Wisconsin Opener

[muskieboy46]

Is anyone planning on going over to Wisconsin to hit up the opener on May 29th?

Also, does anyone know how accurate the muskie lake ratings are on the WI DNR HSOforum?

I'm hoping to get out that weekend and am debating between an A1 and B lake, pros for the B lake being a closer drive.

Would like to hear what you guys are planning and advice!

-Trevor

[50inchpig]

turns out my wife's best friend has a cabin in hayward so we'll be staying on and fishing LCO that weekend.

never fished east of the croix before so i don't have any advice, i'm just gonna try not to scare those small wisconsin fish with anything too big

[Nick Kuhn]

The WiDNR is in the process of reclassifying all the lakes. Most are still pretty good however. The primary difference is A1 lakes are bigger and give you a much better shot at landing a real big one. Class B lakes vary greatly in the output, but generally you can catch more numbers than an A1 (but fewer than an A2). Oddly enough B lakes generally fall in between A1 and A2 lakes in both size and numbers. C lakes are for the most part don't bother trying, with a few exceptions. You could name the lakes and get better advice.

I will be at my cabin meaning I'll be hitting some nearby waters in Wisconsin. Hopefully this year I can do better at the boatside stuff.

And small fish in LCO? Last time they netted it over 5% of the fish they caught were >55". So no, you can't throw anything too big.

[50inchpig]

good to know, i was mostly kidding about the small fish thing, i'm really looking forward to seeing the hayward area and getting out on the water earlier in the year than normal.

[10,000 Casts]

Quote:

never fished east of the croix before so i don't have any advice, i'm just gonna try not to scare those small wisconsin fish with anything too big

HahaHaha!!!! love it!!!

[rugbymn]

What is LCO?

[Nick Kuhn]

Lac Courte Orielles

[Castinski]

That's what I said the last time I fished up there. The only fish I boated that weekend came on a Medussa. So yeah, don't throw anything too big

[tgruenke]

I will probably give it a try on Holcombe. I'll be fishing everything but at least maybe bring the Musky rod out and see if we can have any luck.

[scsavre]

So with all the attention and pressure that MN has taken the last 5 years, is wisc going to bounce back. There hast to have been less pressure in western wisc. I have always thought wisc has meaner harder fighting fish than MN. MN has had the big dawgs though.

I am going to spend more time in wisc this there than years past.

[Nick Kuhn]

So with all the attention and pressure that MN has taken the last 5 years, is wisc going to bounce back. There hast to have been less pressure in western wisc. I have always thought wisc has meaner harder fighting fish than MN. MN has had the big dawgs though.

I am going to spend more time in wisc this there than years past.

I can find as many people throwing musky baits on Forest on a Monday as I see on the popular Wi lake on a Saturday. It's more to do with there simply being more fishable water than it has to do with #'s of musky fisherman. Some of the smaller non-prime waters you can have all to yourself as a musky fisherman (and sometimes all to yourself period).

[muskieboy46]

I'll be basing operations out of Eau Claire so these were the lakes I was looking into:

1)Dells Pond, rating: B

2)Altoona, Rating: B

3)Wissota, Rating: A1

4)Potato Lake, Rating: A1

5)Chain Lake, Rating: A2

6)Island Lake, Rating: A2

7)Holcombe Flowage, Rating: A1

Any thoughts or recommendations?

[Cooter]

I'd say scratch Potato from the list. Dells has some big fish but it is tough IMO. A lot of fish in Altoona end up above or below the lake in the river. Used to do well on Chain/Island but thats been a few years back. We had one league night there last year but there were tornado warnings so only 3 boats fished it and we tallied one follow and got soaked.

My pick would be Holcombe followed by Wissota.

[Cooter]

One more thing, if the weather is nice Holcombe, Wissota, and Dells will be zoos with boat traffic.

[Nick Kuhn]

If Cooter is around he is very familiar with all those waters. I'm not sure about Dell's pond or Altoona, but you can do quite well on Wissota. A word of warning though, those lakes will be a zoo on a holiday weekend. I've only fished Holcombe once, and there is a lot of nice water to fish there. Only saw one fish, but caught a little of everything with small muskie lures (pike, walleye, and had a really nice smallmouth on for a while). Haven't tried Potato. Chain and Island are connected, but I've only fished Island (and again just once). Navigating between the lakes looks like it could take some time. Caught one small fish on Island and had two boatside strikes, one of them being a good sized fish.

Long and Round are in the area as well. Both of those will also be pretty busy (well all of them will be, there's no way to avoid it except get there before sunrise). Managed some hookups on those 2 but no catches.

[Cooter]

Long is already busy with the bass guys.

[cjmuskie]

I grew up in Chetek and chaised muskies all over that area. Don't forget about some of the smaller lakes in the Blue Diamond area (Fireside, Amacoy and the Chip and Flambeau river). I really liked fishing the Dairyland flowage; there are some nice fish in there and it is usually a good topwater bite. Another great option is Rice Lake, years ago it used to be a great lake. Have not been back to the area to muskie fish in about 5+ years. Some of those small lakes can boot out some mighty big fish!!!

[Nick Kuhn]

Dairyland Flowage is getting to be a haul from Eau Claire. I tried it for the first time on a fantastic Saturday afternoon last year and could not believe I was one of only 2 trailers at the new launch on the southwest side. More water for me I guess.

[goldie11]

HAs anyone tried grindstone lake in hayward? my aunt has a cabin there and ill be goin there for opener.

[jkahler]

Grindstone is clear, not much structure from what I remember, other than a huge bar. Trolling is legal on that lake.

[Nick Kuhn]

Wonder how many others will be joining us for opener? Rec. traffic will be a bear but I find it doesn't affect the fish all that much.

[trimbelle22]

I will be getting out there on saturday and possibly sunday. not sure where we are going to go yet, but probably a combo of deer/bone/apple/yellow. looking forward to getting out in the boat and making my shoulders sore!!

[bronzeback]

And small fish in LCO? Last time they netted it over 5% of the fish they caught were >55".

55"+ ??? what did Larry Ramsell head up the netting and the measurement that week??

[muskieboy46]

I ended up hitting Long lake because my friend caught one out there bass fishing earlier in the week. We raised two fish today. I was very surprised at the lack of weeds in the lake. The rock bars seemed to be the only structure I could find to fish. We did find a bay that had weeds which ended up producing one of the follows and a couple big gar sightings. Also saw three 20+inch smallmouth swimming.

Has anyone else fished this lake?

[mainbutter]

Sounds like a fun time muskieboy! I haven't fished it, but it sounds like a lake that could produce big fish of all sorts.