Hey guys, need lake ideas!!

The wife and I decided to take a mini-trip up into Indianhead Country from down here in La Crosse for a little bass fishing the weekend of July 20th.

We are trying to decide where to go. Been thinking about Chetek Chain, Wappogasset, Upper and Lower Clam Lake, etc. Looking for a lake where their are both good action and yet a few big ones. I am more of a slop fishing, shallow presentation guy than a deep structure fisherman, so a lake that is not super clear is probably best.

Any suggestions?

you could try Marsh-Miller in chippewa county, has a good numbers of 12-16″ LM plus I’ve gotten a few in the 19-20″ range. Also has heavy vegetation if thats your style. Chetek chain has a lot of smaller size bass, but boat traffic is terrible on a weekend and I wouldn’t really recommend it (the water is extremely green on the chain now also). If you want to go further east otter lake is pretty good and so is Miller Dam (Chequamegon Waters)Flowage. If you want more info about the lakes let me know. I’m mostly a clear water smallmouth guy though, so if you want info on that sort of fishing around here I could probably be more helpful.

I would second the suggestion of Marsh Miller Lake. I used to vacation their with friends and family and it is a good largemouth lake. Also their is a lake north of their somewhere called Lake Chetek or Lake Chetak(cant remember which) and it is not part of the Chetek chain of lakes oddly enough. This was a very good largemouth lake also.

hougie:

Changed your pic. Looks nice. As for bass lakes, you’re all making good calls. Others that come to mind are Balsam Lake(very good), White Ash, the two Turtles in Turtle Lake and I believe the Chetek Chain is good as well as Lake Chetak.

Wappogasset is a great weekday option but gets too much attention on the weekends for me to recommend her at such distance. If you were to head further north to the Danbury area, Yellow Lake will give you a days worth of smiles! Plenty of slop and weeds around to try along the shoreline flats and if you traverse onto Little Yellow, there is an outgoing river that is ALWAYS full of largemouth, smallmouth, and pike……………just WAITING for someone to through a good lure their way. Spinners, inlines, plastics, topwaters……………doesn’t matter. There’s a slow current that you can just adjust your boat with a troller to and 10 new hot areas to cast into around every little bend! There’s also a couple back water areas back there that will more than satisfy you urge for bass in slop cover! They get in there deep and are RARELY bothered! However, as mentioned, Marsh-Miller is closer to home and just as good of an option for your desired results……………..just thought I’d add something fresh to your contemplation! Good Luck!

I think there are some really good smaller lakes that you may like close to Marshmiller. Here are a few that may fit your needs Cornell (kinda clear but nice and some really huge gills in the deeper water) Bob lake,Hemlock,Shattuck lakes,Popple lake (just out of Jim Falls close to Leinenkugels brewery if you want to take in a tour) Howe lake and Plummer lake. We used to have a fishing league at work and these are some of the ones we fished.Now these are smaller lakes and some also have very nice crappies.Have a great trip wherever you decide and if I can help to narrow your search some let me know. Don’t forget this weekend is the ftr get-together at Everets on the Mississippi. Steve

Hey guys, thanks for all the responses. We are heading to Marshmiller this weekend. I knew about the FTR, but my parents and wife wanted to go to a cabin instead, oh well.

We are staying in the cabins at Birch Point, any ideas if they are OK?

My dad would love to get into some crappies. How are the landings at these smaller lakes? I am taking my 18 foot ranger, so I need a medium size decent landing.

Any tips (bass or crappies) for these lakes this time of year? Actually, I can figure the bass, but wht about crappies? Do they hang to weed edges, or just school in open water?

If my memory servers me correctly, we used to get good sized ones while trolling beetle spins with the electric. Once you locate them just keep trolling through them or anchor up and cast minnows to them. I would also fish the shoreline areas with deeper water and snags around them. The gills are everywhere especially in the weed beds which you will find plenty of! Be sure and call the bait shops in the area too they will help you narrow down your search and just ask the anglers around the camp and fish house and you should be able to get an idea for techniques and locations. Bring lots of bug spray! Deer flys and skeeters are bound to wreak some havoc this time of year up in the north woods. Seems like are best spot was right out in front of the lodge and boat docks on the side where the boat launch is. Trolling beetle spins in that location produced good numbers and sizes of both crappies and big gills. But I havent been there in years.