Wi Lakes rivers and Ponds

[Eric Haataja]

Thought I'd start a thread that will help encourage a few more fishing reports from smaller lakes or rivers that some of you choose to keep to yourselves. Lets at least try to post the types of patterns that work on this thread.

I fished a small lake with fellow guide steve from finnseekers and gave him honors on swinging the quick strike rig into this nice ski that hit on a sharp break in 15 feet of water on a sucker. One of Steve's biggest ski's, fish was released.

Eric Haataja

[Eric Haataja]

Some nice panfish from a smaller lake here in southern WI

[NOBADDAYS]

ok fished the Dells yest. did for squat on eyes!!! few babies and few saugers. sturgeon.. did get this sweet 21lb Northern Pike 40.6inches!!!! Not me that is Christine took home the champ for the wall. beats my skinny 15lber hangin now....live bait and casted plastics for a while with few results.
better days are to come with the warm weather. Depere here I come. this site wont let me post pics..........:(
TOYMAN2K
NOBADDAYS

[Eric Haataja]

Roger I resize all my pics so they are smaller and make sure they are J-pegs, it's pretty easy I'm not sure why your having a problem???

[Finseeker]

Caught some nice panfish this weekend on a private pond. Crappies up to 13", several small bass, catfish, gills and perch.

Sometimes it is nice to leave the boat at home and fish like I was a kid again.

[Jerry Borst]

Looking good Steve!
See ya out on the lake soon,
Jerry

[Eric Haataja]

Got out on one of my favorite lakes in the world with a good friend for a 3 day vacation last weekend and we put the hurt on some big smallies! We fished in the U.P. Plastics on light tackle was a lot of fun!

Eric

[Siebold]

Tried a lake today that I usually dont fish but had a good year on the ice fishing so I gave it a whirl. 12 feet of water we hammered the gills/crappies. Brought home 34 fish between me and my dad. Also caught some bass and pike. Fish were caught fishing about 6-8 feet down with waxies and minnows.:) Thought for sure we were gonna get chased off by storms but It seemed like we were in a no storm zone or something cause we had storms going around us on all sides but didnt get nothing.

[Eric Haataja]

Made it up to Eagle river and fishing was very good for the family vacation. Fished Butternut and did well for nice big smallies. trout lake and Kentuck are also loaded with fish, tubes, jerk baits and senko's all worked. I also did well in the U.P. fishing a few different lakes lac Labelle was fantastic for big smallies, pike and crappies. Portage was also good like any other year and fanny Hoe and medora were good for a few giant smallies.

Back in town again.

Eric haataja

[Eric Haataja]

a few more piggies.

[Fishin Dan]

Also did some fishing up North - when the sun was out, the fishing was awesome. Most fish were prespawn - did see some on beds, but left the ladies alone. A few fish came on plastics, but the good old floating Rapala #9 was how I really smacked them.

[Fishin Dan]

Been doing great on a number of lakes using perch immitators (some soft baits and some cranks) and small live perch.

[Fishin Dan]

My brother dropped his line over the side during a lunch break and ended up with this nice four pounder after his rod was nearly lost while eating a sandwich. You know you are having a good day when the fish are being caught even when you aren't trying. This wind blown shore produced about 30 smallies in around two hours.

[k-mann]

nice fish fishin dan! was wondering if you could share which pond those smallies came out of? Is it lake Andrea in Pleasant Prarie?

[BigMusky]

got three bass hooked on a bunny strip this afternoon in about an hour and half...none to shore :(

[slob sticker]

Went out on my favorite musky lake this evening and had best musky trip ever. Brought a neighbor along and was glad I did so I had a witness. We boated 4 musky. The biggest fish was thick and went 44 inches. The other three were 41, 34, and a high flying 31 incher. The lake we were on has produced several multiple musky days but never more than 2 in one trip (until today). We also had 2 follows one of which was bigger than the 44 incher. Our goal this fall is to get a mid 50 incher. We also picked up a few nice bass. Water temp was 76 and we caught our musky near deep breaks. Small baits worked as they always seem to on this lake. Bass sized spinnerbaits and DT 16 cranks. Gonna put in alot of time out there next 3 months in search of the 50+inchers swimming in there. I promise this is no fishing story when we get the giant we will post a pic.

[Eric Haataja]

Hit one of the secret little honeyholes fr ice fishin this pas weekend with my son and buddy and in 2 hours we had 40 gills over 8 inches with some really nice fat ones. Biggest one I measured was just shy of 11 inches. Ratfinkes were the best bait.

[luv2fish]

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

[collinfishes]

went to a local pond yesterday and did pretty good. we had flags flying all over and ended the day with about 10 bass all of em were around 15-16in. not real big but still alot of fun. we also caught bluesgills everytime we put a jig in the water haha they were all real little but again still fun :) collin

[collinfishes]

got out to another local pond yesterday and slayed big gills crappie and perch
all the gills were 8in or more. tons of little perch and a bunch of nice ones also a few pretty big crappie and some largemouth mixed in. me and my friend both lost something big i got mine to the hole but didnt what it was just the size. fished for about 5 hours with non stop action till security pulled up and told us it was a private pond. oops :o collin

[FatGuy]

Have had a rough go in my limited trout outings this winter. Today was no exception. I had to be home by 2:00, as the wife had to be to work by 3. I was an hour away from home, and the wind and snow were blowing like crazy. I wanted to give myself some extra time to get home, as I knew how the roads would be. I set up an automatic fisherman with a crappie minnow, and began jigging with waxies. I marked a few but no takers. Soon it was about 12:15, and I decided I had better pack it up. Just for giggles I began jigging my minnow. I began getting hits instantly. It wasn't long before I had two really nice brookies on the ice. Also missed a few more. I have a feeling I will be heading over that way again tomorrow. Ice fishing for trout is a blast!

[FatGuy]

Back at her today. Took a very aggressive approach, and it paid off. No fish for this first hour or so, then, BANG! Had a limit in no time! Jigging minnows worked, along with waxies on the automatic fisherman. The trout bite is on if you find the window!

[FatGuy]

Back at it today. (Inland Trout) It was cold, but not windy, and just a beautiful day all together. However the fish were tight lipped, and I needed to make it home. Not one bite on the day. Better luck next time!

