Welcome Wisconsin

[Rick]

Well stcatfish,
you finally got what you asked for and more.

Let's welcome our newest Fishing Minnesota Field Staff stcatfish.

As we get enough demand for specific areas in Wisconsin and someone to field staff it we will create it for you.

let's see how big you can grow the Wisconsin forum(s).

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, that's a good one. Field Staff. Next thing you know, my wife's going to flip when I quit my job so I can spend enough time ice fishing to be called "Field Staff."

Rick, you've got quite a sense of humor for a Viking fan. Wait, all Vikings fans NEED a good sense of humor, don't they.

Seriously, thanks for offering Wisconsin here. In these busy days, it's tough to keep up with one post, let alone having to go to a second one to participate in NW Wisconsin threads.

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Steve ([email protected])

[Rick]

Speaking of the Packers and by way..Wisconsin...

This is the SLOWEST FORUM on the site.

Even behind South Dakota and behind North Dakota.

Let's see how long it takes you to get past them stfcatfish

[Steve Foss]

Rick, I moved here FROM North Dakota. There are more members of FM than people who actually LIVE in North Dakota.

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Steve ([email protected])

[Steve Foss]

Hey Rick, we're already ahead of the Lake Erie/Lake Michigan board.

[Guest]

Rick , It's also the newest forum on the site. LOL
stfcatfish , Make your wife the VP of operations and chances are she'll cut you more fishin time ! LOL I live near Madison and fish many lakes/rivers down this way. Don't know a lot about NW WI waters though.
How far are you from the Spooner area ?

[Guest]

alright,lets start getting reports from the
amery\siren,danberry areas.i'll post my updates when out,these areas i fish simi regulary,you dont have to be a packer fan to fish sconny...............

[Steve Foss]

Geeman: Spooner's within shouting distance of Superior. Haven't gotten over there to fish yet, though. And since you are around Madison and fish a lot down there, I'd bet you know other guys who do, too. Get em in the FM family, will you? You guys could have fun and share a lot of Madtown fishing knowledge here. And it says "Wisconsin," not just NW Wisconsin, even though that's where I live. Nothing better to get a big contingent from down there, maybe even split it off someday.

Prophet: Thanks in advance for the reports. Haven't seen anyone post from that area on this forum before. Years ago, when I lived in Milltown and drove to and from Duluth, I passed through and near those towns a lot, and saw the neat little lakes. Sounds like pretty fishing water.

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 11-09-2002).]

[Guest]

stcatfish , I'm no fishin expert , just some dude who fishes ( ice fishin mostly ) a LOT.
I'm in the construction biz and don't have much time to fish come open water unfortunately.
ANYWAYS , There's some good fishin around these parts for sure but there's the crowd factor to deal with too especialy on the Madison chain. I'll fish for anything that swims but prefer Walleyes and panfish.
You ought to check out Big Mckenzie just west of Spooner. It's a tough lake to fish but there's some beuty Walleyes and Muskys in there. Small Suckers hung under a tip up are the ticket for tip up Walleyes there. Leave the Shiners and Fatheads to home.
Lately I've been fishin the Rock river down here for Walleyes. Gotta work for em tossin plastics but put your time in and you'll get fish. Gonna try a night mission this eve for a change of pace. Never night fished the river before but a guy never knows till he tries eh ? I fish Lake Koshkanong a lot too come winter.
Just a shot in the dark here but do you Catfish too or no.

prophet , It's true a guy don't have to be a Packer fan to fish here but it helps in the tip department if you know what I mean. LOL

Good luck boyz ! ><> I can't freakin wait till icefishin gets here !!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

Geeman,

I am assuming you live south of Madison? Just wondering if you have heard anything about Delevan lake recently. I had some good luck down there earlier this summer and last winter, and there just might be enough time before gun opener to have another go at it. Any info is appreciated.

[Steve Foss]

Hornhunter: Welcome to the forum. Good to see you here.

