BirdTroutOpen the map Is Hefty Creek good for brook trout?
Yes, on the classification rather than on a thermometer. WDNR has stocked brook trout into Hefty Creek once, in 2017, and this site reads the water as cold from WDNR's management tier for it, which is an inference from how the fishery is managed and not a temperature WDNR publishes — but no USGS gauge on this river reports water temperature, so this site has no measured July mean to hold against the 53–61 °F band this fish wants. That is a stocking record and not a survey: it says WDNR put the fish in, not that anyone has since found one holding over. Fish of 6–11 inches are what Wisconsin reports as typical.
What the state's records say
- Species
- Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)
- In Wisconsin
- native
- Record here
- stocked — no survey record on this water
- Holds in
- 53–61 °F, stops feeding above 68 °F
- Typical
- 6–11 inches
- Spawns
- October and November, on gravel in groundwater-fed shallows, often at the mouths of seeps rather than in the main current.
Native, and the driftless spring creeks and the northern forest headwaters hold it in different country: karst springs in the south, tannic sand and gravel in the north.
Is the water cold enough
No USGS gauge on this river reports water temperature, so there is no measured July mean to put beside the species' band. WDNR publishes no temperature classification for this water; the Cold band above is inferred from its management tier for the fishery, and it is not a thermometer.
| Gauge | Now | July mean |
|---|---|---|
| SUGAR RIVER NEAR VERONA, WI | 58.3 °F | 67.4 °F |
What you may keep
Wisconsin DNR classifies this water as Class II. The management tier on those reaches is wild supplemented. This is a designation of the fishery and not the season and creel rules.
WDNR trout stream classification → Wisconsin season and creel rules →
What to fish for it
- Fish Eggs — October–January and April, #10–16
- Little Black Stonefly — January–April, #16–18
- Little Brown Stonefly — February–April, #12–16
- Blue-Winged Olive — March–May and September–November, #16–22
- Blackfly — April–June, #18–22
- Blue Quill — April–May, #16–18
- Cranefly — April–June and September–October, #6–10
- Grannom — April–May, #14–16
The insects recorded from this river's region, earliest first. The full calendar →
More about Hefty Creek
Hefty Creek — live water temperature, regulations and access