Chequamegon Bay

About Chequamegon Bay

Chequamegon Bay is the sheltered arm of Lake Superior that runs down to Ashland, held in by the Bayfield Peninsula on one side and Long Island on the other. It sits outside the state's inland hydrography survey, so the acreage and shoreline figures that appear on most water pages here are not available for it. Local sources describe it as roughly twelve miles long.

What it is known for is smallmouth bass. The bay is routinely rated among the best smallmouth fisheries in North America, with rock and breakwater structure holding fish that average around eighteen inches, and it is treated by most anglers and by the fishery management as a catch-and-release trophy fishery rather than a place to fill a cooler. The season is generally described as mid-May through late October, with autumn holding the largest fish.

It is not only smallmouth. Brown trout, lake trout, chinook and coho salmon, walleye and musky are all taken here, and in autumn the tributary rivers draw fish and anglers off the bay entirely.

Lake Superior regulations differ from Wisconsin's inland rules, and the smallmouth rules on this bay in particular have been specific for a long time. Check the current DNR Lake Superior regulations before keeping any fish.

Written from state hydrography and fisheries data, and from Fishing in Chequamegon Bay — Visit Ashland, Wisconsin's Superior Smallmouth Bass — MidWest Outdoors, Lake Superior fishing calendar — Wisconsin DNR.