Birch Lake

This Taylor County water is Birch Lake, a lake with verified water details of about 11 acres and a maximum depth of 15 feet, so you can decide whether to fish it slow or break the day into a few different areas.

Start with the basics

I would make the first trip about learning the water, not conquering it by checking what is happening around the best bank cover, any obvious weeds, and the deepest water I can reach before I started digging through the tackle box for a magic answer.

What you can fish for

For this exact water, the recorded fish are Black Crappie, Bluegill, Northern Pike, Pumpkinseed, and Yellow Perch; so I would make room in the tackle box for weeds and easy cover for panfish and weed lines and baitfish areas for pike or musky, and save the extra tackle until there is a reason to use it.

Keeping the first trip simple

If a buddy asked me how to start on Birch Lake, I would keep the trip flexible enough to move, but not so restless that I never learn a spot, and I would read the current Wisconsin rules once before the trip so there are no surprises.