Fishing Forecast · Wisconsin · Updated August 2026

Upper Kelly Lake

Upper Kelly Lake earns a null for water quality. This forecast reads its measured clarity, depth, and trophic state — with each species' biology, the sun and moon, and today's conditions — to call when the fish move on Upper Kelly Lake and how to catch them.

31 ft
max depth: 2
fish species: 2 ft
water clarity: Natural lake
water body

Today · Fri Aug 7

★★★★★

The bite on Upper Kelly Lake today. Sunrise 5:49 AM, sunset 8:06 PM.

Moon: Waning Crescent · 32%
Major windows: 6:22 PM–8:22 PM · 6:51 AM–8:51 AM

Best day · next 2 weeks

Thu Aug 13

★★★★★

New Moon moon (0%). Fish the major windows at 12:24 AM and 12:49 PM.

Fishing Forecast for Upper Kelly Lake

A multi-factor outlook built from Upper Kelly Lake's measured water quality — clarity, trophic state, depth, and water-body type — combined with each species' biology, seasonal patterns, and today's live weather. It flags spawn timing, where the fish hold, and the techniques that fit this lake's water, not just the moon.

Largemouth Bass

Game FishSummerSummer pattern

Very Good

~75°F est.

Upper Kelly Lake runs 2 ft of clarity — so add vibration, rattle, and brighter colors to help fish find your bait.

Because Upper Kelly Lake averages 2 ft of visibility (stained/turbid), so add vibration, rattle, and brighter colors to help fish find your bait.
Its eutrophic nutrient level puts the summer weedline near 4–8 ft — that edge is the high-percentage zone to hold largemouth bass through the warm months.
With a max depth of 31 ft, Upper Kelly Lake is deep enough to stratify in summer, so coldwater fish hold near the thermocline while warmwater fish stay above it.

Techniques for stained water

reaction baits: chatterbait, dark jigsthump/vibration & dark silhouettesflip heavy cover

Season-by-season on Upper Kelly Lake

Season	Where	Structure	How
Spring	shallow 1–6 ft	protected bays, pads, laydowns, warming flats	soft plastics, jigs, lipless cranks pre-spawn
Summer	shallow-to-mid 3–15 ft	weed edges, docks, lily pads, deep weedlines	topwater at dawn/dusk, Texas-rigged plastics, frogs
Fall	shallow 2–10 ft	bays chasing baitfish, remaining green weeds	spinnerbaits, squarebill cranks, chatterbaits
Winter / Ice	deep 12–25 ft	main-lake basin edges (largely dormant in the north)	slow finesse — a marginal cold-water bite

Panfish

PanfishSummerSummer pattern

Very Good

~75°F est.

Upper Kelly Lake runs 2 ft of clarity — so add vibration, rattle, and brighter colors to help fish find your bait.

Because Upper Kelly Lake averages 2 ft of visibility (stained/turbid), so add vibration, rattle, and brighter colors to help fish find your bait.
Its eutrophic nutrient level puts the summer weedline near 4–8 ft — that edge is the high-percentage zone to hold panfish through the warm months.
With a max depth of 31 ft, Upper Kelly Lake is deep enough to stratify in summer, so coldwater fish hold near the thermocline while warmwater fish stay above it.

Techniques for stained water

brighter jigs, scent, slower presentation

Season-by-season on Upper Kelly Lake

Season	Where	Structure	How
Spring	shallow 2–8 ft	warming bays, weed and brush cover	small jigs and live bait under a float
Summer	weed edges 6–18 ft	deeper weedlines, docks, brush	small jigs, slip-bobbers, live bait
Fall	mid 8–20 ft	deeper weed edges and basin	small jigs and spoons
Winter / Ice	8–25 ft	basin holes and deep weed edges	tungsten ice jigs with waxworms/minnows

The outlook is a transparent heuristic weighting of established angling factors, this lake's measured water quality, and live conditions — not a validated catch predictor. Water temperature is estimated from season and latitude unless a recent USGS gauge reading is available. Planning a meal? Check fish-consumption advisories for Upper Kelly Lake. Always follow current state regulations.

