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About Fishing The Hayward Area

Some of the finest fishing in the State of Wisconsin can be found in Sawyer County and the Hayward Lakes area. Trophy musky, walleye, smallmouth bass and panfish all swim in these waters with many monster fish being taken annually. Moose Lake and the world famous Chippewa Flowage are some of the bodies of water you will be able to experience in our area.

Moose Lake

Moose Lake is a 1600 acre, dark water flowage surrounded by the 850,000 acre Chequamegon National Forest , making it a true sportsman's paradise. Moose lake has a reputation as being one of Wisconsin's finest musky lakes, and it also has good populations of walleye, smallmouth bass, and panfish. Then if you really want to get away from it all and experience some great fishing, try a canoe or float trip down the West Fork of the Chippewa river that flows into Moose Lake.

Along with Moose Lake and the Chippewa River there's no shortage of other places to fish either. In fact, there's so many places to go, it's sometimes hard to decide just where to go.

Click Here to view a Hydrographic Map of Moose Lake.

Moose Lake Muskies

Moose lake has long been one of the top musky lakes in the Hayward area and in the state. Since the mid 80's Moose has been known as a top "numbers" lake with lots of fish in the mid 30 inch range BUT historically it also produced fish over 40 pounds as well. It is one of the few lakes that has a self sustaining musky population with lots of muskies and with catch and release being in the high 90 percent it has an increasing number of bigger fish persent as well. In 2003 the minimum size limit was increased to 40 inches which should further increase the number of trophy fish available too. This last summer there were a lot of muskies caught that run from 40 to 48 inches!  As with many of the other smaller lakes, Moose is again producing some of those bigger muskies and with C&R and the 40" size limit, It should do nothing but get better every year!

West Fork Smallies

There is a place, where generations of anglers have enjoyed some great fishing and even in today's fast paced world where everything is constantly changing, time has basically stood still there.

This place is the West Fork of the famous Chippewa river up stream from Moose lake located East of Hayward Wisconsin. What can you expect in the fishing there today? Well, along with some decent walleye fishing and way better than average musky fishing, there's also some great smallmouth bass fishing that just seems to keep getting better all the time. And that's what I'm talking about here! Plenty of smallmouth with some fish running up to around 6 or 7 pounds, maybe even bigger!

Why is the bass fishing getting better you ask? Well, the rise in the popularity of catch and release and the fact that for around 7 or 8 years now the bass season has only been open to only catch and release till later in June are a couple of good reasons. In fact, these factors alone are probably the biggest reasons for the increase in both size and numbers in bass when other fisheries, especially those in less remote locations, are often struggling to keep up with increased pressure. Still the fact is it is good here and getting better! Whether you fish with a spinning rod or a fly rod, there a fish here plenty big enough to test your skills as an angler.

Then besides good fishing, a trip down the "Chip" is a great experience and has some beautiful scenery too. Paddling along the path of the old voyageur's and lumberjacks there are some big wild rice fields, lots of wild country, and plenty of wild critters to see.

While there are a lot of miles of river upstream from Moose Lake and Sportsmen's Lodge to canoe and fish, the most popular stretch's are those from Clam lake to Moose, and from highway GG down the Torch river to the "Chip" at Cattail lake then on down to Moose Lake. Along with a lot of river and a just few minor rapids to contend with, there are also several small lakes and wide spots in the river.

As for distance or time, the shorter trip from 174 down can be done in 3 hours or less, ( the average is around 5 hours ), but you can also spend all day fishing it and exploring. Then on the longer trips from Clam Lake or GG, you need to get started early in the day or spend overnight camping along the river in the National Forest if you want to spend any time fishing.

Chippewa Flowage & Other Area Lakes

Some of our better known lakes just a short drive from our resorts are, the Chippewa Flowage that produced the current world record musky, Lac Courte Orielles, Grindstone, Big Round, Teal, Lost Land, Moose, and many more, each with it's own fishing characteristics.

With Over 16,000 acres of water, the "Chip" is the largest wilderness lake in Northwest Wisconsin and the third largest lake in the state. This vast, sprawling lake has around 250 miles of shoreline and 140 or more islands. It's fishery consists of Musky, walleye, smallmouth and largemouth bass, panfish, northern pike and a few other species.Lodging is available at several resorts and you can camp both at several campgrounds and on several of the islands.Then when it comes to rivers along with the Chippewa, there's the Flambeau, the St.Croix, the Namekogan, the Brule, and hundreds of other smaller rivers and streams, most of which also provide good fishing. Then there's the big lake, Lake Superior, with all it's bays and tributaries. Just a couple examples are the Chequamegon Bay where you can find great trout, salmon, walleye, and northern pike fishing as well as world class smallmouth fishing.

Then too, there's the St. Louis Bay and River where you can find some great walleye, northern pike, bass, and musky fishing. No matter what your preference, from remote streams to sprawling inland lakes to the vastness of Lake Superior, Northwest Wisconsin has it. And if you just want to check out the shops and attractions or play a round of golf, we have plenty to offer there as well.

Ice Fishing

While as a sport, ice fishing has been around almost forever, it really has changed over the last decade. Both in popularity, and how and where we fish. Much of this is probably due to more knowledge on it available and far better equipment available. Not only have we seen tremendous changes in tackle, but also we now have high tech winter clothing and portable ice shelters available to us that makes it actually quite comfortable being out there on the ice even in the worst of weather.

Because of the increase in popularity many lakes are seeing increased winter fishing pressure and more crowding. Not so on most of the lakes here in the Hayward Wisconsin area.

While you can and do see quite a few out the ice fishing on some of our lakes, on many more you're lucky to see another angler out there on any given day, much less a crowd! So why, if you are heading out on a winter fishing trip, would you want to head for one of those lakes where you will find roads plowed on the ice and literally small towns of ice shacks when there are other choices? No crowds and great fishing, sounds good doesn't it?

Here on Moose lake East of Hayward, you will find very little ice fishing pressure and yet there is good winter fishing for walleyes, crappies, perch, and panfish. Lodging is available in the winter at 3 resorts on Moose lake as is winter guide service.

Then too there are many other waters right in this area that provide great ice fishing. Just a few of the more popular ones are Teal, Lost Land, Ghost, Spider, Twin lakes, Grindstone, Lac Courte Oreilles, and Big Round. But you can also find good fishing and you likely will be the only one out there on many other smaller waters right around here too.

While the walleye season opens the first weekend in May there's also good fishing even before that!! Up in the West fork of the Chippewa river up from the resort and out on Moose lake, from ice out around mid April all through May you Can find good action from panfish, smallmouth bass, suckers, and perch. Then from the opener on, walleye action is good, especially early up in the river.

In fact right around the opener often some of the best walleye fishing in the area is in the West Fork of the river. Both Moose lake and the West fork are top walleye and musky fisheries, and over the last few years the Smallmouth Bass fishing has been great too!! Now we are seeing more smallies and quite a few of them running up to 5 or 6 pounds and even more.

From our docks you can fish out on the lake or motor a mile and a half up the river or we offer canoe rentals and shuttle service to up river drop off points where you can float and fish your way back to the resort. At the lodge we offer snacks as well as bait and misc tackle and guide service.