Canoe lake hopping in northern Wisconsin, my son Josh and I were after Northern Pike on some of the small lakes in northwest Wisconsins' Spooner Lake area.
The first couple lakes were a slightly clear tannin stained, tea brown color typical of alot of northern Wisconsin waters. Then we hit the next lake. Paddling over a sudden deep spot triggered an instinctive brace for a drop as I watched the bottom fall away. The clarity was startling!
THE INVITATION
This & other similar experiences while kayaking, fishing or just shore gazing, grew into an irresistible urge to checkout this enchanting underwater world.
As grass, shrubs & saplings are the outskirts of a forest, so surface & shore are but the edges of a lake, the bare minimum -the trail that leads right up to the mysteries within. Clear water beckons -sends out this invitation. To turn away would be like the timid Walter Mitty refusing to respond to the adventurous Sean O'Connell's finger gesture to venture forth. (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty -great movie).
And so the quest began- Snorkeling led to freediving which led to spearfishing and deeply enjoying fish dinners on the shores of the lakes we explore. These Wisconsin lakes have become pivot points to exploring other local features of the land and people; good eats, drinks, parks and other natural wonder phenoms. Though I must admit Lakes have remained by far my most captivating point of interest.
Finding these Lakes has been great fun as we've slowly made our way from southern Wisconsin to mid and northeast parts of the state.
This spring, we'll be slipping into deeper sections of the North Woods in the Minocqua area to try our hand at filming Muskies underwater with a GoPro.
To you adventurers accepting the invitation to slip below the surface into a crystalline wonderland, here are tips for finding Wisconsin's clearest lakes-
- WISCONSIN'S TOP 20 CLEAREST LAKES -All these lakes have an underwater visibility that ranges from 22-30+ft. There are MANY other comparedly clear lakes, but these have made the list at least twice in the last 5 yrs:
Whitefish Lake, Douglass Co.
Pine Lake, Waukesha co.
Maiden Lake, Oconto co.
Lake Wazee, Jackson Co.
Blue Lake, Oneida Co.
Lake Lucerne, Forest Co.
Lake Owen, Bayfield Co.
Crystal Lake, Marquette Co.
Presque Isle Lake, Vilas Co.
Keyes Lake, Florence Co.
Millicent Lake, Bayfield Co.
Mildred Lake, Oneida Co.
Lake Metonga, Florence Co.
Lake Owen, Bayfield Co.
Stormy Lake, Vilas Co.
Smoky Lake, Vilas Co.
Sugar Camp Lake, Oneida Co.
Deer Lake, Polk Co.
Big Newton Lake, Marinette Co.
(I got this list from professional freshwater fish photographer Eric Engbretson's blog - http://underwaterfishphotos.blogspot.com- A list that he obtained from consulting with Wisconsin's state-wide citizen's lake .monitoring group. Engbretson Underwater Photography of Florence, Wisconsin is the nation’s top supplier of photos of fish taken in their natural habitats! Love his "Sixty Seconds Underwater Youtube series-https://youtu.be/05TByGwpexs
- WISCONSIN'S CLEAREST LAKES AT A GLANCE: Here's an amazing satellite map that shows where most of the clear lakes are in Wisconsin. Focus on blue colored lakes (read the map legend). You can zoom in more clearly if you go to this link & download it for yourself. http://lakesat.org/statewide.
From this satellite map, use any map detailed enough to show the name of your target lake. We think the Northern (or Southern) Wisconsin -All Outdoors Atlas & Field Guide from the SPORTSMANS CONNECTION series is great. Get to the lake using the map, or much easier, put the lake name & county into your GPS & go. We learned the hard way that its very important to put the boat launch for that lake into the GPS. Otherwise the GPS will get you to the lake, but you'll have no idea where you can publicly access it.
- WISCONSIN DNR WEBSITE. Once you have the name of your target lake & its county, we've found the Wisconsin DNR website for that lake very helpful. On this site, look for water clarity being "very clear" or even "moderately clear." Depending on recent conditions & time of year a "moderately clear" lake is sometimes as clear as a "very clear" lake. This website also lists the lakes boat landings, lake map, nearby parks, common fish, type of lake, size, etc.
- GENERAL RULE OF THUMB -Water clarity in general tends to be best in June & worst in September. Northern lakes tend to be clearer longer than mid & more southern Wis lakes.
Since starting this blog we have been to the Minocqua area -as mentioned earlier- in our attempt to get muskies on a Gopro. This wonderful lake area (3rd most concentrated amnt of glacier made freshwater lakes in the world!) will be a future blog in itself, but for now you can view some of our video results:
Once again, I greatly enjoyed reading your blog. The water clarity in your GoPro footage was great. I'm sure you have mention before in prior blogs, but which lakes out of the top 20 clear Wisconsin lakes have you visited? Which ones were your favorites?
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ReplyDeleteThnx for readn! -& enjoying! On tht list of clearest lakes, Iv bn to Maiden, Pine, Big Newton & Crystal. Of those 4, Crystal is my fav -lotsa crappie, hardly any boat traffic, I like the long trail thru the woods to get it. Alotta those on the list are in northern counties tht dont allow spearfishing. I plan on eventually getn to others on tht list anyway -for Gopro videos & curiosity. Was gonna add my list of favs, but thought my blog was long enough already.
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