Cheney Lake in Douglas County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  The Douglas County end of Wisconsin holds Cheney Lake. The country here is lake country bush. It covers about 20 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. Some 9.3 miles away sits Lake Nebagamon, the nearest settlement. For a city, Saint Paul is 120 miles off. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Cheney Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Reported across Douglas County: yellow perch, walleye, white sucker, black crappie and rainbow smelt. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. The near bank of Cheney Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between 8°F in January and 67°F in July. Winter shuts the surface down for months. The lid usually goes in mid April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Break-up sits around mid April on average, with the water closing again about late November. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Plan around that when you fish Cheney Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. Walleye come to jigs worked slow near bottom, and to trolled crankbaits along the drops at dusk. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Failing this one, try Smith Lake, 1.1 miles away. What applies at Cheney Lake may have changed since it was mapped.