[luv2fish]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a lake in Waukesha that has potential for decent - big gills?? Have been doin alright with the game fish this year but have been strugglin with the panfish and am always up to try a new lake....

Thanks.

[slob sticker]

I can think of about 15 great panfish lakes in Waukesha county that get very light pressure. I hate to post the best on here but here are a couple that are known by quite a few. Beaver (gills, perch, and crappie) Gennesees (gills and crappie) Middle has some good perch. Nehmbabins have good crappie. My top 5 I have to hesitate to give out. My best advice is get a map of Waukesha county and look for lakes in the 30-100 acre size that aernt reported about much and you will probably get good panfish on em. Shoot me a message for some additonal info. Good luck

[Siebold]

Ive been doing well on crappies in Manitowoc County as well. Fished Thursday and saturday from shore and caught more than I could handle. Fish have been coming on gulp fish fry jigs. I never put live bait on my hook. Yesterday my dad and I caught 100+ fish only keeping enough for a couple meals and we never had to get the boat wet. Thursday the fish were just cruising the shallows and had not made beds yet however on saturday quite a few fish were holding tight to spawning beds. Hopefully this warm weather coming will help move the gills in.

[LM Lunatic]

I havent been getting the numbers of crappie but size has been good. Was out the other day and caught a legit tape measured 17 inch crappie. Fish was post spawn or probably would have been near the 3.5 lb mark. Also caught some 12-14 inchers but only a handful. I have been releasing most of em but I did keep the 17 to mount. I thought it was a bass since I was throwing 3/8 ounce bass jigs. This was the first time I was on that body of water and I am sure there are bigger crappie to be had, I am gonna try again on Tuesday. Bass were also biting, we caught a bunch over 4lbs. All released. Will try and get photo up of crappie on website tomorrow. If I am not able to I would be happy to email it to anyone who messages their email address. Bass bite on jigs and spinnerbaits, they were still pre-spawn but all were shallow and getting ready to spawn. Good fishing to everyone

[BigMusky]

I went bass fishing at a very high pressured pond yesterday and realized I did not bring any wide gap bass hooks...but I did have octopus hooks. I also did not bring senkos, but have gulp worms. So I tried Wacky Rigging for first time and laid smack down.

[hogsmally]

I went bass fishing at a very high pressured pond yesterday and realized I did not bring any wide gap bass hooks...but I did have octopus hooks. I also did not bring senkos, but have gulp worms. So I tried Wacky Rigging for first time and laid smack down.

Once you go with the wack, never go back.

I started doing it because I had a bunch of old senkos that I couldn't repair to ride on an offset hook anymore, so I started hooking them in the middle.

Clearer water or high pressure situations it shines, and in deeper water without too many weeds try a carolina rigged wacky worm. Fished a local gravel pit earlier this week and caught a lot of nice staging prespawn fish carolina rigging a wacky rigged senko.

[.Pan Handler]

Fished for an hour before dark last night, and between me and a buddy landed a dozen bass over 16", four over 18", and two 20"ers...all caught on texas-rigged senkos...I'm normally a wacky guy myself, but lots of snags and timber where we fished last night. Also fished a club tourney on a different lake the night before, and between my partner and I, we had 12 bs. 4 oz. for only three fish. Bass fishing has been on fire!

[LM Lunatic]

First attempt at posting a pic. Hope it works. This was a big crappie I caught recently. Also caught a 14 incher that was released recently. This one was little over 16 inches and caught on bass jig.

[Fishin Dan]

Put in some time with my wife over the long weekend. She always catches the biggest fish. Jerkbaits were best for us - when the wind was blowing and the sun was out we caught fish. Once the wind stopped, we slowed down to catch more fish. Again, the warmer the water, the better the bite!

Sorry for my slacking on posts Eric, I am too busy catching fish bigger than yours. Or at least my wife is. See you out there.

Dan

[Siebold]

I was out in Manitowoc County today. Kept 8 nice gills ranging from 7 1/2-8 1/2 inches. Threw back a few dinks. Still some crappies on there beds but they wouldnt touch anything including a minnow. Gills were caught in anywhere from 3-6 feet. I dont think any gills were on beds just cruising around. Females were tight with eggs.

[Fishin Dan]

Wanted to take a breather and post a handful of some nice pics from this spring/early summer. Seems like we are still a few weeks behind but getting into some early summer patterns. Since the spawn was so spread out, I am hoping we had a nice hatch on some of the lakes here in SE Wisconsin. Many of my fish were caught on senkos and a variety of stick baits. Drop shotting has been the hot ticket lately and a few fish on deep cranks. Deep weeds are now where I am having success - goes for most lakes. Put in your time and I will see you out there!
Dan

[Fishin Dan]

Here are some more with by bro and wife. She always catches the biggest fish. Love the picture of the two big ones she caught - I am guessing close to six on both, wish I would have weighed them!

I heart smallies!
Dan

[Eric Haataja]

Awesome!!!

Eric

[deadeternity]

Here is a fishing report thread for small lakes, ponds, and quarrys. You dont need to post where your honey holes are at or anything but reports, discussion, and so on would be great. Small bodys of water often hold big fish, and are overlooked so I made a thread for them.....

[deadeternity]

Here is a mess of pond bluegills from tonight......nice fish my girlfriend and I caught. Her first fishing trip after a very hard weekend of surgery, she was able to last a couple hours. She was up and ready to catch some gills and needed fresh air so we went fishing .

One bluegill had these tiny white worms in it's fillet and I know they are parasites but I never seen them before and was wondering if anyone knows what causes them, if they are harmful, and so on??????

[deadeternity]

Went out on one of my favorite ponds again last night and had a field day ultralighting 7-9 inch bluegills one after another.Bluegills are great fighters once they get bigger. I love the Berkley GULP waxies. Some people say they dont work but, them people just are'nt fishing them right. You need to use a horizontal ice jig like a Diamond jig and tip 2 waxie on it. Also, slowly turn the reel handle and twitch the rod tip lightly but constantly with frequent 3-6 second pauses in your retrieve. Livebait or GULP works great but, the catch ratio has been almost similar with both. Sometimes the GULP actually does work better, and lately it has. I had a pike bite me off also so even this pike liked the tiny teardrop/GULP waxie lure.

