Questions about lake of the falls campground

[jason6586]

Can anyone tell me if there are showers there? Also where would be a few good places to fish (off shore) around the flowage that you can drive to?

Thanks

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

There are not showers at Lake of the Falls Campground. See http://ironcountywi.com/?110060

[BlueRanger]

There are only a few places where it's possible to access the water from a road, and I can't say whether any of them would offer any potential for actually catching fish.

Most or all of the campground shoreline is part of a fish refuge that extends downstream from the falls, but if you go across the river to the park, part of its shoreline is below the refuge. But access options may be limited depending on the water level.

If you head south of the campground on Popkos Circle Road, there are a few short stretches within the first couple miles where the road runs along the water. That's it for the easy access. Three of the landings - Springstead, Fisherman's and Sportsman's - have piers, but they're mainly intended for launching boats. No reason you couldn't fish there, but boaters using the ramps will expect you to move out of their way.

If you want to do some hiking, there's a short loop trail starting at Fisherman's Landing that will get you to the shoreline at a few points. I don't know if the fishing would be productive, but there are definitely some nice views of the flowage.

Another spot to try would be the Flambeau River below the dam. Take FF south to Dam Road, then turn on what the map calls Upper Flambeau River Boat Landing Road - I think the road sign just says Flambeau Landing Rd. There's a short trail down to the river just before you get to the landing itself. It's a pretty little spot, but it can get muddy at times.

If you check out my virtual tour of the TFF, there are scenes taken from every spot where you can access the water from a road, so you can see what they look like. It's at:

http://tours.grandviewvirtual.com/12204

[The Tiny Fisherman]

Another spot to try would be the Flambeau River below the dam. Take FF south to Dam Road, then turn on what the map calls Upper Flambeau River Boat Landing Road - I think the road sign just says Flambeau Landing Rd. There's a short trail down to the river just before you get to the landing itself. It's a pretty little spot, but it can get muddy at times.


Hate to correct Blue, but below the dam is a fish refuge for about a half mile. The landing you can drive up to is Robinson's landing (named after Ed Robinson, river guide, prior owner of Midway Bar). The road to the dam area and Sportsman landing is Dam Road.

Sturgeon landing is a good spot to fish from shore not far from the park. The area where Trude connects with the Flowage, off Popkos Circle Road is good too.

Catch the big one,

[Flambeau dreamer]

there is a short stetch of shoreline off popkos circle between the hide-a-way and gateway lodge, where the river channel runs close to the shore/ roadway.
If you have a map of the flowage, it should be pretty easy to find. I have had success with the eyes there on occasions.
hope this helps
chris

[BlueRanger]

Actually, the refuge only extends 1000 feet downstream from Lake of the Falls Dam and the entire south shoreline of the park is well beyond that. However, after looking at the Wisconsin Administrative Code(NR 26.06 (https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/nr/26/06)), it appears that the fish refuge only applies from April 1-May 14. I had been under the impression that it was a year-round restriction.

The road name I gave is what you'll need to search for if you're doing some pre-trip scouting on Google Maps or Bing Maps. Look for "Upper Flambeau River Boat Landing Road, Butternut, WI" and you'll find it. Robinson Landing is not named on either of those sites, but its location should be pretty obvious since the road dead-ends at the river. The trail I mentioned is just north of the landing where the road makes a 90 degree turn, and is easy to find.

The spot Flambeau Dreamer mentions is labeled "Popkos Circle Road 2" on the virtual tour. Both the spots Tiny mentioned also have virtual tour scenes - those are named "Sturgeon Bay Landing" and "Trude Culvert".

[Flambeau Vista Retreat LLC]

For the adventuresome, persons can fish anywhere along the shores of Big Island, which is all State land. It can only be accessed by foot travel across the bridge and follow the public hunting walking trails or the trails to the new group camp sites.

[Musky Mauler]

A few decades ago, when Ed Robinson still guided on the river, he left a boat for me, my wife, and Earl Tomek. Earl would guide us down the river on a musky expedition. (Ed Robinson had a habit of launching first and then always biding time in the "lagoon" area just below Notch Rock. He always wanted to make sure that his boats got safely past that spot before he headed on downstream.)

As we were loading the boat while the bow was still up on the shore, my wife began to practice casting a musky lure from the stern of the boat. A minute or two later we heard her say "Oh!" quite loudly. We turned just in time to see a large musky swirl and splash next to the boat as she yanked her lure out of the water.

"I didn't want that ugly thing with those menacing eyes to bite my lure!" she said.

Earl and I just moaned.

