Petenwell

[Z-man]

well, with the great forecast we saw last week, had to decide where to fish on Friday and saturday. With the reports of great action on the Big Pond, it was a tough choice, but chasing eyes won out again. Hit the WI river down from Nekoosa, and caught a good number of eyes on both days. Had to hunt around a bit on Friday to find the pattern, but didn't take long before we started catching a good number of fish, approx. 3 dozen, with 4 legals mixed in with some dinks. saturday started off quicker, with 7 legals spattered in there with a few dozen dinks, plus a 21 inch slot fish, andsome crappie. Jig/minnow was the ticket, as plastic brought only a few interested takers, before we went to live bait on both rods. Fish were in the 10 to 15 foot depth range, and seemed to come through in small schools, as it went dead for a spell, and then all of a sudden we'd catch a few . Stayed between Chesters Creek and the old boat launch up-river. Went over to the dam for a half hour or so on Friday, but the low water and no bites, chased us back to the action zone.
saw lots of blaze orange boating over to islands and wooded areas along the river. Heard shots all day long on saturday, and during one volley of shots, heard a bullet whiz past us...not sure how close, but it sure was eerie after we realized what happened. Good thing it missed us and the boat, cuz would have hated to miss out on decent action on what is probably my last road trip outing of the year (until I pull out my 12 ft. Lund winter boat, to check some of the action on the Rock or WI, if they stay open.)
Now I'm hoping to catch a nice day to try to get in on some of that action on Lake Michigan.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

Fished sunday with a couple friends,we landed 22 fish on the ice,5 keeper wally's and 3 12+" crappies, a white bass and a northern pike,the rest were undersized wally's. ice was 6" at the lure.to bad the weather is gonna wreck our ice.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

Has Anyone Been Up To The Well This Week? Just Checking For Ice Conditions, Lake Or Backwaters. Thanks

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished with a couple buddies again, ice is 5-7" off monroe, caught crappies wallyeyes and whitebass. fished in 20ft of water- lake shiners were the ticket.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

just to let everyone know, the ice was 5-7" everywhere we checked from monroe county park area. seen quads drive from monroe all the way across to longview. also seen shuttle runs of people all going towards longview. west side of the lake is uaccessable, must go off east side,and head that way, eastside shorelines are open water.

[BigMusky]

how far do you have to travel off Monroe to get in some decent fishing water? Might consider making the drive, but I dont have any wheels for the ice.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

BIG MUSKY- you can call the bait shop on county z, that leads right down to the lake,and the bait shop, monroe is on the east side right off z, 18th ave. 1-608-564-7707bait shop. as for walking, alot of people were walking out, about 100 yards-300 yards depending on how much you want to walk. vexilar or sonar is good to have, some of the crappies we caught were in 21ft of water-16 feet down.the bait shop on z will guide you in the right direction, he checks ice conditions daily.

[Z-man]

After a very busy spring and summer, with scant fishing,looks like I'll be getting back into my more typical fall fishing mode. Started out by hitting the Pete last week for couple nights of camping and fishing. Won't go into too much detail now, cuz it's old news, but the fall patterns have started. Hit the lake day one, and the river below Nekoosa day two. Numbers were good in both, but got a few legals in the lake. Pretty much worked the break at the south end on the east side of the lake, tween 8 to 20 ft, jigging plastic on one, and jig/crawler on other. Both produced. Tried some of the mid-lake humps/breaks, but too windy for boat control by mid-day. So got a few fish pitching the rip-rap along upper dam with ringworms when I took a break from the wind for a couple hours. Due to high winds, hit the river section the next day, and although got a few dozen small eyes, none were of legal size. Did stumble on a school of crappie hanging off a submerged tree in 10 fow, and got 10 for the fryer, before pulling off to continue eye fishing.
I'd still hit the lake for a couple more weeks, conditions allowing, but would expect the river to start producing some nicer fish soon. The week of gun hunting is a great time to fish the river, because it's empty and holds hungry eyes....if you don't mind the chance of a bullet or two whizzing by now and then......the islands and mainland only accessible by boat, draw a fair number of hunters, and last year, we did have a shot whiz by us...very eerie, :eek: but I figure if you're gonna go, you're gonna go.
Next trip there should be in two weeks, and then the Mississippi for 4 days at end of month. .

