Yellow Lake

This Burnett County water is Yellow Lake, a lake with the latest inventory showing about 2,283 acres and a maximum depth of 31 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 spending the early part of the day on one manageable section of the lake instead of trying to cover the whole thing and that is usually enough to tell you whether to stay shallow or start looking farther out.

What you can fish for

For this exact water, the recorded fish are Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Lake Sturgeon, Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge, Northern Pike, and Pumpkinseed, plus 3 more; and that gives me a simple starting point with weeds, wood, rock, or docks for bass and points, breaks, and wind-pushed edges for walleye, 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 Yellow Lake, I would fish what is in front of me instead of trying to make the lake match an old report, and I would read the current Wisconsin rules once before the trip so there are no surprises.