If you know of any ponds,quarrys, or anything in your area or dont know of any yet you should look up Google Earth and see a birds eye view of your area. There may be all kinds of fishable ponds in your area loaded with fish that may never see a lure. Even in areas near citys there can be unfished waters. But always remember a pond is not a huge lake and are often not stocked so catch and release is crucial. Keep a few for the table but, do not go keeping limits all the time. AND NEVER GIVE YOUR SPOTS AWAY!!!! I have seen a few of my favorite ponds completely wrecked by overharvest.

GOOD LUCK ON THE WATER

[seeds]

Those white worms are supposedly harmless if the meat is cooked. But dig one out and look at it on the tip of the knife - they move.,,,I won't eat any meat with moving parasites in it.

There's some lakes I know of where the worms are more common. I won't even bother harvesting pumkinseeds from there as those seem most susceptable to infestation. I'll inspect all bluegills and crappies and any I see with the grubs in the fins I throw back. Then at cleaning,any fillets that have more than a few grubs get tossed. I dig out any worms in ther filets with just a few.

I don't fish those lakes often and usually do ALL c&r.

[deadeternity]

Thanks for the heads up seeds. I fish this place alot and this was the 1st time in 6 years of fishing the ponds that I ever kept fish. I caught others with them worms on them also so I am :eek: about it....

[LM Lunatic]

Smallmouth bass have really started to feed heavy last 2 weeks in Waukesha County. We have been catching lots over 18 inches and a few in the 20 inch range. Water temps are hovering around upper 60's to low 70's and that always seems to be about the time we get em on s-baits, shallow cranks, and jerkbaits. We have had quite a few muskies following up our cranks and spinners but only hooked up with one. This is the time of year where you can have an all day bite, when it is windy I always try to bargain with wife for a couple extra hours. White bass are still holding deep (25-35) as the ones we have caught have been ice cold to the touch, whites are running in the 17-19 inch range and really fat. Oconomowoc lake for musky, white bass, and smallies. Nags for smallies, Pine has also been producing pretty good smallies. I have a ton of photos to post when the fishing slows down around November, this has been one of the best smallmouth years I can remember.

[LM Lunatic]

The smallmouth fishing is ridiculous right now. Go to your nearest deep clear lake and fish the break with spinnerbaits if it is windy or tubes, jigs or senkos if it is calm. We are catching a ton of 3-4 lbders every trip only about 30 minutes from Milwaukee. Pike are biting pretty well also and musky are starting to show themsleves in the 8-12 ft range but we havent hooked one recently. Caught a smallie that looked to have a cantalouple in its belly. When we moved into the area we caught him there were thousands of minnows swimming around he basically had an all you can eat buffet yet his gluttony caused him to get caught on a jig. Fish are feasting right now Will post some pics soon.

[slob sticker]

Went out with LM Lunatic and had the most unbelievable smallie fishing of my life. Caught a 5 lb smallie and several in the 3-4 lb range. Cranks and spinnerbaits took most of the fish, also caught a few very nice largemouth on plastics. Highlight of the trip was a 48-50 inch musky that was hanging around the boat for about 2 minutes it had chased a 16 inch smallie to the boat. Thanks for the trip LM

[LM Lunatic]

Fishing was great again today, same type deal spinnerbaits and baby 4-, only had 3 hrs but caught over 20 smallies with 6 over 18 inches. Did catch a musky in the river today was only 38 incher, bigger musky coming soon. Bluegills are all over the weeds in 6-10 ft pike, bass, and musky are right near em.

[LM Lunatic]

Nice gills doors. Big gills sure are a blast especially on light tackle.
We made it out again today and bite is still very good. Air temp was cool this
morning but lake felt warm to touch still at 68 degrees. Was a little breezy and the bass, pike, and musky were up and feeding. Caught alot of bass over 2lbs with several over 3lbs. Both largemouth and smallies were biting.
Several pike but no size with them biggest was 28 inches. Highlight of the day was the 2 muskies we hooked up with. We missed the bigger fish of course, but did land a 42 incher. The fish was following it pretty hot and all I did to get the fish to commit was make an L turn as the spinnerbait neared the boat. I have been trying to post pics the last 2 days but not having luck, it says something along the lines like it is too large and needs to be resized. Any tips for getting my pics up. Going out tomorrow for a half day trip on a lake we have only fished once.

[LM Lunatic]

Just trying to post a pic of a recent smallie. If I can figure this out I am going to take some time this weekend and post some pics of fish caught in the last couple trips. This was a smallie that was pushing the 5 lb mark.

[Eric Haataja]

If you can resize the pic it will post fine. Thanks for trying!

[LM Lunatic]

We had a friend tell us about a lake with huge bass, so we decided to give it a shot on Monday. We couldnt believe the fish in that lake we caught one of our biggest Wisconsin largemouth at 7lbs (23 inches) and also 3 big smallies that were total combined weight of 11 lbs. Not another boat on the lake and he said it rarely gets pressure except for a few guys panfishing in spring. This lake is about 2 hrs from where I live (Watertown) but well worth the trip. We let all the fish go although the largie was a little tempting to mount. JIgs, livebait and jerkbaits all caught fish. I still havent figued out how to resize my photos, if anyone wants to view my pics I have them on lake link under Bassabductor. I have a buddy coming over next week to help me figure out how to get my pics on Big Fish Website. This is a great site, it is nice that all the guys get along on here and are helpful to one another. If anyone every has any questions about what techniques I used feel free to message me.

[Eric Haataja]

Wow that's awesome! Sounds like you've been doing well nice job! Look forward to seeing some pics it's pretty easy to resize the pics.

Thanks for the report!

[HotHead617]

Went out with wapa2le and his brudda and we did alright on the gills with a mixed bag of crappies and perch also had 3 flags 2 of which were pike and the other was lost under the hole....all fish were caught on gill pills and waxies and gulp waxies and shiners.....oh yeah 1 fish short of my limit guess i threw back 1 to many.

[Siebold]

Fished a river near me for the first time targeting trout. Had 2 flags both drops on spawn. Not bad considering I am just trying to learn the area and where the fish are with absolutely no idea right now. It was good to see the flag go up so I must be somewhat in a decent spot or doing something right.

