Little Wood Lake in Burnett County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Little Wood Lake is a Burnett County water, in Wisconsin. Elevation runs to 922 feet. Around 195 acres of surface means several distinct areas to work. Bank access stretches around 3.1 miles in total. On our Burnett County list it sits near the top for size. Supplies mean a trip to Frederic, 7 miles off. The big place round here is Saint Paul, 62 miles distant. Being near a boundary, it pays to know which side you are fishing.

• Where to Fish on Little Wood Lake

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Burnett County records list brown trout, northern pike, largemouth bass, bluegill and pumpkinseed among the fish reported. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. On Little Wood Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 70°F at the top of summer and 10°F at the bottom of winter. Seasons are distinct, and each one fishes differently. Ice-out usually falls in early April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Climate averages put the opening at about early April and the closing near late November. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. Little Wood Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There is a slipway on the shore, half a mile from the water we list. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Muskrat Lake sits 0.4 miles off and takes the overflow. None of that is settled for Little Wood Lake in what we hold.