UWS Student Relaxes on the Brule River

Brule River shoreline during the winter season. | Photo by Isaiah Wiita

The 2023 Bois Brule River fishing opener downstream from U.S. Highway 2 to Lake Superior is Mar. 25, and anglers from around the Midwest will travel to the northland for it. The Brule River is in Brule, Wis., and is famous for its trout fishing.

Kaden Bergman, a senior at UW-Superior, has been an active fishing angler of the Brule River for three years. Bergman learned about the Brule River from fishing the Namekagon River, which is in Bergman’s hometown of Hayward, Wis.

“I really loved putting on the waders and getting out into the stream, it’s a completely different experience. I started looking for more places to go fish, and through talking to people on the river, the Brule kept on getting suggested,” said Bergman. With the Brule River being a 37-minute drive from the UWS campus students can make the drive to experience the famous Brule River.

“The Brule is a really tough river to fish, but the rewards are worth the days you go home empty-handed. The Brule is a great river to go fish for Steelhead Trout, one of the hardest fighting and largest freshwater fish that the Lake Superior area has to offer.

Local angler nets a Steelhead from the Brule River. | Photo by Jake Zimmer

They’re hard to catch, it took me until this fall to catch anything worth keeping, but there’s a sense of pride when you finally get one in the net,” said Bergman. “The Brule also has some really great scenery, and it changes from clay banks to boulders and sand as you move further north towards the Mouth. Even if I don’t catch a fish, it’s worth the drive over just to spend a day outdoors.”

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources the Brule River is 44 miles long, beginning in Solan Springs, Wis., and flows into Lake Superior.

The spring steelhead run is what attracts fishing anglers. Not only do the steelhead run in early spring, but the Brule River will also have a run of chinook salmon and lake run brown trout in late summer early fall, according to the Wis. DNR.

The Brule River has opportunities for all that are looking to explore the great outdoors.

If interested in fishing the Brule River, go to the Wis. DNR webpage for fishing rules, regulations, and Wis. fishing license. The 2023 fishing season opens May 7.