BirdTrout
Trade River, Wisconsin
21 mapped river miles, draining 119 square miles, in the St Croix basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 15.7 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 15.7 miles away, at St. Croix River At St. Croix Falls, Wi — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
The Trade carries all three of Wisconsin DNR's classes — Class I, Class II and Class III, managed as wild, wild supplemented and stocked — and is typed over about half its length: 26.2 of 53.42 NHD miles, 49 per cent, running 20.5 Cold against 5.7 Cool. Half classified is half a description, and these pages cannot say which end each class sits at. There is no gauge in it; the nearest is on the St Croix, 15.7 miles away. The channel is 20.3 feet across at the median, fourth order, draining 118.79 square miles over 21.4 mapped miles. Public ground barely touches it: three parcels fronting half a mile between them. Butternut Creek, 15.2 miles long, comes in at the head at river mile 21.4.
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 21.4–21.4 | 1.1 | cold | — |
| RM 21.4–21.4 | 3.0 | cool | — |
| RM 21.4–21.4 | 4.8 | cold | — |
| RM 21.4–21.4 | 1.0 | cool | — |
| RM 21.4–21.4 | 0.6 | cold | — |
| RM 21.4–21.4 | 1.7 | cool | — |
| RM 0.7–0.0 | 14.0 | cold | — |
Wisconsin DNR has classified 26.2 of the 53 miles NHD carries for this stream — 49% of it. The typed water splits 20.5 mi cold, 5.7 mi cool. 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
- Trade River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Trade River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Trade River — access, parking and public land
- Trade River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Trade River good for brown trout?
Wisconsin DNR classification
Wisconsin DNR classifies this water as Class I, Class II, and Class III. More than one class appears because the classification changes along the river. The thermal bar above shows where. The management tier on those reaches is stocked, wild, 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, 1,574 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Round Lake State Habitat Area | state natural-resources agency | 24 |
| State Owned Islands - Burnett County - Big Trade Lake - Island No 1 | state natural-resources agency | 0 |
| State Owned Islands | state natural-resources agency | 1,550 |
Species
WDNR has stocked brown trout into this water 4 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
2 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- North Fork Trade River 17.6 mi · RM 0.0
- Butternut Creek 15.2 mi · RM 21.4
Trade River sits in HUC 8 07030001, 07030002 and 07030005, the St Croix basin, and drains 119 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 95 NHD reaches carry the name for 53.4 miles in total — more than the 21.4 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.