The three county area offers some incredible river fishing opportunities. The Clearwater, Crow, Elk, Sauk, and St. Francis rivers all offer unique and relatively underutilized angling opportunities with scenic views. Below you will find a variety of summaries and reports on the warm water rivers in our area.
The following are PDF files
- North Fork Crow River Report - 2012
- South Two River Report - 2006
- Clearwater River Report - 2005
- St. Francis River Report - 2004
- Watab River Report - 2003
- Elk River Report - 1999
- Sauk River Report - 1998
From July 9 - August 3, 2012, a fish population assessment of the Crow River was conducted from the mouth of the Crow River in Dayton to the Meeker/Wright County line near the town of Kingston. The population assessment encompassed approximately 93 river miles of the North Fork and Crow Rivers. All fish species were sampled via boat electrofishing with special targeted sampling for channel catfish using trot lines. Below is a summary of species sampled during the assessment with sportfish species being highlighted.
Crow River Pop Assmt - July 9 - Aug 3, 2012
| Species - electrofishing | Number | Average length (in) | Max length (in) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bigmouth buffalo | 16 | 20.5 | 27.0 | |
| Black bullhead | 80 | 5.4 | 9.8 | |
| Black crappie | 21 | 5.8 | 10.2 | |
| Blackside darter* | 23 | |||
| Bluegill | 4 | 4.5 | 7.3 | |
| Bluntnose minnow* | 24 | |||
| Bowfin (dogfish) | 12 | 16.5 | 18.3 | |
| Burbot | 10 | 10.5 | 12.6 | |
| Carp | 182 | 20.6 | 30.1 | |
| Channel Catfish | 94 | 19.8 | 30.7 | |
| Common shiner | 2 | 4.5 | 4.5 | |
| Creek chub* | 1 | |||
| Fathead minnow* | 24 | |||
| Golden redhorse | 3 | 9.0 | 13.6 | |
| Golden shiner* | 1 | |||
| Green sunfish | 21 | 4.5 | 8.3 | |
| Horny head chub | 26 | 5.2 | 6.3 | |
| Hybrid sunfish* | 1 | |||
| Johnny darter* | 4 | |||
| Largemouth bass | 18 | 3.7 | 6.4 | |
| Longnose dace* | 1 | |||
| Northern hogsucker | 17 | 13.3 | 17.2 | |
| Northern pike | 22 | 16.7 | 22.6 | |
| Orange spotted sunfish* | 4 | |||
| Pumpkinseed* | 1 | |||
| Sand shiner* | 38 | |||
| Shorthead redhorse | 460 | 13.7 | 20.7 | |
| Silver redhorse | 74 | 18.5 | 23.5 | |
| Smallmouth Bass | 32 | 9.7 | 17.0 | |
| Spotfin shiner* | 30 | |||
| Spottail shiner* | 1 | |||
| Tadpole madtom* | 1 | |||
| Walleye | 12 | 14.8 | 19.7 | |
| White sucker | 107 | 13.8 | 17.9 | |
| Yellow bullhead* | 1 | |||
| Yellow perch | 4 | 4.5 | 5.5 | |
| Total | 1,372 | |||
| Species - trot lines | ||||
| Channel catfish | 175 | 21.8 | 30.5 |
* no measurements taken
Updated April 5, 2013