Root River weir through Oct. 15: 2,005 coho and 993 chinook, almost none spawned yet

Racine’s Root River weir has coho and chinook in the trap, and almost none of them have been spawned yet. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources facility report for Oct. 15, 2026, says the Root River Steelhead Facility started its fall season on Monday, Sept. 28, and Thursday was the fifth fish-processing day. The weir was 62 degrees. Flow had dropped to just under 80 cubic feet per second, and it started raining in the afternoon. Just over 300 fish moved into the facility since Tuesday. The next processing day is Monday, Oct. 19.

Totals as of Oct. 15: 2,005 coho captured and 1,952 passed upstream; 993 chinook captured and 950 passed upstream; 7 brown trout captured and 7 passed; 2 rainbow trout captured and 1 passed; pink salmon at zero. The spawned-at-facility line is zero for every species on the sheet.

The river report dated Oct. 12, still the latest fishing note on the same page, had flows just over 100 cubic feet per second and slowly dropping, water in the low 60s, and chinook and coho seen up to the Horlick dam. Rain was in the forecast for Thursday. The DNR says Lake Michigan trout and salmon do not reproduce successfully in Wisconsin streams, so crews collect eggs and milt at the facility for the next generation of steelhead.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Wisconsin DNR — Root River Report (fishing report for Oct. 12, 2026, and facility report for Oct. 15, 2026).