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| Photo by Bryan Witek |
"A little tranquil lake is more significant to my life than any big city in the world." —Munia Kah
Base Camps
Heading to our Westfield Base camp—"pivot point," from where we stay in Westfield in Marquette county Wisconsin, there are clear lakes nearby and several directions to choose from: Crystal, Wood, Lawrence, Moon, and the "8 Lake District."
Early on in our search for clear water lakes, we learned the importance of having backup lakes when our targeted clear water lake turns out to be not so clear.
The 8 Lake District
Today we're visiting the "8 Lake District" near Oxford, in Adams county -consisting of 8 lakes within a 4 mile radius: Jordan, Parker, Goose, Deep, Peppermill, McDougal, Crooked & Wolf. All decently clear. I've got my heart set on Wolf lake; considered the clearest of these lakes. We've been in Parker and Wolf. Have only done shore peeks into the water at the other lakes. They all look inviting, but we keep returning to Wolf lake.
Love This Lake!
Love This Lake!
A lake's got to push all the right buttons for us to revisit it; water clarity, light boat traffic, fairly easy access, plenty of my target fish—crappie, and some other intangibles. Seems the adventure of checking out a new lake drives our lake wanderings.
This being our third trip to Wolf lake says something. Love This Lake! The last two times we were there, it was OUR lake—not another soul to be seen the whole 3 hours we were there.
Not a big lake; 42 acres. I've been around only about half of it. Speargun in hand, once I start seeing my fish of choice, I move slowly, dialed into their movements. All senses on full alert.
Freediving rivets your attention into the moment by the very nature of the activity. Add the stalk mode of spearfishing and you have a further type of altered state and a core part of my own enjoyment of lake adventures.
You can get to all these lakes by putting in name of the lake, county and boat launch into GPS.
This being our third trip to Wolf lake says something. Love This Lake! The last two times we were there, it was OUR lake—not another soul to be seen the whole 3 hours we were there.
Not a big lake; 42 acres. I've been around only about half of it. Speargun in hand, once I start seeing my fish of choice, I move slowly, dialed into their movements. All senses on full alert.
Freediving rivets your attention into the moment by the very nature of the activity. Add the stalk mode of spearfishing and you have a further type of altered state and a core part of my own enjoyment of lake adventures.
I realize harpooning your fish dinner is not for everyone. I enjoy rod and reel fishing, but on the excitement scale, there's a lot to be said for entering the fish's world with "One breath, One shot," —as the spear fisherman's mantra goes. Also, when the goal is to make a meal out of the fish (vs sport fishing catch & release) I like the "selective take" angle of spearfishing. The only fish I traumatize are the ones going into a frying pan.
Today my focus is on gathering a side dish of underwater greens ("macro algae") to go with our fish dinner. I'm looking for Tape or Eel Grass, or known by its more appetizing name Wild Celery. This will be our first time trying this.
Here's our later take on Wild Celery: Very bland, which we wouldn't have minded, as you season to taste, but the texture was pretty tough—gotta admit to a bit of face contortion while chewing. Could be that we need to harvest younger leaves or cook it differently.
Not bad as a tea. Unique, weird taste, but ok. A little sugar made it better.
Was still a very satisfying contribution to a meal gathered from these waters by our own efforts.
Birds' Eye View
Wolf lake, and most of the other lakes in the Westfield area, sit in an ecosystem called the Central Sand Hills, marked by—you guessed it—sand and hills.
A high flying eagle heading north from south central Wisconsin would see plenty of corn, soybeans and dairy cows, an increasing amount of pine, aspen, and, thanks to glaciers leaving a landscape that drains poorly, our eagle would be seeing more bogs, swamps and...LAKES!
The Wisconsin river, with its awesome sand bars, snakes its way through part of this area. Canoeing this river was a favorite trip when our kids were young. Plenty of sand bar islands to stop at, claim as your own, play on, picnic and swim.
About 2 hrs (1 hour car speed) after passing the Madison lakes, our eagle sees several lakes close together; the Oxford "8 Lake District". Deciding to spiral down for a fish dinner, he picks one lake—Wolf lake. He finds no boats, some outstandingly clear water and a human/frog thing—me.
Fish Eye View
As I slip below the surface at Wolf lake, I'll pick up the perspective where our eagle left off:
Water still cold here in May—cold enough to make me wince as my exposed face submerges. Water is a very clear 15-20+ ft of visibility. Started seeing crappie near the edges of the weeds (pondweed, milfoil, coontail) in 5-10 ft of water to the right/south of the boat launch. Waiting for bigger ones makes me pass up a lot of shots and enjoy fish watching—good amount of bluegill, largemouth bass, a few small northern pike and a big snapping turtle.
I pick up a rhythm—relax on surface for a couple minutes, take a deep breath, duck dive to the bottom in a promising looking area, be still and watchful, wait for curious fish to approach. Hold breath untill discomfort sends me up for air, repeat.
Greatly enjoyed swimming through openings in strange light green translucent billowy clouds of algae like stuff, suspended off the bottom (finally made good on that childhood desire to fly through nimbus clouds).
Easy access via the 1 boat launch. Not only is this a "No Wake" lake, but no motors of any kind are allowed—gas or electric.
Here's our later take on Wild Celery: Very bland, which we wouldn't have minded, as you season to taste, but the texture was pretty tough—gotta admit to a bit of face contortion while chewing. Could be that we need to harvest younger leaves or cook it differently.
