We’re back in Wisconsin for some fall smallie fishing on the Chippewa and Flambeau Rivers. Over the past few years the fishing has been a challenge due to high water. However, right now this area in Wisconsin has been spared the heavy rain that the southern part of the state has recently received. The Flambeau is at a normal rate of flow for this time of year and is very fishable. The Chippewa is running a little high right now, and it wouldn’t hurt if it would drop another half a foot to make the fishing conditions ideal. This is the time of year when the smallies start their annual migration down both rivers to overwinter in the Holcombe Flowage. Large concentrations of smallies can seemingly appear out of nowhere, and if you are lucky enough to be in the right spot you can experience some truly outstanding river smallmouth fishing. The water temperature in both rivers is sixty-eight degrees due to unseasonably warm and summerlike weather conditions. A little too warm for my taste. Over the many years that I have fished these rivers in the fall I have caught the biggest and most smallies when the water temperatures drop into the fifties. The smallies usually start to show up en masse on average around the last week in September and the first week in October. Of course that can very depending river flow and water temperature. It is still a little early for the large concentrations of smallies to start showing up. With that said we did manage to catch seventeen fish today. Cindy had the hot stick (which is not unusual) and caught the four biggest smallies of the trip.Those four weighed 3-4, 3-6, 3-8, and 3 lbs. 13 ounces. The picture of Cindy proudly holding that fish is included in this report. If we don’t get a lot of rain over the next several days my hope is that the next couple of weeks could provide some of the best river smallie fall fishing that I have seen in quite some time.
River Smallie Adventures Fishing Report September 22, 2019
