We’re back from our trip to the Brule. I found out nobody from the northwoods calls this river the Bois Brule, so I’m going to fall in line and call it the Brule as well!
The Brule River: Ain't she pretty!
Our trip began on Friday morning with a drive from Madison up to Northeast Wisconsin. Stephen Rose and I took Hwy 53 up to Hwy 13 and headed east toward the Brule River. After sitting in the car for 5 hours we couldn’t help but stop at a beautiful river that passed under the highway: The Amnicon River.
The Amnicon River above Hwy 13
Look at that river! You’d think that river would be loaded with trout. Well, we weren’t having any luck after an hour until I hooked into a 6″ smallmouth bass. Clearly we were wasting our time looking for trout here. Perhaps further upstream there could be some resident trout. But boy is it beautiful!
So, back into the car to continue on east to the Brule.
We did some recon and found Big Lake. The best way to get there is via Hwy 27. Just north of Rush Lake Road you’ll see this sign.
Winneboujou Club Sign at Big Lake
On the DNR map it appears that the property line between State Forest Land and Winneboujou Club land is right where this sign is, with public land sitting to the south (or perhaps it’s just an easement?) At any rate, nowhere on this sign does it say “No Tresspassing”. I’m not sure what “permit” would be obtained by contacting the Club. Perhaps you can use the Club’s land on either side of the DNR land with their permission? We we took the well-worn trail down to the lake to have a gander.
Big Lake is a great-looking body of water where there are surely lots of trout. We saw some trout jumping out of the water that evening and decided to fish it the next morning.
We set up camp at Rush Lake, hoping there’d be fish in its waters as well.
Camping at Rush Lake
Camping at Rush Lake
Hammocks are a great way to camp anywhere there are trees. You don’t need flat ground and set up and take down are quick and easy.
Fishing Rush Lake: Nobody home
We quickly determined there weren’t many fish in Rush Lake, but it sure was a pretty spot.
At around 9pm the wolves started howling. What a sound! Much deeper and drawn out than the sound of coyotes. The wolves were quite a ways off but their howling was clear as a bell. It sure beats falling asleep to the sound of traffic.
In tomorrow’s post you’ll read all about our full day of fishing the Brule. See you then.
