Wabikon Lake Fishing near Crandon, Wisconsin

• Overview

  Wabikon Lake falls in Forest County, part of Wisconsin. The water sits 1,575 feet up. At 514 acres this is proper open water rather than a pond. With 6.0 miles or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. It is among the larger waters listed here for Forest County. Some 6.2 miles away sits Crandon, the nearest settlement. It is 80 miles to Green Bay, the nearest city. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Wabikon Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Survey and observation records for Forest County include brown trout, largemouth bass, yellow perch and northern pike. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Take Wabikon Lake a stretch at a time.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 65°F, while January sits near 11°F. Hard water is a season in its own right here. Look for the thaw near mid April; the fishing lifts straight after. Open water usually runs from mid April until about late November. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. That is the shape of the year on Wabikon Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Ownership and access are not documented in what we hold. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Keep proof of licence with you rather than in the car. If the gate is shut, Little Pine Lake at 0.9 miles is the nearest alternative. Check the position on Wabikon Lake before loading the car.