Lake Superior tributaries

Opening dates for trout fishing on Lake Superior tributary streams depend upon what stream you are fishing and where along the stream you plan to fish.

The standard trout season for all streams flowing into Lake Superior from their mouths upstream to the first impassible permanent barrier is the first Saturday in May at 5:00 a.m. to the last Sunday in September.

Many streams, however, with runs of fish from Lake Superior have an extended season, from the last Saturday in March to November 15. One example is the Brule River, downstream of Highway 2. Trout season on this stretch of the Brule opens on the last Saturday in March and closes on November 15.

For more information on the dates of and the Lake Superior tributary streams that fall under this extended trout season, please see the county and statewide table in the pdf version of Chapter NR 20.20, Fishing: Inland waters; Outlying waters [exit DNR] of the Wisconsin Administrative Code on the Revisor of Statutes Bureau Web site or the current Wisconsin Trout Fishing Regulations and Guide. You may download a copy of the trout regulations from our Web site.

The early opening season for trout on inland streams runs from first Saturday in March at 5:00 a.m. to the last Sunday in April at midnight. This early trout season for inland streams only applies to two Lake Superior tributaries:

• the White River and its tributaries from the White River Dam upstream to Pikes River Road Bridge, and
• the Iron River and its tributaries upstream from the sea lamprey barrier at the former site of the Orienta Dam.