Lac Courte Oreilles
A lake in Sawyer County, Wisconsin
5,140 acres
About Lac Courte Oreilles
Lac Courte Oreilles covers 5,140 acres in Sawyer County, about nine miles south of Hayward. It runs six and a half miles at its longest and carries 25 miles of shoreline. Local sources put its maximum depth near ninety feet, and depth is the thing that defines it — this is clear, deep water rather than the dark shallow lakes that surround it.
Three public landings serve it. The DNR access in the town of Bass Lake is concrete panel and marked accessible; LCO Drive and Victory Heights are township ramps and are not.
The state manages the walleye here with stocking plus natural reproduction, and classifies its smallmouth habitat as wadable warm water. Musky, northern pike, largemouth and panfish are all reported by local sources, and the lake has a long-standing reputation for large musky.
Clear deep water is generally harder fishing than stained shallow water, and the people who write about this lake say so plainly: fish relate to deep weedlines and offshore structure rather than obvious cover, and low light matters more here than on most lakes. Check current DNR regulations before keeping anything.
Written from Wisconsin DNR hydrography and fisheries data, and from Lac Courte Oreilles — Travel Wisconsin, Lac Courte Oreilles — Wisconsin DNR Lake Pages, Lac Courte Oreilles — Hayward Lakes. State water ID WBIC 2390800.
How the state manages it
- smallmouth · Wadable Warm Water
- walleye · Stocking plus Natural Reproduction
Wisconsin DNR fisheries designations. These describe how the water is managed, not what is in it on any given day.
Fishing license
Wisconsin sells them online. Buy one from the state. We don’t know whether you need one — that depends on your age, where you live, the water, and what your guide’s own license covers.