Some days later, she caught a musky larger than anything I ever boated. Naturally, I never took her musky fishing again!

[Ron J.]

I will not speak for Tiny, but I think I will try to clear up the situation. From reading his post, the roads and landings Tiny is referencing is the area by the Turtle Dam and not by Lake of the Falls.

Yes Blue, there is a fish refuge below the falls which lasts from April 1 to May 14 to protect the spawning walleye. This is also true at Siefert’s Point (as I believe you have pointed out before).

The fish refuge (which I believe) that Tiny is pointing out is the year-round fish refuge below the Turtle Dam. While I cannot find an exact distance, if you look at the map of the attached document (near the end), the area below the Turtle Dam and to an area a little before Robinson's Landing is marked as a fish refuge. If the distance from the Turtle Dam to end of the year round fish refuge is one-half mile, I don’t know.

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/facilities/turtleflambeau/documents/TFFMasterPlan1995.pdf

Wish the attachment was more recent, but this was the only document I could find at this time that showed the fish refuge below the Turtle Dam.

Hope that clears things up.

Ron

[BlueRanger]

Yes, there is a year-round fish refuge on the Flambeau River below what is referenced in the Code as the Turtle-Flambeau Dam. It officially extends downstream from the dam to the now-defunct USGS Gaging Station, which is located just upstream from the end of the trail I mentioned near Robinson Landing.

I've attached two photos of the river taken from the end of the trail. The left one is the view upstream. The chunk of concrete at the far left of the picture marks the end of the refuge. You can fish below it. The right picture is the view downstream. It's a pretty little spot, as you can see, and on the day those pictures were taken, I saw some very nice smallies swimming around in the river.

And again, the road names I mentioned are the names of the roads to Robinson Landing as they are listed by the major online mapping sites - like here:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=46.06923454331909~-90.23095227245838&lvl=16&dir=0&sty=h&form=LMLTCC

[Ron J.]

I think we need a little clarification here…

1. You suggested to Jason that a spot to fish from shore “would be the Flambeau River below the dam” and then gave the directions to Robinson’s Landing.

2. Tiny said he hated to correct you and pointed out “below the dam is a fish refuge for about a half a mile” and then gave some specifics to the names of the roads you mentioned. He even copied part of your original message to show you what he was referencing.

3. In your response to Tiny’s message, you then began to reference the area below Lake of the Falls Dam and said “actually, the refuge only extends 1,000 feet downstream from Lake of the Falls Dam…” and then correctly pointed out that the area is only a fish refuge from April 1 to May 14. You were clearly attempting to correct Tiny with your title and response (Sorry, Tiny, but…).

4. In my response to you, I pointed out “the roads and landings Tiny is referencing is the AREA by the Turtle Dam and not by Lake of the Falls. I never said you had the names of the roads or the landing wrong when you were directing Jason to the spot. It was clear (at least to me) that Tiny was talking about the AREA south of the Turtle Dam on the Flambeau River. He posted part of your original quote which referenced the Falmbeau River below the dam. He gave specifics to the names of the roads and landings. Also, he never mentioned “Lake of the Falls” anywhere in his post.


To answer your question…No, I do not want to change my answer. I simply pointed out that the fish refuge Tiny was talking about was around the area of the Turtle Dam and the fish refuge you were talking about was below Lake of the Falls.

The question I have for you is do you now see how you were wrong? You told Jason another spot to try is below the dam, but didn’t mention the fish refuge. All Tiny did was point out the fish refuge and that it ran about a half mile downstream. You told Tiny he was wrong and that refuge only extends 1,000 feet downstream from Lake of the Falls Dam.

So to by crystal clear…Tiny said nothing factually wrong. You said nothing factually wrong regarding the fish refuge below Lake of the Falls. You were wrong in correcting Tiny as you mixed up the fish refuges.

Now do you understand?

[Flambeau dreamer]

I understand.
chris

[BlueRanger]

You're quite right - I misinterpreted Tiny's post. I gave Jason directions to a specific location on the river that I knew was below the refuge, assumed Tiny was familiar with the spot since it's quite close to his place, and therefore it didn't even occur to me that he would bring that one up. Next time I stop over, I'll probably get doused with sugar-water and mauled by hummingbirds. I hadn't noticed it before, but this made me realize that my eyes always ignore those quote boxes, maybe because they only contain things I've already read...

I haven't caught a fish in almost 2 weeks - no wonder I'm ornery!

[mkoeh475]

The last time I checked the sign for the refuge below the Turtle dam said that it lasted for 1760 feet (1/3 mile)