Geeman: Yup, used to do a lot of catfishing for channel cats along the Red River, which borders Minnesota and North Dakota. There are some big channels in the St. Louis River too, but with smallies and musky and walleyes in the open water, and add perch and crappies under ice, the channels get kind of buried. I'm told there's a small contingent of guys who target channels, but they're pretty closed-mouthed.

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Steve ([email protected])

[Guest]

Hi Yall, I've been a lurker on this board for about 2 months now. Found it while searching for ice fishing links. Been in Wisconsin a little over a year now. I've learned a ton of info about ice fishing here. Been to a few other popular boards but like this one the best because of the nice folks and not a bunch of bickering. Anywho I live in Marshfield and fish Petenwell and am going to start fishing Dexterville too. I only ice fished twice last year by myself and got shut out both times. For what it's worth, I'll post reports on Pete and Dexter whenever I go and will continue to lurk on the ice fishing board to learn new stuff. Good fishing. Robert

[Guest]

hornhunter , Actualy I live east of Madison about 25 miles or so and about a half hours drive from Delavan. Sorry ,I hav'nt heard too much about Delevan lately. I hav'nt fished there since the winter before last. I'd like to fish that lake more often but in summer it's combat fishin ( even on weekdays )for sure = No thanks ! Parking is a problem over there too and with last winters kinda iffy ice I never made it over there. Last I heard they closed the marina to parking because of all the trash fishermen left behind.

Ex-Texan , Petenwell is a shadow of it's former self. I used to fish it a fair bit years back. Would you believe just a few years ago a guy could icefish that lake on a Saturday and only see maybe 30 other dudes all day ? You had a good chance at Walleyes that went 10 + pounds each time out and you always had action ? Come winters now you'll be lucky if there's only a couple thousand guys out there.
Do you have a Vexilar ? If not ... GET ONE ! It will increase your odds of hookin up on that lake big time. Get yourself a lake map and find the old river channel off County Park , Wilderness , Barnums Bay for starters then head shallower and find some drowned timber. There are thousands of drowned out trees on that pond and the fish are'nt too far away. Keep movin till you find active fish and STAY AWAY from the crowds. BTW ,Bill Lewis rattle traps work good on Pete. Even the Perch there will smack em. A small Perch colored jiggin Rap with a minnow head on the trebble is a good bet too.

stcat , I fish Cats here on the Rock too in the summer. Don't get out too often though come summer due to work. Depending on thier cycle you can get some good fish in numbers. This year they ran small though. Big is relative though. The biggest Cat I caught here was only about 9 pounds or so. NOTHIN like the Red or St. Louis river unfortunatly.

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 11-10-2002).]

[Steve Foss]

Ex-Texan: Believe it or not, all my exes were born in Texas. True fact. But I like Texas anyway. Glad to see you're an FM member after lurking awhile. Some other new members say the same thing. Hope having a Wisconsin post will draw out many, many more.

Geeman: Biggest channels on the Red are over 30. The Red flows north to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, and gets wider the further north you go. Around Grand Forks, N.D., where I lived, you could expect cats in the teens every time out, with a couple 20s each summer. Around Lockport, Man., 25s are common and 30s reported each year.

And to all who are posting on this new post: I've already mentioned it to a couple of you, but as we add new members because of the new Wisconsin board, please tell your fishing friends about this forum.

It's nice to learn about places in the state we've never been, for sure, but it's even better when a bunch of people from the same area can get to posting about their common experiences.

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Steve Foss
Superior, Wis.
[email protected]

[Guest]

Geeman, I truly appreciate your tips on Petenwell. I don't have a vexilar. In all honesty, I probably wont have one until next year. I'm still working on getting the basics: warm boots, tipups, etc. Oh well, lack of a Vex won't stop me, I'll let ya know how I do.

[Steve Foss]

Texan:

Also, when it comes time to get a Vex, don't avoid the used ones. Probably you've seen a bunch of other posts about used Vexilars, but the FL8 can be had used for $125 to $175, a far cry from the $300-plus for new.

