Wolf River

i haven't i have not i we it's been part of our uh it's been part of our schedule But like it's for us, that event is like Winneconne and Poigan and Butte Amour and Little Lake Butte Amour and like a stretch of the Fox River, both the upper and lower.

And then like stretches of the Wolf River and fish on the Wolf River.

At least in the time of the year that like it's like middle of the later after the white bass run.

There's a club that fished during the white bass run one year and that was I hear stories about that every year, like how.

Not having come in contact with the government, the remote Indians believe no people on earth are able to dictate to them or control them, and I have no doubt it is a mounted force alone that can keep peace between the Sioux and the Sac and Fox Indians.

The Menominee Indians claim a considerable extent of country between the country purchased of them by the United States last season and the Chippewa Indians, as well as the country above the mouth of the Wolf River, on the Fox River extending to the portage of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, and up the Wisconsin River to the boundary line of the Winnebagos and Chippewas.

The greater part of the country now claimed by the Menominees is represented to be barren in soil, excepting that portion of their country lying between the mouth of the Wolf River and the portage of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, which is said to be well adapted to agricultural purposes.

These Indians still retain their wandering habits.

The experiment made by the government in furnishing them farmers has entirely failed.

The game has nearly all disappeared, and none worth pursuit is to be found on their lands.

The Indians that have emigrated all seem to be content and highly pleased with their situation, and I feel confident that next year will present a very different view of their agricultural and domestic prosperity.

The Sax and Iowas are located on the west bank of the Missouri River, immediately above the mouth of Wolf River.

So sometimes I may be interrupting Guillermo and I apologize in advance because I think he's waiting for me to reply, but we'll make it work.

But again, Guillermo, congratulations on your win at your tournament, Wolf and River.

Is it Wisconsin, right?

Yes, Wolf and Fox River in Wisconsin.

and Fox, my bad.

How exciting was that tournament for you, being that you're so busy now, you're not able to fish as much as you probably want to back five, six years ago?

Well, I, you know, if you would ask me that question, probably like seven, eight years ago, I probably would give you a totally different answer.

We couldn't find access to it that wasn't marked no trespassing.

So after that was kind of a dud for us, we came upon this spot that my friend likes to go to that is right on this river called the Wolf River.

And so we were on the bank of the river and it's, it's kind of like one of those rapids places where there's a, it's real shallow water, but a bunch of rocks.

And there was like maybe a foot of sand, you know, a foot, I guess, width of sand along this one edge of the beach, if you want to call it that.

this uh

what's the location

this was this was in um langlade county wisconsin and it was along the wolf river

well uh they do a lot of native americans have um You know, they have myths and so on and so forth.

We couldn't find access to it that wasn't marked no trespassing.

So after that was kind of a dud for us, we came upon this spot that my friend likes to go to that is right on this river called the Wolf River.

And so we were on the bank of the river and it's, it's kind of like one of those rapids places where there's a, it's real shallow water, but a bunch of rocks.

And there was like maybe a foot of sand, you know, a foot, I guess, width of sand along this one edge of the beach, if you want to call it that.

is this?

What's the

location? This was in Langlade County, Wisconsin, and it was along the Wolf River.

Wow.

was a heck of a fish and overall it was it was a heck of an event and i will definitely be going back to that fishery at least to have a good time sometime in the near future because it was very very enjoyable it was what what made that river cool is that so it has all these big fish but it fishes totally different than like a susky or honestly any other river i've ever been on fish real different uh and and made it really fun i can't wait to get out there and fish it again i mean wildly different than the wolf and fox for only being an hour away uh super cool place

Yeah, kudos for them.

To your point, you were mentioning the first time, you know, kayaking had gotten to go to the Wolf and Fox.

It was something brand new, unique and different.

Drew does a phenomenal job digging in and finding that kind of fishing for that format.

And so ignore the doc talk.

And like Wyatt said, lean into your strengths.

Because if you're confident in your own ability to go catch fish in a certain kind of way, Then when favor finds you and you stumble across those schools of fish, like what Guillermo said, you just show up like on Wolf and Fox and they're just there.

We do know that they probably came to Wisconsin sometime after Nicolette's visit in 1634.

