BirdTrout

Lower Wisconsin River Watershed, Wisconsin

4,380 miles of mapped stream across 2,361 square miles of drainage in Richland, Iowa, Sauk, Grant, Columbia, Dane, Crawford, Vernon counties, in 138 named streams. Wisconsin designates 710 of those miles as trout water, on 97 streams. The 3 mainstem gauges with a July record read between 61.6 and 63.4°F in July.

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Map key
Public land — where the bank is open to walk and fish
USGS gauge — live water temperature
Water temperature — the colour of every stream in the basin

50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands the app paints. On this map the colour is Wisconsin DNR's own classification of the stream, not a measurement, except at the gauge dots, which read live. Grey is water Wisconsin DNR has not typed.

The watershed in numbers

HUC8 07070005 in the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset. Every figure below adds up the river pages in this basin — same records, one basin at a time.

4,380 mi
of mapped stream
7,779 NHD reaches
2,361 sq mi
drainage area
1,511,077 acres
61.6–63.4°F
July water temperature at the gauges
3 mainstem gauges, mean 62.4°F
8,075 ac
public land
0.5% of the basin · 23 units

Cold, cool and warm water

WDNR's trout stream classification, which types the stream by the trout population it supports rather than by measuring the water — every reach it calls Class I, II or III carries WDNR's own cold designation. It covers 20% of this basin's stream miles (874.3 of 4,380); the rest is untyped and is drawn grey on the map above.

874.3 of the 874.3 typed miles in this basin — 100% — are cold or cold-transitional water. Every typed reach carries the same class, which is as likely to be the coverage as the water: Wisconsin DNR has typed 20% of it.

What makes this watershed distinctive

The Lower Wisconsin is the driftless basin with the most designated water in the state on this site: 710 miles on 97 of its 138 named streams, out of 1,171 mapped miles, with 954 classified cold. The Wisconsin's own 80.4 miles are undesignated; what is designated is the coulee creeks running off the ridge into it — Mill Creek at 59.5 miles and Otter Creek at 49.2, both Class I and II, the Pine River at 56.0 and the Blue River at 37.1, Class II, and Knapp Creek's 31.3 miles as Class I. Public ground is 8,075 acres across 2,361 square miles of Richland, Iowa, Sauk and Grant counties, in small wildlife areas: Peter Helland at 3,591 acres, Mud Lake at 2,278. No gauge here holds a July record.

Every named stream in the basin

All 138 of them, longest first. 73 have a page of their own and are linked; the rest are in the app. The class column is Wisconsin DNR's designation of that stream. "Now" is the live USGS reading where a gauge stands in that stream.