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

sorry late report, was on lay-off for the holidays, fished the pete 2 times this past week, had good results, we had 35 crappies,some white bass, small eyes, and catfish, the second time up was the day after christmas, we had 26 crappies, some white bass, undersized wallys, catfish, and a mid to upper 20"s pike, hopefully the pics will turn out.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

a couple more

[OSKEY]

a couple more

Coming up to Monroe Center next week.... Any tips you can give?

[Eric Haataja]

Awesome Pics and report team ice hole! Nice crappies!

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished sat. during the deep freeze, fished off the lure, river channel, 15 ft of water. too cold for tip-ups,so we elected to stay in the shacks and jig. lake shinners,and rosie reds worked great. i had 15 crappies,2 strippers,1 undersized wally and a 5lb mr.wiskers. sam had 4 crappies, 3 strippers and 2 undersized wallys. heres a pic of my crappies.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished the well on sunday,4 guys all day, 13 fish total, it was brutal, 2 keeper eyes, 2 keeper crappies 3 whitebass, a catfish, and the rest undersized wally's. started at the lure, was sloooooow, then moved over by longview,in 20ft of water, and marked alot fish, missed alot of fish. fatheads, rosie reds, and lake shinners.

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

fished here sat after we left castle rock, on castle rock, with all the slush and fresh snow walking with a shack was impossible, so we packed up and went over to petenwell, upon arriving, we see people out there, cool! we starting walking out i was first, then quincy who is 150lbs, and the big indian- and if you know him, he isn't a small guy 6-6 300lbs, i was walking and heard the indian say quincy went thru, so i stopped turned around and i started to fall through, on the way thru i leaned back and managed to land on my butt on the good ice, now me and quincy are wet, not bad thought, so we regroup, and go out a diffrent direction, we all get out there, fished 16ft of water, caught 12 crappies and 3 perch and missed a bunch more. on the way out, we watched a guy with a quad plung through with a couple guys that were with him, we knew when we left we were getting wet. so on the way off, i being the gutsy one lead the way again, i got off with just a little bit of my boot wet, cool, next the big indian, he put a leg through, then got out, and asked me what way should he go, i said i walked right over here, he went that direction, because the other direction was open from the quad going thru. he went down to his chest, so back out there i go to help out, we used our otters as a brace and got kev out, then quincy ended up with a wet leg also, the ice was crap, looked like slush pile coming up, no chunks at all. my ice gear is put away for the year. heres a pic

[Eric Haataja]

Scary!:eek::eek:

Glad to here you guys are o.k.!!

Eric

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

Thanks Eric, i am getting used to it, i fish puckaway alot at last ice. same thing happens there. remember that the flowages are moving water, not like a lake with no flow. i use the fish with a group of buddies last ice, that way in any trouble comes about, we are all there to help out. like i also said ,MY ICE GEAR IS PUT AWAY!!!

[watrfwlnut]

ICE,
you better get back to Delevan where its safe...glad you guys made it off OK...youre either dedicated or REALLY mad at them crappies..?? not sure which...:D

[TEAM ICE HOLE]

nut- i think i have a crazy streak that runs through me, i put my stuff up, i will focus on the walleye run, and crappie spawn now. drove around a bit sun, and found a couple spots open water that already had gills and crappies snappin.gonna take the kids out open water fishin tomorrow. where we have been ice fishin on delevan is still safe but you need a plank to get out. thats the advantage of private property entry- not alot of foot travel, and doesn't wear the ice out.

[Get Hooked]

Didnt pick a good day for my first trip out here. the cold wasnt as bad as we thought it was gonna be. well, the minnow bucket didnt like it much. we went out by wilderness park and got 1 flag with nothing. marked a few fish, but nothing biting. went north of barnum bay, out from the lure bar?, got nothing. saw nothing. then tried by the county park, and still nothing. sad but true. the guys we talked to had similiar results. barnum bay area was at least getting lil eyes. wish i had more, like some great fish pics, but all i have is this one..

[Rempump]

Fished the Pete this weekend. Went off on the east side looking for walters. Started in 17 ft and stayed there. Water was pretty clear and looked good. Buddy and I set 3 tip ups and then jigged. Had fish on the vex right away. We could get them to come up off the bottom and follow it but not hit it. Finally got a nice hit and soon found out I tied a bad knot. A few minutes later buddy got a nice channel cat- about 3 pounds. Fished from 1:30-5 and caught one, had 3-4 hits and 3 get off below the hole. I am thinking a few cats and possibly some walters mixed in the misses.