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What fish run in the Iron River (Bayfield County)?

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The run corridor The mouth Iron River Light and Power Company WP182 Dam — the run stops here
The colour is this river's run stage today, read off WDNR run-timing guidance. Where along the corridor the fish are is not modelled here — only the sixteen rivers the staging estimator covers carry that. Drawn 30 September 2026, north up, and it is a map of the river rather than of the lake it runs from.

4 species run the Iron River (Bayfield County) out of Lake Superior — coho salmon, steelhead, lake-run brown trout and lake-run brook trout. The corridor is 23.0 miles of run water over 23 NHD reaches, from the harbour mouth up to Iron River Light and Power Company WP182 Dam. As of 30 September 2026, coho salmon is at peak run, steelhead is at first runners and lake-run brown trout is at first runners. Lake-run brook trout is on this water under protection rather than as a fishery — read the regulations page before making a cast at one.

23.0 corridor miles · Lake Superior · windows curated from WDNR guidance · page built 30 September 2026

The run species, one by one

Every species the corridor file records on this river, with the field mark that calls it at the net. Windows are WDNR's curated guidance; a species that runs twice on one calendar carries both entries.

Coho salmon — silver salmon

White gums with a dark tongue, and spots on the upper lobe of the tail only. Smaller and brighter than a king of the same date. Coho run behind the kings and further into the autumn, and they stay aggressive longer — a fish that will still chase a spoon three weeks into the river.

Window on this river
Sept–Oct · peak Sep
Size
Four to twelve pounds.
Latin
Oncorhynchus kisutch
Stage as of 30 September 2026
Peak run

Coho salmon in Wisconsin — every river with a run →

Steelhead — lake-run rainbow trout

A chrome rainbow off the lake, the stripe faint on a fresh fish and loud on one that has wintered in the river. Two runs on one calendar: a fall push that winters in the river and a spring run onto the gravel. The fall fish are the reason a January river is not empty.

Window on this river
Sept–May · peak Apr–May
Size
Five to twelve pounds, and bigger on the Manistee-type rivers.
Latin
Oncorhynchus mykiss
Stage as of 30 September 2026
First runners

Steelhead in Wisconsin — every river with a run →

Lake-run brown trout — coaster brown, on Superior

Buttery flanks with black and red spots, and no spotting on the tail worth the name — the mark that separates it from everything else in the run at the net. Runs with the autumn steelhead and behind the salmon, and is the most nocturnal fish in the corridor. Many hold over into February and March.

Window on this river
Sept–Nov · peak Oct
Size
Three to fifteen pounds.
Latin
Salmo trutta
Stage as of 30 September 2026
First runners

Lake-run brown trout in Wisconsin — every river with a run →

Lake-run brook trout — lake-run brook trout

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

Window on this river
Sept–Oct
Size
Twelve to twenty inches, and a fish over four pounds is a rare one.
Latin
Salvelinus fontinalis
Stage as of 30 September 2026
Tail-off

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.

Lake-run brook trout in Wisconsin — every river with a run →

More on the Iron River (Bayfield County)

Nearby run rivers

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