[HotHead617]

Back at it again today.....but today was less than stellar...it was a tough bite....marked alot of fish but making them bite was a whole other ballgame.
Water clarity seemed to be maybe the problem it was looking a little brownish but i did manage 14 keepers....i went with just about every jig in my box trying to find a hot one but it didnt matter today they all worked about the same.
The cool thing on the day was i was jiggin and looking down the hole and i had a mid-30 inch pike come swimming right into the hole musta been chasing the perch i was reeling up huh!!!! I'll be back somewhere tomorrow!

[HotHead617]

Back out again today and it was again a tough one....marking tons of fish but had a tough time getting them to bite...water was a murky still.
Starting to find some bigger gills in the 5-10 fow now so really have to search for them now....did most of the catching in the 15-19 fow.Once again gills,crappies,and perch...all fish coming on jig and waxies again.Only 12 keepers today.Be back somewhere tomorrow.

[HotHead617]

Report from Thursday and Saturday....thur was a very slow day only managing two keeper gills...no crappies to be found and all the perch were small...Sat was a little better had 11 keepers 1 crappie and the rest were gills..once again no keeper perch...cant wait for some warm weather to eat up some of this ice and push these pan fish in shallow.
Maybe tomorrow will be better!!

[HotHead617]

Back at it again today....was a little better than yesterday but not much other than the fact we seen a ton of bigger gills and crappies pushed in shallow....but had a really hard time getting them to commit to biteing...did see a bunch of nice pike and some BIG musky down the hole...even had a ski on for a second because he swam into my jig and hooked himself..i busted the line so he wouldnt spool me though.
Back somewhere tomorrow!!

[HotHead617]

Back out again today with Wapa2le... and what a difference a day makes we were getting into good fish as soon as we got on the water....we left with our limits of gills and crappies and threw back a ton of fish..we fished in 15 fow with the gills being in the 7-12 fow range and the crappies being in the 4-7 fow range.
Be back out tomorrow for sure.

[LM Lunatic]

Was out on the river near Jefferson this evening and had some very good luck. We were fishing in the boat and found a big pile of walleyes in 14 ft of water. Not many keepers but action was incredible. Jigs and minnows jigged vertically, biggest eye was 23 inches also had 3 big cats (2 channels, and a huge flathead)

[cheddermelt]

Excellent perch fishing from this last weekend! spent an hour or so trying to find them but once we did we had a blast!!!!

sorry for the bad picture it was my cell phone camera

[HotHead617]

Went out this morning looking for some eary gills and crappies and for the first 4-5 hours or so we had no luck at all ....nothing not even a nibble so we started to move around and then stumbled on some nice fish....for the next 2 hours we closed out with a 2 man limit of nice gills....looking to get back out tomorrow but kinda hard to launch a boat myself so i gotta find someone else who wants to go.Time to go clean fish!!!!

[collinfishes]

got out to a pond with the tube and an ultra light and had a blast. caught a ton of little stockers, pretty much every cast. all released. all on barbless lures. didnt seem to matter what kind either. they hit really hard for there size some browns and steelies in the lake dont even hit that hard. :D heres a few pictures of the little guys. oh and this is the only time youll ever see me with a net. ever. :p

[collinfishes]

got out today on a small local lake and had an amazing day. got a ton of craps with a 2 nice gills mixed in, about 25 large mouth and a carp missed atleast a dozen other carp pitchin dough balls at em. most of the crappies were cookie cutter 7-8in. not the biggest but fun when there almost every cast. bass were anywhere from 10-17in. with 2 big girls, one was 22in by 17. the other was 21in. they kept hittin the crappies i was catchin and id have em one until they either spit the crap or the hook popped out of the crap. happened to me 4 times and scared the heck out me every time cause theyd hit it right in front me. pictures of the bass dont do em any justice just layin on the ground. but its the best i could get.

[deadeternity]

COLLINS, I remember fishing a local pond in the past, and everytime I went out by myself I landed a 20-22 inch bass. I would have to take the ground photos of the fish next to the fishing rod and compare the rod handle and so on to the size of the bass. Then if someone was with me then of course them bigger fish would not bite when they knew if I caught them, they would have to have a photo taken of them with me,lol. Nice fish, dont you just love spring fishing in small ponds and lakes??? It is the good life....

I have been fishing stocked trout alot, and bass at local public ponds. Right now is the time to catch them prespawn bass when the ponds are not filled with muck and weeds. I use wacky rigged senkos to do the damage. For the trout corn on the bottom, and spinners do the trick. I caught a 19 inch rainbow trout a few days ago (see picture below). So there are some bigger trout in the park ponds..................

FISH REPORT 8:36pm..... I fished this evening at a few local ponds. I tried Scout Lake and had a few strikes on spinners and seen a really big fish that was floating dead. It was about a 20-22 inch rainbow trout that was decapitated for some reason and left to rot. I also tried a few smaller park ponds around Oak Creek and Franklin and hooked into some rainbows.

I got sick of using corn because the fish strike so fast you rarely hook them. And when you do hook them the stupid fish swallow the bait so deep you and up killing more fish then anything. With spinners you hook them right on the outside lip. Pinch the barbs down on the spinners and you do even less damage to the fish. Panther Martin Spinners, BlueFox Vibramax, and Mepps spinners are killer baits. Also if you like fishing spoons and jerkbaits, I have done great on small Mepps Syclops spoons. Also, the smallest Rapala Husky Jerks and Original Rapalas are great baits. With lures you also up the odds of catching bigger trout. With corn you have the smaller fish taking it before the bigger trout get to it. But when you use lures the bigger trout normally slam the spinner, jerkbait, or spoon. I have caught 90% of my 15+ inch stocked trout on lures.

If only I had a boat I would be out chasing bass, pike, walleyes, and panfish right now at the area lakes. But I am stock on shore and to pass the time, stocked trout are not to shabby. I am gonna be fishing Waubeesee Lake more though. I know a guy that lives on the lake and he said he'll let me use his canoe so that is something to look forward to....

[collinfishes]

i love fishing small pond and lakes. those stockers are a blast. ive also been fishing for em quite a bit. in certain ponds with the right depths you can get some real nice rainbows like the one in your picture. thats a dandy for sure. a few years ago i seen a dead one floatin that was 26in. had a little corn hook in its top lip. couldnt believe it when i saw it. i always use barbless lures for those stockers especially in a pond that theres a chance for 2 and 3 year fish. i almost never use bait for the same reason you said they always have to swallow the stupid thing but this year they kept swallowing my spinners and rapalas. i do most of the catching on small spinners, rapalas, yo zuri pin minnows and snap beans, and pimples but anything small will usually work. i fish waubeesee quite a bit and i love it out there. im hopin to get the tube out there this summer.

