Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
- Pullintoobs
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Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Since a few on here seem to be ice fanatics like myself I thought I would post and look for suggestions on a good lake to go on a weekend trip. I want to take my boy somewhere we will get plenty of action. I have ice fished most of my life but living right here on winnebago, that is where I fish. Can get pretty slow out there sometimes. Looking for a good crappie/gill/perch lake. I know there are some very good lakes in northern wisconsin but i do not know where to start. there are soooo many up there. Any suggestions?
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- BackWoodsHunter
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Not sure what you are looking for exactly but Monona Bay in Madison just outside the capitol is usually nonstop action for gills and a few white bass too even. My buddies and I usually take a few trips out there every winter to fish gills. The fish are stacked up in there but so are the fishermen. Be prepared to have guys checking out the holes you have drilled and don't be too shy to do the same. Its part of the game there. Lots of fish to be had though and definitely a good time.
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
for keeping the kids interested monona bay would be ideal. i usually try to fish it a couple times a years myself and always catch fish. tip ups get plenty of action too.
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Monona Bay is the place to go with kids...
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- Kodiakman
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Monona Bay sports a decent crappie population too. When I take the wife critter ice fishing, we go to Monona Bay. You and about 400 other people, no joke, will be piled up on the ice but it's no biggie. Seen boyscout troops out there having functions. Weekends are the worst but anytime during the week it is fine, may only have 80-100 or so, pending on the day and time.
Keep in mind though, this is a place you catch a fish fry, not trophy fish. A bucket full of 6 1/2"-7" fish is what you are coming home with and anyone trying to sell you different is pulling ya a bit. Sure the occational beauty gill is around but you will catch 200 other ones before you catch that 8". I don't know how the fishery does it but hundreds of thousands of these gills get yanked out ever winter and it keeps coming back just as strong if not more. Has for years.
Most times you don't need a auger, it isn't intimidating at all, almost right downtown madison. Short walk from the parking and you are on fish. Very safe feel for new people and kids.
What I do is I set up 2 or 4 tip downs when I go out, about a foot or two under the ice, that is all. Not a typo, tip Downs. Tip downs get crappie minnows and just put them out infront of you one to each side 15ft away. I watched a old timer here years ago pull a limit of crappies in a little over an hour. It was awesome, never seen a tip down before. Bought some up first chance I got. For the gills jig a small plastic for tipped with a waxi and hole hop keeping a eye on your tip downs. Like was mentioned earlier, you drill a hole and aren't using it, it's fair game out there. It's the accepted way and everyone gets along doing it. You will be fishing 10ft away from people all the time. It isn't as bad as it sounds, everyone is pretty good to each other out there and watch out for each other. It's fast, it's cheap, it's easy, and it's a sure thing. I never say that with anything else except catching gills on Monona bay.
I hit it up all the time. It's only a 25 minute drive and nothing beats a fresh bluegill fish fry ,caught hours ago through hard water. That's theeee best.
Now I want fish for dinner tonight. Dang it.
Keep in mind though, this is a place you catch a fish fry, not trophy fish. A bucket full of 6 1/2"-7" fish is what you are coming home with and anyone trying to sell you different is pulling ya a bit. Sure the occational beauty gill is around but you will catch 200 other ones before you catch that 8". I don't know how the fishery does it but hundreds of thousands of these gills get yanked out ever winter and it keeps coming back just as strong if not more. Has for years.
Most times you don't need a auger, it isn't intimidating at all, almost right downtown madison. Short walk from the parking and you are on fish. Very safe feel for new people and kids.
