Working paperWisconsinNew

Pine Lake Had the Lowest Hours per Muskie of Wisconsin's 10 Most-Surveyed Muskie Lakes

Pine Lake had the fewest all-angler hours per muskie among the USGS catalog's 10 muskie lakes surveyed four or more times since 2000. The DNR listed 9.5 hours per fish for Pine's muskie anglers in 2023-24.

FDR Research Desk · Nov 8, 2026 · 6 min read
9.5hours per muskie for Pine Lake muskie anglers, 2023-24

Anglers caught muskies faster on Pine Lake in Iron County than on any other of Wisconsin's 10 most-surveyed muskie lakes, those with four or more creel surveys reporting muskies. Over 8 pooled surveys from 2002 to 2023, anglers on Pine logged 15.6 hours of all fishing per muskie caught. That rate puts Pine third among the 74 lakes with two or more surveys. Those hours count walleye, bass and panfish anglers just as the catalog's hours per muskie do below. The DNR's muskie-angler figures include only anglers fishing for muskies.

IQuick Fishing

Pine Took 15.6 Angler Hours per Muskie Over Eight Surveys

These surveys are from the U.S. Geological Survey's catalog of creel surveys, which collects Wisconsin DNR creel surveys by lake. For each lake we divided pooled angler hours by pooled muskie catch. The catalog puts Pine's slowest survey at 29.0 hours per muskie and its fastest at 10.7. Even Pine's slowest survey beat 78% of the 313 Wisconsin surveys with a recorded muskie.

The DNR's own 2023-24 Pine Lake report lists the figure that matters to a muskie angler. "Anglers fished 9.5 hours to catch a Muskellunge, and there was no documented harvest during the survey." In 2017-18 muskie anglers on the same lake fished 1,463 hours and took 9.3 hours per fish.

Figure 1 · All-angler hours per muskie, muskie lakes with four or more surveysPine Lake needed the fewest hours per muskie of the 10 most-surveyed muskie lakes
  1. 01Pine Lake15.6
  2. 02Bearskin Lake23.3
  3. 03Snipe Lake23.7
  4. 04Big Arbor Vitae Lake73.4
  5. 05Two Sisters Lake95.4
  6. 06Grindstone Lake100.1
  7. 07Middle Eau Claire Lake135.5
  8. 08Plum Lake205.7
  9. 09Trout Lake234.6
  10. 10Lipsett Lake276.6
All-angler hours per muskie caught, all surveys pooled, on the 10 Wisconsin lakes with four or more creel surveys of 150 days or longer from 2000 to 2023 that report a muskie catch, CreelCat scale. Fewer hours means muskies came faster. Source USGS CreelCat (SAMPLED estimates, DERIVED rates).

IIClose Behind

Bearskin and Snipe Followed on Four-Plus Surveys and Since 2014

The catalog puts just three of the 10 most-surveyed muskie lakes under 25 all-angler hours per muskie. Bearskin Lake in Oneida County needed 23.3 over 4 surveys, while Snipe Lake in Vilas County needed 23.7 over 8. Big Arbor Vitae in Vilas County ranked fourth at 73.4. Snipe also shows how much a season can vary, with 15.6 hours per muskie in its best survey and 55.1 in its worst.

