Rob West Posted February 20, 2019 Posted February 20, 2019 What's up guys! I am planning a trip up north with 3 buddies to do some smallmouth and largemouth bass fishing. We wanted to rent a lake house and dock our boat on the lake so we can easily fish each day. We are not familiar with the area and was wondering if anyone knew of any great lakes to rent a house and fish on for bass in the spring? Any and all help is appreciated! There are so many d**n lakes to choose from! We currently have Big St. Germain lake booked but research suggests that it will be difficult to fish without a guide and its mostly a muskie and northern lake. Quote
Super User Scott F Posted February 20, 2019 Super User Posted February 20, 2019 Go to the Minocqua Chamber of Commerce web site and have them mail you a visitors guide. Mostly resorts in the guide with lots of cottages suitable for 3 guys. Or, visit the web site VRBO for home rentals. The time to catch bass in the spring is pretty short up there. The Season opens the first Saturday in May, (May 4). The best fishing begins when the water temps hit 50 degrees which can happen around the 15th on a good year. and lasts until the bass lock onto the beds. Generally, during the first to second week of June. Everything depends on the weather. There are numbers lakes, and there are trophy lakes. Invest in the Sportsmans Connection, All Outdoors Atlas & Field Guide for Northern Wisconsin. (about $30) It lists nearly every lake and the species present in each lake also showing if the species is Abundant, Common, or Present. You can rent a place to use as your home base and fish several lakes during your stay. Not a lot of the lakes are huge so you can easily cover an entire lake in a day. Some of the best lakes don't have any cabin rentals. Plus, the number of resorts is falling every year. Quote
Allen Der Posted February 20, 2019 Posted February 20, 2019 most people wont give up lakes or locations up there on the internet, myself included. my suggestion is stay away from Eagle River, ST Germain and Minocqua areas that get a lot of boat traffic. check out boulder junction and star lake area Quote
Super User Scott F Posted February 20, 2019 Super User Posted February 20, 2019 Except for Memorial Day weekend, all the lakes, even the Minocqua and Eagle River chains, are nearly empty during the entire month of May. I spend two weeks there fishing for pre-spawners and go days without seeing another boat. Few people target bass up there especially during spring. Quote
Super User FryDog62 Posted February 20, 2019 Super User Posted February 20, 2019 Could try a guide one day and see what lake he takes you on and how you fish the current conditions, water temps, etc. Probably learn about other lakes to go to as well. Maybe try Rob Manthei http://www.robmanthei.com/ Not so bad if you’re splitting up the guide fee between a few guys. A thought anyway - Quote
Rob West Posted February 20, 2019 Author Posted February 20, 2019 Awesome! Thanks guys... Yeah, I figured some people wouldn't want to share certain information. I will check out those areas suggested. Much appreciated. Since I am in charge of finding the cabin and the lake its on, I didn't want to be responsible for terrible fishing Oh, and we are just catch and release fishing unless we get into a mess of good size crappie. Then we might consider a fish fry. Quote
Rob West Posted February 20, 2019 Author Posted February 20, 2019 Ok, so I just booked a cabin on Boulder Lake. Looks beautiful! I'm excited. Does anyone know if you can access Big Crooked Lake and Rice Lake or any other bodies of water by bass boat? Quote
Vilas15 Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 On 2/20/2019 at 9:56 AM, Rob West said: Ok, so I just booked a cabin on Boulder Lake. Looks beautiful! I'm excited. Does anyone know if you can access Big Crooked Lake and Rice Lake or any other bodies of water by bass boat? Boulder Junction is a nice area. I don't fish any lakes right near there so I don't have any specific advice. I would second picking up a book on the area lakes. It would be a good head start. Google maps shows there probably isn't any access from Boulder to the other lakes, but it's real easy to trailer 10 mins down the road to any other lakes. I will say that if you plan travel down to Trout Lake since it's close, there are some things to be aware of. I've never fished it for bass, but water is extremely clear 15'+ and it is super low density in terms of biomass so the muskies/walleye are few and far between but can get big. Could be worth a shot for smallies in May but after that forget about it, they'd disappear into the depths and it's so big you'd never find them. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.