Benson Creek

Anyone ever fish Benson Creek near Birchwood?

I have a cabin on Big Chetac and have been thinking I need to hit up the creek soon.

I see the WI DNR has a nice little map of the area, with parking, but I have no idea how to actually get to the "P" on the map.... when I drove by last week it looked more like an atv trail than actual driveway.

Not that walking a ways is a big deal, just curious.

my number is 715 579 4341 text me i have fished it before and got some nice fish out of it but only in a few areas i too have a cabin on lake chetech and i am into fly fishing i found this area while duck hunting down there in october and i was astonished at the amount and size of some of hte brooke trout swimming in there how ever extreame caution is needed in fishing the springs...... text me and i can give you more info TJ

Haha, nice... yeah, snags are fun. I did alright avoiding them for the most part, at least due to blatant casting errors... however, this weekend If i head down into the forest to see what is in benson there I am going to have my fair share I am sure.

I was hooked up on the bottom about as often as I expected, not too much, but it definitely happened, and was a challenge to not fall over the rocks when unsnaggin. I did succeed though, didn't fall in... although I was real close sometimes.

Not sure why I always forget about the stress on fish during hot weather, I hear ya though, cold water fish generally don't do well after fights in warm weather.

Slab, with temps in the 90's you might want to forego the trout streams, for the trouts' sake. They'd be too stressed to survive even with proper catch and release.

On the other hand, if you figure out a way to flyfish without snagging trees or bottoms consistently please let me know immediately so I can study at your feet!

Thanks for the update.

Well, that was one heck of a fun little adventure.

First, thanks for the replies/messages, very helpful.

Get to the cabin and decide I better take a quick peek at some options. I wanted to check out Benson Creek, Knuteson Creek, and Yarnell Creek, so I had a little trip planned out. This route showed Benson being the most optimal place to start, however I do know of a spot that is relatively easy to access so that was my fallback.

The road that crosses Benson was accurate (Summit Lk Rd). It sure does. about 150 feet above it! haha, which I traveled down, and was able to get back out, though that was a challenge in itself. Benson in that area is muck bottom, with a layer of silt about 2-3 feet deep that you'd sink into, so as I was alone, and like living, I did not continue to try. Once I sank in the first hole, I actually said out loud to myself that it was a bad idea and I should try somewhere else.

So, knowing that we were all going to the angry minnow for dinner relatively soon (man that IPA is excellent) I decided to take the easy route, park by the spot I drive over all the time, and see where that leads.

After one little bend I saw a gravel beach that was surrounded by deep pockets, a pool just upstream, and one hole downstream... some trees on the rt and some grass on the lt. How perfect, what a great spot to learn how to cast in a creek!

My first cast the line hit the water about 40 feet from me, landed relatively close to my target, and that was satisfying enough. But, before I could take my lt had up to grab the line something hit the fly took it down, and i set the hook. Pretty big chub. What a feeling that was!

Sunday I tried Benson again, but this time the side between the wildlife area and Big Chetac. Gonna have to go back there with a buddy or something, because It's thick down there. Tough to access, but looks interesting enough to try out. So anyway, went back to the fallback spot, went dowstream of where I was on saturday, and found a really big pool, where I found some chubs, sunnies, bluegills, and largemouth bass. I also walked the creek further upstream than I had, found a really stinky beaver dam, more chubs, and a small spring that was trickling into a little pool.

The goal for the weekend was to learn how to approach a stream, read one, and cast into one without snagging. Also to practice being stealthy in the approach, and different casting techniques... cathcing fish was not expected, as I've been casting a fly rod for... ohhh... counting today it's been 9 days.

the last casts I did were towards the rocky section of the creek where I enter/exit the water, the exercise here being "See that rock, cast to where the trout would be maybe" so I did this... and managed to catch more chubs. haha. It was great.

I think I'll be heading back up this weekend, gonna try the woodsy area, then somewhere I haven't thought of yet... I would love to find some trout but I bet this will be a challenge with a week straight of 90 degree weather....

Any update on how this went?

I walked the area a couple of years ago, and it looked pretty shallow and without a lot of holding water. There could be other areas that have better water than what I saw, though. The area around Chetac has a lot of good streams. I vacation around Stone Lake, and wish I had more chance to explore the streams around there. Good luck, let me know what you find.

Thanks for the replies y'all!

RockRiverTom, yeah, that's exactly what I am referring to. It sounds like a decent enough area to try out, granted, I don't have high expectations for myself as I cast my first fly ohhhhhh 4 days ago.

I've been out 3 times since then, so that should say how I feel about it.

It begins..... (cue the dramatic music.... now)

Are you talking about the public grounds on F just north of Chit-Chat?

Okay, you have options. You can take F north out of Birchwood past Chetac, take Summit Lake Rd and it crosses Benson Creek. That's the easiest way.

Or, take 48 east about 5 miles from Birchwood, left on Yarnell for about 6 miles, left on Blackberry then right on Summit Lake Rd.

NEXT!

WHO?

Nope. Never heard of benson creek or birchwood, sorry. check with flytrap, he's been everywhere.............