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Fishing report

Lake Arrowhead Bluegill Fishing Report

Lake Arrowhead, WI

Illustration of a bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

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Modeled from live National Weather Service data as of Sep 8, 2026 at 1:59 AM CDT, plus solunar and sun/moon times computed in-house. This is a computed report, not an eyewitness catch report.

The state's records for Lake Arrowhead name the category Bluegill belongs to rather than the individual species, so its presence is derived from that category, not from a species-level survey.

Max depth

30 ft

Deepest measurement on record

Max depth: Stachelek et al. (2021), LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, Environmental Data Initiative (CC BY 4.0)

Overall rating

Bluegill at Lake Arrowhead — 2026-09-08

Excellent · 86/100

Best window: 9 AM (Excellent · 100/100)

Season
Summer
Moon
10% illuminated, waningWaning Crescent
Est. surface temp
75.5°F
Pressure
30.11 inHgStable

Est. water temp

75.5°F

v1 estimate from air temperature — not a sensor reading

In Bluegill's 67-85°F range

Air vs. last week

10°F cooler

63°F now vs 73°F this time last week

Measured air temperature at the nearest weather station — not water

Sun & moon

Sunrise
6:30 AM
Sunset
7:22 PM
Moonrise
3:17 AM
Moonset
6:16 PM
Sky, wind & pressureat best window · 9 AM
Cloud cover
85%
Precip chance
23%
Wind
7 mph S
Pressure
30.11 inHg Stable

Species context

Why this score

Excellent (86/100) for Bluegill: water is estimated at 75.5°F, inside Bluegill's 67-85°F optimal range. Best window: Dusk — boosts feeding activity by about 30%, one of their peak feeding windows. That hour also overlaps a major solunar period. 30.11 inHg and stable pressure modeled flat — no change from this fish's baseline. Light (5-10 mph) wind modeled about 15% above this fish's baseline.

What's driving the 9 AM score

Water temperature (75.5°F estimated) is doing the most for this score. Nothing is holding it back much.

  • Water temperature · helping
  • Light window · helping
  • Solunar period · helping
  • Barometric pressure · helping
  • Wind · helping
Show the numbers behind this

  1. Water temperature: 75.5°F estimated

    40 of 40 pts

    Optimal range 67-85°F

    Well supportedWater temperature governs a cold-blooded fish's metabolism, so it is the largest term in the model (Christie & Regier 1988). The figure is a thermal-lag estimate built from forecast air temperature and the time of year — not a sensor reading, and not this lake's actual measured water.

  2. Light window: Dusk

    25 of 25 pts

    Boosts feeding activity by about 30%

    Well supportedLow-light feeding windows are the strongest timing signal inside a single day. How much each window is worth is this species' own cited response, sourced in its model file, not a generic curve.

  3. Solunar period: Major period

    15 of 15 pts

    Not supported by testingPeer-reviewed testing of North American freshwater fisheries found no significant relationship between solunar values, lunar phase or lunar illumination and catch rates (SN Applied Sciences, 2023) — air temperature predicted catch better than any solunar table tested. It is shown because anglers expect it, and it is shown separately so you can discount it. Its weight is under owner review.

  4. Barometric pressure: Stable

    9.5 of 10 pts

    Modeled flat — no change from this fish's baseline

    ContestedThe barometric effect is real to most anglers but small and contested in the literature — several of the species studies cited in this model report null results — so it carries one of the smallest weights here.

  5. Wind: Light (5-10 mph)

    10 of 10 pts

    Modeled about 15% above this fish's baseline

    Moderately supportedWind stacks forage on windward structure, but both the size and the direction of the effect depend on the species and the water, so it carries a modest weight.

Then the whole score is scaled

Season: Summer — ×1.00 (100% of the ungated score)

How catchable Bluegill are at this point in the year. This scales the whole score rather than competing with the factors above — a fish that is dormant this time of year cannot score well no matter how good the hour looks.

Weather front: No clear front — ×1.00 (100% of the ungated score)

A multi-hour frontal pattern read from the day's forecast trajectory. No front is classified today, so this changes nothing and the single-reading pressure factor above does its normal job.

Those five factors add up to 99.5 of 100 points, and the two multipliers above take that to 100. The weights are v1 tuning constants under owner review — they are shown here rather than hidden so you can weigh them against your own judgement.

