Purdy Lake in Forest County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Purdy Lake lies in Forest County, in Wisconsin. Height above sea level is 1,558 feet. Surface area runs to about 17 acres — small enough to read in one session. Crandon is the closest town at 14 miles. Nashville is 20 miles and Kingsford 30 miles. Others worth noting: Piledriver Lake about 0.4 miles, Langer Lake sits 0.6 miles out, Birch Lake about 1.4 miles, Shabodock Lake sits 2 miles out and Little Birch Lake about 2.4 miles. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Purdy Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Reported across Forest County: brown trout, largemouth bass, yellow perch, northern pike and bluegill. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. On Purdy Lake that means starting tight and working out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about 11°F and July at about 66°F, the water has a wide range to work through. Winter closes the water for a while, and the reopening is worth catching. The lid usually goes in mid April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. In an average year the thaw lands around mid April and the freeze near late November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Plan around that when you fish Purdy Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, 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. Check locally before you travel, because a wasted drive is a long one. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. For a change of water, Piledriver Lake is 0.4 miles distant. Check the current arrangement for Purdy Lake.