The Muscootin, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Sauk, and Fox were coming into Wisconsin before 1654. some huron and ottawa settled here temporarily at this time but by sixteen seventy eight were compelled by the sioux readers note spelling s i o u x to flee back to the sioux readers note spelling s a u the chippewa stayed around and west of the straits of mackinaw and actually did not settle in wisconsin until about sixteen seventy the winnebago at first defended themselves vigorously against the invading refugee tribes however this constant warfare greatly reduced their numerical strength further decimated by plagues probably small-pox introduced by the whites and by famine the winnebago were compelled to make peace with the invading algonkins who eventually settled in great numbers along the upper and lower fox rivers the lower reaches of the wolf river and in the vicinity of green bay fur trade with the western indians was successfully blocked by the rampaging iroquois for twenty odd years after nicollet's voyage of exploration into the middle west but with the establishment of a brief peace the ottawa who had assumed the position of middleman in the fur trade sent a large canoe fleet to the western indians and soon returned with large quantities of furs which had been accumulated by the indians during the iroquois war on the return journey two young frenchmen radisson and grossier went into wisconsin with the ottawa and became the first known white traders in the area other traders quickly followed their example and by sixteen seventy the fur trade in wisconsin was proceeding at a good pace the indians even before actually being visited by the whites had received european implements by trade with other indians and soon learned the superiority of iron knives and axes over those of stone the arrival of the white traders with their guns kettles cloth brandy and many other trade items was eagerly awaited by the indians of what is now wisconsin as early as sixteen sixty eight per and traders with him had brought furs to green bay labai great activity in the fur trade was quick to follow with the french traders using guns and brandy particularly as an inducement to increase the tempo of fur trapping by the indian the indian was as anxious to obtain the white man's goods as the trader was to obtain the indian's furs this formed the basis for an understanding mutually agreeable to indian and trader alike the fur trade during the french regime went through many changes due to changing circumstances and the issuing of different regulations from time to time the discovery of new western lands and tribes spurred literally hundreds of canadian youths to seek these virgin territories and the riches in furs to be had there at first traders persuaded the indians to make the long trip to montreal with their furs the presence of so many traders in the forests however soon made these long trips unnecessary by the time perot began trading in wisconsin the traders were carrying their goods to the indians in their own country regulations required that all traders must be licensed or by conge as they were called twenty-five of these were issued each year and permitted the trader to take a designated load of goods into the interior to be traded for the indian's furs the presence of great numbers of unlicensed traders in the woods was responsible for an edict from the king declaring such illegal traders to be outlaws the punishment for such activities was death These outlaw traders were known as coureurs de bois and were actually never hampered too much by the stringent laws passed against them.

During the latter part of the 17th century, outposts were built to help control the trade.

Nicholas Perrault built posts at Mount Trempealeau, at Lake Pepin, and at the mouth of the Wisconsin River.

This was the massacre of the Bad Axe River, which lasted three hours, and in which a hundred and fifty Indians were killed and as many more drowned.

A band of Sioux, brought there for the purpose by General Atkinson, set upon the three hundred Indians who reached the other bank and killed about half of them.

only about a hundred and fifty survivors remained of the thousand indians who had crossed with black hawk into illinois in april only four months before black hawk fled to the winnebago who later surrendered him to the americans he was then taken on a tour through the eastern states to impress him with the power of the american government and released in june his tribe was given a small reservation in iowa on the des moines river where he died october third eighteen thirty eight the treatment of black hawk and his people in the so-called black hawk war will always remain a blot on american history and a discredit to the government from the time of the black hawk war on wisconsin indians were rapidly deprived of their land in september eighteen thirty two the winnebago ceded the rest of their holdings south and east of the fox and wisconsin rivers upon promise of payment of about one million dollars to the indians and their creditors the southern chippewa ottawa and pottawatomie in a treaty at chicago illinois turned over their holdings in southern wisconsin in eighteen thirty three The Menominee ceded almost 4 million acres between Green Bay and the Wolf River to the United States government in 1836.

In 1838, the Oneida ceded most of their land in this same area to the United States.

Ben Burmeister has built a business designing and selling tackle through Castigan Tackle.

He's helping grow grassroots tournaments fishing through running the Wolf River Bass Club.

He spent countless hours behind the camera as a cameraman for the MPFL and head-to-head fishing, capturing moments most of us only get to watch on YouTube.

And he recently got back from ICAST 2026, where the entire fishing industry gathers to see what's coming next.