Bear Lake in Polk County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Set in Polk County, Bear Lake is a Wisconsin water. The bank is 1,066 feet above sea level. At about 157 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. The whole outline is near 2.3 miles, and most of it is walkable. Size puts it in the front rank of our Polk County list. The nearest place of any size is Saint Croix Falls, 6.8 miles away. For a city, Saint Paul is 41 miles off. The line between counties passes nearby, which can change who manages the water.

• Where to Fish on Bear Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Reported across Polk County: brown trout, rainbow trout, northern pike and largemouth bass. County records show what lives in the area; the local agency holds the water-by-water list. Work Bear Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 70°F, while January sits near 10°F. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about early April. In an average year the thaw lands around early April and the freeze near late November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. That is the shape of the year on Bear Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Our records carry no access rule either way. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Ask in the nearest town if you are unsure. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Badger Lake, 1.1 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Nothing here settles the position at Bear Lake for certain.