Arrowhead Lake Fishing Guide, Bayfield County, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Set in Bayfield County, Arrowhead Lake is a Wisconsin water. This is mixed forest country. Surface area is around 43 acres, which gives you real water without needing a boat. The bank runs about 1.1 miles all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. Ashland lies 23 miles from the water. Saint Paul is the closest city, 134 miles away. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Arrowhead Lake

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Records held for Bayfield County cover rainbow smelt, brown trout, yellow perch, rainbow trout and white sucker. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Arrowhead Lake fishes better once you know its edges.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 66°F at the top of summer and 9°F at the bottom of winter. The freeze arrives properly here and holds. Once it clears, about mid April, the fishing comes on quickly. Break-up near mid April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. That shapes the year on Arrowhead Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. A protected area covers this ground, which usually means restrictions on access. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. If the gate is shut, Overby Lake at 0.6 miles is the nearest alternative. Treat Arrowhead Lake as unsettled until someone local tells you otherwise.