Fishing

The Black River Falls area offers year-round fishing opportunities. The Black River is well known for musky, walleye and smallmouth bass. Excellent summer and winter fishing can be found in both Lake Arbutus and the upper Black River Falls flowages. Merlin Lambert County Park provides boat access to flowages that hold large numbers of panfish, northern pike, musky, and bass.

Wazee Lake also is a challenge for anglers. The 146-acre lake is the deepest manmade lake in Wisconsin. The former iron pit mine is more than 350 feet deep and offers crystal clear waters.

In 2015 during a fish survey a near state-record walleye was pulled from the waters and released. Using an uncertified spring scale the fish weighed 17½ pounds and was 32.3 inches long. That’s only one-half pound less than the official state record walleye of 18 pounds, which was caught Sept. 16, 1933, in Vilas County.

Trout anglers will find a number of excellent streams in the Black River Falls area. The cold, clear creeks hold brook trout, rainbow trout and brown trout.