Scat Lake

This Vilas County water is Scat Lake, a lake with the current lake record giving us about 15 acres and a maximum depth of 27 feet, and that is plenty of context for deciding how much of the water you can realistically cover.

Start with the basics

I would make the first trip about learning the water, not conquering it with a little time spent on the best bank cover, any obvious weeds, and the deepest water I can reach before changing five things at once and losing track of what actually mattered.

What you can fish for

For this exact water, the recorded fish are Black Crappie, Bluegill, Largemouth Bass, Pumpkinseed, and Yellow Perch; so I would build the first part of the day around weeds, wood, rock, or docks for bass and weeds and easy cover for panfish, and keep one good idea at a time instead of changing everything.

Keeping the first trip simple

If a buddy asked me how to start on Scat Lake, I would fish a few sensible areas, remember where the life is, and stop forcing a pattern that is not there, then I would double-check seasons and limits because the fish list on this page is not the rule book.