My brother and a couple of friends are trying to plan a trip to Vilas County next year. Looking at the first or second week in June. I really know nothing about the area or the lakes. Would prefer to target smallmouth with the option of largemouth and musky for a couple of the guys. Also the chance to catch some eater fish would be a bonus. Do you guys recommend any lakes or areas up there? Like I said our main focus would be smallmouth then largemouth, anything else would just be a bonus.
What part of Vilas County? There’s so many lakes that you might as well fish lakes close to you.
If you need an area yet, I personally prefer Boulder Junction as a good home
base area and a little less hectic and unpressured vs Minocqua/Eagle River.
Many of the houses that I was looking at booking are in the Boulder Junction area. Just wasn’t sure on which lake to try to make as a home base.
What are some of the lake options for those houses?
Big Saint Germain, Fishtrap, Little Spider, Boulder, High Lake, and Mamie LakeOriginally Posted by UWBASS
Big Saint has good SM fishing but a little too far south and east for a home base. Only fished Fishtrap/High once and did well on LM. I heard it is a good musky lake too. Boulder had some average SM but never gave it a legit shot. Bad weather day. Never have tried Spider or Mamie. If it was me, I’d pick Fishtrap/High. Good diversity on those two. Wildcat to the west has great LM fishing and big ones and is an action musky lake. Big Lake west of BJ has good SM and LM and Manitowish Chain is good for both species too and musky/walleye. Palmer is a good musky LM lake, lots of weeds. Never been on Cisco Chain but that’s not far either. I just love Vilas. A million lakes to suit all different styles of fishing. I lived up in Boulder Junxtion for a whole summer when I was in college. Fished like 29 lakes that summer i think. Good times.
Thanks UWBASS! Sounds like a blast up there. Personally my passion is smallmouth and would love to have a good time catching them. But I largemouth fish 90% of the time so just catching fish would be a plus. Thanks for the recommendations. Looking at a map there’s just so many lakes to look at. Would like to narrow it down to a few so we don’t end up chasing our tail the entire time
I would stay on High > connects to Fishtrap.I would also stay on Big Lake on hwy K, I would also stay on Manitowish but boating between lakes is dicey. I would also take a day or two and fish Sylvannia wilderness lakes in UP from Shore-the canoe outfitter on hwy 2 can help you. I believe his address is Watersmeet- call him today and find out whats happen now. I had a trailer in Boulder for 5 years and bass fished 65% of the time. Call the Chammer of Commerce and get their folded area map. It shows all lakes, launches, highways,Priceless for fisherman. Get fishing map book $20 for Boulder Junction- there is a series of them and they over lap.this will have 25 lakes and a couple pages on hot spots for each lake. You probably find a used one on ebay.
Thanks for the information Roy. You and Justin have been great help in narrowing down our search
Agree with high. If you haven't picked a place to stay yet, look at jungs resort or jungs cabins (I forget which) on high.
Another option is the lac du flambeau/fence lake chain. There's opportunity for trophy size musky, and several of the smaller lakes are just overrun with largemouth. We will be taking our annual musky trip up there next week. Check out fish n bum resort. Excellent cabins, very spacious, and power on the dock.
Ok. Thanks for the info. I’ll check it out
It is overwhelming the amount of Lakes(190 in 10 mile radius) and lack of good information. I use to check the taxidermy shops for good bass lakes. The fly guy(shop- we tie it) would be a great start. Even shops or fleet/farms in Wausau will have good information about the Lakes in Vilas. It is best to start Right now and ask about fishing today and when you are going. Always end the talk with the guys name and his address of his shop. Stop in and even buy $5-$10 worth of stuff. Boat rental business would know what the better bass lakes in the area.
In my experience the lack of good info is due to two things: a lot of those lakes are deserted, and guys don't want to give up "their lake" (yes, guys have their lake, not just their spot), but also, there are just SO many lakes that I don't think anyone has ever fished them all. Lol
Haha that was my worry is having too many lakes. That’s why I’d like to narrow it down to a handful. Looks like we’re planning on June 8-13 next year. Hopefully there’s still some fish shallow thinking maybe it’ll be the tail end of the spawn/post spawn. I’d love to catch fish on topwaters. Though I’ll make sure to pack enough of Gillespie’s favorite wack-o-worms
There's fish shallow all summer just fish the wind with spinner baits and lipless cranks.
Texas rig 5" senkos really work well for largemouth up there. Green pumpkin/black flake is effect on the vast majority of water. After that, a purple or blue with flake.Haha that was my worry is having too many lakes. That’s why I’d like to narrow it down to a handful. Looks like we’re planning on June 8-13 next year. Hopefully there’s still some fish shallow thinking maybe it’ll be the tail end of the spawn/post spawn. I’d love to catch fish on topwaters. Though I’ll make sure to pack enough of Gillespie’s favorite wack-o-worms
110 ploppers, too. Perch & bluegill.
Thanks for the pointers
Just got home from LdF. Had a pretty good week. Several northern over 30", a taxidermy bill of a largemouth, and hooked an upper 40s/lower 50s musky. Got him to within 15' of the boat before he jumped 4 feet out of the water and shook himself loose. Bent 3 hooks doing it.
Of course, I replaced the hooks with new ones that were much more stout, but he was not to be seen again on that trip.
Oh well. There's always next year.
Also caught an 18" smallmouth and several dozen largemouth from 12-18" (not counting my 22" taxidermy bill that hit a 9" rubber perch swimbait).
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