Stream Miles Class Now Designation
Wisconsin River 80.4 untyped — —
Mill Creek 59.5 Cold — Class I, Class II
Pine River 56.0 Cold — Class II
Otter Creek 49.2 Cold — Class I, Class II
Blue River 37.1 Cold — Class II
Knapp Creek 31.3 Cold — Class I
Black Earth Creek 30.9 Cold — Class I
Willow Creek 29.5 Cold — Class I
Bear Creek 27.6 Cold — Class I, Class II
Fennimore Fork 26.9 Cold — Class II
Honey Creek 25.5 Cold — Class I, Class II
Rowan Creek 16.9 Cold — Class I, Class II
Big Green River 16.6 Cold — Class I
North Branch Honey Creek 15.8 Cold — Class II
Spring Creek 15.6 Cold — Class II
Middle Branch Duck Creek 15.3 Cold — Class II
Fancy Creek 14.2 Cold — Class I, Class II
Sanders Creek 13.4 Cold — Class II
West Branch Blue Mounds Creek 13.2 Cold — Class II
West Branch Pine River 12.9 Cold — Class II
Rocky Run 12.7 Cold — Class II, Class III
Blue Mounds Creek 12.7 untyped — —
Crooked Creek 11.2 Cold — Class I
Hinkson Creek 10.7 Cold — Class I
Ash Creek 10.6 Cold — Class I
Flint Creek 10.5 Cold — Class II
Millville Creek 10.5 Cold — Class II
Gran Grae Creek 10.5 Cold — Class I
Elvers Creek 10.2 Cold — Class I
Sneed Creek 10.2 untyped — —
Dunlap Creek 10.0 Cold — Class II
Little Green River 10.0 Cold — Class I
Richland Creek 10.0 Cold — Class I
West Fork Knapp Creek 9.8 Cold — Class II
Little Willow Creek 9.7 Cold — Class II
Vermont Creek 9.6 Cold — Class II
Pompey Pillar Creek 9.6 Cold — Class I
Rush Creek 9.3 Cold — Class II
Big Spring Branch 9.3 Cold — Class I
Trout Creek 9.2 Cold — Class I, Class II
Jennings Creek 9.1 Cold — Class II
West Branch Mill Creek 8.9 Cold — Class I
Sixmile Branch 8.9 Cold — Class II
Little Bear Creek 8.7 untyped — —
Lowery Creek 8.6 Cold — Class I
Morrey Creek 8.5 Cold — Class II
Melancthon Creek 8.3 Cold — Class I
Wilson Creek 8.2 untyped — Class I
Big Rock Branch 8.2 Cold — Class I, Class II
Byrds Creek 7.3 Cold — Class II
Little Kickapoo Creek 7.3 Cold — Class II, Class III
Lane Creek 7.1 Cold — Class II
Hawkins Creek 6.7 Cold — Class II
Prentice Creek 6.6 untyped — Class III
Dickinson Creek 6.6 Cold — Class II
Ryan Creek 6.5 Cold — Class I
Smoky Hollow Creek 6.3 Cold — Class II
Sand Branch 6.3 Cold — Class II
Harker Creek 6.2 Cold — Class I, Class II
Horse Creek 6.1 Cold — Class II
Soules Creek 5.6 Cold — Class I
Bush Creek 5.6 untyped — —
East Branch Blue Mounds Creek 5.5 Cold — Class II
East Branch Mill Creek 5.5 Cold — Class I
Warner Creek 5.0 Cold — Class II
English Run 4.8 Cold — Class II
Clear Creek 4.8 untyped — Class III
McCarville Creek 4.7 Cold — Class I
Penn Hollow Creek 4.6 untyped — —
Norway Hollow Creek 4.6 untyped — —
Garfoot Creek 4.4 Cold — Class II
Lee Creek 4.4 Cold — Class I
Manley Creek 4.3 Cold — Class I
Canyon Park Creek 4.1 Cold — Class II
West Branch Marshall Creek 4.1 Cold — Class I
Parfreys Glen Creek 4.0 Cold — Class I
Brush Creek 4.0 Cold — Class II
Love Creek 3.9 Cold — Class I
Norwegian Hollow Creek 3.9 Cold — Class II
Basswood Creek 3.9 Cold — Class I
Irish Hollow Creek 3.8 untyped — —
Marshall Creek 3.8 Cold — Class I
White Hollow Creek 3.7 untyped — —
Jimtown Branch 3.7 Cold — Class I
Meudt Creek 3.6 untyped — —
Plum Run 3.6 untyped — —
Bohn Creek 3.5 Cold — Class I, Class II
Cave Hollow Creek 3.5 Cold — Class II
Marble Creek 3.5 Cold — Class I
Arneson Creek 3.4 untyped — —
South Buck Creek 3.3 untyped — —
Hanzel Creek 3.2 Cold — Class I
Snake Creek 3.2 untyped — —
Badger Hollow Creek 3.1 untyped — —
Johnston Creek 3.0 Cold — Class II
Higgins Creek 3.0 Cold — Class II
John Hill Creek 3.0 Cold — Class II
Cross Slough 3.0 untyped — —
Cutler Creek 2.9 Cold — Class II
Grinsell Branch 2.9 Cold — Class I
Reickman Slough 2.9 untyped — —
Duesler Creek 2.8 untyped — —
North Buck Creek 2.8 untyped — —
Kepler Branch 2.8 Cold — Class I
Bronson Creek 2.8 Cold — Class II
Indian Creek 2.7 Cold — Class II
Center Creek 2.6 untyped — —
Lebansky Creek 2.5 untyped — —
Rocky Branch 2.5 untyped — —
Moen Creek 2.4 Cold — Class II
Pengelly Creek 2.4 untyped — —
Miller Branch 2.4 Cold — Class II
Pigeon Run 2.4 Cold — Class I
O'Connor Branch 2.4 Cold — Class II
Strutt Creek 2.3 Cold — Class I
Misslich Creek 2.3 Cold — Class II
Baker Creek 2.2 Cold — Class II
Roxbury Creek 1.9 untyped — —
Jones Slough 1.9 untyped — —
Klusendorf Branch 1.7 untyped — —
Martin Creek 1.6 Cold — Class I
Pier Spring Creek 1.6 Cold — Class II
Wolf Run 1.6 untyped — —
Big Ditch 1.5 untyped — —
Knudson Branch 1.4 untyped — —
Whites Slough 1.4 untyped — —
Fritsch Creek 1.3 untyped — —
Hutter Slough 1.3 untyped — —
Big Cat Slough 1.2 untyped — —
Paul Creek 1.1 untyped — —
Kickapoo River 1.1 untyped — —
Gallus Slough 1.0 Cold — Class I
Bullhead Slough 0.9 untyped — —
Halfway Prairie Creek 0.7 untyped — —
Marsh Creek 0.7 untyped — —
Norton Slough 0.6 untyped — —
Wood Slough 0.3 untyped — —
Cynthia Slough 0.3 untyped — —

Public land in the watershed

8,075 acres in 23 units, which is 0.5% of the 1,511,077 acres the basin covers. Private inholdings carried in the same source file are excluded, here and on the map.

Managing agency Acres Share Units
Wisconsin DNR 7,961 99% 21
County forest 114 1% 1
US Fish and Wildlife Service 0 0% 1

The biggest named blocks of it, each with its own page — the streams on that ground, what is open to hunt on it, and where the access sites are.

Best time to fish

The hatch calendar for the Wisconsin driftless, which is the region this basin's centre falls in — the same regions the app's hatch panel uses. It is a regional record, not a survey of this watershed: nobody has counted insects basin by basin. Year-round records (midges, scuds, sculpins) are left out; they are true every month and they are not what a calendar is for.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

51 insects are recorded from the Wisconsin driftless. Each links to its own page, with the flies that imitate it.

Neighbouring watersheds

The subbasins that share a boundary with this one and carry coldwater streams.