What this score does not know

  • Water clarity. We have no source for it and do not estimate it.
  • Measured water temperature. The figure in the breakdown is a model over forecast air temperature, not a reading from a buoy or a probe.
  • Baitfish and forage activity.
  • How much fishing pressure this water has had.
  • Where the fish actually are. Depth bands are the species' published seasonal ranges, not an observation of this lake.
  • What anyone actually caught. No catch reports feed this score.

Conditions read from the National Weather Service as of Sep 8, 2026 at 1:59 AM CDT. Solunar periods and sun/moon times are computed, not fetched.

When best caught

It's currently summer. Bluegill typically hold 10-20 ft deep this time of year — at an estimated 75.5°F, this looks like a strong time of year to target them.

Current depth

10-20 ft

This is the seasonal depth band from the species model — relative to this species' typical behavior, not this lake's actual structure. True depth relative to this lake's bottom contours needs lake bathymetry (tracked in issue #175).

Today's solunar periods

  • Minor: 2:47 AM–3:47 AM
  • Major: 9:54 AM–11:54 AM
  • Minor: 5:46 PM–6:46 PM
  • Major: 10:21 PM–12:21 AM

Best times

When do bluegill feed during the day?

Bluegill feed most actively at Dawn and Dusk, when activity runs about 33% above the daily average across all four light windows.

  • Dawn1.30x

    Boosts feeding activity by about 30%.

  • Daytime0.80x

    Suppresses feeding activity by about 20%.

  • Dusk1.30x

    Boosts feeding activity by about 30%.

  • Night0.50x

    Suppresses feeding activity by about 50%.

Hour by hour

Hourly bite forecast

HourBite scoreRatingLightWind
1 AM
74
GoodNight7 mph S
2 AM
78
GoodNight7 mph S
3 AM
78
GoodNight7 mph S
4 AM
74
GoodNight7 mph S
5 AM
74
GoodNight8 mph S
6 AM
89
ExcellentDawn7 mph S
7 AM
89
ExcellentDawn7 mph S
8 AM
89
ExcellentDusk7 mph S
9 AM
100
ExcellentDusk7 mph S
10 AM
100
ExcellentDusk8 mph S
11 AM
100
ExcellentDusk9 mph S
12 PM
89
ExcellentDusk9 mph S
1 PM
89
ExcellentDusk10 mph S
2 PM
79
GoodDay10 mph S
3 PM
79
GoodDay8 mph S
4 PM
89
ExcellentDusk7 mph S
5 PM
94
ExcellentDusk8 mph S
6 PM
94
ExcellentDusk6 mph S
7 PM
89
ExcellentDusk6 mph S
8 PM
89
ExcellentDusk6 mph S
9 PM
74
GoodNight6 mph S
10 PM
84
ExcellentNight7 mph SW
11 PM
84
ExcellentNight8 mph SW

Where to find Bluegill right now

Typical Summer depth: 10-20 ft

Bluegill feed most actively at Dawn and Dusk, when activity runs about 33% above the daily average across all four light windows.

Lake Arrowhead's deepest measurement on record is 30 ft — read the depth bands above against that. It is the deepest point someone actually measured on this water, not a contour survey, so deeper water may exist and there is no depth map to check it against.

Plan a Bluegill trip to Lake Arrowhead

Change the date, compare species, or check the week ahead in the live tool.

Open the live forecast →

Other species on record at Lake Arrowhead

FAQ

Common questions

Are there Bluegill in Lake Arrowhead?

The state's records for Lake Arrowhead name the category Bluegill belongs to rather than the individual species, so its presence is derived from that category, not from a species-level survey.

When do Bluegill bite at Lake Arrowhead?

Bluegill feed most actively at Dawn and Dusk, when activity runs about 33% above the daily average across all four light windows. Today's report above scores every hour of the local day against live weather for Lake Arrowhead, and shows what each input contributed alongside how well the evidence supports it.

How deep should you fish for Bluegill at Lake Arrowhead?

Typical Bluegill depth by season: Pre-Spawn 5-12 ft, Spawn 1-8 ft, Post-Spawn 6-15 ft, Summer 10-20 ft, Fall 6-18 ft, Winter 5-20 ft. These bands come from published fisheries data for the species, not from a survey of Lake Arrowhead itself.