St. Croix, Fox-Illinois rivers in Wisconsin to get new fishing regulations

Madison — March 1 marked the beginning of new panfish and game fish regulations on the St. Croix River in northwestern Wisconsin and the Fox-Illinois River in Waukesha County.

These new regulations change bag and length limits for game fish and establish a new fish refuge on the St. Croix River and another on the Fox-Illinois River.

St. Croix River changes

Channel catfish: No minimum length limit; daily bag limit of five channel catfish and only one longer than 24 inches may be kept per day.

Flathead catfish: No minimum length limit; daily bag limit of two flathead catfish and only one longer than 24 inches may be kept per day.

Northern pike: No minimum length limit; daily bag limit of three northern pike and only one longer than 30 inches per day.

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Panfish: Daily bag limit of 15 of each panfish species (bluegill/sunfish combined, crappies, and yellow perch).

Walleye and sauger: Daily bag limit of four walleyes or saugers in total, with a 15-inch size limit for walleyes and no size for saugers. Only one walleye or sauger longer than 20 inches may be kept per day.

White and yellow bass (combined): No size limit; daily bag limit of 10 white and yellow bass in total.

These new regulations also create two new fish refuges to help protect spawning fish. One is on the St. Croix River, spanning from the Hwy. 8 bridge upstream to the St. Croix Falls dam, effective from March 1 through June 15, and the other is on the Fox-Illinois River, from Madison Street in Waukesha upstream to the Barstow Dam, and effective from March 1 through May 1.

Fishing is not allowed in these two refuges during these periods.

Anglers can find a complete list of the 2024-25 fishing regulation changes on the DNR’s fishing regulations web page.