Not bad as a tea. Unique, weird taste, but ok. A little sugar made it better.
Was still a very satisfying contribution to a meal gathered from these waters by our own efforts.
Birds' Eye View
Wolf lake, and most of the other lakes in the Westfield area, sit in an ecosystem called the Central Sand Hills, marked by—you guessed it—sand and hills.
A high flying eagle heading north from south central Wisconsin would see plenty of corn, soybeans and dairy cows, an increasing amount of pine, aspen, and, thanks to glaciers leaving a landscape that drains poorly, our eagle would be seeing more bogs, swamps and...LAKES!
The Wisconsin river, with its awesome sand bars, snakes its way through part of this area. Canoeing this river was a favorite trip when our kids were young. Plenty of sand bar islands to stop at, claim as your own, play on, picnic and swim.
About 2 hrs (1 hour car speed) after passing the Madison lakes, our eagle sees several lakes close together; the Oxford "8 Lake District". Deciding to spiral down for a fish dinner, he picks one lake—Wolf lake. He finds no boats, some outstandingly clear water and a human/frog thing—me.
Fish Eye View
As I slip below the surface at Wolf lake, I'll pick up the perspective where our eagle left off:
Water still cold here in May—cold enough to make me wince as my exposed face submerges. Water is a very clear 15-20+ ft of visibility. Started seeing crappie near the edges of the weeds (pondweed, milfoil, coontail) in 5-10 ft of water to the right/south of the boat launch. Waiting for bigger ones makes me pass up a lot of shots and enjoy fish watching—good amount of bluegill, largemouth bass, a few small northern pike and a big snapping turtle.
I pick up a rhythm—relax on surface for a couple minutes, take a deep breath, duck dive to the bottom in a promising looking area, be still and watchful, wait for curious fish to approach. Hold breath untill discomfort sends me up for air, repeat.
Greatly enjoyed swimming through openings in strange light green translucent billowy clouds of algae like stuff, suspended off the bottom (finally made good on that childhood desire to fly through nimbus clouds).
Easy access via the 1 boat launch. Not only is this a "No Wake" lake, but no motors of any kind are allowed—gas or electric.
Getting to Wolf Lake:
Couldn't find GPS for the boat launch, so came up with this nearby address to get within sight of the boat launch: "3154 County hwy A, Oxford Wisconsin."
Brief notes about other lakes in our Westfield pivot point:
Couldn't find GPS for the boat launch, so came up with this nearby address to get within sight of the boat launch: "3154 County hwy A, Oxford Wisconsin."
Brief notes about other lakes in our Westfield pivot point:
- Parker lake, Adams County. One of the "8 Lake District" lakes I mentioned earlier. Access point to the lake is at the wayside park off of rt 82. Diving amongst the many downed trees in the bay to the left/north east of the wayside park was a highlight. I love weaving and gliding amongst fallen trees. Plenty of seaweed cover for fish along this north shore.
- Lawrence Lake, Marquette County. Not great for snorkeling or diving. Water usually only moderately clear. Busy with boat traffic. We loved the cottages rented out by Tall Pines Resort. Was a special experience diving near our own little cottage, from our own dock, capped off by a delicious fish fry by our own fire pit. Saw plenty of bluegill, bass and crappie.
- Crystal lake, Marquette County. A favorite lake. One of Wisconsins' clearest lakes. 23 min north east of Westfield. Not easy access (the lake is a 300 yd walk on a trail from the parking lot) but worth the effort. A lake that, before leaving it, always makes me pause, look back and say—"love that lake."
- Moon (also called Birch) lake, Marquette County. Didn't care for it. Snorkelled the entire west shore from the boat launch looking for fish. Didn't see many. Lacked bottom depth variation. Seemed a constant shallow depth lacking interesting features, seaweed clumps and fish population.
- Wood lake, Marquette county. 20 min to the north of Westfield. Just throwing this one out there as HPFC -"Having Potential For Coolness." Have only gazed into the waters from shore. Was too windy when we were there. Since hearing "Wood lake's water is so clear it's hard to get close to the fish," I've been longing to check it out.
- Pearl Lake, Waushara County. I found Pearl lake to be a clear and pretty lake worth exploring more, but the boat traffic was too much for me. Focus on a weekday visit or at least going outside the 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. water skiing time. I found a nice drop off and weeds to attract enough fish immediately to the left of the boat launch to keep me occupied the whole time. After Pearl Lake consider a visit to the nearby Red Granite Quarry for its renowned cliff jumping! Pearl Lake is a bit far to be included in our Westfield Base camp (38 minutes away), But adding the cliff jumping at the quarry to your scene could make the area worth the visit.
When staying overnight in the Westfield area we like the Pioneer Motor Inn motel in the town of Westfield.
Evening pizza and atmosphere at the Tall Pines Resort on Lawrence lake—about 15 min from Westfield, is a relaxing highlight.
WESTFIELD AREA
From Madison 1hr 30 min
From Milwaukee 2 hrs
From Wausau 1 hr 15 min
From Green Bay 2 hrs
From Chicago 3 hrs
WESTFIELD AREA
From Madison 1hr 30 min
From Milwaukee 2 hrs
From Wausau 1 hr 15 min
From Green Bay 2 hrs
From Chicago 3 hrs