond, and the Jump River in Chippewa County. 

Rivers dominate the fishing in Dunn County. Even the lakes in the county are dammed up impoundments on the Red Cedar, Hay, and Eau Galle Rivers. The dams that form Lakes Tainter and Menomin divide the Red Cedar River into distinct bodies of water. They are the upper Red Cedar from upstream of Sand Creek to the estuary of Upper Lake Tainter, Lake Tainter, Lake Menomin, and then the lower Red Cedar. The lower river is divided between the section from Menomonie to Downsville and then from Downsville to the confluence with the Chippewa River. The upper Red Cedar River is a great place to float in a canoe or a small boat. A DNR fish survey shows that smallmouth bass is still the most plentiful game fish in the upper river. This section of the Red Cedar has been known as a great place to catch bass for a very long time. Walleyes are also in the upper river but in lower densities. Most of the walleyes that I have caught in the upper river have been between Russian Slough and Lake Tainter.

Lake Tainter is a diverse fishery with walleye, bass, northern pike, and panfish. It's a great place for opening weekend fishing as the horrendous algal blooms won’t occur for a couple of months. The really good news about Lake Tainter is that the installation of the bladder dam several years ago has ended the massive drops in water levels during spring spawning season so fish populations have increased. The species benefiting the most from the dam improvements seem to be smallmouth bass and panfish, especially yellow perch. The walleye population is difficult to measure because walleyes can travel as far as 50 to 60 miles upstream in both the Hay and Red Cedar Rivers to spawn. Lake Tainter has three main areas to fish. The upper lake where the Red Cedar inflows, the big bay where the Hay River inflows, and the lower lake. Fish can be caught in all three areas. I’ve fished the lower lake a lot and did well in part because I lived on the lower lake and it was convenient to fish it. 

Lake Menomin is the most popular lake to fish in Dunn County. The most recent DNR survey of the lake occurred in 2019 and the results demonstrated that the lake has abundant populations of walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and panfish - particularly bluegill. The northern pike population is the largest of all the lakes in the county. The lake has many well-known fishing spots including Cemetery Bay, The Cutoff, under the Freeway bridge, and the many fish cribs that were placed by the fish and game. Like Lake Tainter, the early open water season is the time to fish Menomin before the algal blooms take over.

The lower Red Cedar River is another great place to fish from a canoe. My favorite float is from the Highway 29 bridge to the landing at Downsville. The river here contains a little bit of everything. I’ve caught smallmouth bass, walleye, sheepshead, catfish, suckers, catfish and skip jacks. There are a few small rock gardens between Menomonie and Irvington and fishing right below them usually leads to fish in the canoe. Below Irvington, the river is deeper with nice holes and eddies that will hold fish. Downstream from Downsville, the river becomes deeper, wider, and has a lot of trees (snags) in the current. There are many deep holes and eddies. Catfish seem more abundant in this stretch of the river, but a variety of fish can be caught. The lower Red Cedar is a bit wilder than the upper river and lake so the float is often enhanced by eagle and other wildlife sightings. 

Lake Eau Galle is a small and popular fishing destination in Dunn County. A recent DNR survey measured large populations of Largemouth bass, bluegill, black crappie, and northern pike. Largemouth bass had a healthy size structure. On the other hand, there were too many Black crappie and the sizes were small and their growth rates were slow. Northern pike are doing great with good numbers of fish and a variety of sizes. The dam end of the lake is much deeper than the delta end of the lake. Weeds abound in the shallow end of the lake. Most of the fishing occurs in the deeper end of the lake. 

The Chippewa River, which cuts through the southeastern portion of the county, is a diverse and productive fishery. I have caught a wide variety of fish on the Chippewa with a dogfish being one of the largest fish I’ve caught in the Chippewa.. Also, I experienced a gar resting under my canoe in an eddy. The tail was visible on one side of the canoe while the head stuck out on the other side of the canoe. I even caught a small sturgeon while angling for catfish. Just about every type of game fish resides in the Chippewa bass, walleye, panfish, northern, catfish, and musky. The river in Dunn County is full of snags, eddies, sand bars, and deep holes. Navigation on the river, either by boat or canoe, is always interesting with all the obstacles in the water, and with the extended drought, it is even more interesting than usual. But any challenges the river may throw at anglers is more than made up by the great fishing on the river. Additionally, the thousands of acres of public land on the lower Chippewa, make the river a wild and scenic area. A large variety of both furred and feathered wildlife call the Chippewa home. The scenery is also beautiful so even if the fish are not cooperating, fishing the Chippewa is time well spent. 

While fishing season begins on May 4, on most of the waters in Dunn County, fishing season is open year all year on the Chippewa River and the lower Red Cedar River from it mouth at the Chippewa up to Lake Menomin. Many species of fish have special opening dates for fishing on certain waters. All fishing season dates, bag limits, and general fishing regulations can be found here [https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Fishing]. 

I’ll end with this little ditty that my uncle had posted on a wall in his cabin in Northern Minnesota where I spent many an opening weekend when I was a kid and teenager. “Early to bed. Early to rise. Fish like hell, and make up more lies.”