[Joe Murphy]

fished smallies every day from opening day through friday. Caught over a hundred smallies with 80% of them over 18 inches with plenty in the 20-23 inch range, plastics were key, a few spinnerbait fish, with the 4 inch yellow powergrub rocking the house lighting it up nasty style. Went through 4 bags of em. Only problem is with the jighead on the powergrubs makes it real easy for the fish to jump and throw the bait. Northland jigheads are too thin gauge and had to be barbless to be legal. Couldnt even tell you how many fish i had jump off or lost at the side of the boat. Dint care when i lost fish because there were so many others everywhere. Sight fishing in 3 ft of crystal clear water. only gonna post a few pics but my camera is loaded with toads. Got a bunch of video too just gotta edit out some downtime between fish so its not a 3 hour vid. Fished solo for 5 days so had to do the auto timer thing so most of them are off center and in the cameras "grill" sorry for jammin fish up close but it was the only way. Too bad i couldnt keep any otherwise i'd have some mounts of some 22/23 inchers.

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh43/fishin_joe/DSCI0206.jpg
buddy with an inland toad

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buddys biggest to date

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[Eric Haataja]

Nice fish Joe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This past week was as good as it gets here in southern WI for not only catching numbers of big smallies but my favorite...BIG SMALLIES

2 best techniques were jerk baits and jigs and the jig caught a lot or most of our big fish! 3/8 ounce Rock Stalker jigs in the pumpkin has to be the best big smallie jig I've used. Best depths were8-18 feet of water!

We averaged 30-40 smallies almost every trip out. I love spring time! Heading back out in a few minutes!

[collinfishes]

fished all over the place today. me and joe started at the lake and it was way to choppy out there with 5-6 waves. so we went to the river and joe schooled me in some carp fishin. he went like 12-18. the carp didnt like me haha. then we went pond jumpin and fished like 6 or 7 ponds we never fished before and put the hurtin on some pan fish and joe came and got a nice bass. i didnt even try for some bass i was havin to much fun gettin craps and little 10in bass. we only fished each one for less than an hour. only 1 didnt have fish, one had only small gills but the others all had a nice variety and nice size fish. also got the first ticks of the year on us. :( me and ticks dont get along at all hah. nice smallies guys! :D

[deno b.]

Those are some beautiful fish Eric, smallies are so cool looking. Keep up the good work!!!

[collinfishes]

got back out to a pond today for alittle while. fished brush piles with the ole cane pole and couldnt keep the crappies off our jigs. even a few bass mixed in. all the crappies were 6-10in. nothing huge but still fun. :D

[Joe Murphy]

Went to the cabin this weekend too see whats up caught a mess of smallies and a few bonus steelies mixed in which was awesome seeing as how I've only seen 2 other steelies caught after growing up on the lake...super rare so we were really pumped about it.

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we doubled up a couple times, no monsters but still fun

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nothin like a bonus...they fight a tad better than the smallies

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Buddy Luke got this on my 6 ft lite action rod...he got worked by this fish.

[deadeternity]

Fished Lake Michigan yesterday in the Summerfest Lagoon and landed a 18 pound brown trout on a nightcrawler. I was fishing for whatever bites and all I had with me was a 1/32 ounce jighead and a 10 foot ultralight rod spooled with 6 pound test line. What a battle that fish was and, if I can get the pics off my cellphone I will post them. She was a beautiful silver looking fish, and she is still swimming....

Also, I did really well at a secret pond I fish with the bluegills saturday evening and sunday evening. My fiance Michelle and I kept 25 for the frying pan. I only keep bluegills from this pond maybe 2-3 times a year out of fear of overfishing it. I know that if they over populate that they will become stunted so, there has to be a balance. The pond is becoming more and more popular but, I keep it a secret out of fear it will be fished out in no time. It's my little gem close to home. Here are some pics.....

JOE....Nice smallies and steelheads. Your buddy and me both tangled with beasty trout on ultralight equipment this past weekend it looks like.....

[deno b.]

Was up in the Lacrosse area over the weekend.Caught some beautiful crappies, average size i'm sure was 11 inches. The wind on Sat. made it real hard to fish, was not able to get out on the lake there were whitecaps out there so fished the channels. Awesome catching slab crappies. Going up to carpenter lake up in Eagle River this weekend to target smallmouth, can't wait. Here are some pics from this past weekend. Good Fishing Dean

[deadeternity]

Been fishing at my favorite secret fishing hole every evening and slamming the gills, bass, and warmouths on ultralight equipment. I kept the fish the other night and you can see them pics on my past post here but I have been releasing at least 40-60 huge,fat, egg filled females every evening. The biggest bass was 15 inches long and caught by my fiance Michelle. We are'nt even fishing bass, but they hit our panfish baits and nightcrawlers. I caught some real slob bluegills this past week and, I hope my secret fishing hole has a future for years to come with these fish. That is unless people keep everything they catch, then the pond is doomed. I have seen a few people showing up and it makes me nervous because a few of them take home limits of gills but, with over populating comes stunting so there is a balance I guess.

If any of you know a small lake,pond, or quarry with nice sized panfish get outthere now for this prespawn bite. They are hungry and very feisty on ultralight gear....

[collinfishes]

got out to one of my favorite ponds today and did alright. got into a bunch of crappies and finally got into some nice gills even had one snap me off not really sure what happened there hah but they do fight. got a lot of little bass from 17in all the way down. lost one piggy shoulda let em take it a little longer. got it up to the surface and it popped off. missed quite a few carp on bread before they all headed to the surface to eat the algae stuff that was floatin off the bottom. all fish were on little jigs. some bass on lipless cranks and spinners even got a monster 10incher on a pike harasser hah. nice fish guys :D

[Doors]

Fished for lm bass this morning and didn't have any luck. Found lots of crappie though.

The crappie are still in pre-spawn just about to start spawning.
We caught our 50 crappie in 2 hours this morning.
Little pieces of gulp under a bobber with a med/quick retrieve
Lost just as many as we caught.