Swipe table to see every column

LakeCountySurveysYearsMuskies caughtAngler hoursHours per muskieFastest surveySlowest survey
Pine LakeIron82002 to 20232,85744,45115.610.729.0
Bearskin LakeOneida42000 to 20183,60784,04923.316.551.2
Snipe LakeVilas82000 to 20211,42633,82323.715.655.1
Big Arbor Vitae LakeVilas72005 to 20235,582409,62673.443.3225.9
Two Sisters LakeOneida82002 to 202399494,90395.456.8453.9
Grindstone LakeSawyer72000 to 20182,394239,668100.147.0353.1
Middle Eau Claire LakeBayfield62004 to 2019843114,204135.579.9203.9
Plum LakeVilas72003 to 2021944194,273205.7139.9708.7
Trout LakeVilas82001 to 2022968227,078234.679.41,572.6
Lipsett LakeBurnett62004 to 201926573,313276.6191.9832.3
The 10 Wisconsin muskie lakes, those with four or more creel surveys of 150 days or longer from 2000 to 2023 that report a muskie catch, ranked by all-angler hours per muskie with all surveys pooled, plus each lake's fastest and slowest single survey. Hours and muskies are CreelCat's figures. On the four checked lakes with the most muskies, CreelCat's muskie catch ran about twice the DNR's printed total, so read the hours as a ranking scale. Source USGS CreelCat (SAMPLED estimates, DERIVED rates).

Pine has kept the lead. Pine averaged 11.8 all-angler hours per muskie across 4 surveys from 2014 to 2023. That puts Pine first among the 14 lakes with two or more surveys in those years, with Bearskin and Snipe again second and third. Bearskin needed 17.8 over 2 recent surveys and Snipe needed 18.0 over 3. Squaw Lake in Oneida County followed at 45.7. Long Lake in Iron County had the fastest single recent survey at 10.0 hours in 2015. All of Pine's last four surveys ran between 10.7 and 13.3 hours on the catalog's scale. We could not compare the catalog's older muskie figures with DNR reports, and the DNR's own muskie-angler figure for Pine stayed at 9.3 hours in 2017-18 and 9.5 in 2023-24.

Figure 2 · Pine Lake, Iron County, hours per muskie by surveyOn the catalog's numbers, Pine Lake got faster after 2011
2002200820172023
All-angler hours per muskie caught in each of Pine Lake's eight creel surveys, CreelCat scale. Source USGS CreelCat (SAMPLED estimates, DERIVED rates).

Swipe table to see every column

LakeSeason startingAngler hoursMuskies caughtHours per muskie
Pine Lake20024,98434014.7
Pine Lake20056,26628721.8
Pine Lake20085,73419829.0
Pine Lake20116,85329023.6
Pine Lake20145,01437713.3
Pine Lake20174,57140011.4
Pine Lake20204,74644510.7
Pine Lake20236,28352112.1
Snipe Lake20003,42012926.6
Snipe Lake20033,5208342.2
Snipe Lake20063,3496155.1
Snipe Lake20093,71518320.2
Snipe Lake20124,36511139.2
Snipe Lake20154,07615726.0
Snipe Lake20186,79740816.7
Snipe Lake20214,58129415.6
Bearskin Lake200019,95381924.4
Bearskin Lake200322,33243651.2
Bearskin Lake201522,4791,18019.0
Bearskin Lake201819,2851,17116.5
Survey by survey on the three repeat-surveyed lakes with four or more surveys near the top of the ranking. Hours are on CreelCat's scale, which runs about half the DNR's printed all-angler hours per muskie on the four checked lakes with the most muskies. Source USGS CreelCat (SAMPLED estimates, DERIVED rates).

IIIChain Lake Results

Eagle Chain Lakes Placed High in Surveys From 2000 and 2013

Scattering Rice Lake in Vilas County topped the ranking of lakes with two or more surveys at 14.6 hours per muskie, followed by Irving Lake at 14.9 and Pine at 15.6. Scattering Rice belongs to the group of Vilas County lakes sharing one bag limit under the DNR's rules for fishing, which apply to "all lakes in the EAGLE CHAIN". The DNR surveyed eight of those lakes in both of the same years, 2000 and 2013. All eight ranked in the top 20, with hours per muskie ranging from 14.6 to 28.8. The catalog has no survey since 2013 for any of the eight.