What I do is I set up 2 or 4 tip downs when I go out, about a foot or two under the ice, that is all. Not a typo, tip Downs. Tip downs get crappie minnows and just put them out infront of you one to each side 15ft away. I watched a old timer here years ago pull a limit of crappies in a little over an hour. It was awesome, never seen a tip down before. Bought some up first chance I got. For the gills jig a small plastic for tipped with a waxi and hole hop keeping a eye on your tip downs. Like was mentioned earlier, you drill a hole and aren't using it, it's fair game out there. It's the accepted way and everyone gets along doing it. You will be fishing 10ft away from people all the time. It isn't as bad as it sounds, everyone is pretty good to each other out there and watch out for each other. It's fast, it's cheap, it's easy, and it's a sure thing. I never say that with anything else except catching gills on Monona bay.
I hit it up all the time. It's only a 25 minute drive and nothing beats a fresh bluegill fish fry ,caught hours ago through hard water. That's theeee best.
Now I want fish for dinner tonight. Dang it.
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- Hilts
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
If you want a longer trip you can always come up to chequeamegon bay. The perch and smelt will keep the kids busy. And out there you never know what you have when you set the hook. It can be anything. Walleye, eelpout, smallmouth, browns, splake, steelhead, cohos, northerns, herring, whitefish, and even sturgeon. That's why I love fishing it. The winter before last I am pretty sure I hooked into a sturgeon. It almost spooled me twice and I fought it for 25 minutes before my line burnt into the ice and I lost it . Some days you will catch a bunch and others can be pretty slow, but the perch and smelt are pretty much always there.
You need a sled, wheeler, or be willing to drive your vehicle out on the ice though.
You need a sled, wheeler, or be willing to drive your vehicle out on the ice though.
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Another good lake for the kids would be Mason Lake.. Non stop action with Gills.. Crappies.. Perch.. And even Largemouth bass.. I like this lake a bit more because when you find a school of Slab crappies or perch... You easily limit out in a few hours..
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- Pullintoobs
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
ompaathao wrote:Another good lake for the kids would be Mason Lake.. Non stop action with Gills.. Crappies.. Perch.. And even Largemouth bass.. I like this lake a bit more because when you find a school of Slab crappies or perch... You easily limit out in a few hours..
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Where is Mason lake????
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- Dewey
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Pullintoobs wrote:ompaathao wrote:Another good lake for the kids would be Mason Lake.. Non stop action with Gills.. Crappies.. Perch.. And even Largemouth bass.. I like this lake a bit more because when you find a school of Slab crappies or perch... You easily limit out in a few hours..
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Where is Mason lake????
Adams County
http://www.adams-wi.com/mason-lake.html
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Yup that's it..
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
I currently live 1.5 miles from Monona Bay, and you couldn't pay me by the hour to fish there. Great if you like it, but to me thats not what fishing is about. Maybe it is because I am stuck living in the stinking rotting hole that they call the city, but no 25 bluegills are worth shoulder to shoulder hole stealing while listening to traffic and airplanes and sirens while hopping over all of the trash on the ice. No thanks. I'll drive 20 more minutes to any number of river backwaters and do just as well.
Castle Rock is a great ice fishing spot. Learning curve is made pretty easy by the ever present white bass to entertain while you look for the slab crappies and abundunt 'eyes. Petenwell is just down the road with awesome fishing as well, but much bigger water. Alot of room out there!
Lake WI has always been hit or miss for me.
Mason=great for panfish.
When I lived in the Eau Claire area, I absolutely loved taking a day trip up to the Chetek Area. Many lakes full of great fishing to choose from. My favorite was Fireside lake for crappies.
Castle Rock is a great ice fishing spot. Learning curve is made pretty easy by the ever present white bass to entertain while you look for the slab crappies and abundunt 'eyes. Petenwell is just down the road with awesome fishing as well, but much bigger water. Alot of room out there!
Lake WI has always been hit or miss for me.
Mason=great for panfish.
When I lived in the Eau Claire area, I absolutely loved taking a day trip up to the Chetek Area. Many lakes full of great fishing to choose from. My favorite was Fireside lake for crappies.