My neighbor only caught one crappie before today.

[LM Lunatic]

Nice mess of crappies Doors. Went out with Bass Abductor for 4 hrs today we wailed on the smallies. Caught 3 of em that were very nice, biggest was in the 6 lb range and a tad over 21 inches. The belly on this fish was bulging with eggs. Water temp was 58-59 and most fish were on a prespawn feeding binge. Caught around 40 smallies and a few largemouth that were decent sized. Used cranks, jerkbaits, tubes, and a secret lure that BA caught over half the fish on. Water was calm and clear and couldnt believe how many fish were visible in the 10-14 ft range. We saw a school of crappies and fished them for about 15 minutes and caught 4 that were in the 13-15 inch range. We ended up releasing everything, that smallie would have made a nice mount but the eggs kept us from going that route. Great time, hope to do it again soon, maybe tomorrow

[deadeternity]

LM LUNATIC, get a tape measure that is flexible and take girth and length measurments. Then take a photo the fish and get a replica. Some replicas are top notch, realistic, and they don't shrink or tare like skin mounts. Some people hate replicas but that is because they see crappy replicas. There are crappy skin mounts to. That fish is still able to spawn though because of you so good job on the release man....:cool:

[collinfishes]

did alittle pond fishin yesterday and did pretty good again. fished for panfish and we caught a ton gills and crappies. a bunch of doubles which are always fun no matter how big the fish are. got some small bass and missed a few tricky carp too. all fish on little curlys and tubes.

[Doors]

Got out again for crappies yesterday and fishing was fanastic.
We caught these in hour and a half of fishing!
Friday we are having a neighborhood fish fry; can't wait!
Once nice largemouth too that was released.
Crappie are just about done spawning in northeast wisconsin.

The largemouth was taken with a camera phone; I thought it looked pretty good for a camera phone.

[deno b.]

Made it up to Eagle River this past week. Stayed on Carpenter Lake to do some bass fishing. Most of the Smallies were off of the beds and the largemouth were just moving in. The weather was not the greatest lots of wind. Water temps ranged from 57-62 degrees.

The hot baits were senkos, x-raps, and rogues. I also fished butternut lake on friday with limited success. The wind was brutal.

Caught my biggest smallmouth on carpenter, pictured was 20 and half inches. Lots of fun, love the way they fight. Water levels were down on alot of the lakes up there, made it a challenge lauching the boat. Go get em. Dean

[sruege]

Hit a favorite quarry sunday and man lost count on the # of gills and hybrids every cast..made it fun! some gills went 9-10 fun day! tubes and #2 mepps silver with white skirt did the damage! ..good fishing
shane

[collinfishes]

did alittle river fishing yesterday and had a blast. finally got my hands on a fly rod again and caught a ton of carp between me and joe. had atleast 6 doubles which always make it fun. also some bluegills, suckers, little browns, and a mystery fish mixed in for fun. heres a picture of the mystery fish. joe got into some last year and if i remember right its a white perch. im almost positive its not a white bass. but i could be way off.

[Fishin Dan]

Bass fishing has been good this spring. Spent most of my time throwing suspending jerk baits, senkos, and jigs. Depending on the lake, caught fish from 3 fow to 20 fow, but most have been shallow. Here are a few highlights from the boys.

[deadeternity]

I managed to catch and release 3 beautiful wild brown trout and rainbow from a spring fed stream here in southern WI. I am sure if I had a fly rod and some natural looking flies I could've had more luck but, the amount of fish I seen, the scenery, and the fresh air made up for the slow action. Just watching these trout was fun enough. I wish I would've hooked into this one brook trout I seen follow my hair jig in. Here are some photos, notice the beautiful red markings on the brown trout. Also, the last photo was flipped upside down because it looks pretty trippy.....

[collinfishes]

did some fun fishing this weekend with bobbers and worms and we did surprisingly well. lots of rock bass and pumpkinseeds even got a smallie and lost a few. joe got a sucker too haha.

[fishing is life]

went out the last few weeks and did farley well with pike bass bluegills and bull heads

[collinfishes]

heres a few little stream trout from the otherday :D:D:D and a turtle we saved :p small bright flies were doin the trick till the water levels dropped, now everything is to low in the area we were fishing.

[Brian Mirek]

hey collin - you getting those steelies on the root?

[deno b.]

Way to go Colin. Nice to see you holding a trout again. I can't wait to get down there to try it. Fishing the Big Fish Bash this week, maybe some off days i'll be able to get down there. Dean.

[collinfishes]

thanks dean. its been awhile since i held one haha. ya me joe have been out trollin for like the past week and been doin pretty good we finally got down riggers and now a fish finder so were good to go whoop on some fish. my phone broke so i dont have # but give me a call this week and we can get out. :D no i was gettin em in a smaller river dont really wanna say where though :(

[collinfishes]

after a couple of slow days of fishing and a day of not fishing, finally got into some fish and had a pretty productive day. started out messin around down by the harbor. i lost a few suckers and joe got into a few surprise perch. went on to our crappie spot and picked up a few there with joe getting a few doubles using double plastics. also some real nice ones. then decided to hit up our hidden gem of a stream by our neighbors to the south ;) and ended up 3-9ish on steel and a few carp mixed in. i REALLY like that combination of fish. where can you go wrong with two of the hardest fightin fish out there side by side. oh also forgot to mention joe caught a nice 20 1/2in. 7.12lb baby boy :D:D:D lots of guys chasing those stripe bandits down by the lake too, seen a few at the cleaning station as well maybe there gonna hang a little longer.

[Fish Tales]

Had a great time Friday morning fishing in a private pond that is part of a local estate. This was one of the most amazing fishing experiences I've ever had. I knew the pond had Gills and Bass, so I threw out a worm/slip bobber with one rod while casting with the other. Brought in a Gill on the first rod, and then got another. As I was reeling in the smaller-sized Gill I saw a 19" Largemouth just come up and slam it. Suddenly, I was no longer reeling in a Gill, I was reeling in the largest Bass of my life! I had seen several Bass swimming among the Gills in the clear water, but they showed no signs of aggressiveness. Apparently the struggles of the Gill as I was reeling it in just set the Bass off. I began fishing for the smaller Gills and trying to attract Bass on the retrieve. Next thing I know, I got an even BIGGER Bass. This was the biggest of the day - 20 1/4", 4 pounds even. This became the recipe for success the rest of the morning. I brought in several more Bass measuring 18 3/4", 18 1/4", and 16". I forgot to measure the length on another Bass, but it weighed in at 3 pounds, 3 ounces. Got some nice Gills too, several in the 8" range. All fish were released (except the Gills devoured by the Bass).

