Fishing Mallard Lake in Polk County, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Within Polk County, Wisconsin, you have Mallard Lake. What surrounds it is rolling bush. The water measures roughly 5 acres, so nothing here is far from anything else. It is a small entry by Polk County standards. For supplies, Luck is 2.9 miles out. Frederic lies 6.9 miles off, Saint Croix Falls another 15 miles. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Mallard Lake

  Depth here is unknown, so count the lead down before committing. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Open biodiversity records for Polk County list brown trout, rainbow trout, northern pike, largemouth bass and bluegill. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. At Mallard Lake the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 69°F in July and bottom out at 10°F in January. Hard water is a season in its own right here. Look for the thaw near mid April; the fishing lifts straight after. Break-up near mid April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. That is the shape of the year on Mallard Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Murdock Lake, 0.3 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Where Mallard Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.