Fishing at McKinley Lake, Washburn County, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Out in Washburn County, Wisconsin, sits McKinley Lake. Elevation runs to 1,014 feet. It runs to roughly 102 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. The edge runs 1.8 miles or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Some 6.4 miles away sits Spooner, the nearest settlement. For a city, Saint Paul is 88 miles off. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on McKinley 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 productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Across Washburn County, recorded fish include largemouth bass, bluegill, northern pike and yellow perch. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Work McKinley Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 69°F at the top of summer and 9°F at the bottom of winter. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough mid April. Ice clears near mid April and comes back about late November in a typical year. The first weeks of open water and the last are the ones to plan for. On McKinley Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Public data shows nothing built here, so treat the whole approach as informal. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. If the gate is shut, Lincoln Lake at 0.6 miles is the nearest alternative. For McKinley Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.