Fishing Upper Holly Lake in Sawyer County, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Out in Sawyer County, Wisconsin, sits Upper Holly Lake. The water sits 1,286 feet up. It measures about 33 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. There is roughly 0.9 miles of shoreline here, which is a short walk end to end. Head to Little Round Lake, 9.4 miles away, for anything you forgot. It is 101 miles to Saint Paul, the nearest city. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Upper Holly Lake

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Public occurrence data for Sawyer County names walleye, brown trout, largemouth bass and muskellunge. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. Upper Holly Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 68°F; by January the average is down near 9°F. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. Break-up comes around mid April, and the run that follows is short and strong. Average temperatures cross freezing around mid April in spring and again near late November in autumn. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Time your trip to Upper Holly Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. For a change of water, Pearce Lake is 0.5 miles distant. Rules at Upper Holly Lake are worth checking on the day.