[buttman]

are those skams from indian or wi

Thanks

[Fish Tales]

Hope this photo was submitted properly. This was the "biggin" from last Friday. It hit a 5" or 6" Bluegill as I was reeling it in. The Bass measured 20 1/4" and weighed 4.0 pounds. Still swimming.

[collinfishes]

really put the hurtin on some steelies this past week. small egg patterns and pretty much anything small and bright worked. drifted some spawn around with not too much success. those skammys were fighting like wild men. they spent more time in the air than they did in the water, and they quite literally fought to the death most of the time. stopped by the lake a couple of times also and wow, we got absolutely schooled by lots of steelies. hooked up with over a dozen and lost every single one to them throwing the hook back at us after a couple minute battle. some didnt even stay buttoned that long. these guys were fighting absolutely nuts too. they hit pretty much everything we were casting too except the lures i was throwing, i had more hookups on joes pole then i did with my own haha. made a trip to our steelie spot yesterday and it was pretty disappointing to find no steel and only a handful of smaller carp left.

[collinfishes]

more steelies :D

[collinfishes]

couple more :D

[Fish Tales]

Wow. Had a great morning catching some nice-sized Largemouths with my son. Fished at a friend's 2-acre pond from 6:15-11:15 a.m. Together we landed 11 Largemouths, one large Bluegill, and several respectable Bluegill. In addition, all the Bass were caught using live Bluegill, so we basically had to catch our bait before we fished with it. We lost several Bass too, so all together I'd guess we must have had at least 35 fish today.

This method of fishing with a live Bluegill was the same tactic that worked a couple weeks ago. Basically, I'd sight fish for a Gill measuring around 5" using a nightcrawler. If it was closer to 7" I'd just throw it back.

As soon as I brought the Gill up to check the hook set I'd pitch it out and let it flash and dart about, still reacting to being hooked. The slip bobber would bounce around here and there, dip shallow a few times and then WHAM! Down it'd go into the dark water. I'd set the hook and the fight was on. What a thrill!!

The Bass were cruising in the shallows at sun up, but as the morning wore on the bite slowed and the Bass disappeared from sight. I figured they were headed to deeper water as the sun rose so I began lengthening the distance of line between the Gill and my slip bobber, allowing the Gill run deeper when I pitched it out further from shore. Sure enough, that's where the Bass were.

My son caught the largest fish of the day, measuring 20 1/4" and weighing 3.6 pounds. I had the biggest Bluegill, which measured 8 1/2". Funny thing about that Bluegill...and I swear to God this is a true story...I had just pitched out a small Gill, probably no bigger than 3" or 4" in length. It was only out a brief moment when the bobber disappeared and I set the hook. I thought it was a smaller Bass, in the neighborhood of 12-14" or so, but to my amazement, up comes this 8 1/2" Gill!!

Has anyone ever experienced this type of exchange between two Gills? It couldn't have swallowed that Gill I was using as bait? Perhaps it attacked the smaller fish and somehow knocked it off the hook and at the same time became hooked itself?

At any rate, my son and I had a blast, and that is the best part of it all.

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Captain Sig couldn't get away for some fishing this weekend so I hit a very small lake up in the Kettle Moraine State Forest for the 2nd time this year on Saturday. There is a small launch because otherwise the lake is not accessible at all.

Water conditions were very stained water, 2 feet of visibility, water temp HAD to be in the mid 80's at least, very windy day with high skies, outer rim of lake is filled in with lilly pads, clumpy weeds piling up in on top in spots ( great place to park the kayak when the wind is kicking up ).

Had the kayak rigged up with a tube setup, a wacky worm, and a worm and bobber. Picked up some big fat sunfish on a crawler/bobber ( hint...the sunfish were longer in inches, than the acres of the lake )....wanted to see what kind of bass the lake had so I began alternately flipping the tube and the wacky worm. They loved the tube, not one bite on the wacky worm. Didn't find any size, most were 11"-12", also picked up a small pike on the tube as well.

Didn't see anybody out 8/15, have only seen people fishing this place once before. Fish aren't big, but the surroundings are beautiful, it's quiet as can be except for the bullfrogs, and fishing from the kayak ( while not the most comfortable after 4 hours ), is a great way to get right on top of so much of the wildlife. Fun day, felt like a kid again.

[JMBrunner08]

Fished the nam a few times while on vacation. Caught quite a few smallies and a few nice ones. biggest was 17. Used Thundercraws and #5 or#7 redbelly crawdad shadraps worked good after the thundercraw broke. Did not catch any walleyes unfortunatly. Even seen a black bear going down the river:) which was sweet

[Eric Haataja]

Looks like fun thanks for the report!

[collinfishes]

got out last night for the first time this summer for some bass. lake changed dramatically since the last time i was there in spring with more than half of the normal weed beds being gone and super muddy water but the bass were there and cooperated alittle. caught around 2 dozen fish most around 14-17in with only one decent one. all fish caught rollin big inline spinner around, even had one hit on a figure 8. all in all a very enjoyable trip. now im kinda forced to take a day er two off of fishin as i broke my wrist pretty bad today but i will be back on the water one handed as soon as im done with surgery tomorrow probably just panfishing for awhile though haha :D good luck guys

[Fish Tales]

Collin:

Take care dude and get well quickly.

Fish Tales

[deno b.]

Colin, ran into to Joe down by the lake this morning and he told me. Could the timing have been any worse? Hope you get well soon. Gonna need you to get in the tournament at the end of September. See ya down there!!!

[collinfishes]

thanks guys!!! everything went well this mornin. 7 screws and a plate later my wrist is as good as new. ya ill defienitly be in that tourney whether i have 1 arm 2 arms or no arms :p i would have a report too but joe couldnt wait 10 more min for me to be released from the hospital, so he went with out me and he has my poles haha. but ill be back on the water tomorrow for sure. :D:D:D

[Needtofishmore]

Glad to hear all went well, Collin. You are one dedicated and awesome fisherman!

