Planning a Fall Trip to NE Wisconsin, Advice Needed

[LennyB]

Hello Everyone,

I'm planning a Fall Trip and was thinking of going to the Eagle River Area for a week. Just wondering what kind of bass fishing pressure to expect up there. Looks like there's tons of lakes to choose from for both Smallies and Largemouth in Forest, Oneida, and Vilas counties. Planning to going in October. Any info on what to expect and the types of lakes and patterns that generally work best that time of year and in those areas is appreciated.

[Basscaster]

Eagle River is to the east edge of all the Lakes. I like Boulder Junction area or better yet- Mantowish Waters..

[LennyB]

Thanks Sir,
I'll be up there for a week and plan to hit two lakes per day in those areas. Should be fun exploring new lakes.

[Esox Z518C]

Just a thought, most of the lakes in northern Wi. turn over around Oct. 5th to 10th.

[Ben Danbleume]

October is too late in the year for me, I'd go in August/Sept. Got hit with an early storm when traveling the north country ONCE.

[LennyB]

My Fall trips have always been to the top half of the lower peninsula of Michigan. Generally I try to go around October 1st which usually is a good time in that area. With my work schedule this year, it will have to either be the 3rd week of September or the 1st or 3rd week of October. I guess there is no guarantee on what the weather conditions will do so I will probably just go and do what I can with the conditions I'm given, provided no snow storms are predicted. If you were going, would you plan it for the 3rd week of Sept or the 1st week of Oct?

Thanks again everyone for your thoughts.

[Fins]

Good time to fish muskies up there.

[Zephyr20]

3rd week of Sept. ..... Beautiful!

[exx1976]

Yeah, unless you're going Musky fishing, you need to be earlier. August/September is about the tail end of bass season. Anything beyond mid/late-September and water temps really start to plummet. I've been on Musky trips up north and gotten snowed out in October.


There are a lot of "top secret" lakes in Vilas County. For some of the bigger waters, Manitowish is nice, as is the LDF chain. Minocqua chain is supposed to be very productive as well if you can stand the recreational traffic.

[Umckibben]

We have a cabin near Kentuck lake, good population of bass and esox, latest I've fished up there is July/August though, it's about 1k acre nice lake, not much pressure on the bass

[LennyB]

Thanks Everyone, It will be fun exploring all the new lakes for me.

[Crankb8]

Hello Everyone,

I'm planning a Fall Trip and was thinking of going to the Eagle River Area for a week. Just wondering what kind of bass fishing pressure to expect up there. Looks like there's tons of lakes to choose from for both Smallies and Largemouth in Forest, Oneida, and Vilas counties. Planning to going in October. Any info on what to expect and the types of lakes and patterns that generally work best that time of year and in those areas is appreciated.

I see Kentuck was mentioned, another lake very near Kentuck is Butternut. Both of these lakes hold HUGE smally's. My son and I make an annual trip up here usually in October. I can tell you that the last 2 years has been miserably cold! Never got out of the 30's, windy and rain!! Smally's were tight lipped, but what we caught were impressive!!

[Trock84]

I make a trip to Hayward every fall on the last week in September. I lots of big smallies. I went in October a few times and it gets a little cold. Remember to bring some 2-3” suckers if all else fails.