I got started with used stuff on the big items (portable shelter, auger, etc) and still have what I bought used 5 years ago, and it works great.

[Rick]

I just wanted to repeat that when we have enough activity for a specific area/region/lake in Wisconsin, we'll make a Forum for it and create a Wisconsin Regional Category, with all the Wisconsin forums in it.

All it takes is activity and someone who knows the region/area/lake to help out with the forum.

Much like stfcatfisg volunteered to start the Wisconsin forum rolling

[Smeds]

Rick & Steve,

I have been enjoying FM since last year. I live in Hayward, and travel to LOW & URL to ice-fish, as well as the Rainy River for pre-spawn hog-hunting. The forums for these areas are awesome, and I can only hope the Wisconsin one becomes as great. Having fished the Chequamegon Bay area and Hayward area for everything from Lake Trout to Walleye & Musky, I await more input, and shared advice! A thought for you Steve ... contact Al & Sue @ Pastika's in Hayward ([email protected]). They are an asset to NW Wisconsin, and should know about this forum. Good luck, and tight lines! Smeds <(((((><

[Steve Foss]

Smeds:

Thanks man. I dropped them a line. Since it was baited with fishingminnesota, I figure they'll give the lure a good hard look, because it's flashy and is the real thing. Hope they bite and get hooked for good, like we were landed by this site.

Steve

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 11-11-2002).]

[rascalP]

Happy to see a Wis. thread. I was thinking it was here all along and I just noticed it tonight.I was scrolling through and saw Iowa? Scrolled down and sure enough, there's Wis. Can't help a whole lot for ice fishin but in open water I fish fom Hudson to Webster often for bass. I live a few miles west of Oseola and I like to jump the river to fish a little less pressured water. It used to be Chisago was underpressured compared to WBL, Bald Eagle, etc... No more. There's fantastic water a few miles past Chisago chain but you have to pay an extra 25-30$ a year which amounts to about 2 cases of beer, 10 scoops of minnows, 4 or 5 lures and so on. Hopefully this thread will stay on into the open water and I'll gladlly throw my 2 cent's in( worth about a penny on a good day ).
That said, Big lake, just east of Oseola is great for nice size sunnies and crappies, as is Balsam for sunnies and Deer for crappies. The list goes on and on and on and.........

[Deitz Dittrich]

I would love to get on a sunfish bite on Balsam ice fishing.. I hear there are som real nice gills in there.

[Steve Foss]

Rascal, thanks for contributing. Yup, these boards all keep going through the open water season. See you here.

[JAR JAR]

Hey St
I live outside superior and fish alot of different areas like chequamagon bay and lake superior the brule river and I know the St.Louis like the back of my hand and alot of inland lakes I will post anything i find out about any of the areas I fish. This forum is best thing next to............fishing

[Bodyman]

I'm happy to see Wi. on the board. Thanks Rick. I'm back in LaCrosse now(just south) after 4 years in Hudson. LaCrosse is my home town and I have been fishing the waters in the area for 40+ years. Still haven't put the boat away for the winter because the eyes/sauger are still biting at the dams.Genoa/Dresbach. With deer hunting season starting this weekend, I'm hoping that I get atleast a couple more times out on the open water after. Genoa with the power plant close by stays open until the deep freeze comes. But I do love ice fishing so either way it's a win win situation. Hunt, Fish, Camp, sounds like a comercial but what a way of life. Good luck to all.

Fishing is Life.

[Steve Foss]

Jar Jar: Appreciate your knowledge, and I'll take all the information you care to give. Thanks. How's the ice on Amnicon, Minnesuing, etc?

Body: Good to see another LaX native. Some winters, I expect you don't put the boat up at all. Nice to have the open water option as well as ice. I'll be down in LaX, actually southwest of LaX a little bit, hunting deer with the rellies on T-giving weekend.

And everyone: THINK COLD!

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 11-20-2002).]