[collinfishes]

thank you. im just doin what i love. cant wait to fish with ya for them browns. there already startin to show up pretty thick. :D

[collinfishes]

couldnt take being cooped up in the house for more than a day so today i decided to do alittle bass fishin. started out with a spinnin rod and it was goin good i could reel in all good an jig it alright, then after a very painful hit an miss i realized its prolly not the best idea haha so ended up using the ole cane pole and figured id just pick away at all the obvious near shore structure. only ended up with two little guys and about a dozen misses. both fish came on kahlins 5in lunker grubs. hittin the lake tomorrow for some spawn fishin. i figure that i can handle but well see... oh an dont let my doctor see this picture :p

[HotHead617]

Went out today to do some ice fishing for the first time this year......was not as good as i would have hoped it to be but fun none the less....only ended up with 11 keepers...did hand drill about 40 holes and im gonna feel that tomorrow....time to start looking for a gas auger!!!!

[dedfisher]

IMO hand drilling is the best way to stay warm out there. I'll stick to a hand auger forever because of this and there's not the hassle that goes into a gas auger.

[HotHead617]

Was out again this weekend and just like the last time still very slow....not many keepers and not many fish at all for that matter...marking fish but not many...fish seemed to be scattered around not seeing many schools just yet.Heading back out again in the morning!!!

[HotHead617]

Out again yesterday....fishing still tough but getting a little better...numbers were still down but started to find some bigger fish....ice is around 10 inches thick now.....maybe browns on tipups next for me.

[deadeternity]

I put the brown trout and steelhead equipment to the side yesterday to spend the day on a popular panfish/walleye lake in Southeastern WI. We got to the lake around 7:00am and drove the car out. It did not take long before we found fish in shallow water. Everyone else was fishing a lot deeper then us out in 10+ feet of water and from the looks of it when we took a drive outthere to see if we could cash in on some big schools of fish. The fish must have been spooked away from the shanty towns in deep water because we found ourselves right back where we started in shallow water.

As the day went on there were down times and, you really had to work for the fish but they were there, and they were feeding. I caught 90% of my fish on a red glow diamond jig tipped with 2 or 3 spikes, my friends were using Rat Finkees with success. I only had to throw back 2 panfish yesterday because every bluegill I caught were 7 1/2" to 8 1/2" long. I never had a day of panfishing where I caught fish with a average size structure of 7+ inches long. Mixed in every once in awhile was a 9+ inch crappie, which is also good average size for crappies.

Once we packed up around sunset we went out to 12 to 14 feet of water and searched around for night time crappies. We marked some fish, lost a few, and caught a few. But the action was slow and finicky. All the fish were 9 to 12 inches long. It seemed dark colored jigs got more attention then glow colors, which was different for me because I was used to using glow colors on my ice jigs at night in the past.

Dont be afraid to search shallow even though it is mid Janurary already. And stay away from the crowds of people, your odds are much greater when your bait is the only bait in the area the fish have to choose from. Also have soft plastics, waxworms, spikes, and a variety of bait because having the right bait is crucial to your success and, their preference can change by the minute. Those fish that stop showing interest for one bait may slam a different bait. Good luck and stay safe on the ice.

[HotHead617]

Was out again yesterday....still slow although it is starting to pick up a bit....starting to see a few bigger fish and starting to suspend in deeper water....not great numbers but the fish are better so numbers will come....also pike fishing wasnt terrible either ...was picking those up in 3-5 feet of water...with shiners.

[HotHead617]

Was out yesterday....i was thinking with the weather it was gonna be a slow day and from the first drop i was wrong....caught a ton of fish and brought home my first limit of the year...all fish caught with a white glow gill pill and waxies or spikes and in 14-17 fow....biggest gill was 9 1/4 which is a pig for where i was!!!!

[HotHead617]

Was out yesterday...fishing was slow again...fish were scattered all over really needed to do alot of hole hopping. Did end up leaving with a few nice gills and some decent perch....also had 8 flags but only 1 fish stuck with it..and had 1 fish bite thru the dacron line...would have like to have seen that fish!!!

[Eric Haataja]

Nice Job Andy good to see you getting some nice panfish! They sure are tasty! As a matter of fact I'm going to take some fish out for a fish fry myself tonight!;)

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Got out Saturday morning on a 6 acre Washington county lake. Picked up 4 LM, in about 2 hours. Nothing first 45 minutes, changed tube color to a medium green and picked up all 4 fish in about 20 minutes. Biggest was 13", about as big as they get in this little pond so far for me. Got to test out new anchor system on the kayak...worked great!

Then headed over to forest lake once the wind started to howl, wanted to throw the heavier rods to give spooling job a test run before hitting the "O" lakes in Waukesha this coming weekend...much to my surprise this little 1 1/2 pound anchor held kayak in place with 20-30 mph winds. Any kayak fishermen out there thinking about an anchor rigging technique? I pickup up this anchor system from Cabela's for $30, it's in the bright yellow carrying bag. Snap to rig up, super easy and safe to deploy out on the water, highly recommended guys.

Ready to get back on the bigger water in Waukesha county this upcoming weekend with Captain Sig.

[Sig and Gus Hanson]

Hit one of the kettle lakes in the Kettle Moraine Northern unit on Saturday morning from 8-11. Only public access on this lake is of the carry in variety, so I loaded up the kayak to get on this gem of a lake.
Flat calm conditions, great water clarity....started paddling around the north end and could easily see largies sitting on the beds. Starting throwing a 6" lizard and they could not resist it!! With the flat conditions and sunny skies I could easily see the beds from 20-30 feet away. Lost count of the number caught but it was consistent action for 3 hours. Lot's of 14"-15" fish with a few over 16". Saw some toads pushing 20" but couldn't coax them into biting. Bass look to be all spawned out, shallows are full of 1"-2" bass milling around. With a kayak fish barely knew I was there, it was like paddling in an aquarium, lake looks EXTREMELY healthy, newly spawned midgets everywhere shallow among the weeds, with Northerns hanging out in the area of course. GREAT DAY OF FISHING. Anybody with a small jonboat, canoe, kayak should check out some of the unpressured gems of the Kettle Moraine.