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Grafton Dam, Wisconsin
Grafton Dam is the top of the Milwaukee River run — 4 anadromous species stack below it out of Lake Michigan.
Open in BirdTrout43.31885, -87.949198 · Ozaukee County · NID WI00171. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.
What the runs do here
Grafton Dam is the anadromous ceiling for the Milwaukee River — the top of the run out of Lake Michigan. Fish moving up from the lake stop here, which is 29.8 miles of river below this structure.
| Species | In the river | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Chinook salmon | Aug–Oct | Stage off the harbour through August and run as the river cools; peak early to mid September, ahead of the Michigan shore. |
| Coho salmon | Sept–Oct | Behind the chinook and overlapping them; peak mid to late September. |
| Steelhead | Oct–May | Two runs on one calendar — a fall push from October that winters in the river, and the spring run peaking late March into April. |
| Lake-run brown trout | Oct–Nov | A moderate run with and behind the salmon; peak October. |
Curated calendar guidance from state run-timing prose, not regulation and not an observation of this river on any day. WDNR Great Lakes tributary run-timing guidance and stocking record, curated.
Ceiling cited as: OpenStreetMap node 353900753, Grafton Dam
The structure
- Owner
- Village Of Grafton Local Government
- Purpose
- Recreation
- Completed
- 1918 · modified 2014O
- Type
- Buttress
- Height
- 20 ft
- Length
- 206 ft
- Spillway
- Controlled
- Storage
- 400 acre-ft · 35 acre pool
- Drainage
- 451 sq mi
- Condition
- Fair · Significant hazard potential
From the National Inventory of Dams (USACE). Hazard potential is a downstream-consequence classification, not a statement about the structure's condition.
The water above and below
No designated coldwater reach within a mile and a half of this structure.
Water right now
| Gauge | Distance | Temp | Flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee River at Milwaukee | 15.2 mi | 62.1 °F | 819 cfs |
Live from USGS. A gauge miles away is a gauge miles away — the distance column is there so you can discount it. A hydro dam's releases move the flow below it on a schedule the gauge sees and this page does not.
Getting to it
- Grafton Boat Ramp 0.1 mi · boat launch · Milwaukee River
- Village Grove Park Boat Ramp 5.8 mi · boat launch · Milwaukee River
- Riverview Park Canoe Launch 6.0 mi · canoe launch · Milwaukee River
- Thiensville Boat Ramp 6.2 mi · boat launch · Milwaukee River
- Port Washington - Lake Michigan 6.3 mi · boat launch · Lake Michigan
- Watts Lake Fishing Pier 6.4 mi · walk in · Watts Lake (cedarburg Bog)
Public access sites near the dam, straight-line distance. A dam itself is private property unless its owner says otherwise; these are the places the state lists as open.
Fly shops nearby
- George's 17.8 mi · Milwaukee · +1-262-303-6096
- The Fly Fishers 19.5 mi · Milwaukee
- Fly Fishers Fly Shop 22.1 mi · Brookfield
- Minnesota Leeches 23.0 mi · Milwaukee
- Fishin' Hole 25.1 mi · Saint Francis