Coppersmith Studios Presents

Warm Water Streams of Wisconsin

The Black River - Lower Section

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Neillsville

I have never actually fished at Neillsville but I know this is a good area. This part of the stream starts becoming a little too deep for wading. Most people would make a float trip out of here. The bass are known to start getting bigger in this area. A boat landing and access is available a few miles downstream from Neillsville on the West side of the river. If you are going to float this section down to Lake Arbutus be prepared to navigate about a half dozen rapids.


Black River near Neilsville		East Fork Black River

East Fork Black River

This is a stream I regret never having fished. It converges with the Black River at Lake Arbutus. The East Fork travels in a very much easterly direction thru mostly state and county forests. This gives the stream both good water quality and an increased sense of wilderness. From what I have seen the water appears to be a little darker on the East Fork than on the main Black River. I get the impression it is more suited to float fishing than wade fishing as there tends to be long deep pools interspersed with short rapids sections. The rapids become more prevalent as you approach Lake Arbutus. Smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike and musky are all present in the East Fork. There is a good state run campground near the lower section.

Lake Arbutus

The Black River and its East Fork converge in Lake Arbutus. This is actually a reservoir, not a lake. The town of Hatfield along its shores boasts of a population of 5000 during the summer and 50 during the winter, a fluctuation attributed to the popular tourism of the area. Lake Arbutus does offer good fishing. Lots of structure is present in terms of boulders, points, islands and drop offs. The water here is as dark as the Black River, about 18" visibility. I fished this lake once in late May in caught some crappies, rock bass, small pike and a couple 13" smallmouth bass. Some good northern and musky are said to reside here.

Below Lake Arbutus are a series of rapids. When sufficient water is being released from the Hatfield Dam the rapids reach ratings of 2 and 3, classifying it as serious whitewater.

Halls Creek Landing

Mid way between Lake Arbutus and Black River Falls is Halls Creek Landing on the west side of the Black River, right where Halls Creek enters. As I recall the road to the boat landing is very steep gravel but still safe to drive. Some of the other landings upstream required traveling on roads that I did not consider safe for my 2WD passenger car. Halls Creek marks the point where the Black River begins transitioning between a fast, shallow stream to the slower, deeper waters of the Black River Falls reservoir. During low water a person could wade fish upstream of the landing and if you have a canoe you could float a ways downstream and then paddle back up when done. I fished the area twice in my canoe and found the action good for smallmouth bass 12" to 14".


Black River near Halls Landing	17 inch smallmouth bass			Fish from the lower Black River

Pine Lodge Landing (Black River Falls Reservoir)

What was once a large waterfall at Black River Falls has since been turned into a hydroelectric dam. This backs up the river for about 5 miles. Interestingly, if you look at a map you may notice there does not appear to be any widening of the river. This is because it flows thru a dells type area. Large rock cliffs rise 20 to 30 feet straight up along each side of the river and prevent it from widening out. These cliffs create an immediate drop off which means there is not much of a littoral zone, the shallow areas which are the basis of the food chain. I motored up the impoundment with a depth finder and noticed very few fish on the readout. I did manage to catch a couple small bass and walleye holding tight to those cliffs but in general I wouldn't recommend this area. During warm days the water skiers like to come out and they make the area unfishable.


Black River below Black River Falls	Black River near Hawk Island	Black River near Irving	Fish from the lower Black River	Black River near Lost Falls Restort

The Lower Black River - Black River Falls to Melrose

Immediately below Black River Falls the Black River takes on a radically different character from its former upstream self. Instead of boulders, rocks and gravel the streambed is about 85% sand, 10% gravel and 5% miscellaneous. During low flows the current is leisurely and slow. Paddling a few miles upstream is not difficult. During average spring flows or above average summer flows you can use a small motor here but you will need a prop protector or river runner. When the river floods, and at times it floods severely, it is best to stay off the river as it would be dangerous and you probably wouldn't catch anything anyway. This is a popular canoeing stream and there are several canoe liveries in Black River Falls that rent canoes or provide shuttle services. The campground Lost Falls Resort that is located in the western side of the stream 4 miles northeast of Melrose (or at least was, as I haven't been there since 1999) also used to rent canoes and provide shuttle service. Many people like to make a multi-day trip on this stream and camp out on the many exposed sandbars at night.

As to the fishing, the smallmouth bass tend to be larger in this section of the river than above. I have heard of 5 pounders caught, although the largest I ever brought in was 3 pounds. Then again, I tend to use small 1/8th oz. jigs which aren't as appealing to a big bass. By float fishing you can cover more area and therefore have the potential to catch more bass than by wading. At times the walleyes can be plentiful but they usually run small, well below the legal limit of 15 inches. In my experience the northern pike are less common and a little smaller than in the upper section. I am sure some big ones are present but I never fished for them. Also present in good numbers are musky, some of admirable size. I heard of one person who claims to have caught in one season over 100 musky from this area (including below Melrose) with the largest two being of 30 and 37 pounds. I believe his main technique was to drift suckers during the fall. I have had a couple musky follow my bass lures but they never struck.

One dimension of fishing in this lower section that does not exist much in the upper section is bait fishing for rough fish. Throw out a night crawler and you could catch anything. Redhorse, shad (up to 11"), sheepshead (which commonly hit small jigs too), channel catfish and an occasional carp (sometimes with a sea lamprey attached to their head) will often show up. The channel catfishing in general is excellent in this area. I have caught channel catfish up to 10 pounds from the lower Black River but I've hooked and lost larger ones than that. The best catfishing will be near deep holes with fallen timber. I typically don't use more than 12 pound line and that often isn't strong enough to pull a really big cat out of those tree lined holes.


