There is something about the section of the Kinni that almost defies description; something that doesn't lend itself to analysis, to limits. Monet might have captured it: the mist rising from the water, merging with the green leaves, the descending sun over the shoulder of the lone fly fisher, the fly line looped seeking its end, all created on the still canvas.  Wordsworth said that "poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion as recollected in tranquility,"

The Kinnickinnic, the upper Kinni, is like that for me.  Like all rivers, like all poems, stories, and paintings, it has a source.  For me, the Kinnickinnic is a source of peace and joy; a sacred place that thrills the same each time."

- Ken Olsen 

On any given summer evening, trout anglers can be spotted wading in the Kinnickinnic River trying their luck.  “The Kinni,” as it is affectionately known, is a Class One trout stream that flows for 20 miles, both above and below the City of River Falls.  The river is one of the few naturally sustaining trout fisheries in the Midwest, producing both brook and brown trout.

J.R. Humphrey, a St. Paul freelance writer and angler, labels the 20 miles of river above and below River Falls “precious jewels of a fly-fisher’s memory,” and adds “I’ll give two hours of my life anytime, to fish my 100 yards of the Kinnickinnic on a sultry summer evening…”

The river rises from a series of spring holes in pastures three miles north of interstate 94 between those first holds are the city of River Falls, there are 12 miles of Class I water, augmented by numerous springs and four named feeder creeks.  The upper stretches of the river and the feeder creeks harbor native brook trout and furnish terrific spawning grounds for browns.  Brown trout, the most abundant in the Kinni from I-94 south, a stretch known unofficially as the “upper Kinni.”

It is not unusual to see anglers wading the streambed within the city of River Falls either.  Parking is along CTH MM, in the Heritage Park downtown or in Glen Park.  Glen Park is considered the lower Kinnickinnic.  In words of Humphrey, it “must have been created by the master fly fisher.”

The river is broad and shallow, averaging perhaps 40 feet wide and a foot deep. Lofty bluffs cause wide shadows over the sand, gravel and rubble bottom.  The Kinni winds for eight miles below River Falls before passing beneath County Trunk Highway F. 

A small army of volunteers including anglers, landowners, city officials, and a large contingent from Trout Unlimited and other sportsmen’s clubs carefully guard the Kinnickinnic River.  With everyone’s help “The Kinni” can stay a Class I trout stream for years to come.

Note: Anglers specific rules may apply to some areas of “The Kinni” contact your DNR.  Access to the upper Kinni is easy.  There are 17 entry points between the spring ponds and Highway 35 at the north edge of River Falls.  Click here for a map of the River Falls access points.

For the anglers you can get your fishing licenses at several locations throughout River Falls: Lunds Hardware, Holiday Station Store, and Shopko. 

For location information on fishing the Kinni:

Lunds Fly Shop - 715-425-2415

Kinni Creek Lodge and Outfitters - 715-425-7378

For general information contact the DNR office or any of the links below:

Wisconsin Fly Fishing
Wisconsin DNR
Badger Fly Fishing Organization