Fishing McKenzie Lake in Polk County, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Polk County in Wisconsin is where McKenzie Lake sits. Country round the bank runs to mixed forest. It measures about 53 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. With about 1.1 miles of edge, you can try several depths in one session. Nearest place of any size is Frederic, 8.6 miles away. Then Luck, 9 miles, and Cumberland, 15 miles. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on McKenzie Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Across Polk County, recorded fish include brown trout, rainbow trout, northern pike and largemouth bass. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Work McKenzie Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs 10°F to 69°F. Fishing here follows the temperature more than the calendar. Once it clears, about mid April, the fishing comes on quickly. Climate averages put the opening at about mid April and the closing near late November. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. The season on McKenzie Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is a mapped slipway roughly half a mile away. You can leave the car about half a mile from the water. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Little Pine Lake, 0.9 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. What applies at McKenzie Lake may have changed since it was mapped.