Swipe table to see every column

RankLakeCountySurveysYearsMuskies caughtAngler hoursHours per muskie
1Scattering Rice Lake (Eagle Chain)Vilas22000 to 20131,57122,91314.6
2Irving LakeVilas22001 to 20111,26718,84414.9
3Pine LakeIron82002 to 20232,85744,45115.6
4Eagle Lake (Eagle Chain)Vilas22000 to 20132,08435,40717.0
5Otter Lake (Eagle Chain)Vilas22000 to 201382314,16617.2
6Long LakeIron32001 to 20151,73130,16117.4
7Yellow Birch Lake (Eagle Chain)Vilas22000 to 20131,39424,57117.6
8Catfish Lake (Eagle Chain)Vilas22000 to 20133,16258,60318.5
9Cranberry Lake (Eagle Chain)Vilas22000 to 20132,74853,37619.4
10Sand LakeSawyer22007 to 20231,30229,17322.4
11Bearskin LakeOneida42000 to 20183,60784,04923.3
12Ballard LakeVilas22001 to 20111,83143,39123.7
13Snipe LakeVilas82000 to 20211,42633,82323.7
14Squaw LakeOneida32003 to 20201,76943,43924.6
15Duck Lake (Eagle Chain)Vilas22000 to 201360814,97124.6
16Oxbow LakeVilas22008 to 201895223,54024.7
17White Birch LakeVilas22001 to 20112777,74727.9
18Lynx Lake (Eagle Chain)Vilas22000 to 20132727,84928.8
19Crab LakeVilas22000 to 200286524,94928.8
20Lake Of The PinesSawyer22013 to 202094427,32128.9
Wisconsin lakes ranked by all-angler hours per muskie caught, among the lakes with two or more creel surveys of 150 days or longer from 2000 to 2023. Muskie and hours are CreelCat's figures pooled over all surveys. On the four checked lakes with the most muskies, CreelCat's muskie catch ran about twice the DNR's printed total, so read the hours as a ranking scale. Source USGS CreelCat (SAMPLED estimates, DERIVED rates).

Fishing looks different in the middle of the ranking. Among the 74 lakes the median lake took 81.5 hours per muskie, about 5.6 times the best lake. Anglers kept 1.34% of their muskie catch in 150 surveys from 2000 to 2009, compared with 0.58% in 104 surveys from 2016 to 2023.

IVDifferent Hour Counts

Muskie Anglers Took Far Fewer Hours per Fish on Every Checked Lake

The DNR's reports describe their catch figures as fish "caught or harvested by all anglers, regardless of targeted species." Their hours per fish for a species cover a narrower group. "Only information from anglers who were specifically targeting that species is reported." For Pine Lake in 2023-24 the DNR recorded 5,679 angler hours and 257 muskies, which works out to 22.1 hours per muskie for everyone on the lake. The report also says that "Anglers spent 2,329 hours targeting Muskellunge during the season." Those anglers took 9.5 hours per fish.

Swipe table to see every column

LakeCountySeasonDNR angler hoursDNR muskies caughtAll-angler hours per muskieMuskie-angler hours per muskieCreelCat hours per muskie, same survey
Pine LakeIron2023-245,67925722.19.512.1
Sand LakeSawyer2023-2413,00315285.523.145.9
Squirrel LakeOneida2023-2425,836153168.946.580.3
Big Arbor Vitae LakeVilas2023-2445,223153295.670.8144.1
Trout LakeVilas2022-2332,550281,162.598.0744.1
Katherine LakeOneida2023-2411,65191,294.6130.11,204.6
This table shows what the Wisconsin DNR printed for six lakes with a recent creel report, beside CreelCat's figure for the same survey. All-angler hours per muskie divides the DNR's total angler hours by its muskie catch. The muskie-angler column is the DNR's own hours per muskie for anglers who said they were fishing muskies. Source Wisconsin DNR treaty creel reports (MEASURED, with DERIVED all-angler rate) and USGS CreelCat.

The same split appears in the DNR reports for the other lakes we checked. Sand Lake in Sawyer County took 85.5 hours per muskie for all anglers and 23.1 for muskie anglers. Squirrel Lake in Oneida County took 168.9 and 46.5, while Big Arbor Vitae took 295.6 and 70.8. For Trout Lake and Katherine Lake the all-angler figure topped 1,000 hours while muskie anglers took 98.0 and 130.1.

