Round Lake (near Hayward, WI) First time – Any Advice?

Hi All –

I’m headed up to Round Lake near Hayward this coming Friday and will be fishing it Saturday. I’ve never fished the lake and thought I’d see if anyone had any guidance they’d be willing to share?

Thanks in advance!

I have only fished it out of a boat with limited success. The water is super clear so you may need to fish deeper than you usually would. Don’t be afraid to fish deep structure in the 30-45′ range.

I was on it once in a boat. As mentioned it is clear. Early and late may be the only bite window for eyes. I’ll bet the sports shop in Hayward would help if you stopped in. They have been nice to me there.

Known more as a recreation lake up there. Sandy bottom, the channel seems to attract anglers, no idea how the ice is. My ma has a cabin on a nearby lake and I will be up there the following weekend. I will likely go out on the flowage when I am up there. Callahan/mud is also a really healthy lake. Just a couple miles away. If you don’t find them round, I would check out a different body of water.

Michaelcfi79,

What will you be targeting up on Round this coming weekend? My buddy (runs a guide service in the Hayward area) and I have been chasing all species around up in the area since ice up. Round has been decent so far this season at least for walleyes, smallies, and a few pike here and there. Grindstone has by far been the most rewarding for us in regards to walleyes as they have been very willing to bite aggressive presentations. For walleyes and smallies the best presentations have been rattle spoons tipped with minnow heads, small jigging raps, and medium sized suckers on tip ups or dead rods.

I’ll be targeting walleyes, although if I get my limit of 2, then I might try crappie for fun. Any recent reports of depths? Can you get them during the day given water clarity? Thanks a ton!

The fish seem to be shallow (6-15 ft) at peak times and deeper during the day (17-35 ft). We have been catching fish on mid lake reefs that hold rock & cribs and sand/weed transitions, but a combination of rock/crib seems to be producing the best as of late. You can definitely still catch fish during the day, our biggest of the season has come at 11:45 in the morning on a bright sunny day. I would suggest starting shallow and just work your way out to deeper water as the sun begins to come up and the fish begin to slide out.

By the way the crappie bite has been absolutely phenomenal on the Chip. Take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxmJUVr8Qho

Great info and video artifishal, thanks again! Looks like the wx will really limit my mobility but I’m looking forward to giving it a go.

We did pretty well here in early January with tip-ups and large fathead minnows; on and around east side humps that came up to about 17′. Walleyes and small pike. Later in the afternoon was better. There is a guide service affiliated with Famous Dave’s on the lake as well. You can look them up on their web site. Good luck!

Well, had a great evening fish, fished from 4-7, caught 3 eyes and lost one, biggest was 16″, so nothing huge but feel good considering time limit and weather!