My family is heading to Chetek Lake for a week of fishing in mid-August. Having never been on the lake, what can I expect? I’m not pimping for hot spots, just what should I be doing: casting, trolling, panfishing any good? Species to target?
Thanks,
D.A.
P.S. Any fly fishing worth while for bass or northerns?
I’ve been up there twice this summer for pleasure boating but do take note of what people are doing fishing wise.
Most appear to be panfishing with bobber rigs. Chetek runs the fish-o-rama each year and for a small fee, you can enter to win prizes should you catch a tagged fish. Top prize is $500 and I believe I read there are half dozen or more $500 fish in the system. Most prizes are $25.
There do seem to be a good number of bass fisherman and I’ve heard the northerns are good to catch. Walleyes, according to reports, are few and far between.
If I were headed there for a week, I’d try to get some tips for the bass or northern, or just resign myself to soaking up the sun while watching a bobber for the panfish.
As for structure, the chain has just about everything. Not overly deep. Earlier in the year, the panfisherman appeared to be hanging off the channel breaks running through the different lakes (mainly Prairie). There are a number of sunken islands and sandbars throughout the chain, there is flooded timber and of course weedy bays.
The chain is very beautiful IMO, but the water this year is especially green. After a day of swimming and tubing, we had to wash everything as we had a layer of green stuff all over.
If the fishing is so-so, check out one of the two sandbars on prairie for a day of lounging on the water. Prairie has two sandbars close to islands where you can pull up your boat, anchor, and be in 18″ – 3′ of water. They are not hard to find. There are some great places to pull into for lunch or 
from your boat. The most popular is Gilligan’s in the channel from Chetek to Pokegama. The restaurant across from it is a very good place to eat as well.
ET
The Chetek Chain has some great fly fishing from the opener until the end of May. The bass have been on fire this year. I can’t think of a single time this year that I have been out there that my biggest 5 bass were under 15 lbs. Concentrate on main lake structure in 8′ to 14′ of water and you will be near some fish.
It is not unusual to hit a school of 3.5 to 5lb bass when fishing deeper.
Here is the results of a Wisconsin Team Circuit event on the Chain on 6-27-09. We had 18.37 lbs on a five fish limit and finished 2nd! Note the number of limits.
WTC Chetek Results
If you like chicken wings……Gilligans on Wednesday nights. 8 flavors and all you can eat. 
Pizza….B&B across from Rod & Gun!!! 
The ice cream drinks at Northwoods are 12 scoops and 8 of us will share one. 
The pan fish are running small again this year. I have had a camper on the lakes for the last 11 years and they seem to run in cycles. Like kizew said, the bass fishing is pretty good. In August, the Northern fishing should also be good. Spinner baits or a sucker minnow under a large bobber in the weeds on the north end of Ojaski or in Moose Ear. As for the walleye…….I know a couple of guys who do great. Get a map and find the cribs. Early morning and evening are the best. I had a nice one to the boat last Sat. but let my “net gal” sleep in so didn’t get it in the net.
Good luck and enjoy the chain. 
I appreciate the replies. I assume I should be able to get away trolling and pitching spinner baits for both bass and northerns in mid-August.
D.A.
You could troll the edge of the weeds for Northern. I just pull up in them and cast with spinners and buzz baits. I also heard last weekend that bass were hitting frogs around the pads. Allot of people fish the weeds and pads west of the bridge in the draw.
Here are some sites that should put you in the mood!!!
http://www.gilliganschetek.com/Welcome.html
http://www.redschetekwi.com/webcam.asp
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