VDifferent Catch Counts

The Catalog Lists About Twice the DNR's Muskie Catch

For the six DNR reports with muskies, the catalog's muskie catch from the same survey was a median of 2.0 times the DNR's printed figure. Hours were only about 10% higher. For the four lakes with the most muskies, the catalog's hours per muskie were near half the DNR's. Pine's 2023 survey lists 12.1 hours per muskie in the catalog and 22.1 in the DNR report. The figures were closer on Trout and Katherine, where the DNR recorded 28 and 9 muskies. If every lake has a similar gap, the ranking stays the same and only the scale changes. Catch figures are expanded estimates drawn from angler interviews, and the DNR rotates lakes through its creel schedule. We could not compare the older surveys behind most of the ranking, and their gap could differ.

VIPlanning Your Fishing

Use Muskie-Angler Hours to Set Expectations

Our read is that Pine Lake in Iron County offers the most dependable fast muskie fishing in Wisconsin's creel record, followed by Bearskin and Snipe as places to look. For a muskie angler the DNR's own figure is the one to use when comparing lakes, and Pine's was 9.5 hours per fish in 2023-24 and 9.3 in 2017-18. The Eagle Chain lakes place alongside Pine based on surveys from 2000 and 2013, so look for a newer DNR report before building a plan around them. Our rule is to choose a lake with the catalog's ranking and set expectations with the latest DNR creel report.

NOTES AND SOURCES

  1. Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Inland Creel and Angler Survey Catalog (CreelCat), 2024 release.
  2. Also: Wisconsin DNR, Pine Lake 2023-2024 Creel Survey Report, Iron County.
  3. Also: Wisconsin DNR, treaty creel survey reports.
  4. Scope: Wisconsin angler intercept creel surveys in CreelCat from 2000 to 2023 that ran 150 days or longer with 2,000 or more angler hours. muskellunge catch. grain is the lake, pooling all its surveys. ranking limited to lakes with two or more surveys. Six DNR printed creel reports from 2022 to 2024 supply the check.
  5. Method: Hours per muskie = pooled estimated angler hours for all fishing / pooled estimated muskie catch (DERIVED). The DNR check divides each printed report's total angler hours by its printed muskie catch and lists the DNR's own hours per muskie for muskie anglers (MEASURED).
  6. Limits: On the 6 DNR printed reports with muskies, CreelCat's muskie catch ran a median of 2.0 times the DNR's printed total, while hours ran about 10% higher. On the four checked lakes with the most muskies, CreelCat hours per muskie came out near half of the DNR's. On Trout and Katherine lakes, with 28 and 9 muskies, the two ran closer. The ranking between lakes holds only if the gap is similar everywhere.
  7. Limits: All-angler hours include walleye, bass and panfish anglers. On Pine Lake in 2023-24 muskie anglers needed far fewer hours per fish than the all-angler figure suggests.
  8. Limits: Muskie catch is an expanded estimate from interviews. Raw counts are not in the data.
  9. Limits: Lakes rotate through the survey schedule. The Eagle Chain figures rest on two surveys, in 2000 and 2013.

Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. Fully Drawn Research is an independent data and analysis desk. This paper reports FDR's own analysis of public agency and survey data. Harvest, catch and survey figures describe what hunters and anglers reported or what agencies counted or estimated, not how many animals or fish are present, and they reflect regulations and hunter or angler choices as well as wildlife numbers.

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Fully Drawn Research. "Pine Lake Had the Lowest Hours per Muskie of Wisconsin's 10 Most-Surveyed Muskie Lakes." FDR Working Paper 239, Nov 8, 2026. https://www.fullydrawnresearch.ai/research/papers/wisconsin-muskie-lakes-hours-per-fish. Accessed Nov 12, 2026.

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