14-Day Fishing Calendar

Plan the next two weeks on Upper Kelly Lake. Anglers target Panfish, Largemouth Bass on Upper Kelly Lake.

Date	Rating	Moon	Sunrise	Sunset	Major Periods	Minor Periods
Fri, Aug 7	☆☆☆☆☆	Waning Crescent 32% lit	5:49 AM	8:06 PM	6:22 PM – 8:22 PM 6:51 AM – 8:51 AM	11:19 PM – 12:19 AM 3:34 PM – 4:34 PM
Sat, Aug 8	☆☆☆☆☆	Waning Crescent 23% lit	5:50 AM	8:04 PM	7:22 PM – 9:22 PM 7:54 AM – 9:54 AM	12:07 AM – 1:07 AM 4:44 PM – 5:44 PM
Sun, Aug 9	☆☆☆☆☆	Waning Crescent 14% lit	5:51 AM	8:03 PM	8:26 PM – 10:26 PM 8:58 AM – 10:58 AM	1:08 AM – 2:08 AM 5:43 PM – 6:43 PM
Mon, Aug 10	½☆☆☆☆	Waning Crescent 8% lit	5:53 AM	8:02 PM	9:30 PM – 11:30 PM 10:02 AM – 12:02 PM	2:22 AM – 3:22 AM
Tue, Aug 11	★½☆☆☆	Waning Crescent 3% lit	5:54 AM	8:00 PM	10:32 PM – 12:32 AM 11:02 AM – 1:02 PM	6:30 PM – 7:30 PM 3:42 AM – 4:42 AM
Wed, Aug 12	★★☆☆☆	New Moon 0% lit	5:55 AM	7:59 PM	11:30 PM – 1:30 AM 11:57 AM – 1:57 PM	7:06 PM – 8:06 PM 5:04 AM – 6:04 AM
Thu, Aug 13	★★½☆☆	New Moon 0% lit	5:56 AM	7:58 PM	12:24 AM – 2:24 AM 12:49 PM – 2:49 PM	7:36 PM – 8:36 PM 6:23 AM – 7:23 AM
Fri, Aug 14	★½☆☆☆	Waxing Crescent 2% lit	5:57 AM	7:56 PM	1:13 AM – 3:13 AM 1:37 PM – 3:37 PM	8:00 PM – 9:00 PM 7:38 AM – 8:38 AM
Sat, Aug 15	★☆☆☆☆	Waxing Crescent 6% lit	5:58 AM	7:55 PM	2:00 AM – 4:00 AM 2:23 PM – 4:23 PM	8:22 PM – 9:22 PM 8:51 AM – 9:51 AM
Sun, Aug 16	☆☆☆☆☆	Waxing Crescent 12% lit	5:59 AM	7:53 PM	2:45 AM – 4:45 AM 3:08 PM – 5:08 PM	8:43 PM – 9:43 PM 10:01 AM – 11:01 AM
Mon, Aug 17	★☆☆☆☆	Waxing Crescent 20% lit	6:00 AM	7:52 PM	3:30 AM – 5:30 AM 3:53 PM – 5:53 PM	9:04 PM – 10:04 PM 11:10 AM – 12:10 PM
Tue, Aug 18	★½☆☆☆	Waxing Crescent 29% lit	6:01 AM	7:50 PM	4:16 AM – 6:16 AM 4:39 PM – 6:39 PM	9:26 PM – 10:26 PM 12:18 PM – 1:18 PM
Wed, Aug 19	★★½☆☆	Waxing Crescent 39% lit	6:02 AM	7:49 PM	5:02 AM – 7:02 AM 5:26 PM – 7:26 PM	9:52 PM – 10:52 PM 1:24 PM – 2:24 PM
Thu, Aug 20	★½☆☆☆	First Quarter 50% lit	6:03 AM	7:47 PM	5:51 AM – 7:51 AM	10:23 PM – 11:23 PM 2:27 PM – 3:27 PM

Server-rendered 14-day calendar starting 2026-08-07. Live in your browser shortly.

