Mountain Lake Fishing in Bayfield County, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Mountain Lake is a Bayfield County water, in Wisconsin. Around the bank it is pine and birch. Surface area runs to about 11 acres — small enough to read in one session. Supplies mean a trip to Lake Nebagamon, 19 miles off. It is 127 miles to Saint Paul, the nearest city. No border sits close enough to matter. The shoreline runs longer than it looks on a map.

• Where to Fish on Mountain Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Open biodiversity records for Bayfield County list rainbow smelt, brown trout and yellow perch. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. Read Mountain Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 66°F and January reads 9°F. A hard winter is normal, and the thaw brings a strong few weeks. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about mid April. Break-up near mid April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. At Mountain Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. Access is unmapped, which usually means a farm track and a walk. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Pigeon Lake sits 1.2 miles off and takes the overflow. Ask locally about Mountain Lake if anything is unclear.