Matt Ochs Lake Fishing near Medford, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Matt Ochs Lake is one of the Taylor County waters in Wisconsin. What surrounds it is pine and birch. This is a pocket water of some 3 acres, and every part of it is reachable from the bank. On size it sits at the modest end of our Taylor County list. Some 8.7 miles away sits Medford, the nearest settlement. Abbotsford follows at 20 miles, then Colby at 23 miles. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Matt Ochs Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. County-wide records name brown trout, largemouth bass and pumpkinseed. The list covers the county rather than this water alone, so treat it as a guide. The near bank of Matt Ochs Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 67°F and January near 10°F. Fishing here follows the temperature more than the calendar. Expect a solid lid for months and a thaw around mid April. Open water usually runs from mid April until about late November. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. The season on Matt Ochs Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. 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. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Sackett Lake at 1.5 miles is the sensible second choice. Nothing on Matt Ochs Lake should be assumed from this page alone.