BirdTroutOpen the map Is the Trempealeau River good for brook trout?
Yes, on the classification rather than on a thermometer. WDNR has stocked brook trout into the Trempealeau River across 9 recorded plants, between 2015 and 2025, and WDNR classes most of its typed water as cold — 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's classification of the typed reaches is Cold, and that is a classification rather than a thermometer.
| Gauge | Now | July mean |
|---|---|---|
| SILVER CREEK AT STATE HIGHWAY 21 NEAR ANGELO, WI | 57.4 °F | 64.0 °F |
What you may keep
Wisconsin DNR classifies this water as Class II, Class III. The management tier on those reaches is stocked, 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 Trempealeau River
Trempealeau River — live water temperature, regulations and access
- Is the Trempealeau River good for brown trout?
- When to fish the Trempealeau River, Wisconsin
- How to get to the Trempealeau River, Wisconsin
- Trempealeau River fishing report
- Trempealeau River fishing regulations