Oatmeal Lake Fishing near Rhinelander, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Oneida County in Wisconsin is where Oatmeal Lake sits. Land around it is pine and birch. Roughly 91 acres: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. With about 1.6 miles of edge, you can try several depths in one session. Rhinelander lies 9.1 miles from the water. Beyond it, Eagle River at 13 miles and Nashville at 25 miles. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Oatmeal Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Fish documented in Oneida County include brown trout, walleye, largemouth bass and northern pike. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Fish Oatmeal Lake to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 66°F and January reads 10°F. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. The lid arrives early and lasts until roughly mid April. Break-up near mid April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. The season on Oatmeal Lake follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. The map shows no ramp or car park nearby, so this is a walk-in water. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Check locally before you travel, because a wasted drive is a long one. Fishing rules and camping rules are set separately here. Tim Lynn Lake, 0.8 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Treat access at Oatmeal Lake as something to verify.