Birchwood area lakes

[sawman]

Hi I'll try agian. I will be staying at Birch lake the first week in July. Would be thankful for any fishing info. Can I reach all of the lake by boat from Birch,Chetec Balsam Red Ceder?

Thanks

[vman59]

Big Chetac to birch yes and Balsam to Red Cedar yes so you can get through between Birch and Big Chetac but be careful in doing so.

[sawman]

Thanks for the info. I could still use some tip on where to start for bluegill,crapie, walleye.

[vman59]

Crappies on Big Chetac will be done by the time you come up and will be out in deeper water as will blue gills by then also. Try the weed line breaks in 8-12 fow for the gills . Eyes will be deep then as well I have been doing pretty good on eyes in 16-19 fow water on the flats north of the islands and they should still be there then I would think but you'll have to search for them. late evening and before first light being the best time.

[Badger]

My parents have a cottage on Birch. We were there last weekend and caught a ton of Largemouth/Smallmouth/Crappie & Bluegills on Chetac. The Crappie were still in the shallows & the Bluegill were coming in as well. I picked up a 13 1/2" Crappie in about 3ft. of water and some gills in the 9" range. Had a great fish fry with the family!!

[sawman]

Thanks for the info Badger. How big is the chanel between Birch and Chetac? This will be my first time there, I have a 17' deep V boat with a 40 hp motor. Will I have any trouble?

[Badger]

You won't have a problem....we take our pontoon thru it all the time. Lots of big boats go thru there (it's a no wake though). Great burgers at Birch Lake Resort! They also put on a fantastic Fireworks display. Hope you have a fun time!

[CraigM]

Sawman, If you're looking for some good food, stop at Back to the Woodlands supper club/bar on 'F' just north of 48 a couple miles. Great food and Scotty @ Sue are really good people. I have a place near Birchwood and will be up hitting some lakes this weekend. Probably Chetac & Balsam for starters. I'll post a report when I get back.

[CraigM]

Had a great weekend on the water. Checked out a couple spots for some big gills and after a lot of searching, we found some.

My son and I had an absolute blast on Friday after we found some of these bulls. Saturday, it took us a while to find them again as they had moved to the opposite side of the lake. Friday an ant jig (especially black)tipped with a power grub was the hot presentation. Saturday they wanted flu-flu jigs tipped with a waxie or spike. Got out for a few hours on Sunday on a diff. lake and had trouble finding them and when we did they weren't very aggressive. Also didn't see many beds and I think that they are just getting ready to spawn. We threw back a number of females that were still full of spawn. next weekend should be good.

[sawman]

Thanks for the info the pictures look great. What end of the lake and what depth were you fishing. Glad you had fun, I am looking forward to fishing with grandsons and son in laws.