I fished the Willow River in the state park yesterday, I didn't catch anything. But, I did see some really nice fish jumping out of the water. Tonight, I went to the Kinni River in River Falls. Caught two on a stonefly. I'm pretty sure one was a Brookie. I wasn't aware that there were Brook trout in the kinni. Can anyone confirm this. The other question I have is which river do people prefer to fish. I know the Willow has a better diversity of fish but does the Willow have a better quality of trout??

Yes, there are Brook Trout in the Kinni, lots of them. The Willow on the other hand is a river in transition in my opinion. Yes there are trout in there, but they are somewhat difficult to find, with some being pretty big. But, when it gets warm in the summer, they disappear and the river becomes a warm water fishery especially near the Park. 2 summers ago I recorded a temp reading of 82 degrees, not at all good for trout. I have had multiple species days there with the best being a day when I caught Sunnies, Crappy, Smallies, Pike and a trout all in the same day. There are quite a few smallies in there in the summer, below the dam. The Willow can be fun.

To answer your question, the trout quality in the Willow seems to be getting worse every year, sure there are some there, but not like they used to be. The Kinni on the other hand has something like 6 or 7 thousand trout per mile and most are small, but still fun. In my humble opinion people should be taking trout from the Kinni so there isn’t so much competition for the available food, which in turn would allow them to grow bigger. Just a thought.

i'm hoping to fish the kinni on saturday. i went out to the rush & kinni last saturday & it was terrible.

I also fished the Kinni the other day (Monday May 5th) and caught prolly 20-25 fish in 3.5 hours, small but fun like stated above....

Kinnie vs Willow, on the Willow I would go about it as a spot and stalk, see a rise go fish it, there isnt alot of fish in there but its quality vs quantitiy......pick your poison.

The Kinni Rules! I use to fish 4-5 days a week in the late 90's and I loved the fact that you get two rivers in one. A perfect spring creek above and a fine little tailwater below RF. Lots of turkeys, deer and beaver and a few otters to watch as well. Stealth is key for the big ones, especially in the undercut banks.
The Willow has been hurting for decades. Usually catch more trout in Lake Malileu(sp) in N.Hudson than on the river. The Rush was always worth the drive but could be tough fishing for the larger bows.
Now living in Sqaretail Nirvana, I have lots of great memories of Western WI trout streams, great places to learn to cast and read fish and waters.

there's trout in Malilieu? I fished that once last year, would never have guess there's trout in it

Thanks for all the good information. I was down on the Kinni tonight and It looks like the Caddis are starting to come out. I ended up with 6, all released. And lost quite a few to boot. My buddy on the other hand, using the same fly as I was, never caught a fish. If I'm a novice, he's really, really a novice, but he still likes to go.

goblueM,
I used to fish Malileu for bass from my scanoe and I'd catch an occasional brown. Saguer, my bro, caught a large brown from the railroad trestle when crappie fishing one spring. I've also known a few N. Hudson residents who would troll for them and do well. I've also hooked into some nice browns in the lower sections of the river where access was available in N. Hudson along the hiking trails which follow the river.

copperjohn check out pics on hudson fishing reports thread on stcroix forum good day fishing