BirdTrout
Robinson Creek, Wisconsin
15.2 mapped river miles, draining 113 square miles, in the Black basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 13.3 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is 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
The nearest gauge is 13.3 miles away, at Stillwell Creek At Yard Road Near Tomah, Wi — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
Robinson Creek is Class II water under Wisconsin DNR, managed as wild supplemented, with 26.5 of its 28.86 NHD miles typed Cold — 92 per cent, and no reach classed otherwise. Coverage that high with a single class means the file describes the whole creek and describes it the same way throughout. There is no gauge in it and no measured temperature. The channel is 21.2 feet across at the median, fifth order, draining 113.3 square miles over the 15.2 miles of axis mapped. Public ground fronts better than two-thirds of it: 7.0 miles inside the Black River State Forest and 3.66 through the Jackson County Forest. Five named tributaries come in along the length, the longest Wyman Creek at 8.2 miles entering at river mile 5.8.
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 13.2–0.0 | 26.5 | cold | — |
Wisconsin DNR has classified 26.5 of the 29 miles NHD carries for this stream — 92% 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
- Robinson Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Robinson Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Robinson Creek — access, parking and public land
- Robinson Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Robinson Creek good for brook trout?
- Is Robinson Creek good for brown trout?
- Is Robinson Creek good for rainbow 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
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 201,760 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Black River State Forest | state natural-resources agency | 69,705 |
| Jackson County Forest | county land | 132,054 |
Species
WDNR has stocked brook trout into this water once, in 2015. 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 10 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 rainbow trout into this water 14 times between 2016 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.
Hatches on this water
51 insects are recorded from the Wisconsin driftless, 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 Black Stonefly Allocapnia / Capnia spp. |
January–April | 34–46°F | #16–18 |
| 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 |
| Blue Quill Paraleptophlebia adoptiva |
April–May | 44–56°F | #16–18 |
| Cranefly Tipula spp. |
April–June and September–October | 40–65°F | #6–10 |
| Grannom Brachycentrus spp. |
April–May | 48–58°F | #14–16 |
| Hendrickson Ephemerella subvaria |
April–May | 45–58°F | #12–14 |
| Little Black Caddis Chimarra atterima |
April–May | 46–58°F | #16–20 |
| Caterpillar Lepidoptera larvae |
May–September | 55–75°F | #8–14 |
| Crayfish Orconectes spp. |
May–October | 55–78°F | #4–8 |
| Inchworm Geometridae |
May–June | 50–68°F | #12–16 |
| Light Cahill Maccaffertium ithaca |
May–July | 55–68°F | #12–16 |
And 37 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
5 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Wyman Creek 8.2 mi · RM 5.8
- Ketchum Creek 3.6 mi · RM 7.1
- Rudd Creek 3.4 mi · RM 10.0
- Glenn Creek 2.9 mi · RM 3.7
- Madison Creek 1.6 mi · RM 0.3
Robinson Creek sits in HUC 8 07040007, the Black basin, and drains 113 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 37 NHD reaches carry the name for 28.9 miles in total — more than the 15.2 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.