BirdTroutOpen the map Is Willow Creek good for rainbow trout?
Yes, on the classification rather than on a thermometer. WDNR has stocked rainbow trout into Willow Creek across 4 recorded plants, between 2015 and 2019, 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 55–65 °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 8–16 inches are what Wisconsin reports as typical.
What the state's records say
- Species
- Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
- In Wisconsin
- introduced
- Record here
- stocked — no survey record on this water
- Holds in
- 55–65 °F, stops feeding above 75 °F
- Typical
- 8–16 inches
- Spawns
- Spring — March into May — on gravel, which is what separates it from the two autumn spawners above.
Introduced, and the least widely reproducing of Wisconsin's three stream trout: stocked broadly, wild in a smaller share of the classified water than brown or brook.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BLACK EARTH CK NR TREATMENT PLNT @ CROSS PLAINS,WI | 56.8 °F | 62.3 °F |
What you may keep
Wisconsin DNR classifies this water as Class I. The management tier on those reaches is wild. 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 Willow Creek
Willow Creek — live water temperature, regulations and access
- Is Willow Creek good for brook trout?
- When to fish Willow Creek, Wisconsin
- How to get to Willow Creek, Wisconsin
- Willow Creek fishing report
- Willow Creek fishing regulations