Copper Lake Fishing in Lincoln County, Wisconsin

• Overview

  In Wisconsin, Copper Lake belongs to Lincoln County. The bank is 1,496 feet above sea level. At about 35 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Around 1.0 miles of margin, front to back. Merrill sits 11 miles from here and is the nearest stop. Then Tomahawk, 12 miles, and Maine, 21 miles. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Copper Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Reported across Lincoln County: brown trout, rainbow trout, pumpkinseed, walleye and bluegill. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Copper Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about 10°F and July at about 67°F, the water has a wide range to work through. A solid cap is the normal state through winter. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around mid April. Break-up near mid April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. It holds true on Copper Lake more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Access points are not mapped for this water, which suits people who like quiet. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Lokemoen Lake, 0.6 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. None of that is settled for Copper Lake in what we hold.