Schwartz Lake in Door County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Schwartz Lake lies in Door County, in Wisconsin. It stands 597 feet above sea level. At about 29 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Shoreline comes to about 0.9 miles, small enough to learn in a day. Our Door County list holds plenty of bigger water. Some 8.1 miles away sits Sturgeon Bay, the nearest settlement. Green Bay sits 47 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Schwartz Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Fish documented in Door County include brown trout, alewife and rainbow smelt. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Fish Schwartz Lake where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 68°F and January at 20°F. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Ice-out usually falls in early April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. On average, early April opens the water and mid December closes it again. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Schwartz Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. The nearest car park we can see is half a mile out, so expect a walk with your gear. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. Clark Lake sits 3.5 miles off and takes the overflow. What applies at Schwartz Lake may have changed since it was mapped.