Lake Superior

About Lake Superior

Wisconsin holds the southwestern shore of Lake Superior, from the harbour at Superior east through Douglas, Bayfield and Ashland counties, around the Bayfield Peninsula and the Apostle Islands, to the Bad River. The surface and shoreline figures in our survey cover the whole lake across two countries, not Wisconsin's share, so they are a note on scale rather than a local statistic — this is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area.

Twenty public landings are on record on the Wisconsin side, including access at Red Cliff, Sand Bay and Pureair on the peninsula, and at La Pointe on Madeline Island.

The state's inland fisheries designations do not apply here. Lake Superior is managed separately as a Great Lake, with its own assessments, its own seasons and its own rules — lake trout, brown trout, coho and chinook salmon, whitefish and smallmouth all figure, and the tributary rivers along the shore matter as much seasonally as the open water does.

Great Lakes regulations differ substantially from Wisconsin's inland rules. Check the current DNR Lake Superior regulations, and treat weather here as the first consideration rather than the last.

Written from Wisconsin DNR hydrography and fisheries data. State water ID WBIC 2751220.

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.