We have many lakes to choose from to go fishing on here in Hayward, Wisconsin yet it seems we always hit the ones an hour away. The closest to our home is Hayward Lake. A five minute drive. It’s pretty much right in town. It’s a reservoir that was dammed back in 1881 and first used as a wood pond for timber storage next to a newly built mill. On May 11, 1922 the old mill burned down. By this time most of the areas pine timber was gone and on that very day Hayward switched from a logging town to a tourist town. Now Hayward Lake is a beautiful little lake and Granny and I headed out on it this morning at 5 AM.
For the most part we sipped coffee and putted around to see the whole lake. The lakes is not more than a mile long. We went up to where the Namekagon River enters and made a few casts under an eagle nest. Then we made a few casts in almost every bay.
Supposedly there are musky here and Granny and I tossed some huge flies along pilings from an old dock. While there weren’t any follows from a musky, Granny spotted a nice fish that she said was for sure either a pike or a musky. It showed no interest at all.
We had a slow day but because of all the exploring we did instead of fishing we can’t judge Hayward Lake yet. We caught a few largemouth bass and bluegill and although Granny always seem to find a nice one, the lake was nothing to write home about. But we’ll be back!
Jeff,
Looks like a beautiful day!
Enjoy!
Tad