White Clay Lake has historically been known as an excellent fishing lake. White Clay Lake feeds into to Mud Lake, to its west, which then continues on to Shawano Lake. In October of 2019, the White Clay Lake Management Plan was finalized by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Due to the excellent fishery, the plan recommends the addition of coarse woody habitat to White Clay Lake.

White Clay Lake is surround by a ring of cattails with the only development on the lake being the White Clay Lake Lodge and the boat launch. There is mostly farm land surround White Clay Lake. Due to this, there are not many trees around the lake that can naturally fall into the lake, creating habitat for young fish.

Because of the recommendations within the lake management plan, White Clay Lake P&R District applied for, and was awarded, a Healthy Lakes Grant in February 2019 for the addition of “fish sticks” to the lake’s shoreline.

What are fish sticks?

Fish sticks create fish and wild life habitat by provided an area for everything from our song birds to fish to feed, breed, and nest!

Fish sticks are created using trees that have been cut within 3 months of the installation date – but the fresher the better. These trees need to sink! These trees are then dragged out on to the ice, or shipped across on a large barge, and tied to together. Each fish stick has 3-5 trees, depending on size, with one of the trees having a basal diameter of 8 inches.

These trees are then anchored within 20 feet, waterward or landward, of the bank toe.

Once the ice melts, these frees sink down and immediately start creating habitat for young fish.

You can find more information on the Healthy Lakes website: Fish Sticks

The District has partnered with the White Clay Lake Sportsmen Club to complete the project. The two groups will be sitting down in January to plan the timeline for the next steps, including:

  • Creating an ice road to the location of the fish sticks
  • Cutting trees
  • Moving trees to lake
  • Assembling and anchoring fish sticks

All of these tasks will be based on how well ice forms on the lake. If there are poor ice conditions, this project will need to pushed until the next winter.

We are looking for volunteers to help us with any of the above mentioned tasks. Volunteers can provide their time or equipment to help with this project.

Learn more about the White Clay Lake Sportsmen Club here

Learn more about the White Clay Lake P & R District here

Please email Emily Henrigillis if you’d like to help!