Butternut Lake is a 1246 acre lake located in Forest County. It has a maximum depth of 42 feet. Visitors have access to the lake from public boat landings. Fish include panfish, smallmouth bass, northern pike and walleye. The lake’s water clarity is very clear. According to the DNR, smallmouth bass and walleye are listed as abundant. Panfish are listed as common and northern pike are listed as present.
Butternut Lake is definitely one of the better smallmouth bass lakes in Vilas County. With a nice boat launch and just a 20 to 25 minute drive out of town, this lake does see a decent amount of anglers, but not nearly the pressure it would face if it was located closer to town. You can catch a lot of smallmouth bass here if you time it right in the early summer or if you are good at targeting bass in deeper water offshore. Anglers report having 20 to 30 fish days here with quality bass up to and above 4 pounds being fairly common. With the clear water here, live baits will definitely help you put up bigger numbers of fish, but some anglers do report good outings here with lures as well.
WI DNR Lake Information Report