Methodology

How this forecast works

A plain solunar table only knows the moon. The LakeQuality Fishing Forecast starts there and adds what actually decides where and how fish bite on Upper Kelly Lake — factors we measure rather than guess:

Water clarity — Upper Kelly Lake's Secchi reading flips the playbook between clear-water finesse and stained-water reaction baits, and sets the low-light bite window.
Trophic state & depth — nutrient level and max depth set the summer weedline and whether the lake stratifies, which tells you how deep to fish.
Water-body type — natural lake vs. reservoir changes the structure that holds fish.
Species & season — each species' spawn-temperature window and seasonal movements, matched to the lake's estimated water temperature.
Sun & moon — the solunar major/minor periods and dawn/dusk twilight in the calendar below.

The species outlook is a transparent heuristic weighting of these established factors, and it now also factors in today's live conditions — wind, cloud cover, and the barometric (pressure) trend, recomputed for the current day. It's not a validated catch predictor, and water temperature is still an estimate from season and latitude unless a recent USGS gauge reading exists. It's the analysis a solunar table can't do, grounded in Upper Kelly Lake's real, measured water quality.

How to read the calendar

Major periods (≈2 hours) are centered on lunar transit (when the moon is highest in the sky) and lunar opposition (when the moon is directly underfoot). These are typically the strongest feeding windows.

Minor periods (≈1 hour) are centered on moonrise and moonset. They're secondary windows that often produce well — especially when they coincide with sunrise or sunset.

Day rating combines moon phase (peak near new and full moons, when lunar gravity is strongest) with the overlap of major periods and the dawn/dusk twilight. A 4–5 star day stacks all three.

At Upper Kelly Lake (lat 42.94°N), the longest day of the year is around June 21 with 15h 21m of daylight. The shortest is around December 21 with 9h 0m. Plan summer trips around the early-morning bite (around 5:30 AM) and the long evening window before sunset.

Frequently asked questions

What makes this better than a solunar fishing table for Upper Kelly Lake?

A solunar table only uses the moon. The LakeQuality Fishing Forecast adds Upper Kelly Lake's measured water quality — its stained water, trophic state, depth, and water-body type — matched to each species' spawn window and seasonal movements. That measured data drives where the fish hold and which techniques fit this lake's water, then the solunar calendar below adds the sun/moon timing. It's a transparent, multi-factor outlook, not a validated catch guarantee.

What is the best time to fish Upper Kelly Lake today?

Today's solunar calendar for Upper Kelly Lake (lat 42.94, lon -88.07) shows sunrise at 5:49 AM and sunset at 8:06 PM. The strongest fishing windows are around major solunar periods at 6:22 PM–8:22 PM and 6:51 AM–8:51 AM, plus the 30-90 minutes around dawn and dusk.

What does the moon phase mean for fishing Upper Kelly Lake?

Solunar theory holds that fish activity peaks during major periods (when the moon is overhead or directly underfoot) and minor periods (moonrise and moonset). Fish feeding tends to intensify during the days surrounding the new moon and full moon, when lunar gravity is strongest. Today's moon at Upper Kelly Lake is Waning Crescent (32% illuminated).

When are the longest and shortest days at Upper Kelly Lake?

At Upper Kelly Lake's latitude (42.94°N), the longest day of the year is around June 21 with about 15h 21m of daylight. The shortest day is around December 21 with about 9h 0m of daylight. Sunrise and sunset shift by roughly 6 hours between solstices.

Are major or minor solunar periods more important?

Major periods (about 2 hours, centered on lunar transit and lunar opposition) are generally considered the strongest feeding windows. Minor periods (about 1 hour, centered on moonrise and moonset) are secondary but still productive — especially when they overlap with sunrise or sunset.

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The species outlook is a transparent, multi-factor heuristic built from Upper Kelly Lake's measured water quality (clarity, trophic state, depth, water-body type) and established species biology, and it now also factors in today's live conditions — wind, cloud cover, and the barometric (pressure) trend, recomputed for the current day. It's not a validated catch predictor, and water temperature is still an estimate from season and latitude unless a recent USGS gauge reading is available. Solunar times use lat/lon and Meeus astronomical formulas, shown in Central Time. Always check local regulations and current conditions before fishing.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

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