The Oconto River - Wisconsin

The Oconto river is, I guess, my home river. I live in Green Bay and the Oconto is only a 20-30 minute drive depending on which water I want to fish. There is about 15 miles of river that anadromous fish can travel on the Oconto. The river enters Green Bay at the town of Oconto and the fish can travel up to the dam at Stiles.

The Oconto used to be a fairly good steelhead river, never great in my time, but in recent years steelhead fishing on the Oconto has gone down the crapper. Lake run Brown Trout fishing has, however, steadily improved each season for a while now. It has become nearly common place to go out and get a couple of trout in a days fishing and now we even have guides working out of Tightlines Fly Shop in De Pere, WI.

There is a good amount of water to fish up and down the river's length. The gradient of the river is pretty tame, and there are no rapids, but there is the occasional riffle and pool. The river is a good size for two handed rods and swinging flies will catch you fish.