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Goober wrote:I currently live 1.5 miles from Monona Bay, and you couldn't pay me by the hour to fish there. Great if you like it, but to me thats not what fishing is about. Maybe it is because I am stuck living in the stinking rotting hole that they call the city, but no 25 bluegills are worth shoulder to shoulder hole stealing while listening to traffic and airplanes and sirens while hopping over all of the trash on the ice. No thanks. I'll drive 20 more minutes to any number of river backwaters and do just as well.
Castle Rock is a great ice fishing spot. Learning curve is made pretty easy by the ever present white bass to entertain while you look for the slab crappies and abundunt 'eyes. Petenwell is just down the road with awesome fishing as well, but much bigger water. Alot of room out there!
Lake WI has always been hit or miss for me.
Mason=great for panfish.
When I lived in the Eau Claire area, I absolutely loved taking a day trip up to the Chetek Area. Many lakes full of great fishing to choose from. My favorite was Fireside lake for crappies.
Madison area is loaded with great fishing opportunities... if you don't like the crowds on Monona there are more isolated spots on Lake Monona and other lakes to choose from. I never caught bigger pan fish in my life than the gills I caught out of Lake Mendota... My roommates and I used to have fish fries all the time with panfish we caught out of the local lakes... YUMMY!
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- BackWoodsHunter
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Goober wrote:I currently live 1.5 miles from Monona Bay, and you couldn't pay me by the hour to fish there. Great if you like it, but to me thats not what fishing is about. Maybe it is because I am stuck living in the stinking rotting hole that they call the city, but no 25 bluegills are worth shoulder to shoulder hole stealing while listening to traffic and airplanes and sirens while hopping over all of the trash on the ice. No thanks. I'll drive 20 more minutes to any number of river backwaters and do just as well.
Castle Rock is a great ice fishing spot. Learning curve is made pretty easy by the ever present white bass to entertain while you look for the slab crappies and abundunt 'eyes. Petenwell is just down the road with awesome fishing as well, but much bigger water. Alot of room out there!
Lake WI has always been hit or miss for me.
Mason=great for panfish.
When I lived in the Eau Claire area, I absolutely loved taking a day trip up to the Chetek Area. Many lakes full of great fishing to choose from. My favorite was Fireside lake for crappies.
You couldn't pay me to eat the fish out of Petenwell!!!!!
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
I am not going to argue that you can catch huge fish in the Madison chain. I have. I also wouldn't argue that you can shoot huge bucks in a high fence area. But to me, that is not what hunting is about. or fishing. I want to be where the sky line isn't buildings, the background noise isn't traffic, where there isn't garbage blowing around on the ice. That is what fishing is about to me, not the biggest bluegill. Everyone does things for different reasons. I have access to some private land in Dane County that I know has a 160" buck living on it. I hunted it one afternoon this year, and the road noise drove me insane and I left long before dark. To each their own, and I am not trying to take away from anyones ways, but to me it is more about the journey than the destination. Sorry to hi-jack your thread Pullintoobs!
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Re: Looking for any ice fishing destination suggestions...
Goober wrote:I am not going to argue that you can catch huge fish in the Madison chain. I have. I also wouldn't argue that you can shoot huge bucks in a high fence area. But to me, that is not what hunting is about. or fishing. I want to be where the sky line isn't buildings, the background noise isn't traffic, where there isn't garbage blowing around on the ice. That is what fishing is about to me, not the biggest bluegill. Everyone does things for different reasons. I have access to some private land in Dane County that I know has a 160" buck living on it. I hunted it one afternoon this year, and the road noise drove me insane and I left long before dark. To each their own, and I am not trying to take away from anyones ways, but to me it is more about the journey than the destination. Sorry to hi-jack your thread Pullintoobs!
Fish the off shore structure... there is tons of it... I never heard a car or saw garbage blowing around. If you want I can bomb this thread with pictures to prove it
Not to mention when it warms up in March some of the black spandex (women) running down the lake shore paths is some of the best ice fishing scenery god has ever created!
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