BirdTrout
Eau Galle River, Wisconsin
21 mapped river miles, draining 233 square miles, in the Lower Chippewa basin watershed. A USGS gauge stands in it, but its record is too short for a measured July mean, so what this page knows about its temperature is today's reading and Wisconsin DNR's classification of the water itself.
50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands, breaking at 58, 64 and 70°F, that the app paints. Grey is water nobody has measured.
The nearest live reading
This gauge stands in the Eau Galle River. Its record is too short for a July mean, so the class below is Wisconsin DNR's — but the reading is this water.
The character of the water
Wisconsin DNR designates the Eau Galle Class II, managed as wild supplemented, and has typed 29.2 of its 42.93 NHD miles as Cold — 68 per cent, with nothing classed otherwise. There is no gauge in it and no measured temperature. The channel is 24.9 feet across at the median, fifth order, draining 233.29 square miles over the 20.7 miles of axis mapped. Public ground here is habitat and hunting-ground designations rather than a park: 2.64 miles inside one extensive wildlife habitat parcel and 2.63 through another that is open to public hunting, better than five miles of frontage from 3,078 acres. Five named tributaries come in and four of them are long — Missouri Creek at 19.2 miles entering at river mile 7.1, Cady Creek at the head, Hay Creek at 10.7 and Knights Creek at 14.5.
Thermal classification
Wisconsin DNR's classification of this water, reach by reach. A class, not a temperature — no July mean, because none was measured here.
| Reach | Typed miles | Band | Wisconsin DNR type |
|---|---|---|---|
| RM 20.7–10.7 | 29.2 | cold | — |
Wisconsin DNR has classified 29.2 of the 43 miles NHD carries for this stream — 68% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold. The untyped reaches are not warm water — they are water Wisconsin DNR's inventory does not reach, and the mile ranges above span only the reaches it does.
Questions about this river
- Eau Galle River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Eau Galle River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Eau Galle River — access, parking and public land
- Eau Galle River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Eau Galle River good for brook trout?
- Is the Eau Galle River good for brown trout?
Wisconsin DNR classification
Wisconsin DNR classifies this water as Class II. The management tier on those reaches is wild supplemented. This is a designation of the fishery, not the season and creel rules — those change yearly and live with the agency.
WDNR trout stream classification →
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 3,078 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Extensive Wl Habitat - Wd | state natural-resources agency | 1,038 |
| Extensive Wl Habitat - Public Hunting Ground | county land | 1,136 |
| Statewide Wildlife Habitat - Wd | state natural-resources agency | 904 |
Species
WDNR has stocked brook trout into this water 33 times between 2015 and 2025. That is a stocking record rather than a survey — it says the fish were put in, not that a survey has found them since.
WDNR has stocked brown trout into this water 8 times between 2015 and 2019. That is a stocking record rather than a survey — it says the fish were put in, not that a survey has found them since.
Hatches on this water
42 insects are recorded from northern Wisconsin, which is the region this river sits in. That is a claim about the region and not a survey of this stream: nobody has recorded which of them has been caught here. Open the river in the app and the hatch panel will narrow it to the ones whose temperature window today's reading is inside.
| Insect | Peak | Water | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fish Eggs Other |
October–January and April | 33–60°F | #10–16 |
| Little Brown Stonefly Taeniopteryx / Strophopteryx spp. |
February–April | 38–50°F | #12–16 |
| Blue-Winged Olive Baetis spp. |
March–May and September–November | 38–58°F | #16–22 |
| Blackfly Simulium spp. |
April–June | 40–65°F | #18–22 |
| Cranefly Tipula spp. |
April–June and September–October | 40–65°F | #6–10 |
| Grannom Brachycentrus spp. |
April–May | 48–58°F | #14–16 |
| Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie Rhyacophila spp. |
April–June and September–October | 45–68°F | #10–14 |
| Hendrickson Ephemerella subvaria |
April–May | 45–58°F | #12–14 |
| Alderfly Sialis spp. |
May–June | 52–66°F | #10–14 |
| Caterpillar Lepidoptera larvae |
May–September | 55–75°F | #8–14 |
| Crayfish Orconectes spp. |
May–October | 55–78°F | #4–8 |
| Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata |
May–June | 50–62°F | #4–6 |
| Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. |
May–August | 48–64°F | #12–16 |
| Light Cahill Maccaffertium ithaca |
May–July | 55–68°F | #12–16 |
And 28 more — the year-round records, mostly: midges, scuds and sculpins, which are in the water every day and are therefore never the news.
Tributaries and watershed
6 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Missouri Creek 19.2 mi · RM 7.1
- Cady Creek 16.8 mi · RM 20.7
- Hay Creek 16.1 mi · RM 10.7
- Arkansaw Creek 11.4 mi · RM 1.6
- Knights Creek 9.8 mi · RM 14.5
- Thompson Slough 2.4 mi · RM 0.0
Eau Galle River sits in HUC 8 07050005, the Lower Chippewa basin, and drains 233 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 98 NHD reaches carry the name for 42.9 miles in total — more than the 20.7 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.