Coaster brook trout Run in Wisconsin

Salvelinus fontinalis, lake-run brook trout — 7 Wisconsin rivers on this map carry a run of it, Lake Superior. 7 of them are inside a window as of 1 October 2026.

Wisconsin's coaster brook trout, *Salvelinus fontinalis*, is a Lake Superior fish and nothing else — no Lake Michigan shore carries it. Seven rivers on the Wisconsin side hold a run, all of them Superior tributaries, from the Nemadji at 70.2 corridor miles down through the Amnicon at 42.6, the Bois Brule at 40.4, the Iron River in Bayfield County at 23.0, the Sioux at 15.3, the Flag at 13.0, and the Cranberry at 8.8. The window on every one of them is the same and is month-grained: Sept–Oct, with no peak recorded.

A brook trout off the lake is silvered over the vermiculation, with the white-edged fins that give the species away whatever the colour of the fish. Twelve to twenty inches is the usual span, and a fish over four pounds is a rare one. The coaster was nearly gone from the American shore by the 1960s; what runs now follows forty years of restriction and restocking, under special catch-and-release rules that differ river by river.

Where these rivers are

7 run rivers on Lake Superior — the Wisconsin shore, each in the colour of its own run stage today.

Lake Superior — the Wisconsin shore7 run rivers on this shore, 7 inside a window today Peak run

Drawn 1 October 2026. The ground is the subbasin mesh the app scores in, so the coastline is where the mesh stops rather than a separate shoreline; the mark at each river is its mouth, drawn for every river including the handful whose whole run corridor is under a mile and has no line to show.

Where it runs, and when

Ranked by the rivers the staging estimator models first — the sixteen systems with a USGS temperature gauge behind them — then by corridor miles. Neither is a measure of fishing, and nothing on this page ranks a fishery.

River	Lake	Window	Peak	Miles	Stage
Nemadji River	Superior	Sept–Oct	—	70.2	Tail-off
Amnicon River	Superior	Sept–Oct	—	42.6	Tail-off
Bois Brule River	Superior	Sept–Oct	—	40.4	Tail-off
Iron River (Bayfield County)	Superior	Sept–Oct	—	23.0	Tail-off
Sioux River	Superior	Sept–Oct	—	15.3	Tail-off
Flag River	Superior	Sept–Oct	—	13.0	Tail-off
Cranberry River	Superior	Sept–Oct	—	8.8	Tail-off

Stage as of 1 October 2026. It moves every day and this page does not — current conditions are here.

Identification

A brook trout off the lake: silvered flanks over the vermiculation, with the white-edged fins that give the species away whatever the colour of the fish.

Size

Twelve to twenty inches, and a fish over four pounds is a rare one.

Behaviour in the river

A Lake Superior fish and a restoration story rather than a fishery. Enters after ice-out and again to stage in autumn.

Why it matters here

The coaster is Lake Superior's own brook trout and was nearly gone from the American shore by the 1960s. What runs these rivers now is the result of forty years of restriction and restocking.

Tackle and tactics

Catch and release, and tackle chosen to make that survivable: barbless hooks, a net that keeps the fish in the water, and heavy enough line to land it fast rather than play it out.
Fly: 5–6 weight, streamers and soft hackles. Check the state guide before fishing for these at all — the rules on coasters are not the general rules.

Regulations

Great Lakes tributary rules are not the inland trout rules, and they differ by river and often by reach. Wisconsin's regulation summary is here; the state's own guide is the regulation.

Coasters are a managed restoration fishery under special catch-and-release regulations on much of this shore, and the rules differ river by river. Read the state guide for the water you are on.

The rest of the run

Open the lake-run map →Every run river, with where the fish are holding today.Or get BirdTrout on the App Store