Black River near Melrose			Black River near North Bend

The best fishing for catfish is from dusk to dawn. During my younger years when I was a little more durable I would anchor my canoe nearby a good catfish hole and fish all night for them. I would cast out 2 lines and then put a cooler behind my canoe seat, lean back and try to sleep. I would wrap 1 line around each hand with the idea that when a fish hit I would feel the pull and wake up. Some nights I wouldn't get much sleep as the cats and snapping turtles hit all night long. There were a few nights when action was a bit slow. Ideally one should move on to the next hole when this happens, but when it is dark, foggy, and one is half asleep it can be difficult to find the motivation to change location.

When targeting channel catfish I prefer to fish either fresh cut bait or chicken liver. Chicken liver is easier to come by and has more attractive power, leaking out a lot of blood in a short time. It tends to attract snapping turtles and can fall off the hook. Cut bait will almost never fall off the hook, catches fewer turtles and catches almost as many cats as chicken liver but you need to catch a carp to make some. Carp seem to have more blood than other fish and are oily too. Nightcrawlers work well but they attract too many fish species which can be a bit of a nuisance when fishing at night. When I do fish nightcrawlers for catfish I like to fish 2 on one hook and add a new drops of a fish attracting oil. On cloudy days it is not uncommon to catch catfish here on bass lures, especially spinner baits fished near timber. And one final word on the good tasting channel catfish: they have a consumption advisory warning, as do most other fish below Black River Falls due to Mercury contamination from one of the paper mills. When I was younger I didn't know that and I unwittingly ate some of those fish.

The area from the Black River Falls dam down to Lost Falls Resort, which is about 3 miles above Melrose, is the best area to fish. You can recognize Lost Falls Resort from the stream by noticing the large bluff on the west side of the river. There is a large hole here and a sandstone wall immediately downstream, on the west side. The campground is immediately above this bluff and hole. There are access points just below the dam, at Hawk Island and a few miles downstream at Irving. These are basically carry in sites.

Three miles below Lost Falls Resort the river splits into two channels for a couple miles. The western channel is slightly larger. There is an access point here called Grinde's Landing. The east channel has a good amount of timber in it and while I was able to float thru without impediment I suspect the channel is occasionally blocked during low water, necessitating a small portage. In general the west channel has better fishing than the east because it is deeper. However, one little secret I can let out here, the east channel gives access to several private lakes that see very little pressure. These are Shallow Lake, Deep Lake and Mud Lake. For all practical purposes these are wilderness lakes with no houses or development on them. I have not personally canoed the channels leading from the Black River to these lakes and chances are there may be a tree to two that need to be portaged around. The only word I have heard on the fishery here is that it offers excellent fishing for large musky. I suspect very few people fish here.

Melrose to Mississippi River

Below Melrose the Black River begins to widen out and exudes less of that intimate, fishy feeling more common to the portions upstream. The fishing still remains good and motor boats can be used here, but with caution. The Hwy 108 bridge just southwest of Melrose has a well developed boat landing suitable for motor boats. This area of the river sees a fair amount of pressure compared to the rest of the river. Nonetheless the days that I have fished here I still caught fish. I heard of one person who caught a 48 pound flathead catfish near the bridge on a small jig and worm. I have never caught a flathead catfish from the Black River but I haven't really fished for them. About 6 miles downstream of Melrose is a good landing at North Bend. The river here is similar to Melrose. I should also note that during wet springs the mosquitoes can be bad, starting in late May.

From North Bend to the next landing at Hwy 35 is about 12 river miles. No roads cross the stream between these two points. Surely whatever swims in those waters doesn't see many hooks. The Hwy 35 access is for canoes only and is very steep. Consider using a rope to get your boat up or down here. While the lower Black River always has a significant buffer zone of forest along its shorelines there are a good number of cattle farms outside of that buffer zone. The many feeder streams transport the farm runoff and the water quality suffers a little degradation. There are many downed trees in this area making use of a motor boat tricky. There are also a lot of shallow sandbars. I had always wanted to float the long stretch from North Bend to Hwy 35 but never got around to doing it. I did fish a couple days at Hwy 35 and can report I had decent action for all the usual species. I have heard large northern pike roam theses waters.

A half mile below Hwy 35 the river splits into two main channels. The west channel is the oldest and has the most water flow. I did not realize this until recently as it is not shown on the DeLorme Atlas but 6 miles downstream of the Hwy 35 landing there is a bridge crossing from Hwy 93 and this too has a landing along the west channel. Shortly beyond that the Black River splinters into a myriad of minor channels and backwater sloughs as it forms a 4 mile long delta into the Mississippi River just north of Lacrosse. I wouldn't recommend traveling thru this area without a GPS. People have gone fishing here and never returned, and I don't think it's because they fell in love with the area and decided to set up a hut and live there forever. This is another area of the Black River I have not fished but always wanted to. However, I did spend a week fishing some of the other backwater areas of the Mississippi that were nearby. I found the fishing to be very good for a diversity of species, including smallmouth and largemouth bass, walleye, sheepshead, channel and flathead catfish, dogfish, carp and an assortment of panfish. The whole area of the Mississippi here has a wild, adventurous feeling about it. Unfortunately there are some trains that commonly run alongside the river corridor. When they blow their horn it reminds you that civilization may be out of sight but it is still within hearing.

There you have it - a description of fishing on the Black River, one of Wisconsin's better fishing streams.

Upper Black River

Created by: Dan Coppersmith 2023| www.CoppersmithStudios.com

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Coppersmith Studios Presents

Warm Water Streams of Wisconsin

The Black River - Lower Section